Strengths-based pedagogy: Opening the door of possibility for faculty development
Date
2015-09-23
Authors
Juby, Brenda
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Abstract
The complexities and insecurities that are facing nursing today are causing uncertainty in
what educators know or do not know, with what is considered right or good. It is during
uncertainty that a sense of self-awareness and particular way of being needs to be fostered, and how we approach knowledge and knowing needs to shift to an ontological orientation. Taking an ontological turn in education shifts the relationship between epistemology and ontology. Specifically, epistemology is put to the service of ontology (Dall’Alba & Barnacle, 2005; Thomson, 2001). Using a strengths-based pedagogy is an orientation that is grounded in an ontological turn, and allows us to teach in the space between certainty/uncertainty, and promotes the integration of knowing, acting, and being as an educator. The purpose of this project was to develop a faculty workshop that explores the practical application of a strengths-based pedagogy and its potential use in nursing education. The project is located in a constructivist paradigm where student’s previous knowledge and learning is acknowledged, while integrating and drawing on the literature of the ontological turn (Barnett, 2012; Dall’Alba & Barnacle, 2007). The project specifically draws upon a strengths-based pedagogy for the theoretical orientation as well as relational inquiry tools to address the how. Using relational inquiry tools, learning experiences are explored within the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and contextual domains; and informed by five ontological capacities (5 Cs) – compassion, being curious, commitment, being competent, and corresponding may provide insight into how these values can enhance teacher/student relationship and students’ academic success.
The faculty development workshop consists of two parts: a 4-hour workshop that
provides educators the opportunity, through active learning strategies, to open the relational space to explore a strengths-based approach in their practice to recognize what is working or not and relearn and how this approach can work in their practice; and 11-weeks of 1-hour follow-up sessions that continue the strengths-based conversation and provide support. In the design of the workshop and the learning goals, Finks taxonomy of significant learning was used which is congruent with strengths-based and nursing education. The overall goal of the project was that educators would develop a more comprehensive understanding of a strengths-based approach and how they can use or enhance this approach in their practice within nursing education. The project has potential to change the template in which educators and students in the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) program view their practice and their experiences. Using a strengthsbased pedagogy opens up the possibility for educators to explore their strengths; revise the story
of their teaching and learning from one of deficits and challenges to opportunity and potential; increase their confidence and belief in who they are as an educator; and for enhancing student/teacher relationship and academic success. Ultimately, it is a starting point to opening the door to changing educators’ perspectives of students to one of privilege and possibility.
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Keywords
strengths-based, nursing, pedagogy, faculty development, resiliency