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Empowerment and Leadership Development in an Online Story-Based Learning Community by Brenda J. Stutsky RN, MScN, EdS, PhD 6 th Nurse Educators Conference May 6, 2010. Problem. Shortage of nurses Difficulty filling leadership vacancies Few career laddering opportunities
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Empowerment and Leadership Development in an Online Story-Based Learning CommunitybyBrenda J. Stutsky RN, MScN, EdS, PhD6th Nurse Educators ConferenceMay 6, 2010
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 • 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
Method continued • Posttest • Pretest questionnaires • Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire • Psychological Empowerment Instrument • Leadership Practices Inventory • Community of Inquiry Instrument
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 Practices Model the Way Inspire a Shared Vision Challenge the Process Enable Others to Act Encourage the Heart Kouzes & Posner
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) Results: Leadership Practices 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 Information Support Resources Formal Power Informal Power Kanter (1977, 1997)
Significant increases in both groups over time: Opportunity ↑ (F = 7.80, p < .05) Informal power ↑ (F = 20.35, p < .0001) Results: Structural Empowerment No significant difference between the communities
Psychological Empowerment Meaning Competence Impact Self- Determination Spreitzer & Quinn (2001)
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) Results: Psychological Empowerment No significant difference between the communities
Community of Inquiry Social Presence Cognitive Presence Educational Experience Teaching Presence 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
Teaching presence: Direct Instruction:↑ in facilitated community Results: Community of Inquiry 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 Goal The 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