Instructional Perspectives Of Nurse Educators Engaged In Teaching Via Distance Education

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to contribute to knowledge regarding instructional perspectives of 35 University of Missouri-St. Louis nurse faculty, who were teaching via distance education formats. The study was designed to identify differences of respondents rating the seven factors of the Instructional Perspectives Inventory (IPI), which include: teacher empathy with learners; teacher trust of learners; planning and delivery of instruction; accommodating learner uniqueness; teacher insensitivity toward learners; learner-centered learning processes; and teacher-centered learning processes (Henschke, 1994). This study also identified differences between the seven factors and specific demographic data (age, number of years teaching nursing, number of semesters teaching via distance education, formal exposure to adult education concepts and highest degree earned).

The two areas of statistically significant findings from the analysis of the data were regarding the factor “teacher trust of learners.” Respondents with doctorates outside of nursing scored significantly higher on teacher trust of learners than those with doctorates in nursing. Also, respondents with a Master of Science degree in nursing scored significantly higher on teacher trust of learners than those with doctorates in nursing.