In recent years, the use of technology in higher education settings has exploded on campuses nationwide. From online courses to live streaming of lectures, technology has elevated the capabilities of professors and students to communicate with one another thousands of miles apart as easily as sitting in a brick and mortar classroom space. Nowhere has the use of technology been clearer than in nursing education programs. With the use of highly sophisticated patient care mannequins and virtual nursing training to simulate real-world scenarios, leaders in nursing programs are becoming more aware of the need to keep up with the technological times.
With all that is being done in the classroom with the students, are the same types of technological advances being seen in the training of nurse educators? South Georgia State College’s (SGSC) Associate Professor of Nursing Susan Clement started on a quest to find the answer. Ms. Clement has been at SGSC full-time in the nursing program since 2006. Aside from teaching, she has also worked in the labor and delivery unit at Coffee Regional Medical Center for the past 25 years.
In addition, Ms. Clement is currently enrolled at the University of West Georgia pursuing a doctorate in nursing education. Her role as a student is the driving force behind seeking an answer to her question of technology in nurse educator training programs. Amid her coursework, she was able to be mentored virtually by a professor. This led her to ponder how virtual mentoring could be implemented on a larger scale to address the need for doctoral students to have experienced advisors and research investigators while being faced with the large scale of nurse educators reaching retirement age. Thus, she began her research into virtual mentoring in nursing education.
Ms. Clement researched and prepared a review of the literature found on virtual mentoring. Her colleagues at SGSC were instrumental in the project. The dean of nursing, other nursing staff and faculty and those in the SGSC library assisted her in her efforts to find current and relevant information, supported her by being a sounding board and provided feedback. Ms. Clement believes the impact of her research will be seen in years to come as virtual mentoring moves beyond doctoral programs into nursing education programs at colleges such as SGSC.
The research process was compiled into an article that was selected to be published in the Journal of Nursing Education and Practice. The submission entitled “Virtual Mentoring in Nursing Education: A Scoping Review of the Literature” was published in the online version in November 2017. She has been selected to present her research and results at the Nursing Education Research Conference in Washington D.C. in April 2018.
Ms. Clement’s article, “Virtual Mentoring in Nursing Education: A Scoping Review of the Literature”, can be viewed at the following link: http://www.sciedupress.com/journal/index.php/jnep/article/view/12199/7758