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Course design and online learning is equivalent to the instruction
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or the act of teaching that you perform in a
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face to face classroom. So, in other words, how you
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design your course determines how your learner will engage with you,
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each other, and the course material for their learning.
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Design isn't just how a course looks, it's about how
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it works. Discover how intentional design transforms online learning from
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fragmented to powerful. Welcome to Lip and Cot Spark, Illuminating
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Nursing Education, the podcast that fuels teaching, innovation, and leadership.
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I'm Dr. Kelly Dries. Each episode, we spotlight bold ideas,
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expert voices, and practical strategies to help you Teach smarter,
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lead stronger, and stay inspired. Let's spark new thinking and
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dive into today's episode. What if the secret to transforming
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online nursing education isn't more content, but more intentional design?
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In today's rapidly evolving digital learning landscape, consistency, accessibility, and
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engagement aren't optional. They're actually essential. This episode explores how
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purposeful course design elevates both teaching and learning in powerful ways.
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Joining us today is Dr. April D. Mathias, professor of
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nursing at UNC Wilmington and certified nurse educator. With over
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25 years of experience in nursing education and a decade online,
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she led a five-year journey to quality matters certification, bringing
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powerful insight into intentional course design and curriculum alignment. Welcome
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to the Lip and Cot Spark podcast, April.
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Thank you.
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To start us off, can you share what intentional course
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design means to you and why is it so critical
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in online nursing education today?
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Course design and online learning is equivalent to the instruction
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or the act of teaching that you perform in a
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face-to-face classroom. How you design your course determines how your
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learner will engage with you, each other, and the course
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material for their learning. There are two significant structures that
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one should prioritize when designing online courses. The first is alignment.
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Alignment serves as the foundational structure of the course, and
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it ensures that the course is outcomes focused. The second
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is engagement. There are three distinct pillars of engagement, learner
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to content, learner to learner, and learner to educator. Engagement
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ensures active learning and reduces learning in isolation. The three
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pillars of engagement stand tall on top of the foundational
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structure of alignment. And together, they balance the overarching goals
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of student academic success and student satisfaction with their learning experience.
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our online courses must be clearly aligned with the intended
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learning outcomes. Alignment not only facilitates academic success, but it
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also motivates our adult learner nursing students. When I say alignment,
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I mean the content or learning materials, the learning activities,
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and the assessments must connect with the intended learning outcomes.
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Everything that we ask of our students in our course
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design should help them achieve the learning outcomes. Now, intended
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learning outcomes include many layers of outcomes. So whether we're
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creating a course from scratch or we're revising an online course,
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a systematic way to ensure alignment is to engage in
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backward curriculum design. It's critical to share that alignment with
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the learners. Adult learners are goal-oriented and results-oriented. Furthermore, alignment
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ensures relevancy of the content and the learning activities for
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the intended outcomes. Adult learners are practical and problem-centered. They
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prefer to focus on relevant content that addresses specific needs
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or challenges and and they want the knowledge and skills
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that are immediately applicable to their professional lives. Alignment demonstrates
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not only intentional course design, but it also demonstrates respect
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for our students' time and efforts. Second, we have those
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three structural pillars of engagement, learner to content, learner to educator,
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and learner to learner. When they're balanced, they combat the
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isolation and close that social gap that's inherent in online environments.
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They ensure deeper cognitive processing and learning, and they boost
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motivation and satisfaction.
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I like how you said, you know, beginning with the
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end in mind, that kind of backwards design when you
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start with the objectives or the learning outcomes and then
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be able to build it from there. So how do
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those pillars kind of explain those related to that design piece?
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Learner to content engagement is the most fundamental form of engagement.
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To ensure we design course materials for diverse learners, we
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must present information in a variety of formats. We must
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provide the same information through different modalities to accommodate different
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learning styles. you are providing each student with an equitable
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learning experience. Now for learner to educator engagement, that requires
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faculty presence in the course. The educator must be visible, active,
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and supportive in the online environment. It's really important to
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remember that our nursing students are adult learners. So learner
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to educator engagement facilitates role modeling, and socialization of the
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learner into the profession or professional role for which the
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program prepares the student. Adult learners are also self-directed and independent. Therefore,
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partnering with our students in their learning through intentional learner
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to educator engagement will be very beneficial. Adult learners bring
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unique personal and professional experiences to their learning so we
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can learn with and from the learners. And there are
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three ways that educators can build learner to educator engagement
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in their course through consistent faculty communication and faculty presence,
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through outlining instructional interaction and feedback expectations, and through targeted
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outreach to students. And the third type of engagement is
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learner to learner engagement. And this is a vital building
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block for building community in the learning environment. A learning
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community requires collaborative interaction where learning occurs through social relationships,
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peer exchange, and the belief that every learner has valuable
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insights and contributions. Collaborative learning allows adult learners to share
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and learn from one another's experiences. The key to designing
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learner-to-learner engagement is to build in structure and expectations for
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the interactions. Furthermore, by evaluating individual responsibility within the collaborative
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space ensures fair evaluation of each student and reduces student
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stress that frequently occurs with group work.
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So now that we've grounded ourselves in what intentional design means,
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I'd love to take a deeper dive into what that
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process actually requires over time. So I know we've talked
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and I've heard you mention that you led a multi-year
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effort toward Quality Matters certification. So first of all, for
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our listeners who may not know what Quality Matters is,
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can you walk us through that journey and what kept
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your team committed despite maybe some challenges that you had faced?
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So Quality Matters is a set of standards to ensure
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that you are providing quality online course design. And when
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we decided to seek Quality Matters online program design certification,
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we started at the macro level of curriculum reevaluation. We
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wanted to ensure that there was alignment of our courses
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and their course objectives to the program student learning outcomes.
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This allowed us to identify any curriculum drift that may
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have occurred over the years. And it also ensured that
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all the faculty gained a comprehensive understanding of the curriculum
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beyond the courses that they taught. Some of our course
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descriptions and some of our course level objectives were revised
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to better align with our program student learning outcomes. administrative
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support and collaboration with the Office of Distance Education and
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e-learning was the
most valuable resource for us. They provided
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the resources that we needed to be successful. And these
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resources included, but were not limited to, having designated workload
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or stipends over the entire calendar year for the course coordination,
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consistent training, resources, and one-on-one support was provided by instructional
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designers from our Office of Distance Education and eLearning. Stipends
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or simply just providing lunch when we had mandatory collaborative
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meetings occurred and was much appreciated I will say that
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we did run into one large speed bump, and that
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was when we addressed accessibility issues in our courses. We
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recognized that faculty needed more technical support. There was definitely
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a learning curve. So we created an initiative using graduate
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students across programs to address the accessibility issues in the
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courses at that point in time with the expectation that
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course coordinators would sharpen their skills. When the faculty started
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feeling tired, we always came back to what our goal
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was in the beginning. See, we were a Masters of
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Science in Nursing nurse educator program, and we focused on
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our desire to role model excellence for our students and
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also our goal to support students' success. We wanted each
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and every one of our students to share a consistent
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and positive learning experience in our program. The ultimate goals
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were student success and student satisfaction. And we knew that
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course design in our asynchronous, accelerated, fully online program was
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the way to meeting these goals.
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Excellent. That's great. Always come back to the goal. That
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journey really, it highlights the importance of thinking beyond, you said,
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kind of those individual courses. So I'd like to expand
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on that idea just a little bit. So transitioning from
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that individual course, because it's so easy to just look
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at your kind of your own little silo here, and
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this is the course I teach. So how do you
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develop that more holistic curricular approach? So what strategies kind
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of help facilitate that shift? as you were moving through
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that journey?
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Alignment is the foundation for quality intentional course design. And
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alignment is one of those critical standards of quality matters.
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So as we discussed earlier, alignment spans beyond the course
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all the way to the program student learning outcomes and
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to those guiding professional standards. And so by participating in
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backward design, each faculty began to see the course that
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they teach within the broader curriculum. This holistic view ensured
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that course development or revision was outcomes focused and the
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outcomes then determined the direction for the revisions that needed
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to come. During the reevaluation of our curriculum, we collectively
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participated in mapping out the curriculum. Faculty were heavily involved.
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in aligning their course learning objectives to the program's student
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learning outcomes. This process included frequent review and engagement with
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the curriculum map in our monthly program committee meetings. And
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as the facilitator of these meetings, I led the faculty
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through many discussions and decisions. Faculty approved the map. And
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so what that meant is they collectively adopted and committed
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to the curriculum alignment and to our plan for students
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to achieve those program student learning outcomes. Doing this work
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in the program committee meetings ensured that all the faculty
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could be involved. This led to faculty sharing ideas and
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innovations with each other. It led to a collective understanding
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of our professional standards that were guiding the curriculum as
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well as to our program student learning outcomes and ultimately
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a collective effort to guide students to those outcomes.
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I love that holistic curriculum approach, you know. One critical
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element of that shift is ensuring every learner can fully
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engage with the materials. And you mentioned this in your
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last remarks a little bit. So let's talk about accessibility.
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Let's get back to that piece. Because you mentioned you
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use grad students to help navigate that. So what does
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accessibility look like in an online course? You know, why
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is it foundational in online learning? course design and how
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can educators really begin to integrate accessibility practices effectively?
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Accessibility in a course means that every student can engage
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with every learning resource and learning tool that is in
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that course. So this includes elements such as adequate font
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size or contrasting font and background color, only underlining things
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that are hyperlinked, Ensuring that there's alt text for all
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images so screen readers can give those students the full experience.
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Ensuring that you have closed captioning or transcripts for all
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audio and video recordings. All of these features ensure that
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all students can engage with the course material. You know,
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a lot of people think that when you have an
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online course that you need to put all these bells
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and whistles into the course, that you need to entertain
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and stimulate your learners. And that's not exactly true. Accessibility
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reinforces that your course doesn't need to be pretty with
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a lot of bells and whistles because every aspect of
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your course must be purposeful and intentional for students to
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achieve those learning objectives. And anything that you add to
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your course, the educator must ensure that it is accessible
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to all learners. And it's also important to realize that
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accessibility goes beyond the pages that you develop in the
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learning management system. It extends to every resource that you
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provide to students. So every website that you send students to,
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every PDF, that you provide for students, every handout, every video,
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all of those resources must be accessible to all your
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learners as well. As I mentioned earlier, accessibility does require
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the educator to
be an efficient technician. And some educators
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must learn these skills in order to ensure accessibility. And
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there is a learning curve. So when addressing accessibility in
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your online course, I would encourage educators to utilize built-in
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accessibility checkers, such as in Adobe, Microsoft Word, and in
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the learning management systems. I would also suggest soliciting help
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and support from your institution's instructional designers. They are definitely
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collaborative partners in designing online courses. And also just be
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strategic and follow a process. For instance, maybe you decide
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to work on one type of resource first. You make
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sure that all of your videos have closed captioning or transcripts,
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or you make sure that all of your PDFs are accessible.
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Or you can do it another way and take one
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module or one unit at a time. Because it does
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take time and there is that learning curve. And so
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you have to have a plan. place in order to
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fully transform your course into an accessible course. Yeah.
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In my mind, I'm thinking about what does that orientation
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piece look like for new nurse educators coming into this role?
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How do we train them and get them technically savvy
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to be able to at least be aware that this
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needs to happen in this course and, you know, perhaps
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have a mentor, right, that can coach them along the way?
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So as we think about creating consistent and accessible experiences
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using standardized design, this often enters the conversation, the word
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standardization or standardized templates. And I know in academia, being
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a faculty and dean for many, many years, we debated
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over this topic of standardization in courses. So how do
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you balance consistency and with academic freedom while ensuring a
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quality student experience.
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Course templates are important because they simply facilitate course navigation
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for the students. It reduces or eliminates students needing to
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expend energy or time learning how to navigate the course
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or how to find things in the course. A template
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maximizes the students' time and efforts to focus on the
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content and to allow them to jump right into learning.
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A standardized template does not take away from intentional course
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design or academic freedom. When you focus on the true
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structural elements of course design, alignment, and those three pillars
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of engagement, a standardized template does not interfere with these
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and academic freedom is maintained with those design elements. Academic
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freedom is exercised through the learning resources, the instructional strategies
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or learning activities, the planned learner engagement, and the assessments
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that are selected or designed by the educator to help
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learners achieve those learning outcomes. With that said, though, I
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do believe that educators need to be involved in designing
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the course template. This is a great opportunity for instructional
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designers and faculty to collaborate and learn from one another.
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What works for one program may not work for another program.
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So a program's template should be unique, It should be
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intentional for that student population and for the intended learning
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outcomes for that particular program.
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I put myself in that student's shoes as they navigate
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this curriculum and they They go to April's course and
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it looks like this, and then they come to my
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course and the buttons are different and, you know, the
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typeset and font and, you know, where things are and
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how they have to navigate. And you're right, that's a
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lot of cognitive load, just jumping from one course to
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the other. So standardizing that is definitely key. And once
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that structure is in place, the next step is really
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about bringing that course to life for students. And again,
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like you said, you don't need all the bells and whistles,
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but active learning and community building, I think are vital
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in an online
environment. So I'm wondering what are some
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of the strategies that truly foster engagement and a sense
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of belonging among online learners?
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Active learning requires the student to do something rather than
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just passively receive information. And this is closely tied to
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that learner to content engagement pillar. With active learning, learners
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are actively involved in the learning process through learning activities
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that promote application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of the content.
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For adult learners, active learning is effective as it taps
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into their results-oriented and problem-centered characteristics. It provides learners the
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opportunity to apply new knowledge, allowing them to self-assess their learning.
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and to see the practical relevance of the new content
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to achieve those intended learning outcomes. Now, community building is
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closely tied to the learner to educator and learner to
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learner engagement pillars. So practical ways to foster these types
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of engagement and to foster a sense of belonging within
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the learning community could be something simply as providing a
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welcome video or a faculty page that shares professional and
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appropriate personal information with the learners. This humanizes the educator
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and illustrates approachability, requiring students to introduce themselves at the
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beginning of the course. This creates a welcoming learning environment
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and a sense of community within the course. Also doing
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things such as posting weekly announcements that outline goals, clarify
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misconceptions and highlight upcoming deadlines, and also providing a module
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overview that connects the current lesson to the intended learning
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outcomes into real world nursing practice. These simple touch points
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keep the learning community together through shared goals and shared experiences.
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When designing collaborative learning projects, where learners work together to
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produce a shared outcome or product, such as doing a
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case study analysis or a group presentation, or maybe a
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shared Wiki or resource bank in the course. These types
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of projects ensure social learning and they really do mimic
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the real world team-based healthcare environment. So they're very important.
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When you're incorporating peer review or peer feedback, This shifts
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that expert role from the educator to the community. And
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peer feedback and peer review help learners develop critical evaluation
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skills that are essential in nursing. And this can be
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accomplished by designing structured peer reviews on assignment drafts. where
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learners provide constructive feedback using a rubric to support equitable reviews,
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or by using critical friends, where learners check in with
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peers weekly to discuss progress, troubleshoot roadblocks, provide support to
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one another. I do think that discussion boards or discussion
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assignments are frequently incorporated into online courses. However, it is
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critical that the educator provides specific prompts for both the
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primary and the reply posts to encourage a deeper, meaningful
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dialogue between students.
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So April, as we wrap up, what is one spark,
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maybe a key piece of wisdom or inspiration that you
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would like to leave with nurse educators striving to design
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more intentional and impactful online learning experiences?
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Well, first to summarize, I do believe that alignment is
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your foundational structure and engagement serves as those three pillars
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that's holding up student success and satisfaction. And so these
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are the structures that educators should focus on first when
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they're designing or redesigning a course. And I think it's
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also especially true in an asynchronous online course where that
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our course design is equivalent to the act of teaching.
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The design of our course determines how learners will engage
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with the educator, other learners, and the course materials. But
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I think that for intentional course design, it is best
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approached using backward design, and this work occurs upfront, long
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before students enter the course. The more time and intention
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we devote during the design process, the smoother the course
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will run. You as the educator will have more time
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to devote to interacting with your students, and the students
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will be able to focus on learning by actively engaging
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with the material, each other, and with you as the educator. Awesome.
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Thank you. Thank you so much, April, for sharing your
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expertise and your insights on intentional online course design. And
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today's conversation, I love it that it really highlighted the
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importance of alignment, accessibility, faculty preparation, and the power of
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thoughtful design in creating meaningful learning experiences for our nursing students.
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And to our listeners, thank you so much for joining us.
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Be sure to subscribe and share this episode and continue
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exploring resources to support your journey as a nurse educator.
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Thanks so much, April.
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Thank you.
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00:26:51.150 --> 00:26:54.869
Thanks for listening to Lippincott Spark. Be sure to subscribe,
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00:26:55.339 --> 00:26:58.180
share with a colleague, and leave us a five-star review.
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You'll find links below to learn more about Lippincott nursing
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products and services. Until next time, keep learning, keep leading,
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and keep sparking innovation in nursing education.