Experiences and Perceptions of Novice Associate Degree Nursing Faculty Assuming a Classroom Instructors Role

The purpose of this research was to explore the classroom experiences and perceptions of novice faculty in the classroom setting of an Associate Degree of Nursing programs, located in community colleges. The transition from expert practitioner to novice teacher can be a difficult experience for new classroom nursing instructors. Novice nursing faculty often has very limited educational preparation or background in classroom instruction skills. Nursing research, typically conducted at university level, has minimal applicability for the community college nursing programs. Community colleges educate sixty percent of the graduate Registered Nurses in the United States and have scant research into their programs and faculties. Historically, faculty in registered nursing programs is hired for expert clinical skills in a specific area of nursing practice. Participant inclusion for this study was limited to novice faculty in Associate Degree of Nursing programs located in the community college setting. The study was specific to instructors with classroom lecture assignments and with less than four years teaching. The participants did not have prior instructional or educational experience in the college classroom instructor role. Participating community colleges in this investigative research were in southern Louisiana and Mississippi. Qualitative emergent research was conducted to explore the perceptions of the novice faculty prior to and after assumption of the teaching role. Lived experiences were described using semi-structured interviews that provided the opportunity for narratives which shared experiences of the transition to nursing educator process. Unexpected student cultures, attitudes, and uncivil behaviors, and lack of academic orientations were components of the findings in this research. However, the overall love of teaching and nursing education was communicated by all of the participants. I love to teach was the overwhelming reason the instructors had selected academics. The transition from the role clinical expert in the practice setting to the role of academic novice faculty in a community college setting can be chaotic and filled with unexpected issues. Effective preparation with administrative support and resources can enhance the career transition to produce a successful and confident nursing instructor