From Faculty Development to the Classroom: A Qualitative Study of How Nurse Educators Turn Faculty Development into Action

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the transfer of learning by uncovering how various factors supported the integration of knowledge and skills gleaned from the Faculty Development: Integrated Technology into Nursing Education and Practice Initiative (ITNEP) programs into nursing education curricula. Through interviews with 20 participants from four ITNEP programs, this study confirmed the importance of learner characteristics, program design elements, and factors in the work environment for supporting successful transfer of learning and supports a variety of other transfer of learning research findings. New or seldom discussed supportive individual characteristics were found, including: leadership abilities, lifelong learning, ability to recognize limitations, persistence, creativity, and risk-taking. Study findings suggest that proactive personality may support transfer of learning. Participants maintained motivation from pre-training through post-training at a high enough level to successfully transfer learning. The importance of networking opportunities, a diversity of perspectives, post conference support, and teams in programs designs were found to positively influence transfer and were discussed in relation to social influence. The variety of supportive factors in the participants' work environments, including strategic alignment, strengthens the assertions that transfer may be individually context dependent. Barriers to transfer efforts in the work environment were also addressed. Additionally, while patterns of specific characteristics emerged, interacting findings were found threaded throughout.