Learning and Teaching and the Curriculum

There is congruence between the curriculum and the learning and teaching approaches used by faculty within all the nursing programs in the CAEN partnership. This means that the foundational perspectives and core concepts that inform the curriculum also inform learning and teaching practices. Learning and inquiry are integral processes through which students develop as professional nurses and students need to develop skills in both these processes as they proceed through the program. The development of competence in these areas, as well as in the related concept of scholarship, is initiated in the first semester and students come to a greater understanding of themselves as scholars and teachers as they move towards graduation. Hence teaching, learning, inquiry and scholarship are concepts within the curriculum, processes through which students co-create with others their body of nursing knowledge and also competencies required of nurses to practice effectively with clients.

Curriculum is defined as the interactions that take place between and among students, clients, practitioners, and faculty (lived experience) with the intent that learning take place. To this end the curriculum is based on Bevis and Watson’s (1989) conceptualization of nursing curricula. This view of curriculum places major emphasis on the quality of relationships experienced in an education program, rather than on the course of studies, behavioural objectives, threads, or themes that many nursing education programs stress. The relationships students have with others are varied, such as those with clients, the practitioners they work with, their peers, and their teachers. Teachers are seen as expert learners working with students in partnership, drawing on student experience and on theory of various kinds to develop the content to be learned. The shift from a behaviourist model to one reflecting phenomenology builds on a foundation of a relationship between teacher and student who are seen as partners or co-learners in the educational process. The relationship is one in which learning priorities and essential learning experiences for each student are addressed. Consequently, not every student requires, needs, or has similar learning opportunities. Furthermore, reflecting the reality of nursing practice settings, students are likely to have vastly different learning experiences in practice placements within and across all semesters.

Teaching and learning in the curriculum draws on critical pedagogy, feminist pedagogy, critical social theory, and postcolonial perspectives with the intent of providing emancipatory and transformative experiences for students. In addition, faculty examine the social conditions that might influence students’ experiences of learning and success in the program. To this end faculty try to create an environment that is inclusive of all students and respects diversity. Learning is defined as a reformulation of the meaning of experiences and leads to changes in attitudes, feelings, and responses. Students, practitioners, faculty, and clients are equally valued as partners in the learning process in the curriculum. Critical thinking is emphasized and students are encouraged to become critically reflective practitioners who are able to analyse a situation and challenge the status quo. How Empiricist Perspectives Inform Learning and Teaching Teaching and learning in the curriculum also draws on empirical perspectives, particularly with an emphasis on assessments and evaluations. Students are exposed to scientific processes for collecting and organizing information (decision making for nursing practice framework) at the same time as they understand that no single truths govern health and they are able to link the observable to the unobservable (Im and Meleis, 1999). The curriculum reflects a view of nursing as a discipline that values different ways of knowing. Knowledge is derived from the understanding of self, practice, theory, and research, with each way of knowing informing and influencing the other. Similarly evaluation practices within the curriculum are grounded on rational information collection and are contextualized by the unique circumstances of the student, the teacher, the learning environment, etc.