Webinar Details

In this webinar, participants will explore the benefits of backward design in curriculum transition, focusing on aligning with the 2021 Essentials and embracing competency-based education (CBE). By starting with the end goals in mind, nursing faculty can effectively map out learning objectives, assessment strategies, and experiential learning activities that foster deep understanding and proficiency.

Objectives:

• Identify the key components of backward design, including establishing learning goals, determining acceptable evidence of learning, and designing learning activities.
• Explore the rationale behind the backward design approach and its effectiveness in fostering meaningful learning experiences.
• Analyze how backward design aligns with principles of learner-centered instruction and promotes deeper understanding and retention of content.

Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.

Co-hosted by AACN and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership

Understanding and embracing professional Identity in nursing offers new language and new knowledge for the journey—helping nurses heal, flourish, and expertly care for others. Research shows that nurses with a strong professional identity in nursing stand out as having a higher impact on patient outcomes than those who do not. Further, a strong professional identity allows nurse leaders to distinguish between their disciplinary core—the professional identity of nursing—and a variety of functional roles in which they may advance over time. Forming and fostering one’s professional identity are important to advance the nursing discipline.

Webinar speakers will share the contemporary language of professional identity in nursing, including definitions and examples of the four domains: values and ethics, knowledge, nurse as leader, and comportment. They will also share findings from US and international professional identity research and models for application/implementation in both education and practice settings.

Objectives:

• Explain how professional identity in nursing is different than professionalism.
• Discuss how the general definition of professional identity and using the four domains offer new language and knowledge to advance patient outcomes.
• Describe the impact that developing a strong professional identity in nursing can have on both nursing education and practice.

Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.

Webinar Details

Join us for an insightful webinar led by Susan Bindon, the Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Director of the Institute for Educators at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. In this webinar, faculty will gain ideas and foundational models to help them connect or reconnect with students as both faculty and students navigate new ways of teaching and learning.

Objectives:

• Describe key strategies for creating a thriving learning environment.

• Apply principles of adult learning and good teaching practice to engage students in their own learning

• Identify opportunities and resources for incorporating SUD into nursing education.

• Reflect upon changes students and faculty experience when transitioning to CBE.

Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.

Webinar Details

In today’s complex and evolving healthcare environment, mindfulness, self-care, well-being, and leadership skills are indispensable to the role of the professional nurse. With funding provided by the Johnson & Johnson Foundation in partnership with the Johnson & Johnson Center for Health Worker Innovation, AACN launched a national initiative titled A Competency-Based Approach to Leadership Development and Resilience for Student Nurses focused on building leadership capacity in new nurses with a special emphasis on developing essential skills in mindfulness, self-care, and well-being. AACN convened an expert advisory group to identify learning and assessment strategies that foster health, resilience, and well-being. Ten pilot schools were selected to implement and evaluate diverse strategies to integrate these concepts and related competencies across the entry-level curriculum. Speakers will highlight the importance of and strategies for integrating across the curricula.

Objectives:

• Describe learning strategies and clinical experiences that develop skills in mindfulness, self-care, well-being, and leadership.

• Explore ways to evaluate student’s competence in mindfulness, self-care, and well-being.

• Describe opportunities to enhance faculty-practice partnerships to prioritize mindfulness, self-care, and well-being in students and practicing nurses.

Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.

Webinar Details

In this webinar, Dr. Gerry Altmiller will provide a deeper understanding of how to scaffold competency-based education and assessment across the curriculum to support learners in meeting the Essentials. Additionally, participants will learn the process to take next steps for greater integration of the Essentials into their nursing education programs.

Objectives:

• Review effective strategies for integrating competency-based education across the curriculum.
• Examine processes for developing curriculum that connects end-of-program outcomes with course outcomes and student learning activities.
• Demonstrate examples of how the Essentials and competency-based education can be layered to support student learning and practice-readiness.

For more information and resources on the AACN Essentials, go to www.aacnnursing.org/essentials.

Webinar Details

Join nurse educators Dr. Michael Ackerman and Dr. Stephanie Justice to review and discuss utilizing virtual and augmented reality to transition to competency-based education (CBE). Learn how integrating the latest technology can support faculty to transition to CBE and elevate the student learning experience. Hear how allowing educators to assess each student’s competencies adequately will better prepare tomorrow's nursing workforce.

Objectives:

• Describe extended reality technology and the metaverse.
• Discuss decision-making about selecting appropriate hardware and software.
• Develop use cases for emerging technology in nursing education.
• Discuss the role of extended reality in implementing the Essentials (competency-based education)

Note: Recording of the webinar will be available soon after the webinar airs. Visit AACN's On-Demand Webinars to watch.

Webinar Details

To align with the 2021 AACN Essentials, RN to BSN programs must prepare graduates to meet all entry-level (Level 1) competencies. These programs should be designed to build on previous learning and bridge educational gaps, ensuring that all new competency expectations are met. By the end of this presentation, led by James Madison University nurse educators Dr. Karen Jagiello and Dr. Jamie Robinson, faculty will gain a clearer understanding of how to implement the Essentials in a degree-completion program and deploy teaching strategies and methods to assess student competency.

Objectives:

• Discuss opportunities and challenges that are unique to RN to BSN degree completion programs
• Explore moving beyond a curriculum crosswalk toward course-level integration of the Essentials
• Explore approaches to integrating the Essentials and competency-based education into RN to BSN programs

Webinar Details

At the core of nursing education lies the teacher-learner relationship, a cornerstone of our profession. To achieve the transformation required for the full implementation of the AACN Essentials and the transition to competency-based nursing education, we must reimagine this relationship and our roles as educators. Join nurse educators Dr. Mary K. Fey and Dr. Kate J. Morse in this engaging webinar as they embark on a journey of self-reflection regarding their own careers, challenge assumptions about our students, and explore innovative teaching practices aligned with the AACN Essentials.

Objectives:

• To engage in critical self-reflection about themselves as educators
• Explore our assumptions about our learners
• Embrace new teaching practices to implement AACN Essentials

Webinar Details

Nurse educators Dr. Mary Jo Vetter, Dr. Karyn Boyar, Dr. Stacen Keating, and Dr. Emerson E. Ea describe how design thinking was utilized as a unifying framework to foster an understanding of the social determinants of health in an undergraduate nursing program. Students utilize design thinking to develop innovative solutions for clinical problems experienced by diverse populations across all spheres of care in a series of four sequenced courses. Details of the teaching strategy and how it supports the acquisition of competencies defined by AACN Essentials are shared.

Objectives:

1. Describe how design thinking was utilized as a unifying framework to foster an understanding of the social determinants of health in an undergraduate nursing program.
2. Discuss teaching strategies utilized to promote the acquisition of competencies defined by AACN’s Essential Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education.
3. Explore methods to evaluate competency-based student outcomes.

Webinar Details

Dr. Nancy O’Neill, Acting Director of the University System of Maryland’s William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, shares practical tips to move your competency-based education (CBE) efforts forward. In this webinar, Dr. O’Neill will draw on outside resources that can help facilitate the move to CBE. She builds on the paradigm shift concept introduced by Dr. Englander in the AACN webinar “Moving the Needle on Meaningful Competency Assessment,” and covers the refinement of course learning outcomes, a framework for engaged learning to guide course improvement, and the benefits of signature assignments.

Objectives:

• Learn about resources outside of nursing education that can help move your efforts forward
• Identify strategies for course improvement
• Reduce anxiety about the next steps

Webinar Details

Transitioning to competency-based education (CBE) requires a new way of teaching and learning. Leveraging technology and data collection can be critical for an effective transition. The Essentials Technology Work Group was charged to develop recommendations regarding the use of technology within academic nursing to support the adoption of CBE. Medical education administrators Dr. Marc M. Triola and Dr. Janelle Sokolowich provide an overview of AACN’s new vision for an interoperable, integrated information system and the criteria for the development of technologies that can support your school’s efforts to implement the 2021 Essentials.

Webinar Details

Dr. Laurie Kennedy-Malone highlights a year-long project funded by AACN’s Faculty Scholar Grant Program at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNCG). During this project, five new clinical simulations, with faculty guides, were developed with the goal of designing competency-based video simulations that facilitate formative assessment of nurse practitioner students’ clinical decision-making skills. The simulations come with a guide, written by UNCG nurse practitioners, which lists the specific Essentials domains and concepts for advanced-level nursing education sub-competencies, used to enhance the student learning experience.

Objectives:

1. Describe the process of developing clinical video simulations and faculty guides developed for nurse practitioner curriculum
2. Summarize the process used to validate the AACN Advanced Essentials with the clinical video simulations/faculty guides
3. Discuss the use of clinical video simulations in nurse practitioner curriculum

Webinar Details

This webinar focuses on insights gained from infusing competency-based education (CBE) into a pre-licensure BSN program. Dr. Shelley Johnson, Dean and Professor at the Florida A&M University School of Nursing, discusses the rationale behind adopting CBE and shares strategies to prepare for curriculum redesign, which faculty from small schools may find helpful. Dr. Johnson shares early lessons learned from successes and challenges, as well as tools to assist with implementation. Additionally, she offers insights into addressing student needs within her nursing school, which is housed in a Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

Webinar Details

Join Dr. Robert Englander, a leading authority on competency-based education and entrustable professional activities, for observations and insights that will inform your school’s approach to competency-based nursing education. The webinar will address the paradigm shift needed to change how we prepare professional nurses in alignment with the 2021 Essentials. Dr. Englander will discuss Entrustable Professional Activities, address challenges and opportunities associated with competency assessment, and answer questions that will help to accelerate your school’s implementation efforts.

Objectives:

• Understand the context and steps for the paradigm shift to Competency-based Nursing Education
• Discuss the specific challenges in assessment
• Envision the future of assessment using the AACN’s Essentials competencies

For the latest updates and resources on the 2021 Essentials, visit www.aacnnursing.org/AACN-Essentials.

Webinar Details

Implementing the 2021 Essentials and shifting to competency-based education (CBE) requires organizational models and processes that include intentional faculty development. Transforming curricula with a priority towards prepping graduates who are competent, predictable, resilient, and lead with a social justice lens is paramount. This presentation by Dr. Dawn Mueller-Burke, assistant professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, focuses on utilizing a faculty-led model to navigate Essentials implementation, strategies for adapting to CBE, stakeholder engagement, and faculty development.

Webinar Details

Drs. Cheryl Lacasse and Connie Miller from the University of Arizona College of Nursing will focus on the process of guiding faculty through curricular transformation towards competency-based learning across multiple entry- and advanced-level nursing programs. Learn about curriculum revision activities and opportunities for leveraging expertise in specific content domains and concepts across programs, Helpful teaching and learning resources are shared.

Download: Questions form the AACN Webinar Series - Implementing The Essentials

For the latest updates and resources on the new AACN's Essentials, visit www.aacnnursing.org/Essentials.

Webinar Details & Objectives

Indiana University (IU) School of Nursing administrators Dr. Robin Newhouse and Dr. Rebecca Bartlett Ellis outline IU’s faculty-led curriculum transformation process using the Essentials framework. The process focuses on curriculum mapping for alignment of the Essentials to courses, course competencies, and program outcomes, as well as assessment strategies to evaluate student learning outcomes consistent with course competencies. Faculty are engaged through faculty governance committees, embracing opportunities to develop curricula that supports student success and teaching/learning excellence.

Webinar Details

Dr. Jackie Barber, Dean and Professor at Morningside University’s Nylen School of Nursing, focuses on the integration of the AACN Essentials’ advanced-level (Level 2) competencies into an MSN program. Using a clinical educator track, she demonstrates how alignment with these competencies can be achieved. Dr. Barber also shares a process for outlining competencies to student learning from the perspective of a small liberal arts nursing program.

Webinar Details

Dr. Gerry Altmiller, professor of nursing and director of The College of New Jersey Quality and Safety Innovation Center, discusses how to encourage faculty colleagues to utilize competency-based education strategies aligned with the 2021 Essentials. Topics include approaches for conducting effective and useful curriculum mapping and strategies for streamlining the process for colleagues. Dr. Altmiller will share examples for integrating sub-competencies appropriate to pre-licensure, RN-BSN, and graduate education into curricula, along with ideas to operationalize this new alignment on a small and large scale.

For the latest updates and resources on the new AACN's Essentials, visit www.aacnnursing.org/AACN-Essentials.

Webinar Details

Dr. Ann H. White, Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Southern Indiana, shares a nursing program’s use of competencies to drive undergraduate curriculum development. Using students learning outcomes, a framework of competencies statements was created to drive leveling of content, clinical evaluation expectations, and assessment methods. To ensure the seamless integration of these competencies, faculty champions have been identified at each level, leading discussions to review and revise the competencies annually.

Webinar Details

The 2021 Essentials provides an opportunity for nurse educators to revolutionize the advancement of the nursing profession. Adoption of the Essentials will require significant organizational change for all member schools at each level of involvement. In this webinar, led by Dr. Casey Shillam, Dean and Professor at the University of Portland School of Nursing, provides lessons learned from several schools’ curriculum revision experiences and lays the groundwork for nurse educators to facilitate these changes in an approach that is inclusive and collaborative while also meeting the goal of transitioning to competency-based education.

Webinar Details

Alverno College’s Margaret Rauschenberger, Dr. Judeen Schulte, Ann Van Eerden, and Dr. Heather Mernitz highlight principles for developing performance-based assessments and share examples that integrate competency-based practices into curriculum.

For the latest updates and resources on the 2021 Essentials, visit www.aacnnursing.org/Essentials.

Webinar Details

This webinar emphasizes the importance of learner-centered behavioral outcomes. Nurse educators Margaret Rauschenberger, Dr. Judeen Schulte, and Ann Van Eerden from Alverno College discuss the student’s role in CBE and the importance of strategies that require student engagement, experiential learning, and learner self-assessment. Approaches for growing faculty expertise are explored.

For the latest updates and resources on the 2021 Essentials, visit www.aacnnursing.org/Essentials.

Webinar Details & Objectives

Dr. Gerry Altmiller, professor of nursing and director of The College of New Jersey Quality and Safety Innovation Center, explains the importance of curriculum mapping, identifying gaps, and implementing a curriculum based on the domains and competencies featured in the 2021 Essentials. Learn how an early adopter initiated the integration of the new competencies into existing programs and evolved their approach to nursing education.

For the latest updates and resources on the 2021 Essentials, visit www.aacnnursing.org/Essentials.

Webinar Details

Nursing educators Margaret Rauschenberger, Dr. Judeen Schulte, and Ann Van Eerden from Alverno College, lead a discussion on the evolution of competency-based education from a “journeyman” approach to an ability-oriented, outcome-based framework. This webinar relates contemporary concepts and definitions of competency-based education to nursing education as expressed in the 2021 Essentials.

For the latest updates and resources on the 2021Essentials, visit www.aacnnursing.org/AACN-Essentials.