our leadership stories connecting canadian nurse educators in an online story-based learning...

Our Leadership Stories

Connecting Canadian Nurse Educators in an Online Story-Based

Learning Community

byBrenda J. Stutsky RN, MScN, EdS, PhD


Problem

• Shortage of nurses

• Difficulty filling leadership vacancies

• Few career laddering opportunities

• Educators in prime position to foster a leadership mindset and act as talent scouts – 1st need to develop own leadership practices and feel empowered


Goal

• To develop an online learning community where hospital-based nurse educators could develop their own nursing leadership practices through storytelling within an environment that included the elements of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence


Overall Research Question

• What is the effect of the type of online learning community, based on a community of inquiry model, on hospital-based nurse educators’ perceptions of structural and psychological empowerment and leadership practices?


Method

• Mixed methods design• Non-random sample (N = 51)• Nurse educators (RNs) employed in hospitals in

British Columbia, Manitoba, or Ontario• Randomly assigned

– facilitated community (n = 26)– self-organizing community (n = 25)

• Final sample size of 35– 19 in the facilitated community– 16 in the self-organizing community


Method continued• Pretest

– Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire– Psychological Empowerment Instrument– Leadership Practices Inventory

• 12 Week Online Learning Community• Posttest

– Pretest questionnaires• Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire• Psychological Empowerment Instrument• Leadership Practices Inventory

– Community of Inquiry Instrument


• 12 Week Online Learning Community– Facilitated or self-organizing

• Facilitated: I was the facilitator – assisted with analyzing stories• Self-Organizing: Organized own pages, self-analyzed stories

– Wiki – metaphor School of Nursing• Classrooms; Auditorium; Locker; Lounge; Bulletin Board; Library;

Suggestion Box; Calendar; Sandbox

– Learned about leadership practices• Voiced PowerPoint presentations• Circle activity

– Told their leadership stories• Storytelling main teaching-learning strategy• 1 Best and 3 others


Demographics

• Female• Ranged in age from 30-34 yrs to 60-64 yrs• Majority

– Bachelor’s degree– Worked full-time– Rated their own computer abilities compared to other

nurses as average or above average.

• Urban and rural• Nurse educator for less than 1 yr to between 30-

35 yrs• 5-10 yrs to 35-40 yrs of nursing experience


Leadership PracticesModel the

Way

Inspire a Shared

Vision

Challenge the Process

Enable Others to

Act

Encourage the Heart

Kouzes & Posner


Results: Leadership Practices

Significant increases in both groups over time:• Model the Way ↑ (F = 15.10, p < .001)• Inspire a Shared Vision ↑ (F = 34.78, p < .0001)• Challenge the Process ↑ (F = 28.01, p < .0001)• Enable Others to Act ↑ (F = 14.83, p < .001)• Encourage the Heart ↑ (F = 17.04, p < .001)

No significant difference between the communities


Model the Way: Qualitative

• Nurse educators Model the Way through:– educational endeavors;– collaborative activities;– their own clinical knowledge and expertise;– the promotion of educational and clinical

technology; and– furthering their own education.


Inspire a Shared Vision: Qualitative

• Nurse educators have a vision for quality patient care achieved through education and support of nurses in clinical practice.


Challenge the Process: Qualitative

• Nurse educators will take risks and question authority figures to improve patient care.

• They struggle with challenging authority figures.

• Nurse educators will challenge policies, procedure, guidelines, outdated nursing practices, and equipment purchases.


Enable Others to Act: Qualitative

• Nurse educators enable clinical nurses to act through education and support.


Encourage the Heart: Qualitative

• Online, nurse educators Encourage the Heart through their written responses to their colleagues.

• They realize that they could Encourage the Heart more in their everyday nursing practice.


Structural Empowerment

Opportunity

Formal Power

Information Support

Informal Power

Resources

Kanter (1977, 1997)


Results: Structural Empowerment

Significant increases in both groups over time:• Opportunity ↑ (F = 7.80, p < .05)• Informal power ↑ (F = 20.35, p < .0001)



Psychological Empowerment

Meaning Competence Impact Self- Determination

Spreitzer & Quinn (2001)


Results: Psychological Empowerment

Significant increases in both groups over time:• Competence ↑ (F = 5.63, p < .05)• Self-determination ↑ (F = 16.90, p < .001)• Impact ↑ (F = 10.81, p < .05)



Community of Inquiry

Social Presence

CognitivePresence

TeachingPresence

EducationalExperience

Garrison, Anderson, & Archer (2000)


Elements

• Teaching Presence– Unifying element in the model– Necessary to shape a meaningful learning

experience

• Social Presence– Acts as a support to cognitive presence

• Cognitive Presence– Ability to construct meaning


Results: Community of Inquiry

Teaching presence:– Direct Instruction: ↑ in facilitated community

Scores on each of the 3 subscales above midrange: teaching presence highest followed by cognitive and social presence


Phase One

• Introduction and Familiarization– Mixed feelings

• Excitement, hesitation, overwhelmed, fear

– Signs of cognitive and social engagement– Focus on mastering the technology– Strong teaching presence


Phase Two

• Working– Focus on completing learning activities in self-

directed manner– Knowledge transfer of leadership skills to the

workplace– Continued support and encouragement

among members– Continued teaching presence


Phase Three

• Disengagement– Decrease or ceasing of interaction– Continued self-engagement– Decrease in teaching presence re: initiating

discussion– Feelings of guilt among members who did not

fully participate


I do have your 5 circles of leadership taped to my computer at work. You would be amazed at how many people ask me what they are. They really do help me to focus everyday on at least one. I have found that my confidence in my ability to support change and display the leadership characteristics everyday has improved. I really make a point of displaying appreciations for a job well done and I think the staff seem to value doing a good job. I am more aware of my abilities to challenge the process and see the rewards in doing so. Even though I did not seem to be able to get into the discussion online I did value participating in the study. I think if I had more time to get connected I would have eventually participated more. Thank you again for this opportunity.


Recommendations

Critical factors when establishing an online learning community:

• ease of use and reliability of the computer-user interface

• expect technology issues • a wiki can be effective• follow principles of human-computer interaction• ensure that the elements of teaching presence,

cognitive presence, and social presence are incorporated into the design


Recommendations con’t

• design activities for a variety of learning preferences

• consider online storytelling• a facilitator is required for establishing trust,

engaging members, scaffolding discussions, providing feedback, and organizing the online environment

• a restricted and password protected environment is important for establishing trust and a sense of community

• an RSS feed or email notification is important


Recommendations con’t• asynchronous may be preferred• learner support is essential - online and

hardcopy orientation presentations• ongoing technical support is crucial • if one-on-one ongoing feedback is expected

from a facilitator - group size approx. 30 to 40 and divided into subgroups of 15 to 20

• accept that all members will not participate - will be lurkers


Recommendations con’t

• accessible computers

• unblock Web sites

• shift paradigm to one of constructivism

• expect additional outcomes such as a sense of individual empowerment

• take risks, learn from failure, and never give up


Met the GoalThe five anticipated outcomes:• an online learning community would be

established that included the elements of teaching, cognitive, and social presence

• storytelling would be used as one of the main teaching-learning strategies

• nurse educators would develop their own leadership practices

• nurse educators would increase their own feelings of empowerment

• the online community itself would be an empowering environment


That’s It

www.stutsky.pbworks.com

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