1

Teaching Philosophy

Ashley Barber

WellStar School of Nursing, Kennesaw State University

NURS 7712: Nurse Educator Role

Dr. Anne White

February 25, 2024

2

Teaching Philosophy
My mother once told me, “People can take anything from you, but they cannot ‘take’
your knowledge or your beliefs,” and this statement has been a founding principle within my life
inside and outside of the academic setting as a professional and student to which I build my
teaching philosophy on. To me, the ability to learn and acquire knowledge is transformational
and I aspire, as an academic nurse educator, to promote and encourage the concept of life-long
learning in a multifaceted way. My hope is that I can instill the art of confidence and believing in
oneself to not only perform the art of nursing, but also instill the “why” behind what we do as
nurses. To guide this type of teaching, I love to look at differing learning theories as a foundation
to build upon.
A specific learning theory that I find noteworthy consists of constructivism since the
learner is charged with an active-learning approach to foster a strong sense of professional ‘self,’
diversity in approaches, and higher-level clinical reasoning due to the teacher/facilitator taking a
more so “guide on the side” role or approach (Oermann et al., 2021). With interweaving this
particular learning theory throughout curriculum, students are able to not only practice the skills
being learned, but they are also able to bring their unique experiences to the forefront to aid in
their experiential learning (Oermann et al., 2021). My favorite type of teaching consists of
competency-based education where students do not solely memorize the given material but
understand how to apply the material to real-life scenarios by use of simulation, case study
exemplars, role-playing, mentoring, and facilitator roles (Lewis et al., 2022).
Beliefs about the Learner
In the nurse educator role, I enjoy deciphering and understanding the differing types of
learners and learning styles that are present within my didactic, clinical, and lab courses. I truly
find those with differing learning styles from myself to be the most interesting to learn since it is
easier to adapt learning material to your preferred learning style, in my opinion. I feel that
learners best learn through use of “backward design,” meaning they should understand what I
want them to learn at the beginning to assess their progress along the way (Maldonado, 2023).
Understanding educational material is important, but how a student applies that information to
critically think is utmost importance to me. Sure, I can give a test to determine knowledge, but
what sets the student apart from others is their ability to make inferences either through learning
experiences or with given material, which is why reflective assignments, in my opinion, are so
valuable.
The Teaching Role
As a nurse educator, I pride myself on growing and changing myself to be better for my
students, which is part of my role as a nurse educator. I strive to create a positive learning
environment for all students that promotes diversity, respect, advocacy, and self-efficacy. I take
the art of formative and summative evaluation to its utmost importance, and truly love
constructive criticism and feedback from students as well as peers within the field of education
as a whole. Formative evaluation is my favorite, because I love being able to adapt and change
my teaching materials to meet the needs of my students’ learning preferences; however,
summative evaluation is also effective in showing how to grow futuristically, for me. I always
strive to “be better” so I do not get complacent since, to me, complacency means you no longer
need to change or grow in ways of thinking or delivering information, which goes against the
ever-changing world of nursing education and education as a whole.
Professional Nursing Practice
3

Nursing education, for me, also helps to promote my professional nursing practice
through teaching, scholarship, and service. As a primary care pediatric nurse practitioner with
my pediatric primary care mental health certification, I am able to bring my prior working
knowledge to help guide and teach nursing students while also continue practicing to improve
patient care. I also pride myself on interprofessional collaboration with colleagues and practice
partners through prior practice experience as well as pending research efforts. My second passion
outside of teaching is related to my prior work as a nurse practitioner, along with my research
focusing on adolescent mental health, specifically adolescent depression. I hope to continue
growing professionally and in an area of research to bring about positive change and awareness
to societal and healthcare concerns within both the mental health and nursing academia sector.
Conclusion
Being a nurse educator is pure joy, and I can truly see all the ways I have grown thus far
in my journey as a nurse educator. I find that my teaching philosophy, while mostly constant, has
changed over time since I am constantly growing in my scope as a nurse educator. I hope to
continue growing not only as a nurse educator, but also as a nurse within the healthcare system to
be the best I can be for my students.
4

References

Lewis, L. S., Rebeschi, L. M., & Hunt, E. (2022). Nursing education practice update 2022:

Competency-based education in nursing. SAGE Open Nursing, 8, 23779608221140774.

https://doi.org/10.1177/23779608221140774

Maldonado, S. (2023). Moving forward in nursing education using the backward design. Journal

of Education, 203(4), 925-930. https://doi.org/10.1177/00220574211070220

Oermann, M., Gagne, J., & Phillips, B. (2021). Teaching in nursing and role of the educator.

New York: Springer Publishing Company.