Optimal Learning Environment for Nurses
Create a 10 page report on the optimal learning environment for the course you
began developing in Assessment 1.
Note: Assessments in this course build on each other and must be completed in
sequential order.
Often instructors do not get to choose the environment in which they will teach,
but in this assessment you have the opportunity to do just that. Here you will
select an environment that is the best fit for your content and learner population,
and also consider how to maintain learner motivation in the environment you
choose.
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your
proficiency in the following course competencies and assessment criteria:
● Competency1: Appraise the influence of learner's culture, gender, and
experiences on teaching and learning.
○ Describe the most appropriate learning environment for an intended
topic and audience.
● Competency 2: Apply educational theory and evidence-based teaching
practices when implementing teaching strategies.
○ Evaluate the applicability of classroom management and learner
motivation theories to a specific course.
● Competency 3: Apply a variety of teaching strategies appropriate to
diverse learner needs, content, and desired learner outcomes.
○ Describe theories of learner motivation.
○ Describe evidence-based best practices to enhance learner
motivation in diverse settings.
● Competency 4: Integrate best practices for classroom management.
○ Describe theories of classroom and learner management.
○ Describe evidence-based strategies for classroom and learner
management.
● Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional,
and consistent with the expectations of a nursing education professional.
○ Support a position with effective written communication; use correct
spelling, grammar, punctuation and mechanics, and APA style and
formatting.
The Tripartite Model
For nursing faculty in colleges and universities, promotion and tenure will be partially
determined by meeting expectations in all three areas: teaching, service, and scholarship. In
many practice settings, including large health care systems, there is also often the expectation
for educators and administration nurses to participate in service and scholarship.
Scholarship is sometimes thought of as contributing to the professional literature with articles,
books, or Internet materials. This may be one aspect, but the field of nursing also considers
scholarship from a broader perspective. Service refers to contributions beyond those that are
expected as part of a position description. This might include volunteer work with health care
groups or in the community. It might also include involvement with professional organizations in
the form of holding office or serving on committees.
Nurse Educators as Change Agents
Education is a powerful means for changing behavior and beliefs. As nurses we have all
engaged in patient education designed to help individual patients change behaviors that are
damaging their health. We educate staff on new practices designed to engage them in a new
approach to patient care. As nurse educators, much of our work is designed toward changes,
either through adding to knowledge so that individuals are better informed in how to accomplish
goals, or in providing new knowledge to change behavior or solve a problem.
As academic nurse educators, we are engaged in adding to knowledge so that individuals can
learn to be nurses or acquire specialty knowledge in nursing. In staff development, we are often
involved in initiating new procedures and processes for carrying out health care initiatives. In
patient education, we are teaching ways to improve health and change harmful behaviors. In all
instances, change is the key word. Sometimes the changes come easily and the learners are
eager for new knowledge; however, sometimes that is not true and we meet resistance from the
learners. Finding ways to overcome that resistance is an important aspect of being a change
agent.
● Which evidence-based research supports or refutes the use of traditional
teaching methods? Which traditional teaching methods support critical
thinking?
● What innovative pedagogical teaching strategies are present in your
teaching philosophy? What evidence-based research supports or refutes
the use of activity-based teaching methods?
● What do you believe is the role of the educator when using simulations in a
learning environment?
● Vila Health: Management and Motivation | Transcript.
○ Chapter 1: Understanding Motivation for Adult Learners.
Create a 10 page report on the optimal learning environment for the course you
began developing in Assessment 1. You should select a learning environment
that will foster motivation in your learner population, support your efforts at
classroom motivation, and best serve the goals of the course.
Create a report that does the following:
● Describes the learning environment most appropriate for the educational
topic and intended audience that you identified.
● Briefly describes and evaluates theories of classroom management,
learner management, and learner motivation that are relevant to your
course and intended audience.
● Describes evidence-based strategies for classroom and learner
management and evidence-based best practices to enhance learner
motivation and how you would employ these in your learning environment
and with a diverse group of learners.
● Supports your choices with scholarly resources.
Additional Requirements
● Format: 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, double-spaced in
Microsoft Word.
● Length: 3–4 pages, plus a title page and a references page.
● Use correct APA format, including running head, page numbers, and a title
page.
● Use and cite at least three scholarly articles in your plan.
● Writing should be free of grammar and spelling errors that distract from
Optimal Learning Environment for Nurses