A Letter to My Future Students

The Future of Technology in Nursing

Dear Students,
            As I reflect on the nurse educator I hope to be, I consider everything I have learned and experienced throughout my journey in graduate school. Prior to learning about the role of technology in nursing and education, I imagined teaching the same way I had always been taught. This strategy consisted of instilling knowledge to students through the form of lecture and using technology in a way that was comfortable, through PowerPoint presentations and YouTube videos. After being exposed to the numerous technological tools available, I envision my classroom looking much different from the traditional classroom. In order to help prepare you to enter the nursing profession at a time where technology is leading the way, I will integrate technological teaching strategies into every day classes.

The Role of Technology in Nursing Education

            Teaching strategies will support you in being actively involved in your own learning and encourage you to become innovative, technologically savvy nurses. My courses will comprise of technological activities that will venture far beyond lecture to help you to engage in deeper learning, knowledge development, and the growth of critical thinking skills. In the introduction of new content, I will use presentations such as PowerPoint and Prezi, as well as audio/visual productions through Moovly, PowToon, and Movenote. In addition to my utilization of technology to present new concepts, some of your assignments will incorporate the use of technology as well. To prepare for class, you will be asked to visit websites, read journal articles, and watch videos. As homework assignments, you may be asked to create your own presentations, posters, reflection journals, and videos using technology such as Glogster and Blogger. Furthermore, your learning will be evaluated using other strategies in addition to exams with the purpose of assessing your learning from many different angles. Feedback will be given throughout the course through written, personal, and audio means. In terms of the clinical setting, I will also utilize technology in a manner that will encourage you to think in different ways and go where you may have not gone otherwise through high-fidelity simulation, virtual reality scenarios, and gaming. This will help you to develop a sense of clinical judgement and improve on your decision making abilities.  

            As your teacher, I will help guide you through courses, the nursing curriculum, and your journey to becoming a registered nurse up-to-date with the latest technology in health care. With the use of technological learning and evaluation strategies, you will be exposed to the many technologies available to us and will grow to value the use of informatics in nursing and health care. Since technology is constantly changing, we must ensure that we are engaging in life-long learning so we stay current on the latest technological resources. I am dedicated to this process of continual learning in order to provide you all with the most effective technological, educational opportunities.

 

Nursing Informatics Competencies

            With the recent advancements in technology, the field of nursing informatics has been on the rise. Information management systems such as the electronic medical record as well as technological resources like Accuvein and bladder scanners are utilized by nurses to provide safe, effective, quality care. Nursing students must be exposed to healthcare informatics while they are in school in order to have comfort in accessing, navigating, and utilizing technologies in healthcare.  As an educator, acquiring and maintain competence in nursing informatics is imperative in order provide students with the necessary opportunities involving technology.

   

            Overall, I would consider myself to be at the modifier level in regards to nursing informatics competencies. I have a respect for technology in healthcare and understand the role of informatics in nursing. As a result, I incorporate the use of technological resources into my practice by accessing information from multiple online sources and information management systems and using this information to make well-informed clinical decisions. In addition, I utilize technology to support evidence based practice by locating relevant research articles on online databases. When researching information from other internet sources, I assess the sources for quality and reliability to ensure their safe usability to guide practice and inform nurses and patients. As an eRecord Superuser on my unit, I have some participation in the process of change to improve informatics for nursing practice. In order to advance to the innovator level in nursing informatics, I would need to become more involved in the design and development processes of these technologies. 

            After completing the self-assessment for nursing informatics competencies, I was not surprised to see my results as indicating that I have confidence in the use of computers, value in nursing information technology, and a positive view of the application of technology in healthcare. Before starting this course, I felt fairly comfortable with using computers to access information and had a basic understanding of the importance of its incorporation in nursing practice. However, as I near the end of this course, I realize that I now have a greater understanding of the depth of its significance in providing safe, quality care. Most importantly, this course has given me resources, tools, and strategies for integrating healthcare informatics into the nursing curriculum in order to support students in the development of their technological competence. My role as a technologically savvy nurse educator is to provide my students with opportunities to utilize technology while they are in school so they are prepared and equipped with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to informatics when they enter the nursing profession. Since the field of informatics and technology is constantly changing and growing, I challenge myself to stay dedicated to being up-to-date with the latest healthcare technology and its impact on nursing workflow. 

For more information, explore the following resources:

What is nursing informatics?

How do we integrate technology into nursing education? The Deep Dive Workshop describes ways to enhance informatics competencies for nursing students.

Feed Forward and Authentic Assessment

            

            As an educator, assessing teaching strategies and evaluating student learning is an imperative process. There are numerous assessment techniques that can be utilized as either formative or summative evaluation. In my courses, I will use a variety of evaluation strategies so students are able to exhibit their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in many ways. These strategies can take the form of traditional or authentic assessments. In my role as a nurse educator, I will use a combination of these two assessments. By using tests and exams as part of the traditional assessments, I will help students prepare to take the NCLEX examination. However, there needs to be other means of assessing learning and this is where authentic assessment strategies come into play. Authentic assessment assesses student learning in the context of real-world nursing application and the ability to make connections between classroom and clinical experiences. Not only will these assessment strategies serve as another way to prepare students for the NCLEX, but they will also prepare them for their role as a professional nurse. Using authentic assessment in my classroom will give me the ability to measure the student’s retention of knowledge but also their ability to critically think and make clinically sound decisions.

             Examples of Authentic Assessment with Voki 

            Giving and receiving feedback is another essential aspect in the teaching process. In my role as a nurse educator, I will strive to provide continuous feedback that is constructive, timely, and clear. There are many uses for feedback but I strongly believe that one of the main purposes is for improvement. Incorporating formative assessment throughout the course will allow for areas to be identified where students can improve and better themselves. For this reason, feedback must be given in a way that it is useful. In addition to formative assessment being used for student improvement, it is also has a purpose in giving me, as the educator, ideas on how to improve the course. In other words, my course will also integrate feed forward for both students and myself. This type of response has a focus on the future rather than dwelling on the past. It provides suggestions to the student or educator on how they can modify their learning or teaching. Summative evaluation will also be used as a way to identify if students have met the course outcomes or achieved competency in certain areas. Overall, I hope to be an educator that uses multiple methods of evaluating student learning, including authentic assessment, provides feedback that is useful and beneficial to students, and utilizes feedback as a means of course improvement.