MsSandra Nicholson

In 2020, Sandra Nicholson was a recipient of the UCD College of Health & Agricultural Sciences Teaching Excellence Award. She has extensive experience in the design/development, teaching, and assessment of traditional/in-person, online, and hybrid modules.

Sandra designed two traditional UCD BSc. Veterinary Nursing modules (VNUR30280 Veterinary Dentistry & VNUR20350 Animal Behaviour for Veterinary Nursing), created a fully online module for the BSc. Veterinary Nursing top up course (VNUR30440 Animal Behaviour and Welfare for Veterinary Nurses), and combined/redeveloped two existing modules (VNUR20310 Small animal nursing and VNUR20250 Equine nursing) to create VNUR20360 Veterinary Medical Nursing. While doing this, she followed best practice by incorporating the ACOVENE Veterinary Nursing competencies, employing constructive alignment, and considering the principles of assessment and feedback.

She has much experience delivering in-person teaching sessions (lectures, tutorials, and/or practical classes) to students in the UCD Veterinary Nursing and Veterinary Medicine programmes, utilising active learning strategies (including group work and polling tools) to promote engagement. Sandra has also successfully delivered online teaching, including facilitating online discussion boards to encourage participation. Sandra quickly and successfully modified her teaching to support the switch to online and hybrid learning during the COVID-19 crisis. She has coordinated a number of core modules and two different stages (she currently coordinates Stage two) in the UCD BSc. Veterinary Nursing programme. Please find her teaching philosophy below.

Teaching Philosophy:

I believe that I have many diverse roles to play as university lecturer. These roles include those of community leader/builder (as described by Cruess et al., 2018), information provider, facilitator, learner, role model and assessor (as described by Harden and Crosby, 2000). As lecturer in Veterinary nursing, I am required to guide and support the students in developing their professional competencies (as specified by the Accreditation Committee for Veterinary Nurse Education (ACOVENE), 2012). While doing this, however, I also aim to transmit my passion for the area and inspire further learning. In addition, I aim to help my students become compassionate and resilient practitioners. I believe that learning from mistakes and avoiding excessive self- criticism are important skills that contribute to resilience. This is in agreement with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS, 2016) who have acknowledged that the “blame culture” in the veterinary professions must be replaced with a “learning culture” in order to protect practitioner (and patient) welfare. I believe that the foundations for a learning culture must be laid even before graduation and that the class environment has the capacity to influence this. Inspired by the “communities of practice” model for medical education (Cruess et al., 2018), I strive to create a safe and supportive class environment (or “learning community”) and ensure that all students feel comfortable participating and expressing their ideas. This approach also aligns with the University College Dublin (UCD) strategic objective (2015-2020) of building a diverse and inclusive community. I consider it my responsibility to lead the community and earn the trust of my students. I believe that trust may be earned by communicating a regard for the students (as a group and as individuals) and a desire to support them in their development as practitioners. I also believe in being open about my aims as teacher and assessor. Therefore, I design clear learning outcomes for my modules and align these with my assessment criteria, as per the behaviourist approach to teaching (Taylor and Hamdy, 2013). Having created a safe environment for learning, I believe that my next role is that of “information provider”, as described by Harden and Crosby (2000). Some would maintain that this role is unnecessary, as information is easily accessible via textbooks, journal articles and online resources (Harden and Crosby, 2000). However, I would argue that the direct provision of essential information is necessary in a competency-based programme such as Veterinary nursing. In addition, I do not simply present raw information; I use my practitioner experience to curate, structure, and simplify information, and emphasise important issues. In order to keep my lectures current, I engage in continuing professional development (CPD) and review contemporary evidence before designing or editing my session plans. When designing my session plans, I also attempt to incorporate inclusive design to support my diverse student base. In addition, I aim to promote relevant depths of learning (as described by Taylor and Hamdy, 2013). I fully acknowledge that in a community of practitioners, teaching should not be totally didactic, passive or entirely one-way. Therefore, I also embrace my role of “learning facilitator” (as described by Harden and Crosby, 2000) I apply constructivist and cognitive theories of learning by encouraging students to draw upon their personal experiences and prior knowledge and connect it with new material to extend their zones of proximal development (Taylor and Hamby, 2013). I also encourage group work and peer-to-peer teaching/learning. As a lecturer I am also a learner, and conscious of my responsibilities as a role model (Harden and Crosby, 2000), I aim to avoid perfectionism and model a learning/growth mind-set at all times. I make it clear that teaching enables me to think more deeply about my subject areas and arrive at new insights. I also ensure to respond to student feedback in a timely manner. I gauge my success as lecturer in a number of ways. The indicators that I consider important are class attendance and participation, requests for assistance, the results of assessments, and student feedback. Although I have expectations of myself within the learning community, I also have expectations of my students. Our students often select Veterinary nursing as a career path because of a desire to work with and care for animals (Dunne et al., 2017). Therefore, I expect them to be intrinsically motivated to succeed and to always prioritise the wellbeing of the animals in their care. As fledgling members of the practitioner community, I also expect them to demonstrate professionalism. This involves being adequately prepared for class, participating, treating others with respect, and seeking help when required. To summarise my teaching philosophy, I believe that I have many responsibilities and that students should act with professionalism. My aim is to promote a community of learning within which all individuals feel valued and everyone can work together to achieve success and optimise patient welfare.

References
• Accreditation Committee for Veterinary Nurse Education (ACOVENE) (2012) Dossier of European Competencies for the Veterinary Nurse. 2nd Ed. London: ACOVENE Available at: http://acovene.org/new_acovene/wp-content/uploads/Dossier-of-Competencies-2nd-edition-Nov-2012-1.pdf (Last accessed 12th December 2018)
• Cruess, R. L., Cruess, S. R. and Steinert, Y. (2018) ‘Medicine as a Community of Practice: Implications for Medical Education.’ Academic Medicine 93 pp. 185-191
• Dunne, K., Brereton, B., Duggan, V. and Campion, D. (2018) ‘Motivation and Prior Animal Experience of Newly Enrolled Veterinary Nursing Students at two Irish Third-Level Institutions.’ Journal of Veterinary Medical Education 45(3) pp. 413-422
• Harden, R.M. and Crosby, J. (2000) ‘AMEE Guide No 20: The good teacher is more than a Lecturer-the twelve roles of the teacher.’ Medical Teacher 22(4) pp. 334-347
• Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (2016) ‘Zero tolerance for blame culture.’ RCVS News (November) p. 1
• Taylor, D.C. and Hamdy, H. (2013) ‘Adult learning theories: Implications for learning and teaching in medical education: AMEE Guide No. 83.’ Medical Teacher 35 pp. e1561-e1572
• University College Dublin Strategy 2015-2020 [online] Available at: http://www.ucd.ie/president/speechespublications/publications/strategicplan/ (Last accessed 13th December 2018)