Anne Simmonds

Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream, Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Title: Critical reflection and Professional Identity in Nursing Education: A Collaborative Learning Assessment Design (CLAD)

Research Focus: Reflective practice is a legislated requirement and professional practice expectation for nurses in Ontario. In the context of nursing education, critical reflection can foster students’ exploration of the discipline of nursing and their developing professional identities, including the knowledge, values and assumptions upon which their practice is based. Our research team developed a learning assessment focused on reflective journaling as part of a collaborative student-faculty course design initiative to enhance meaningful learning for diverse learners within an introductory professionalism course in an accelerated BScN program. The aim of this research project is to examine the use of reflective journaling as a means of enhancing students’ understanding of the links between theory and practice within the discipline of nursing and on exploring their developing professional identities as novice nursing students.

Study Design: All students enrolled (N=175) were required to submit 8 weekly reflective journals in response to pre-determined prompts linking classroom-based content with experiential personal and professional knowledge. All students who were enrolled in the course will be invited to participate by sharing their insights related to reflective journaling in a World Café – a structured discussion format that allows for disciplined inquiry, constructive dialogue around critical questions, and collaborative learning.

Impact: The anticipated impact of this project on teaching and learning is twofold. Firstly, the knowledge gained through this project will be used to inform revisions to learning assessment design within this introductory professionalism course. Secondly, although students’ learning is enhanced when they have a voice in course design, there is currently a gap in our understanding of how to engage in collaborative course design with students. Critical reflection on our experience of engaging in collaborative course design will contribute to the scholarship in this area.

SoTL Cohort Poster presented at the 2019 Teaching and Learning Symposium