Inspirational Teaching: Beyond Excellence and Towards Collaboration for Learning with Sustained Impact

Within higher education, there is a continued focus on teaching quality, with teaching excellence often linked to the idea of engaging and motivating students. This article examines the concept of ‘inspirational’ teaching, going beyond notions of excellent teaching, and proposes that inspirational teaching is defined by being transformational in the sense that it has a sustained positive impact on student learning. By exploring current literature on inspirational teaching, including some literature on teaching excellence, four overarching themes are identified as constituents of inspirational teaching: knowledge and passion for the subject, understanding learning and knowledge, constructive and challenging learning environment and students as individuals, partners and colleagues. The practices of the inspirational teachers presented are characterised by their focus on student learning rather than teacher performance and so indicate that inspirational teaching is an outcome that cannot be reduced to a set of characteristics or practices. Finally, we conclude that collaborative and scholarly relationships between students and teachers underpin these four themes and are central to creating inspirational learning experiences

Perspectives in applied academic practice: development of a cross-institutional open access journal to support early career academics.

Engagement in the scholarship of learning and teaching contributes to the enrichment and enhancement of academic practice. One method of engagement is through contributing to the scholarly discourse by publishing in academic journals. The publication process however can be daunting for the uninitiated, with high levels of competition and equally high rates of rejection. Project work produced by academic developers or students on postgraduate education programmes as part fulfilment of their academic programmes of study are often of publishable standard, yet publication rates from such scholarly outputs remain relatively low. The paper outlines a collaborative initiative developed by staff from Edinburgh Napier University, Aston University and the University of Dundee to implement an alternative publishing route designed to support staff new to academic publishing, and students on postgraduate programmes in education, to publish their work in a supportive environment as part of their first steps to becoming a published scholar

A phenomenological exploration of the biographical impact of newly diagnosed MS on the individual and their support person

Aim: The aim of this study was to provide an understanding of the biographical impact of newly diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis (MS) on the individual and their support person(s) and how this impacts on how the person manages the transition to living with MS.Background: Being diagnosed with a chronic illness is a significant life event which may result in stress for the individual and their family. Previous studies in chronic illness have identified how previously held ideas of the self and identity, which are strongly linked to social roles, are challenged as a consequence of being diagnosed.Methods: The research was underpinned by a hermeneutic phenomenological approach. A focus group with seven MS specialist nurses was conducted to identify the support needs of people newly diagnosed with MS, and their role in providing support and intervention during the period following diagnosis. The data from this focus group then informed the development of the interview guide for the interviews with the people with MS and their support person. Semi-structured interviews with ten people with MS and nine support persons were conducted. The data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Findings: The diagnosis of MS created an acute disruption to the taken-for-granted sense of self, both among people with MS and their support persons. The lived experience involved a number of disruptions to daily life which impacted on the identities associated with the many roles individuals had. Key themes were identified which add to existing knowledge by developing the meaning of being diagnosed with MS for the self, and identifying the processes that individuals go through on their journey to living with MS as part of a new biography. The three superordinate themes: ‘Road to diagnosis’, ‘The liminal self’ and ‘Learning to live with MS: an uncertain future’ emerged from the interview data with a cross cutting theme of ‘The impact on the self’ for both the person with MS and their support person. The findings captured the lived experience of being diagnosed with MS as close to the time of diagnosis as was possible within the constraints of the study. This has led to a nuanced description of the lived experience which has highlighted the concept of a liminal self in MS. The liminal self describes the experience where the individual’s conceptualisation of their taken-for-granted self has become invalid, as the they are faced with new knowledge of their diagnosis of MS which needs to be incorporated into the new self. The uncertainty relating to this condition makes this a difficult and liminal transition.To articulate this new knowledge, I have developed a conceptual framework which builds on previous theoretical positions of chronic illness and biographical theory to further illuminate the understanding of living with MS in the initial stages following diagnosis. This thesis argues for understanding the lived experience of biographical disruption following a diagnosis of MS to be understood in the proposed conceptual framework of ‘Threshold concepts and the liminal self in MS’. The framework has four main components: the ‘preliminal self’ which conceptualises the lived experience prior to diagnosis where symptoms of MS are experienced but the cause is not yet known; the ‘threshold concept: being diagnosed’ conceptualises the experience of being diagnosed as a pivotal moment in the transition from person with symptoms to person with MS, or partner to potential carer; the ‘Liminal self in MS’: conceptualises the lived experience of biographical disruption where the person’s sense of self is in transition; the ‘Post-liminal self in MS’ conceptualises the reincorporation of the sense of self transforming the self as a person with MS or support person of someone with MS. This experience is subject to on-going uncertainty and as such is never quite stable.Conclusion: The findings from this study highlight the need for health care professionals to recognise the liminal self and consider this in the support of the person with MS and their support person. The conceptual framework, grounded in the data from this study, provides a new way of understanding the lived experience of those affected by a new diagnosis of MS. As such, this framework offers an original contribution to knowledge

Decision‐making in nursing research and practice: application of the cognitive continuum theory: a meta‐aggregative systematic review.

To explore how the Cognitive Continuum Theory has been used in qualitative nursing research and to what extent it has been integrated in the research process using the Qualitative Network for Theory Use and Methodology (QUANTUM). Theory, research and nursing are intrinsically linked, as are decision-making and nursing practice. With increasing pressure on nurses to improve patient outcomes, systematic knowledge regarding decision-making is critical and urgent. A meta-aggregative systematic review. Databases: CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Embase and PubMed were searched from inception until May 2022 for peer-reviewed research published in English. Seven studies were included and assessed for methodological quality using the Joanna Briggs Institute checklist for qualitative research. A meta-aggregative synthesis was conducted using Joanna Briggs methodology. The QUANTUM typology was used to evaluate the visibility of the Cognitive Continuum Theory in the research process. The review identified five synthesised findings, namely: 1. the decision-making capacity of the individual nurse, 2. nurses' level of experience, 3. availability of decision support tools, 4. the availability of resources and 5. access to senior staff and peers. Only two of seven studies rigorously applied the theory. The included studies were mainly descriptive-exploratory in nature. The transferability of the Cognitive Continuum Theory was demonstrated; however, evolution or critique was absent. A gap in the provision of a patient-centric approach to decision-making was identified. Education, support and research is needed to assist decision-making. A new Person-Centred Nursing Model of the Cognitive Continuum Theory has been proposed to guide future research in clinical decision-making. Relevance to Clinical Practice: Nurses make numerous decisions every day that directly impact patient care, therefore development and testing of new theories, modification and revision of older theories to reflect advances in knowledge and technology in contemporary health care are essential

Exploration of an on-site pharmacist intervention within Australian residential aged care facilities using normalisation process theory: A mixed-methods study

Residents living in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) continue to experience medication-related harm. There is ongoing interest in expanding the role of pharmacists, including on-site pharmacists (OSPs), to help improve medication management in RACFs. The objectives of this mixed-methods study were to explore the extent and ways in which on-site pharmacists (OSPs) were normalised within RACFs as part of a complex intervention seeking to improve medication management. This study consisted of semistructured interviews informed by normalisation process theory (NPT) and a quantitative survey adapted from the normalisation measure development questionnaire (NoMAD) instrument which is underpinned by NPT. Semistructured interviews with prescribers, RACF managers, RACF nursing staff, OSPs, residents, and family members (n = 47) indicated that most participants supported OSPs within RACFs that having OSPs in RACFs made sense and was perceived as beneficial and that participants were invested in working with OSPs who often became part of routine practice, i.e., “normalised.” Prescribers, RACF managers, and nursing staff (health care team members) completed the adapted survey, and their responses (n = 16) strongly complemented the positive qualitative findings. Overall, OSPs were positively appraised by health care team members as well as residents and family members and were generally considered to be normalised within their respective RACFs. This study explored the normalisation of OSPs within RACFs. From the perspective of residents, family members, health care team members, and OSPs, OSPs could become part of routine practice within Australian RACFs. The findings of this study also highlighted the value of using theory to guide the evaluation of a pharmacist intervention in RACFs and the utility of applying NPT in a new setting, Australian RACFs. Importantly, the findings of this study could help inform the future role of OSPs working and the rollout of OSPs within Australian RACFs

Attributes of Spirituality Described by Survivors of Sexual Violence

This study focuses on what aspects of attributes of spirituality as defined by Martsolf and Mickley (1998) are most salient for female and male survivors of sexual violence. Content analysis of secondary narrative data, provided by 50 participants in a study of women’s and men’s responses to sexual violence, was coded to the five attributes of spirituality as defined by Martsolf and Mickley. The attribute aspects of connecting with others in spiritual ways and with God/higher power were particularly significant. The attribute of transcendence was found less important, and the attributes of value, becoming, and meaning were not found important. The Martsolf and Mickley framework helped organize narrative data for a content analysis of spirituality in survivors of sexual violence

Attributes of Spirituality Described by Survivors of Sexual Violence

This study focuses on what aspects of attributes of spirituality as defined by Martsolf and Mickley (1998) are most salient for female and male survivors of sexual violence. Content analysis of secondary narrative data, provided by 50 participants in a study of women\u27s and men\u27s responses to sexual violence, was coded to the five attributes of spirituality as defined by Martsolf and Mickley. The attribute aspects of connecting with others in spiritual ways and with God/higher power were particularly significant. The attribute of transcendence was found less important, and the attributes of value, becoming, and meaning were not found important. The Martsolf and Mickley framework helped organize narrative data for a content analysis of spirituality in survivors of sexual violence