Hello, campus community!
In October 2021, I had the opportunity to participate in an online nursing mastery series focused on enhancing online instruction utilizing interactive activities and an understanding of learning theories to optimize student learning in the online environment. The program lasted through December 2021, with meetings one week each month and supplemental assignments, discussion, and collaboration in the remaining three weeks. Overall, the opportunity provided me with an improved understanding of online learning while providing me the opportunity to recognize areas of improvement in my current course delivery.
For many of you, I am sure the concepts I learned are “old news”; however, as a new instructor, I found the discussion engaging and enjoyed the opportunity to explore ways to improve the classroom experience for my students (especially in this virtual environment). As you all know, the pandemic has changed the way in which we teach and learning occurs; therefore, we must explore new ways to effectively deliver information to our students while fostering an environment that promotes engagement and participation. This can be a challenge for anyone, especially instructors who are less familiar with online education. Nursing is traditionally offered only in an in-person format; therefore, the transition to online learning was a completely new concept.
Within the workshop, we focused on recognizing and identifying a variety of learning theories in relation to improving the learning among our students through recognizing the components that affect learning throughout the process.
In my opinion, one of the most beneficial components of the workshop was exploring the technologies that can be utilized to aid in student learning while improving instructor presence within the classroom. One of the major concerns of students in the online learning environment is decreased presence of the instructor in learning; however, there are many technologies available to increase the instructor presence both audibly and visually to the student.
Some of the technologies we explored were the use of
Flipgrid,
Padlet,
Vocaroo,
Bubbl.us, and
Screencast-O-Matic. (
Editor's Note: VSCC has free Screencast-O-Matic accounts available for faculty. Contact Kevin Blankenship in IT for further information.) Each of these technologies offers a unique and engaging format for students to interact with instructors and peers. By utilizing a variety of technologies in the classroom, we can improve the student’s concept of instructor presence as well as improving the overall active learning that occurs within the classroom. Exploring and understanding the many different technologies available to aid in the classroom was extremely beneficial. Many of these formats can allow us as instructors to provide feedback in an interactive way which improves the student's understanding as well as enhancing the relationship between instructor and student.
In addition to the technologies, we had the opportunity to explore resources available for instructors to optimize classroom learning. One such resource is found at the
Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website. The Educational Technology and Mobile Learning website provides instructors with a variety of free tools, webinars, and reviews of products that can be used within the classroom to enhance learning and student engagement. While teaching in an online learning environment can be challenging, if we as instructors each challenge our individual comfort zone and explore new technologies, we have the opportunity to enhance active learning and positive classroom interactions in a way that optimizes the student’s experience.
Best wishes for a wonderful semester,
William Hall, MSN-Ed., RN, CDP, PLNC
Instructor of Nursing
Contributing Author
My name is William Hall. I am a Registered Nurse, and I have worked in many areas of nursing including long-term care, psychiatric-mental health nursing, medical-surgical nursing, nursing leadership, and emergency care. I obtained my Associates Degree in Nursing (2015) from Fortis Institute in Nashville. I obtained both my Bachelor of Science in Nursing (2017) and Master of Science in Nursing with a specialty in nursing education (2019) from Jacksonville University. Currently, I am obtaining my Doctor of Nursing Practice from Aspen University. While I love bedside nursing, my passion has always been in nursing education and preparing the future generation of nurses for meaningful practice.
