Innovations in Teaching and Learning

Innovative teaching and learning methods are needed to meet the needs of today’s students. The Nowell Research Lab collaborates with local, national, and international colleagues to examine effective teaching and learning approaches used across education institutions. Together we develop, implement, critically examine, and disseminate innovative, evidence-based approaches to student learning.

Caring Professions Education and Practice

The COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath has significantly affected the way teaching and learning is offered in higher education and the way care is provided by caring professionals. The need for social distancing has demonstrated the potential of online learning and remote care service, revealing the many ways that digital technologies can complement and augment innovative education and care practices for caring professionals. In this study we draw on domestic, international, and cross-disciplinary evidence to identify in what ways innovative online education initiatives and digital technologies can be used to ensure students in caring professions have the essential digital economy skills and competencies needed to meet the evolving labour demands.

Grand Challenges as Education Innovations

To educate and inspire the next generation of nursing leaders to address pertinent and pressing issues in the healthcare system, innovative and experiential teaching and learning opportunities are needed. We designed, implemented, and evaluated a Healthcare Grand Challenge course for graduate nurses interested in developing their leadership skills. Students work collaboratively to formulate bold and innovative proposals to address systemic healthcare problems.

Funding:

This work was funded by the Western North-Western Region of Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing

Publications:

Nowell, L., Dhingra, S., *Andrews, K., *Gospodinov, J., *Liu, J., Hayden, K.A. (2020) Grand challenges as educational innovations in higher education: A scoping review of the literature. Education Research International. https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/6653575

Fundamentals of Care

The Fundamentals of Care Framework can be used to explain, guide, and potentially predict the quality of care nurses provide to patients, their carers, and family members. We increased our understanding of how, when, and where undergraduate nursing students learn about fundamental care needs and to ultimately identify potential curricular opportunities and strategies to deepen students’ knowledge and understanding of fundamental care concepts.

Funding:

This work was funded by a University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grant

Collaborators:

The University of Adelaide

Publications:

Coming soon