Pay it Forward; An Evolving Faculty Learning Community in Support of Scholarship

Purpose: The purpose of this project is to describe the evolution of a co-facilitated faculty learning community designed to support nursing faculty in their scholarship endeavors. An additional aim is to use a cooperative/relational approach to determine immediate and longer term focus, bringing the group together into a community of peer-mentored scholars.

Rationale:In response to Nursing’s “call to scholarship” in the new millennium (Bunkers, 2000), it has become increasingly important for nursing educators to engage in scholarship.

Assisting faculty to identify and define their scholarship focus through a shared partnership model is consistent with work of Heinrich, Hurst, Leigh, Oberleitner & Poirrier (2009) work of the Teacher-Scholar Project. Further development of this model describes the strengths of scholar-mentoring programs (Heinrich & Oberleitner, 2012). This body of work will form the basis of continued assessment and evolution of the School of Nursing’s cooperative faculty learning community in support of scholarship.

Undertaking: The intent of this project is to gain further understanding of the current faculty learning community based on the Teacher-Scholar Projectmodel. This information will help faculty to cooperatively design a multi-phased approach to fostering and sustaining faculty scholarship in a School of Nursing in an urban area of the Northwest United States.

Approach: Questions guiding this shared learning endeavor will be:

What should be the short and long term focus for this learning community?

Describe the forces that would sustain and promote this learning community.

Describe the forces that would impede progress of this learning community.

What are the best ways to encourage and support faculty involvement in this scholarship endeavor?

Outcomes/Conclusions: It is anticipated that faculty will share and learn from one another as they identify their shared interests and develop partnerships. Additionally, opportunities to uncover resources for motivation and accountability to both the group and their evolving research trajectories will follow. More importantly, this shared faculty learning community provides each member a voice and a role to “pay it forward”.