 |
College of Nursing Dean Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., presents a plaque to Daniel Pesut, Ph.D., commemorating his presentation of the first Audrey Solberg Smith Distinguished Lectureship at UNMC. |
Students today are infinitely more adept at searching and managing information than faculty members, said Dr. Pesut, professor of nursing and associate dean for graduate programs at Indiana University School of Nursing.
As a result, traditional teaching styles are less effective, said Dr. Pesut, who gave the College of Nursing’s first Audrey Solberg Smith Distinguished Lectureship on Aug. 19.
“I wanted a visionary leader in education to give the inaugural Audrey Solberg Smith Distinguished Lectureship in Teaching Excellence and Dr. Pesut filled that tall order,” said Virginia Tilden, D.N.Sc., dean of the College of Nursing. “He brought the perfect blend of grounded information with vision for the future, and the sum of the two parts was electric.”
Faculty members are challenged to move past traditional teaching styles in order for students to be engaged and excited about education, Dr. Pesut said. Teachers in the 21st century must have a personal passion for the subject, invite students to learn, use interactive forms of learning and fair systems to assess and grade students, he said.
Experiential learning, he said, such as that expected of health professions students, involves hands-on, concrete experience (whether with mannequins, simulators or patients) and reflective observation. It also involves abstract conceptualization (where students assimilate and connect the theoretical with the empirical) and active experimentation (trial and error within safe limits).
“Dr. Pesut challenges us to examine long held, socially constructed assumptions about the delivery of education and to envision educational programs that are no longer bound by time and space,” said Sarah Thompson, Ph.D., Niedfelt Distinguished Professor and associate dean for academic programs in the College of Nursing.
During the lecture, Dr. Pesut discussed the 2006-2016 Map of Future Forces Affecting Education. Commissioned by the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the Institute for the Future, the map contains elements or trends that could affect learning in the next decade, he said.
|
|
Dr. Pesut is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing, and a board certified clinical nurse specialist in adult psychiatric mental health nursing. He is past president (2003-2005) of the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International and is internationally known for his work in nursing education.
His lecture was made possible by a gift from Audrey Solberg Smith, a 1947 graduate of the College of Nursing, on the occasion of her 60th anniversary of her graduation.
“Her gift honors the faculty who had inspired her so many years ago,” Dr. Tilden said. “Dr. Pesut’s lecture was in that same spirit of inspiration, inspiring faculty to reach for news levels of teaching excellence.”