I had no idea the rigorous process involved in transitioning into my new role as teacher. I think that I have always been inquisitive…always asking about the next step before finishing the first! I began researching the twisting, turning process by accessing the College of Nursing website and finding the Minors and Specializations section. After discovering that there is, indeed, a “Nurse Educator” component, I began. My first decision came when I had to choose between a specialization versus a minor. I decided that, if I was going to do this, I was jumping in feet first! So minor it is! The difference is in the amount of credit hours required which equates to more work. FOURTEEN credit hours outside my own graduate major AND Nursing 7530 and 7532…could I do this? YES! Yes I can!

Next came the application process that I have not yet mastered! There are many hurdles and hoops; but I must remember…these are challenges that I must jump over or dive through. I will pave my own way if I must. Since I was already a graduate student, I was already taking classes for my master’s degree. I needed to “fit” my teaching courses into my schedule and maneuver the nursing components into the teacher curriculum. This may seem easy but, trust me, it is not.

I enrolled in my first “official” teaching course…ESEPSY/Nursing 7727…this past summer and, as I stated in my previous post, I felt like I had drove in too deep. Then after further review, I figured out that, actually, the first course that was recommended was ESEPSY 7404 which I am now currently taking. This is working out like the “backward design” process that I learned in 7727! Now back to that process…I applied for my minor in teaching through the Graduate School website, only to realize that my application had been denied due to not using the correct course description on the application. I used Nursing 7727 instead of ESEPSY 7727 which, I must make you aware, is the same course!

In the meantime, I found a mentor, Joni Tornwall, who took on the task of providing the support for my independent study course – Nursing 7193. Now I do have to disclose that this blog page is part of my coursework, but I am enjoying creating the blog posts. I hope that by sharing my story it will inspire those “non-formal” teachers to join in my journey of becoming a formal one. Along the lines of my mantra as an emergency nurse…See One, Do One, Teach One!

Whether you realize it or not, at some point in your life, you have been a teacher – probably in an informal setting. As a mother, I began teaching my girls from the moment they were born. None of my friends had children at the time so when they became mothers, and since I was a pediatric nurse, I became the go-to friend for every question they had. On the floor, I began teaching parents and relatives of my patients. At the time, I did not believe that I was actually a “teacher”; however, much later, I realized that I was in fact teaching. As I furthered my career as a nurse and began working in an emergency department, I found myself teaching more and more. I began precepting new nurses and then progressed into new intern physicians.

While working in the emergency department, I began encountering a whole different type of patient and families. Again, I was teaching…from the diabetic patient to the congestive heart failure patient to educating young men and women on the practice of safe sex. That is when I finally realized that I had become a teacher in every sense of the word…that became my “AH HA” moment and that is when I made the decision to move into teaching in a formal setting. As my venture began, my nursing career had already moved into the realm of working on my master’s degree as an Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. By adding teaching to my list of priorities, I had picked up a minor to add to my stress. Then I realized, not only that it was important to me, it became more and more important to my patients, as well as, future nurses.

As I enrolled in my first class this past summer, I became very intimidated by the difficulty of moving into a different role…the role of formal teaching. Everyone that I encountered had their PhD or was actively working on it. A lot of my classmates had high level positions within the hospital and I was so afraid of failure that I almost quit. I have never quit anything of real importance to me so I knew that I had to finish what I had started. I had an inspiration when I met Joni Tornwall who has taken so much time with me to ensure my success. So now, I would like for you to follow my journey as I learn to become an “official” teacher!

As specified by the UCAT guidelines for a mentored teaching experience, I will be working with Joni Tornwall on preparation and facilitation of ESEPSY 1159 on the following course goals and multi-level objectives:

Course Goals:

1. Encourage self-regulated learning, active participation, and civility in the online environment through modeling of behavior and supportive guidance.
2. Establish a positive learning environment that is consistent, fair, and challenging.
3. Use existing course content to deliver instruction that guides students to achieve stated learning objectives.

Module-level objectives:

• Review course design of an online undergraduate course and make recommendations for improvement.
• Identify instructional strategies for the online environment.
• Discuss learner characteristics of various course audiences (online/face-to-face, undergraduate/graduate/professional, small-enrollment/large-enrollment, etc.) and how those characteristics affect approach to teaching.
• Facilitate an online course by establishing a teaching presence (per the Community of Inquiry model).
• Establish social presence for instructor and students through use of online interactive features, including discussion boards and announcements.
• Reflect on students’ levels of cognitive presence in the course.
• Provide timely, meaningful, quality feedback to students on graded assignments and other communication, taking into consideration scale of class size.
• Resolve student concerns and issues using classroom management and FERPA-compliant strategies.
• Self-evaluate online teaching performance and reflect on the strengths and challenges of the experience to develop plans for continuous improvement.