On-Demand Webinars
To view an on-demand webinar, please select a webinar, click “register” on the left side, and submit your information. After registering, you will be brought to a new page. The link to the recording of the webinar will be found on this page under “Event Information.”
Condition 3: Education and Scholarship – Advancing Learning, Discovery, and Innovation
February 03, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)
Webinar Details
This session examines how curriculum, teaching, and scholarship shape academic excellence, institutional impact, and workforce readiness in academic nursing. Grounded in the AACN Ecosystem of Excellence in Academic Nursing, the session explores the Education and Scholarship Condition within the Operational Core, emphasizing education as a whole-person process—where students, staff, and faculty are supported to grow as scholars, educators, and leaders.
Participants will explore strategies to align educational and scholarly practices with the AACN Essentials, promote access to quality learning and well-being, and create psychologically safe and intellectually vibrant environments that nurture curiosity and innovation. The session highlights universal design for learning, mentorship, collaborative inquiry, and technology-enhanced learning as powerful tools for preparing a responsive and practice-ready nursing workforce.
Discussion will also consider how the Humanistic Conditions—particularly support, value, and preparedness—intersect with teaching and scholarship to foster lifelong learning and professional growth across roles.
Learning Outcomes
After participating in this webinar, attendees will be able to:
- Describe how integrated approaches to education and scholarship strengthen institutional effectiveness, professional preparedness, and individual growth.
- Identify strategies to enhance curriculum, research, and professional development environments that support engagement, innovation, and well-being across students, staff, and faculty.
- Implement approaches that advance teaching excellence, mentorship, scholarly productivity, and universal learning experiences across the academic nursing continuum.
- Explain how the Education and Scholarship Condition within the Operational Core supports AACN’s Access, Connection, and Engagement (ACE) vision by aligning learning, discovery, and practice for sustained excellence.
About the Ecosystem
The AACN Ecosystem of Excellence in Academic Nursing is a comprehensive, evidence-informed framework that aligns mission, people, and systems to create environments where all students, staff, and faculty can thrive.
At its foundation are the Humanistic Conditions—Healthy, Psychologically Safe, Connected, Supported, Valued, and Prepared—that enable individuals to achieve their best. These are integrated through the Ecosystem’s three Cores:
- Human Core, which centers on the Humanistic Conditions that foster well-being and engagement.
- Operational Core, which aligns systems and strategies through five Institutional Conditions: Infrastructure and Capacity, Climate and Intergroup Relations, Education and Scholarship, Access and Success, and Community Engagement.
- Institutional Core, which grounds excellence in shared culture through five Cultural Conditions: Mission, Vision, Values, Traditions, and Norms.
The Operational Core is supported by a digital Ecosystem Toolkit that translates the framework into actionable strategies and measurable outcomes, including:
- Strategies that strengthen policies, practices, and structures
- Scenarios illustrating real-world challenges and solutions—each intentionally linked to the Humanistic Conditions of the Ecosystem and aligned with relevant AACN Essentials
- Reflection questions that promote dialogue, planning, and innovation
- Dashboards and planning tools to monitor progress and outcomes
- Curated supporting literature that provides evidence and context for implementation
Wanda Thruston, DNP, APRN, RN Designing Nursing Curricula for Competency-Based Education: The Role of Simulation Scenarios
January 28, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)
Webinar Details
In the Essentials Competency Assessment Framework, AACN recognizes that effective assessment requires educational methodologies that support faculty in creating meaningful experiential learning opportunities. To advance this work, the AACN Assessment Expert Working Group established the Scenario Subgroup to design templates for entry- and advanced-level simulation experiences that foster learner development as described in Miller’s Pyramid. This webinar will highlight the resources, core tenets, and strategies for incorporating formative assessment through the use of these nursing practice simulation scenarios to support the development and assessment of AACN competencies.
Outcomes:
- Describe how experiential learning and formative assessment are integrated within the Essentials Competency Assessment Framework to support learner development.
- Demonstrate how to use AACN nursing practice simulation scenarios to support teaching and learning, with an emphasis on progressing learner performance along Miller’s Pyramid.
- Develop strategies for implementing nursing practice simulation scenarios to support the assessment and demonstration of AACN competencies.
Carol F. Durham, EdD, MSN, RN, ANEF, FAAN 
Condition 2: Climate & Intergroup Relations – Creating Conditions for Respect, Trust & Collaboration
January 22, 2026
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)
Webinar Details
This session explores how interpersonal norms, communication practices, and power dynamics shape the lived experiences of students, staff, and faculty within academic nursing environments. Grounded in the AACN Ecosystem of Excellence in Academic Nursing, participants will examine how the Climate and Intergroup Relations Condition, within the Operational Core, influences well-being, collaboration, and long-term academic and professional success.
The session highlights the connection between institutional climate and the Humanistic Conditions—particularly psychological safety, connection, support, and value—and demonstrates how these elements reinforce one another to sustain excellence. Participants will engage in strategies to promote psychological safety, build trust, foster belonging, and strengthen accountability across all roles and levels.
Discussion will also explore how institutional histories, structures, and digital communication tools influence intergroup relations—and how intentional, evidence-informed actions can help nursing programs cultivate climates where every individual feels respected, supported, and prepared to thrive.
Learning Outcomes
After participating in this webinar, attendees will be able to:
- Explain how institutional climate and intergroup relations influence the well-being, engagement, and performance of students, staff, and faculty.
- Recognize early signs of unhealthy or unsafe climates—such as relational exclusion, incivility, or misuse of power—that disrupt collaboration and learning.
- Apply strategies that foster respectful communication, trust-building, and shared accountability across the academic nursing community.
- Describe how the Operational Core and Humanistic Conditions within the Ecosystem of Excellence guide the creation of climates that align with AACN’s Access, Connection, and Engagement (ACE) vision.
The AACN Ecosystem of Excellence in Academic Nursing is a comprehensive, evidence-informed framework that aligns mission, people, and systems to create environments where all students, staff, and faculty can thrive.
At its foundation are the Humanistic Conditions—Healthy, Psychologically Safe, Connected, Supported, Valued, and Prepa red—that enable individuals to achieve their best. These are integrated through the Ecosystem’s three Cores:
- Human Core, which centers on the Humanistic Conditions that foster well-being and engagement.
- Operational Core, which aligns systems and strategies through five Institutional Conditions: Infrastructure and Capacity, Climate and Intergroup Relations, Education and Scholarship, Access and Success, and Community Engagement.
- Institutional Core, which grounds excellence in shared culture through five Cultural Conditions: Mission, Vision, Values, Traditions, and Norms.
The Operational Core is supported by a digital Ecosystem Toolkit that translates the framework into actionable strategies and measurable outcomes, including:
- Strategies that strengthen policies, practices, and structures
- Scenarios illustrating real-world challenges and solutions—each intentionally linked to the Humanistic Conditions of the Ecosystem and aligned with relevant AACN Essentials
- Reflection questions that promote dialogue, planning, and innovation
- Dashboards and planning tools to monitor progress and outcomes
- Curated supporting literature that provides evidence and context for implementation
Professional Identity in Nursing: Past, Present and Future
December 11, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)
This webinar is hosted by AACN’s Faculty Leadership Network (FLN).
Webinar Details
We must highlight the importance of professional identity in nursing, as it is a concept that not all nursing faculty are familiar with despite accreditation requirements. Professional identity in nursing is defined as "a sense of oneself, and in relationship with others, that is influenced by characteristics, norms, and values of the nursing discipline, resulting in an individual thinking, acting, and feeling like a nurse." Our goal is for all nursing faculty to understand that what was previously referred to as professionalism has evolved and is now more accurately described as professional identity.
Outcomes:
- Examine the term professional identity from an interdisciplinary perspective.
- Discuss research findings that indicate a strong professional identity yields better patient outcomes.
- Describe strategies for faculty to build new knowledge about professional identity in nursing, in teaching, and leading.
Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.
Mary Ann Siciliano McLaughlin, EdD, RN, ANEF
Nelda Godfrey, PhD, ACNS-BC, RN, FAAN, ANEF
M. Lindell Joseph, PhD, RN, FAAN, FAONLCondition 1: Institutional Condition: Institutional Infrastructure & Capacity
December 09, 2025
2:00 PM - 3:00 PM (ET)
Webinar Details
Grounded in insights from the Future of Nursing 2020–2030 report and AACN’s Ecosystem of Excellence in Academic Nursing, this session examines how academic nursing programs can build and sustain the physical, technological, human, and financial infrastructure required to thrive in an evolving education and healthcare landscape.
More than bricks and budgets, strong infrastructure provides the structural foundation that supports the Humanistic Conditions at the heart of the Ecosystem—fostering safety, connection, value, support, and preparedness across the academic nursing community. When infrastructure decisions are intentionally aligned with mission, resources, and culture, they promote innovation, operational efficiency, and institutional resilience.
Participants will explore how the Institutional Infrastructure and Capacity Condition functions within the Operational Core of the Ecosystem and learn strategies for aligning systems with AACN’s Access, Connection, and Engagement (ACE) vision. The session emphasizes the relationship between infrastructure, well-being, and excellence —demonstrating that lasting success in academic nursing begins with systems designed to support people, purpose, and progress.
Learning Outcomes
After participating in this webinar, attendees will be able to:
- Identify the essential elements of institutional infrastructure that influence excellence in academic nursing.
- Evaluate how infrastructure decisions affect the Humanistic Conditions—including well-being, preparedness, and engagement—of students, staff, and faculty.
- Apply strategies to strengthen Institutional Infrastructure and Capacity in ways that foster innovation, effective and fair resource use, and whole-person support across the academic community.
- Explain how the Operational Core of the Ecosystem connects infrastructure decisions to sustainable institutional excellence and alignment with AACN’s ACE vision.
About the Ecosystem
The AACN Ecosystem of Excellence in Academic Nursing is a comprehensive, evidence-informed framework that aligns mission, people, and systems to create environments where all students, staff, and faculty can thrive.
At its foundation are the
- Human Core, which centers on the Humanistic Conditions that foster well-being and engagement.
- Operational Core, which aligns systems and strategies through five Institutional Conditions: Infrastructure and Capacity, Climate and Intergroup Relations, Education and Scholarship, Access and Success, and Community Engagement.
- Institutional Core, which grounds excellence in shared culture through five Cultural Conditions: Mission, Vision, Values, Traditions, and Norms.
The Operational Core is supported by a digital Ecosystem Toolkit that translates the framework into actionable strategies and measurable outcomes, including:
- Strategies that strengthen policies, practices, and structures
- Scenarios illustrating real-world challenges and solutions—each intentionally linked to the Humanistic Conditions of the Ecosystem and aligned with relevant AACN Essentials
- Reflection questions that promote dialogue, planning, and innovation
- Dashboards and planning tools to monitor progress and outcomes
- Curated supporting literature that provides evidence and context for implementation
Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.