D. Teaching/learning practices and environments support the achievement of expected individual student learning outcomes and aggregate student outcomes

Elaboration: Teaching/learning practices and environments (classroom, clinical, laboratory, simulation, and distance education) support achievement of expected individual student learning outcomes identified in course, unit, and/or level objectives.

Graduate and undergraduate faculty utilize teaching methodologies and environments that are consistent with current nursing education pedagogy. Teaching practices throughout all programs consist of a variety of methods and provide students a variety of ways to achieve expected learning outcomes. The learning environments vary by course and include (but, are not limited to) classroom, virtual classrooms, simulation labs, clinical sites, client homes, schools and skills labs.

BSN Teaching/Learning Practices. Undergraduate faculty utilize a wide array of teaching methodologies and strategies to achieve expected student outcomes. Many classes meet in traditional classroom settings and learn through lecture, discussion, and small group work. Courses may use mixed methods such as discussion forums and online assignments substituted for some in classroom class meetings. Each course has a Blackboard or Sakai site that is established and maintained by the course coordinator which facilitates communication and allows for submission of written work. The RN-BSN option is a complete online option with a variety of methodologies included in the teaching strategies (Syllabi in the Resource Room).

Simulation is widely used in the BSN/ABSN program to enhance classroom activities and is integrated throughout the curriculum. Students are able to apply assessment, communication and intervention skills as they rotate through simulation cases in small groups of three to six. Many courses use simulation as a synthesis experience toward the end of the semester while a few courses use simulation to help students prepare for clinical experiences. Scenario based simulated cases are done in NURS360: Concepts, Processes and Skills for Evidence-Based Nursing, NURS364: Nursing Care of Adults with Major Health

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Problems I, NURS472: Nursing Care of Infants, Children and Their Families, NURS477: Psychiatric Mental Health Concepts for Broad Clinical Application in Nursing, NURS479: Maternal/Newborn Nursing, NURS470: Public Health Nursing and NURS588: Leadership in Health Care Organizations. The human patient simulators, scripted unfolding cases, and standardized patients embedded in cases are used to provide realism in the simulated experiences. The use of low fidelity simulation with case studies is often used to reinforce content both in class and out of class. For example, the leadership course has a simulation day that uses case studies to reinforce previously taught content, with students moving between stations with different topics. Problem Based Learning, a case study approach, is utilized in the capstone course (NURS590: Nursing Care of Adults with Complex Health Problems II).

BSN Teaching/Learning Environments. Classrooms are located throughout the School and include auditoriums, medium sized and small sized classrooms. In all classrooms, a variety of technologies are available for presenting content, including audio-visual equipment, wireless and/or wired internet connections and white boards with the availability of portable audience response systems. Faculty utilize lecture, discussion, group work, and guest presenters. Other spaces used for teaching and learning include a student computer lab and teleconference equipped classrooms. The Education-Innovation-Simulation-Learning-Environment (EISLE) allows student learning in a controlled environment. In the EISLE, students learn psychomotor skills that are foundational to nursing practice within the framework of the nursing process. These skills range from simple to complex and include health assessment, technical skills, cognitive components of skill performance and professional performance of psychomotor skills

incorporating decision making and critical thinking. Using a combination of teaching assistants, faculty and EISLE staff, students are evaluated on skill performance prior to implementation in the clinical setting.

EISLE evaluation of skills includes observation by faculty or teaching assistants using critical performance indicators to determine the designated level of performance required for skill mastery. An example of an EISLE evaluation tool, N360 Fundamental Competency Evaluation 2, is found in Appendix III.3.

Clinical Practice Sites. Undergraduate students are placed in a variety of sites for clinical practice including in-patient acute care sites, long term care facilities, psychiatric in-patient settings, ambulatory care clinics, schools and community settings. Over 100 separate agencies are used, many contributing multiple units for clinical experiences. These agencies are located in diverse geographic locales representing patients, families, and communities across the life span and from diverse ethnic,

socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds. Because of the varied nature of the clinical settings, students are exposed to a variety of nursing practice models and approaches to treatment and care.

Clinical practice sites are reviewed annually and selected by course faculty based on course evaluation data, course objectives, conferences with students, and discussions with site staff. Coordination and confirmation of requests are made through the Undergraduate Clinical Site Coordinator (UGCSC). The UGCSC, in consultation with the undergraduate program director, negotiates clinical placements with the agencies, initiates School/agency contracts, and assures that NCBON site reports are filed. The ADAA is

responsible for the execution and maintenance of contracts with clinical agencies. Contracts are stored in OAA and samples will be available in the Resource Room.

For each clinical course, performance expectations appropriate for both content and level of student are defined through the use of course specific evaluation tools. The Clinical Indicators of Critical Thinking, Knowledge and Caring Tool (Appendix III.4) has been used in each clinical course to track student development on core expectations across the curriculum. This tool has been recently revised through a work group subcommittee of the BEC, with pilot testing in Fall, 2010 and Spring, 2011. The evaluation was completed at the end of the Spring, 2011 semester with implementation in summer 2011.

MSN: Teaching/Learning Practices. The MSN teaching learning practices include a variety of methods for active learning and some strategies that mimic real life situations. Strategies include case studies (static and evolving), group discussion, seminars, student and faculty presentations, guest lectures, journals, videos, video simulations, research projects, patient actors, and learning labs in the EISLE. Some courses are taught partially or completely online and discussion forums are frequently used. The EISLE has equipment and laboratory space needed for demonstration and practice of advanced physical assessment skills and technical skills such as suturing. In NURS726: Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning in Primary Care Nursing, students are assigned a task oriented role in a faculty moderated EISLE lab. Students discuss a clinical scenario, document history and physical examination findings, develop a list of differential diagnoses, determine appropriate diagnostic studies and decide on a final diagnosis. During the faculty moderated lab a student may be asked to present a patient, with the faculty member providing feedback and suggestions. Other skills that can be practiced in the EISLE include assessment of heart/lung sounds, female pelvic examination using models or actors and assessing child development using learning modules.

Teaching/Learning Environments. The MSN program shares classroom, seminar and teleconferencing space with the BSN program. MSN classes are primarily held on Tuesday and Wednesday, with BSN classes in session on Thursday and Friday. A separate Graduate Computer Lab is available for MSN and PhD students and EISLE Labs are re-configured for MSN use. Through MSN projects and thesis, students work with renowned nurse scientists as well as accomplished clinical nurse educators and scholars. Some MSN courses are conducted using an executive format when students attend classes on campus one day per month or less and participate in video conference classes on other days.

Clinical Sites. The School uses over 475 clinical sites for MSN student placements. Graduate clinical sites are selected to meet the learning objectives of the individual course and ultimately the program objectives.

Criteria that factor into the selection of a clinical site include: level of student, the focus of the course, competencies expected, and the preceptor’s preferences. For example, some preceptors who work in general pediatric primary care settings (the focus of year one for PNPs) may prefer to work with first year

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students each year, while other preceptors who work in a more complex settings or specialty clinics, may prefer to work with second-year students. Contracts are maintained in OAA and are under the oversight of the ADAA. NP students enrolled in clinical courses use the Medatrax tracking system to document patient encounters and learning experiences.

III-E. The curriculum and teaching/learning practices consider the needs and expectations of the