Meaningful Experience

I am currently into my third week teaching the online VLDD course and it has been an

eye-opening experience. One thing I learned so far is how the students depend on the instructor

to guide them, especially in the first week of the course. Jamie was responsible for moderating

the question and answer forum for the first week and she was very busy dealing with a lot of

technical issues.

It is definitely different being on the other side of the podium so to speak. As a student, I

expect my professors to grade my assignments in a timely manner, now as an instructor, my

students expect the same as me. It is not easy to juggle this small course while attending school

so I can certainly understand now how much of a challenge it can be to have several students and

teach multiple courses. At times, it seems like it would be almost impossible. This experience

has helped me with my time management skills as I do not want to let my students down and

make them wait too long for their feedback!

Impact on Practice

Actually stepping into the role of an online educator has been a great experience for

me. I have entertained the idea of becoming an adjunct professor for and online BSN program

after I graduate this semester. For this course I am only responsible for responding to three

students and grading their assignments and giving them feedback. I have learned that it takes a

lot of time to give good feedback and grade assignments. If I decided to apply for a job as an

online professor, I will have to make sure that I set enough time aside each week to engage my

students and help them meet the learning outcomes. It is also very important to make sure that

you are familiar with the content you are teaching. I have spent a great deal of time researching
articles that apply to the topics they are learning with each module. I think it is important to

reach beyond the textbook and introduce some new information through discussion posts.

I think being a nursing professor will be a very rewarding career. It is so important to

give constructive feedback so we can challenge our students to dig deeper and learn more about

the topic. I have learned it is equally important to praise them for their good work and let them

know they are on the right path. This practicum experience is giving me the opportunity to

improve on giving feedback to students and grade according to a rubric.

Leadership Meeting

This practicum is kind of unique in that I have not “met” my preceptor as it is Dr.

Digger. But I think stays true to online academia. When you take a faculty position with an

online program you won’t get the opportunity to work with your colleagues face-to-face but with

technology, you can still work together. I have met with Dr. Digger and my other colleagues

twice this semester in a Zoom chat room. The first meeting was at the beginning of the course

where we discussed what our plans were, how to navigate the VLDD course online, and how we

were going to divide the work. We met again last week to discuss how we were doing and

addressed any concerns we might have with the course. These meetings have been invaluable

and are a great way to stay connected with your colleagues when teaching an online course.

Because I did not have to opportunity to attend an administrative meeting during my practicum, I

wanted to share about the leadership meetings I started attending when I became a nurse

educator. Each month there is a leadership meeting where I am currently employed out. The

meeting is for all of the nurses in leadership roles such as managers, assistant managers,

directors, supervisors, and nurse educators. The meeting begins with recognition of nurses who
graduated recently, earned a certification, and those who made a positive impact on their unit or

in their department. I think this is a great way to celebrate the achievements of the nurses

throughout the hospital.

The meetings usually focus on changes that are occurring throughout the facility. We

recently applied for Magnet so there is a comprehensive update on where we stand in this

process. We also learn about new programs in the hospitals as well as any changes to our

currently policies or practices. It is nice to learn about what we are doing and where we are

heading.

At the end of each meeting, a nurse leader is invited to prepare a presentation on a topic

that impacts nurse leaders. For this meeting, the nurse manager from the emergency department

prepared a brief lecture on how stress can impact nurses in a leadership role. She discussed how

most nurse leaders feel pressure from the top and the bottom so to speak as they are usually the

middlemen between staff and upper management. There were a lot of great tools discussed

about how we can handle this stress and what coping mechanisms we can use to ensure we do

not get burned out in our roles.

I really enjoyed this meeting because it gave me a great sense of the leadership

community in this hospital. It can be easy to feel like you are alone sometimes as leadership

roles can be very isolating. It is refreshing to communicate with your peers who might be feeling

the same way. I am glad that I am able to attend these meetings every month and I really take a

lot from them.

Melissa Purchacki