Application of a SCALE-UP Approach in Undergraduate Nurse Education
- To design and implement an interactive, authentic and student-centered learning environment using the SCALE-UP methodology.
- To evaluate the impact of the SCALE-UP approach on student learning, academic and practice outcomes.
Rationale/Background
Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation (Benner et al., 2010) highlights the “under-education” of nursing students in relation for the demands of professional nursing practice. This gap in “readiness” or preparation for practice continues to grow with an ever changing and technologically advanced healthcare system, consumer demand, advances in research and is potentiated by a general shortage of nurses, in particular well prepared nurse educators. A changing patient demographic coupled with increased demands for safe, effective quality care is a major driving force for the reinvention of the educational system. This system redesign seeks to increase the educational capacity of nursing programs while pushing innovative curricular design to encourage continued progress through all levels of nursing education. Science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics programs have documented successful student academic and performance outcomes using the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP) approach (Beichner, 2014). Adopting and scaffolding a SCALE-UP approach is one method by which to transform the delivery of undergraduate nursing education.
Brief Description of Project
A SCALE-UP approach has been scaffolded across three courses in the nursing curriculum, creating space for both personal and social learning. As active learners, students are given preparatory work, prior to each class session, as the primary source of content delivery. In class, the environment has been physically transformed to promote interaction between individual students, groups of students and faculty. Adopting the scaffolding principle of ‘transfer of responsibility of learning’, the majority of class time is spent on students working with each other on case-based learning activities, simulation-based learning experiences and other problem-solving exercises. Students work collaboratively to solve complex, real-world problems while faculty act as a guide or facilitator within the learning environment. At the conclusion of each class period, groups share their learning through a live, full-class debriefing. Individual learning is enhanced through reflective exercises on personal and social learning.
Outcomes Achieved
The outcomes to date include: (a) transforming the skills lab into a complex adaptive learning environment as a theory-guided intervention, (b) using an active, student-centered hands-on approach to immerse students in applying core nursing concepts and competencies, and (c) integrating technology to enhance the learning experience and expand the learning environment.
Conclusions/ Recommendations
Using the SCALE-UP approach has increased the interactivity between and among student groups and faculty while allowing students to actively work to solve real-world problems. The next phase of the SCALE-UP project is to evaluate the impact of SCALE-UP on student: (a) approaches to learning, (b) course expectations and experiences, (c) achievement of benchmarked nursing competencies, and (d) academic and practice outcomes.