Time management and overwhelming curriculums

Specialties Educators

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Hello. I am interested in the "Tips for New Nurse Educators" thread and discussion. I am taking a Nurse Educator Theory class and hope to have a MSN by the Fall of 2005. I have 27 years experience in the nursing field, 12 of those years as a psychiatric RN. My goal is to teach at the ADN level. I really appreciate observing the day to day workings of the Nurse Educator role in anticipation of eventually taking part myself. I hope to post questions regarding how the Educators are able to pack all the necessary information into a curriculum designed to teach at the ADN level. This seems to me to be a overwhelming task.

Rhonna

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Specializes in PICU, Peds Ambulatory, Peds LTC.

Welcome Rhonna to All Nurses! :)

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Hullo hullo,, hope you have a great time at this excellent site, welcome to allnurses,, hope you have a good day too.....

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Hi Rhonda - I'm in an MSN program - interested in discussing future plans with you. Welcome.

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Thank you for your warm greetings and interest. How do I attach a funny picture under my name?

Rhonna

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

welcome to my world (and to allnurses). i am taking 'curriculum development". with 2 other classmates, we need to come up with an entire nursing school curriculum, including a mission statement and philosophy. we chose to create a bsn curriculum (sadly my original schooling was adn). this promises to be quite a challenge. we need to decide the order of the classes, and the content (what content will be in what classes). :uhoh21: :imbar :stone :confused: :bluecry1: :chair: :eek:

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Will your curriculum be driven by a philosophy, nursing theory, or nursing model?:nurse: Grand Theories? Middle-Range Theories? I am currently studying curriculum development and what the major influences would be. This seems to be a very large MSN student project you are working on. I wish you success! Rhonna

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
will your curriculum be driven by a philosophy, nursing theory, or nursing model?:nurse: grand theories? middle-range theories?

that's basically what we need to decide now. i'm not really up on my theories, but some literatre suggests a combination of theorists and nursing and medical models should be included. it's a little overwhelming, and there are so many interchangable terms and 'buzzwords' in the lit. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Education.

I graduated with a MSN in nursing education in 2000. When I was hired full-time at the college I was teaching at, my first project was to work with 2 other seasoned faculty and revamp the curriculum from the philosophy to the course content. This was a major undertaking and the changes were difficult for some of the faculty. It was and continues to be a great learning experience. The next thing we did (simultaneously) is to expand our program to a rural campus of the college. I chose to be on the team to bring our program to this new site, and transferred to the northern campus. The problem is that in the last 4 years I have never had the opportunity to teach the same course twice, and I am constantly required to come up with new preps and innovations. As energizing as this was at first, I am feeling a little burned out by now. I put in an average of 50-60 hours per week to teach the entire first year curriculum to 27 students. I have taught every course in the old curriculum and I have had a hand in developing all of the new courses and I have taught the first two courses so far. Is this an average work load for new educators? I find that some days I can barely keep up. So much for lecture notes from experienced instructors, we create as we go and I rarely see any other instructors. In fact, there is only one other instructor in the remote campus program I have worked on developing, and she teaches the entire 2nd year curriculum to 27 students. She is newly out of her MSN program this year, and is struggling as well with the workload. What is usual in other ADN programs?

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Specializes in Pediatrics.
is this an average work load for new educators?

:eek: i assumed my project was to be something i would really have to do much later in my career!! i can't even imagine what you've been through. i guess in some ways it's nice to have a say in what you're teaching, to revamp what may have been antiquated. keep up the good work.

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
I graduated with a MSN in nursing education in 2000. When I was hired full-time at the college I was teaching at, my first project was to work with 2 other seasoned faculty and revamp the curriculum from the philosophy to the course content. This was a major undertaking and the changes were difficult for some of the faculty. It was and continues to be a great learning experience. The next thing we did (simultaneously) is to expand our program to a rural campus of the college. I chose to be on the team to bring our program to this new site, and transferred to the northern campus. The problem is that in the last 4 years I have never had the opportunity to teach the same course twice, and I am constantly required to come up with new preps and innovations. As energizing as this was at first, I am feeling a little burned out by now. I put in an average of 50-60 hours per week to teach the entire first year curriculum to 27 students. I have taught every course in the old curriculum and I have had a hand in developing all of the new courses and I have taught the first two courses so far. Is this an average work load for new educators? I find that some days I can barely keep up. So much for lecture notes from experienced instructors, we create as we go and I rarely see any other instructors. In fact, there is only one other instructor in the remote campus program I have worked on developing, and she teaches the entire 2nd year curriculum to 27 students. She is newly out of her MSN program this year, and is struggling as well with the workload. What is usual in other ADN programs?

Unfortunately, no, this workload is NOT unusual for ADN instructors (at least in the beginning). The workload can be phenomenal and absolutely exhausting. Then you add to that all of the other duties and requirements that come with generic faculty in a community college setting (sitting on committees, senate faculty meetings, sitting on committees, special seminars held in cities 5 hours away, did I mention sitting on committees???). The hours can easily stretch to 70 and 80 per week. You do need a good support system; otherwise you will feel like you are drowning during those first few years.

Good news: After the first 3 years, things generally do get better for the ADN instructor if he/ she just sticks it out. I am just now at my 3 year point.

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Welcome Rhonna to All Nurses! :)

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but we won (BOSTON that is)! :rotfl: HURRAY!!! The curse is over!!!!

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