Nurse education in practice
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Poor preparation of nurses, regarding learning disabilities can have devastating consequences. High-profile reports and the Nursing and Midwifery Council requirements led this University to introduce Shareville into the undergraduate and postgraduate nursing curriculum. Shareville is a virtual environment developed at Birmingham City University, in which student nurses learn from realistic, problem-based scenarios featuring people with learning disabilities. ⋯ Nine lecturers were interviewed, they generally felt positively towards the resource and identified strengths in terms of blended learning and collaborative teaching. The evaluation contributes to understandings of learning via simulated reality, and identifies process issues that will inform the development of further resources and their roll-out locally, and may guide other education providers in developing and implementing resources of this nature. There was significant parity between lecturers' expectations of students' experience of Shareville.
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Teaching is a complex art that takes courage to commit to, particularly in the face of stressed students, crowded curricula, tensions in preparation for the graduate role, and ongoing educator shortages. My colleagues and I have been taking on this challenge by imbuing our teaching of nursing with more passion. As Parker Palmer (1998, p. 144), the renowned educationalist once said: "The growth of any craft depends on shared practice and honest dialogue among the people who do it. ⋯ In nursing, our biggest problems are where stigma, inequality and inertia persist to make vulnerable communities experience more illness and hardship than others who are more privileged. TL treats students as critical agents - who have the potential to rethink problems and change practices. TL aims to make space within the classroom and online for a dialogue that is affirming so that students believe in their own capacity to make a better world for all people.