The University of Maryland School of Nursing's Institute for Educators Celebrates 20 Years of Shaping Nurse Educators

Before Brittany Corbin, BSN '14, RN, PCCN, CNE-cl, senior professional development and education support specialist in the University of Maryland School of Nursing’s (UMSON) Department of Partnerships, Professional Education, and Practice, joined the Institute for Educators as a graduate teaching assistant, she had only considered pursuing advanced practice as the next step in her career.

“I knew little about the faculty role and hadn’t recognized the significant impact I could make as a nurse educator,” Corbin said. “After spending about a year with the institute, I decided to switch my major - a decision I haven’t regretted. As I learned more about the faculty shortage and the nurse educator's role, I realized how much I could contribute to the profession. Now, as I complete my practicum in leadership and management with a focus on education, I feel incredibly grateful to the institute for inspiring this meaningful career shift.”

Transforming students into nurse educators for teaching roles in academic and clinical settings has been the hallmark of the Institute for Educators for two decades. Its 20th anniversary will be formally celebrated at the institute’s Nursing Education Conference, April 25, held in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic forced such gatherings into the virtual space. 

Founded in 2004, under the co-direction of Louise Jenkins, PhD ’85, MS ’81, RN FAHA, ANEF, professor emerita, and Carol O’Neil, PhD, RN, CNE, associate professor, the institute was created to address the critical and growing shortage of nursing faculty in Maryland and across the nation. It centralized nurse education resources to equip nurses with the essential knowledge and skills needed to assume educator roles in both academic and practice settings. The first of its kind in Maryland, the institute became a forerunner in specifically preparing nurses and other health professionals to become educators of their practice.

The institute's work has been integral to the state's efforts to educate nurses, providing valuable support and resources, says its current director, Susan L. Bindon, DNP ’11, MS ’96, RN, NPD-BC, CNE, ANEF, FAAN, associate professor and associate dean for faculty development.

Since its inception, nearly 800 graduate students have taken academic courses in the Institute for Educators' Teaching in Nursing and Health Professions Certificate. This 12-credit graduate certificate prepares nurses and other health professionals for teaching and faculty roles.

“That’s in terms of numbers,” Bindon says. “In terms of impact, each one of those faculty members is able to educate more students, and with the nursing shortage, and now with the faculty shortage, I think we’ve been able to impact both of those avenues. Better faculty lead to better students who become better nurses, which in turn helps the state. As the flagship school for the state, we take that very seriously. The faculty shortage is one of the biggest concerns in nursing education right now.”

To help develop, prepare, and support nursing faculty and educators in clinical settings, the institute offers professional development initiatives that include an annual conference, Teaching Grand Rounds, topical workshops, and networking resources.

Supported initially by UMSON, the institute has received more than $3 million in total funding from federally supported grants and Nurse Support Program II grants from the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission, administered by the Maryland Higher Education Commission, to support its initiatives. 

Pioneering Faculty Preparation

When the institute began, it was staffed by just two faculty members — Jenkins, the founding director, and O’Neil. Bindon joined the team in 2011. Today, the institute has a team of six, with Bindon leading efforts since 2022 to expand the institute’s visibility, accessibility, and inclusivity.

At its inception, the Institute for Educators was a pioneer in online teaching, long before the COVID-19 pandemic made virtual learning mainstream. Today's technology makes online learning seem routine, but the institute's early efforts were groundbreaking.

“It was a significant innovation at the time,” Bindon says. The institute's early work included making courses asynchronous and online, catering to busy working graduate students.

“That was really a great space for us to be in, filling that need to help prepare faculty for teaching roles, because there's nothing more disappointing than coming in as new faculty with all of this expertise in your specialty and stumbling in the actual endeavor of teaching,” Bindon says. “It's a special skill set, and just like anything else, one needs to practice to develop competence and confidence.”

The Teaching in Nursing and Health Professions Certificate initially offered both online and classroom courses but eventually transitioned to online only due to higher enrollment.

Filling an Education Gap

In the 1990s, UMSON offered a Master of Nursing Education, but with the rise of specialization and a movement toward nurse practitioner careers, the program was eventually discontinued, leaving a gap in support for faculty untrained in teaching. 

Around 2003, Jenkins and then-Dean Janet Allan, PhD, RN, FAAN, APN, now dean emerita, began discussing ways to prepare advanced practice nurses for teaching roles. O’Neil was part of these early discussions.

“One of the strategies that was suggested was to increase the number of nursing faculty because if you increase the number of faculty, you can increase the number of students and have more nurses,” O’Neil says. “But you had these brilliant nurses with expertise in the clinical area who had no idea how to teach, and it became very frustrating for them. Dean Allan's idea was to look at how we can prepare advanced practice nurses to be educators. And that was the start of the Institute for Educators.”

Adapting to Technological Advancements

Jenkins and O’Neil developed the Teaching in Nursing and Health Professions Certificate program, which for 20 years has remained consistent, focusing on foundational courses of education. What has changed significantly are the program’s teaching methods, which include active learning strategies to help current and future educators meet their goals in online, classroom, clinical, and professional development settings. 

“We have passed the test of time by focusing on the foundation of nursing education,” O’Neil says.

Classes were originally taught in person in a seminar-type format, with the instructor providing a topic and students sitting around a table discussing that topic.

“The students loved it, but they would have to come to campus,” O’Neil says. The institute began offering online and in-person classes (the term ‘hybrid’ would move into common language years later due to the pandemic), but eventually, enrollment in the classroom option dwindled, bringing the program solely online, where it thrives.

“We have been online for at least 15 of the past 20 years,” O’Neil says. “We are building a community of educated professionals. Our alumni go out and flourish in the field of education.”