Evolving as Nurse Educators in Problem-Based Learning Through a Community of Faculty Development

Introduction: In Dokuz Eylül School of Medicine (DESM) a faculty development program is being carried out by the “Trainers’ Training Committee?. DESM made a fundamental change in its curriculum from traditional to Problem-based Learning (PBL) in 1997. This was the first implementation of a PBL curriculum in Turkey. Faculty development activities were initiated in the same year. This paper describes the faculty development activities with a special emphasis on PBL courses.Program description: Between 1997-2000 27 four-day long PBL courses were held for 343 participants. The curriculum consisted of PBL philosophy, PBL steps, role of the tutor and students in PBL process, effective case design, assessment principles and group dynamics. PBL simulations enabled the participants to play the roles of both tutors and students.Process evaluation: At the end of the program most of the participants stated that length of the program, content, training methods and the course organization was appropriate. The majority of the participants (89.5%) found the program very useful. PBL steps, PBL practices and PBL philosophy were found as the most useful sessions.Discussion: These courses gave medical staff the opportunity to develop their understanding of PBL methodology and theory. PBL courses and continuous educational activities such as weekly tutor meetings are being held and new courses on advanced tutoring skills are being planned for the near future in DESM.

A key challenge for faculty development is ensuring that learning is transferred to the workplace. An effective program fosters the development of a particular blend of knowledge, dispositions, and behaviors that are applied and sustained over time. The role of expert clinician aside, faculty in academic institutions may not be formally prepared for the evolving range of roles and tasks they are asked to fulfill. Designing an effective faculty development program poses formidable challenges. While the literature offers ample guidance on designing faculty development episodes, perspectives on organized and comprehensive faculty development programs based on the principles of transfer of training are lacking. In this perspective, we highlight 11 key considerations for effective faculty development in an institutional context (TABLE). Our aim is to guide individuals responsible for designing and implementing a development program with the goal of enhancing the transfer of learning into workplace practice.

BackgroundThe role of clinician educators has expanded to encompass diverse responsibilities alongside providing competent care and engaging in scholarly activities. Faculty development (FD) programs have emerged as vital tools for equipping educators with teaching skills and career advancement opportunities. However, assessing faculty development programs’ impact on organizational culture remains challenging due to their multifaceted nature. This study explores this gap to understand how faculty development influences organizational culture.MethodsThis qualitative study used a constructivist approach to explore faculty perspectives on the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Faculty Development Program’s influence on organizational culture. Forty-three faculty members participated in nine semi-structured focus groups, selected for diversity across roles and locations. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and anonymized to ensure accuracy and participant confidentiality.Data analysisTranscripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. A multidisciplinary team independently reviewed transcripts, identified preliminary codes, and refined themes through iterative consensus building. Coding was organized using memos and grouped into themes. Using information power principles, the team determined that nine focus groups provided sufficient data richness to meet the study’s aims.ResultsThe research team identified and refined four central themes: professionalization, legitimization, the value of community, and leadership impact. The participants reported a greater sense of professionalization through enhanced teaching skills, increased awareness of educational literature, and heightened confidence in their educator roles. The faculty development program fostered a strong community, promoting collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mutual support across specialties and locations. Leadership impact was evident at individual and institutional levels, increasing confidence, mentorship, and organizational support.ConclusionsThis study provides valuable insights into the organizational impact of faculty development programs, shedding light on how such initiatives influence faculty experiences and organizational culture. Future research should explore leadership values, faculty retention, burnout prevention, and the broader value of education within academic institutions.

PurposeThe present research aimed to examine the role of FDP in enhancing the teachers' competencies through modern technological tools and innovative teaching methods. And also, to evaluate the impact of FDPs on teachers' attitudes and motivation to integrate modern teaching innovations into their classroom practices.Design/methodology/approachUsing a pre-post study design, the study was conducted in two phases, Phase I was conducted one week before conducting FDP (14th to 20th August 2023) and Phase II was conducted after one week of FDP (15th to 21st September 2023). The data were gathered through structured questionnaires from the participants in FDP and collected data were processed and analyzed through a statistical package for social sciences.FindingsThe study found that undergoing FDP by teachers significantly influences the adoption of advanced pedagogical approaches and technology integration during their teaching practice. This indirectly helps in promoting quality education at large and contributes to the UNSDG-4. The study also revealed that the effective FDP not only helps in advancing teaching methods but also influences instructors' philosophies and attitudes towards students' overall learning and development.Practical implicationsThese findings have several key implications for higher education institutions, policymakers and teachers at large. Firstly, HEIs should prioritize undertaking FDPs that promote in adopting advanced pedagogical approaches. This indirectly equips the instructors with the knowledge and skills necessary to integrate modern teaching methods into their real classroom practices. Further, by adopting FDP as a strategic initiative to improve the quality of education and work by aligning these programs with broader SDG goals.Originality/valueAdvancing education for enhancing the overall quality of learning depends on the competencies of instructors. The competencies of instructors rely upon the involvement of instructors in life-long learning, level of adoption of technology, innovative approaches used, etc. This study may help higher education institutions adopt FDP as a strategic initiative to improve the quality of education and work by aligning these programs with broader SDG goals.

Supporting Change in Entrepreneurship Education: Creating a Faculty Development Program Grounded in Results from a Literature ReviewEpicenter, an NSF-funded STEP Center, is creating a team-based program to supportinstitutional change and faculty development, the Pathways to Innovation Program, with the goalof integrating entrepreneurship and innovation education into formal and informal engineeringcurriculums in higher education. To guide the design and implementation of the facultydevelopment program, a literature review was conducted during June-August 2013 to identifyeffective models and promising practices from the complementary topic areas of facultydevelopment and change in higher education. During the review and selection process, relevantarticles were expected to address the following parameters:1. Scale: the faculty development program should be regional or national;2. Topic: the program should support engineering faculty in adopting or adapting curricula;3. Context: engineering faculty should integrate entrepreneurship and innovation curricula;4. Sustainability: successful changes would be institutionalized at all levels;5. Evaluation: faculty development programs would demonstrate changed attitudes, knowledge, and practices in engineering faculty and students.Although articles that definitively addressed all of these parameters were not found, we wereable to identify articles that reported promising practices or models around Scale, Context, and tosome extent, Evaluation. We synthesized these results into findings about the components ofeffective faculty development and change programs.Components of Meaningful Faculty Development Programs:• The combination of duration, experiential learning opportunities, and peer interaction are factors that contribute to meaningful faculty development programs.• The content and activity of faculty development programs should be constructed around a learning theory and principles of instructional design.• Evaluation, beyond satisfaction, is not conducted programmatically in faculty development programs; but it should be incorporated into every stage of a faculty development program, including pre-planning activities.Components of Fostering Change in Higher Education• Curriculum change must be viewed systemically. It is not merely a matter of ‘adding-on’ or ‘adding-in’ missing or new curriculum components.• Theories of change must guide the work of making change in order to evaluate the success of particular approaches or the impact of the change effort.• External facilitators are essential to managing group change processes and to creating a less stressful learning environment when faculty members begin to question their approaches.Our paper will present detailed results about promising faculty development models andinstitutional and curricular change management processes. It will discuss implications of thefindings and recommendations for the design of the Pathways to Innovation Program. And it willreport on the progress of the program launch (planned for Spring 2014) and integration intoentrepreneurship and innovation curriculums at participating institutions of higher education.

PurposeThe faculties are crucial to education. They should have enough training facilities and be encouraged to actively contribute to high-quality education and successful learning. Faculty engagement and development activities should be explored and included in learning organizations and employee engagement in India. This paper aims to describe higher education as a learning organization. The research will also assess how faculty development programs affect faculty engagement behaviors in these institutions and if professional development mediates this effect, which has not been previously examined.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted with quantitative data collected from 267 faculties through reliable and validated adapted questionnaires. Semistructured interviews were conducted with heads and professor-level faculties to gain insights into faculty development and engagement. Partial least squares structural equation modeling technique (PLS-SEM 3.3.6 version) was used to test the conceptually drafted model.FindingsFaculty professional development programs shown to improve higher education faculty engagement and professional progress. The studies also showed that higher education institutions must prioritize faculty development to become learning organizations. Professional development reduced the direct effects of faculty development program (FDP) on faculty engagement. This suggests that professional growth mediates the research.Practical implicationsThis research emphasizes and professional development to boost teacher involvement in B-Schools. Management must design faculty development programs to construct professional development and learning organizations, according to the results. Developing and writing rules that encourage faculty engagement in such internal and external programs would also enhance their academic and administrative abilities and assist higher education institutions become learning organizations.Originality/valueThe study is one of the few to examine the impact of faculty development programs and professional development on faculty engagement in higher education institutions, particularly B-Schools, and its competitive mediating role.

BACKGROUND: Medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the United States. To address this problem, a concerted effort by nurse educators to integrate Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies into nursing curricula is relevant. There is a need for innovative educational strategies, faculty development, and implementation approaches to support successful QSEN competency implementation. PURPOSE: The purpose of this research was to evaluate a faculty development course that included QSEN competency education, resources, and support. METHODS: A pretest posttest design was used and 19 nursing faculty from a northeast U.S. public college participated in the program. Participants completed the National QSEN Faculty Survey before and after a 6-part QSEN competency-based training course. Descriptive statistics and the chi-square statistical test were used to compare means of pretest and post-test responses. RESULTS: Results indicated a significant increase of incorporating the QSEN competencies in nursing courses following the faculty development program. The most helpful QSEN resource was found to be the QSEN website followed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in pre and post-test results. Case studies, lectures, and group projects were the most frequently used teaching strategies, and the classroom was found to be the setting where most faculty integrated QSEN competencies into their courses. IMPLICATIONS: Faculty development programs are an effective method of providing support for the integration of QSEN competencies into the undergraduate nursing curricula. Evaluation of faculty development programs is essential so that effective programs can be shared and sustained. Keywords: QSEN, competencies, faculty development, quality, safety

The current investigation aimed to assess the level of participation and recognition received by faculty members from State Universities and Colleges (SUCs) in the Province of Iloilo as part of their faculty development programs. The obtained results will be utilized to develop an improved five-year faculty development plan. This study employed a quantitative research design, utilizing a descriptive method to determine the degree of engagement with various components of the faculty development program, which would serve as the basis for the faculty development model. A total of 848 respondents were randomly selected through simple random sampling and completed a survey questionnaire. Frequency count, percentage, mean, and standard deviation were employed to provide a descriptive analysis of the data. Furthermore, Chi-Square, Mann Whitney U Test, and Kruskal Wallis Test were utilized to examine significant differences in the extent of faculty development program utilization. The findings indicate that the majority of faculty members from SUCs expressed "very satisfied" levels of satisfaction regarding their engagement in scholarships, seminars, training, conferences, and symposia. They also reported being "satisfied" with their involvement in other faculty development programs, with the exception of fellowships. Moreover, the study revealed that there was no significant relationship between the extent of satisfaction with the faculty development program components and demographic profiles, except for the plantilla position. Post hoc analysis indicated significant differences among respondents holding the positions of instructors and associate professors, as well as assistant professors and associate professors.

Faculty development programs (FDPs) have proven to be successful for improving teaching skills in higher education. This review article summarizes literature reviews and resource books on faculty development. It tackled why FDP is important, history of FDP in the past years, and questioned whether FDP produced any positive effect on students' academic achievement as well as the different methods to assess FDPs effectiveness. The review also discussed how to establish FDP, presented its ideal structure, features that make FDP effective, and outlined the barriers to its successful implementation as well as the future vision. This report also highlighted the situation of FDP in Saudi Arabia. Finally, the review concluded that professional FDPs produce promising outcomes in the learning and teaching practices and recommended that teachers in higher education should attend FDP training activities on regular basis and that the scope of planned FDPs should extend beyond the health professions discipline, to include social skills necessary for collaboration, professional growth as well as management, and leadership abilities.

A Comprehensive Faculty Development Model for Nursing Education

PurposeDrawing on the decade of experience of Boston University Medical Campus’ Faculty Development Office, this paper reports strategies used to launch and continually improve faculty development programming within an academic health sciences campus.Patients and MethodsThe authors explain the steps that Boston University Medical Campus took to institute their set of faculty development programs, including an overview of resources on how to periodically conduct needs assessments, engage key institutional stakeholders, design and evaluate an array of programming to meet the needs of a diverse faculty, and institute real-time program modifications.ResultsIn a step-by-step guide, and by highlighting vital lessons learned, the authors describe a process by which biomedical educators can create and sustain a robust faculty development office within their own institutions.ConclusionThis paper identifies steps to launch and improve faculty development program. Faculty development programs should be expanded to support faculty in academic medical centers.

Although environmental health has been central to nursing practice since the work of Florence Nightingale, the inclusion of environmental health concepts into nursing education has, for the most part, been confined to public health and occupational health nursing. The 1995 Institute of Medicine report, Nursing, Health, and the Environment, clearly stated that environmental health was an important aspect of nursing practice, but nurses were not adequately educated to address such in their practice. This article highlights the initiatives by nurse educators, faculty development programs, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and private foundations to educate and engage nurses in environmental health since 1995, with a focus on the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments. The historical summary was developed using professional literature, documents, personal interviews, and survey data. Nurses responded to the mandates of the 1995 Institute of Medicine report, Nursing, Health, and the Environment, in formal educational programs, through continuing education for nurses, workshops, symposia, and regional faculty development trainings. Since the formation of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, collaborative efforts led to the development of competencies, nursing outreach to organizations such as the American Nursing Association, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to advance practice standards, academic curriculum, and the development of an electronic textbook. The environmental health nursing agenda moved forward since the publication of the 1995 IOM report; however, the development of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments accelerated the educational accomplishments through organizational collaboration.

Clinical associated faculty (CAF) are typically expert clinicians but novice educators, lacking professional development opportunities targeted to their unique needs. This can result in unnecessary variability in content delivery and potentially negative student learning outcomes. The purpose of this article is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of a faculty development program designed specifically for CAF. Thirty-two CAF completed a longitudinal faculty development program designed by faculty at the University of Colorado Doctor of Physical Therapy Program (CU). Content was driven by faculty development literature, core concepts of CU's Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, and key constructs for excellence in DPT education. Changes in teaching confidence were examined with a modified version of the Nurse Educator Skill Acquisition Assessment (NESAA) in pre-test/post-test design. Creighton University DPT Program (Creighton) adapted the faculty development program for their own CAF and similarly assessed change in teaching skill in 21 CAF using the NESAA. Additional data were collected through session evaluations and review of student course evaluations for both programs. At CU and Creighton, 28 and 21 participants, respectively, completed the CAF development program and all desired outcome measures. Outcomes revealed a significant increase (P < .05) on NESAA scores. In addition, results demonstrated decreased negative student comments related to teaching inconsistencies on course evaluations and an overall positive perception of the program by participants. A CAF longitudinal faculty development program was developed and successfully implemented at 2 universities. This model could be used as a template by other DPT programs to address the existing faculty development gap and support the distinctive needs of CAF.

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, Lubbock.

BackgroundWorkshops are the most common models to enhance knowledge and skills in a specific subject area with an intent to explore, solve a problem and/or innovate new things. The most important aspect of a workshop is the transfer of knowledge in a safe learning environment as a faculty development activity (FDA). At International Medical University (IMU), Malaysia’s first private medical university which was established in 1992, Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs) are run throughout the year in order to enhance the knowledge and skills in teaching and assessment. In order to sustain this faculty development, IMU has a dedicated medical education unit called the IMU Centre of Education (ICE) with dedicated staff and respected faculty developers who are academic role models to the faculty of the institution. However, FDA are collaboratively run by ICE and IMU Centre for lifelong learning (ICL).ObjectivesTo determine the immediate impact of faculty development workshops for health professionals in teaching schools of IMU to enhance the teaching and assessment abilities of the faculty.MethodologyA retrospective quantitative research design was developed to collect data from multiple standard setting workshops using a 3-point Likert scale. A 20 items questionnaire as a pretest from the participants with and without the prior reading of online posted reading materials. An interventional hands-on workshop and a post-test score, using the same 20 items questionnaire, followed the workshop intervention. A collated quantitative data were gathered from a sample of 139 participants attending the standard setting workshops. Data were analysed using paired t test, one-way ANOVA and ANCOVA with effect size in SPSS version 24.ResultsA mean difference between pretest and post-test score was significant at t (138) = 92.24, p < 0.01. A barely significant difference of mean scores between pre-read, partially read and not-read participants was found at F (1, 136) = 9.402, p = < 0.05 and η2 = 0.121 by one-way ANOVA. A post-test difference of the mean scores across those read, partially read and not-read for reading materials on a controlled pretest score determined by one-way ANCOVA remained non-significant at F (1, 136) = 0.240, p = 0.787 associated with a practical effect size = 0.4% only.ConclusionA significant difference of the mean pretest and post-test score within the group was also significant between the groups. A post-test score, controlling on pretest score, was found not significant and is suggestive of an effectively delivered workshop for all participants. As a practical guide, a 7-step plan is recommended to ensure immediate impact of FDP. Majority of the participants rated the workshop as good in terms of content, organisation, delivery and usefulness. A high percentage of survey respondents reported that similar workshops to be offered in future.