Our Leadership Stories Connecting Canadian Nurse Educators in an Online Story-Based Learning Community by Brenda J. Stutsky RN, MScN, EdS, PhD

Our Leadership Stories Problem Shortage of nurses Difficulty filling leadership vacancies Few career laddering opportunities Educators in prime position to foster a leadership mindset and act as talent scouts – 1 st need to develop own leadership practices and feel empowered

Our Leadership Stories Goal To develop an online learning community where hospital-based nurse educators could develop their own nursing leadership practices through storytelling within an environment that included the elements of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence

Our Leadership Stories Overall Research Question What is the effect of the type of online learning community, based on a community of inquiry model, on hospital- based nurse educators’ perceptions of structural and psychological empowerment and leadership practices?

Our Leadership Stories Method Mixed methods design Non-random sample (N = 51) Nurse educators (RNs) employed in hospitals in British Columbia, Manitoba, or Ontario Randomly assigned –facilitated community (n = 26) –self-organizing community (n = 25) Final sample size of 35 –19 in the facilitated community –16 in the self-organizing community

Our Leadership Stories Method continued Pretest –Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire –Psychological Empowerment Instrument –Leadership Practices Inventory 12 Week Online Learning Community Posttest –Pretest questionnaires Conditions of Work Effectiveness Questionnaire Psychological Empowerment Instrument Leadership Practices Inventory –Community of Inquiry Instrument

Our Leadership Stories 12 Week Online Learning Community –Facilitated or self-organizing Facilitated: I was the facilitator – assisted with analyzing stories Self-Organizing: Organized own pages, self-analyzed stories –Wiki – metaphor School of Nursing Classrooms; Auditorium; Locker; Lounge; Bulletin Board; Library; Suggestion Box; Calendar; Sandbox –Learned about leadership practices Voiced PowerPoint presentations Circle activity –Told their leadership stories Storytelling main teaching-learning strategy 1 Best and 3 others

Our Leadership Stories

Demographics Female Ranged in age from yrs to yrs Majority –Bachelor’s degree –Worked full-time –Rated their own computer abilities compared to other nurses as average or above average. Urban and rural Nurse educator for less than 1 yr to between yrs 5-10 yrs to yrs of nursing experience

Our Leadership Stories Leadership Practices Model the Way Inspire a Shared Vision Challenge the Process Enable Others to Act Encourage the Heart Kouzes & Posner

Our Leadership Stories Results: Leadership Practices Significant increases in both groups over time: Model the Way ↑ (F = 15.10, p <.001) Inspire a Shared Vision ↑ (F = 34.78, p <.0001) Challenge the Process ↑ (F = 28.01, p <.0001) Enable Others to Act ↑ (F = 14.83, p <.001) Encourage the Heart ↑ (F = 17.04, p <.001) No significant difference between the communities

Our Leadership Stories Model the Way: Qualitative Nurse educators Model the Way through: –educational endeavors; –collaborative activities; –their own clinical knowledge and expertise; –the promotion of educational and clinical technology; and –furthering their own education.

Our Leadership Stories Inspire a Shared Vision: Qualitative Nurse educators have a vision for quality patient care achieved through education and support of nurses in clinical practice.

Our Leadership Stories Challenge the Process: Qualitative Nurse educators will take risks and question authority figures to improve patient care. They struggle with challenging authority figures. Nurse educators will challenge policies, procedure, guidelines, outdated nursing practices, and equipment purchases.

Our Leadership Stories Enable Others to Act: Qualitative Nurse educators enable clinical nurses to act through education and support.

Our Leadership Stories Encourage the Heart: Qualitative Online, nurse educators Encourage the Heart through their written responses to their colleagues. They realize that they could Encourage the Heart more in their everyday nursing practice.

Our Leadership Stories Structural Empowerment Opportunity Formal Power InformationSupport Informal Power Resources Kanter (1977, 1997)

Our Leadership Stories Results: Structural Empowerment Significant increases in both groups over time: Opportunity ↑ (F = 7.80, p <.05) Informal power ↑ (F = 20.35, p <.0001) No significant difference between the communities

Our Leadership Stories Psychological Empowerment MeaningCompetenceImpact Self- Determination Spreitzer & Quinn (2001)

Our Leadership Stories Results: Psychological Empowerment Significant increases in both groups over time: Competence ↑ (F = 5.63, p <.05) Self-determination ↑ (F = 16.90, p <.001) Impact ↑ (F = 10.81, p <.05) No significant difference between the communities

Our Leadership Stories Community of Inquiry Social Presence Cognitive Presence Teaching Presence Educational Experience Garrison, Anderson, & Archer (2000)

Our Leadership Stories Elements Teaching Presence –Unifying element in the model –Necessary to shape a meaningful learning experience Social Presence –Acts as a support to cognitive presence Cognitive Presence –Ability to construct meaning

Our Leadership Stories Results: Community of Inquiry Teaching presence: –Direct Instruction: ↑ in facilitated community Scores on each of the 3 subscales above midrange: teaching presence highest followed by cognitive and social presence

Our Leadership Stories Phase One Introduction and Familiarization –Mixed feelings Excitement, hesitation, overwhelmed, fear –Signs of cognitive and social engagement –Focus on mastering the technology –Strong teaching presence

Our Leadership Stories Phase Two Working –Focus on completing learning activities in self- directed manner –Knowledge transfer of leadership skills to the workplace –Continued support and encouragement among members –Continued teaching presence

Our Leadership Stories Phase Three Disengagement –Decrease or ceasing of interaction –Continued self-engagement –Decrease in teaching presence re: initiating discussion –Feelings of guilt among members who did not fully participate

Our Leadership Stories I do have your 5 circles of leadership taped to my computer at work. You would be amazed at how many people ask me what they are. They really do help me to focus everyday on at least one. I have found that my confidence in my ability to support change and display the leadership characteristics everyday has improved. I really make a point of displaying appreciations for a job well done and I think the staff seem to value doing a good job. I am more aware of my abilities to challenge the process and see the rewards in doing so. Even though I did not seem to be able to get into the discussion online I did value participating in the study. I think if I had more time to get connected I would have eventually participated more. Thank you again for this opportunity.

Our Leadership Stories Recommendations Critical factors when establishing an online learning community: ease of use and reliability of the computer-user interface expect technology issues a wiki can be effective follow principles of human-computer interaction ensure that the elements of teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence are incorporated into the design

Our Leadership Stories Recommendations con’t design activities for a variety of learning preferences consider online storytelling a facilitator is required for establishing trust, engaging members, scaffolding discussions, providing feedback, and organizing the online environment a restricted and password protected environment is important for establishing trust and a sense of community an RSS feed or notification is important

Our Leadership Stories Recommendations con’t asynchronous may be preferred learner support is essential - online and hardcopy orientation presentations ongoing technical support is crucial if one-on-one ongoing feedback is expected from a facilitator - group size approx. 30 to 40 and divided into subgroups of 15 to 20 accept that all members will not participate - will be lurkers

Our Leadership Stories Recommendations con’t accessible computers unblock Web sites shift paradigm to one of constructivism expect additional outcomes such as a sense of individual empowerment take risks, learn from failure, and never give up

Our Leadership Stories Met the Goal The five anticipated outcomes: an online learning community would be established that included the elements of teaching, cognitive, and social presence storytelling would be used as one of the main teaching-learning strategies nurse educators would develop their own leadership practices nurse educators would increase their own feelings of empowerment the online community itself would be an empowering environment

Our Leadership Stories That’s It