Week 2: Ways of Knowing

Purpose

The purpose of the graded collaborative discussions is to engage faculty and students in an interactive dialogue to assist the student in organizing, integrating, applying, and critically appraising knowledge regarding advanced nursing practice. Scholarly information obtained from credible sources as well as professional communication are required. Application of information to professional experiences promotes the analysis and use of principles, knowledge, and information learned and related to real-life professional situations. Meaningful dialogue among faculty and students fosters the development of a learning community as ideas, perspectives, and knowledge are shared.

Activity Learning Outcomes

Requirements:

Discussion Criteria

1. Application of Course Knowledge: The student post contributes unique perspectives or insights gleaned from personal experience or examples from the healthcare field. The student must accurately and fully discuss the topic for the week in addition to providing personal or professional examples. The student must completely answer the entire initial question.
2. Integration of Evidence: The student post provides support from a minimum of one scholarly in-text citation with a matching reference and assigned readings or online lessons, per discussion topic per week.
3. • What is a scholarly resource? A scholarly resource is one that comes from a professional, peer-reviewed publication (e.g., journals and government reports such as those from the FDA or CDC).
     • Contains references for sources cited
     • Written by a professional or scholar in the field and indicates credentials of the author(s)
     • Is no more than 5 years old for clinical or research articles
   • What is not considered a scholarly resource?
     • Newspaper articles and layperson literature (e.g., Readers Digest, Healthy Life Magazine, Food, and Fitness)
     • Information from Wikipedia or any wiki
     • Textbooks
     • Website homepages
     • The weekly lesson
     • Articles in healthcare and nursing-oriented trade magazines, such as Nursing Made Incredibly Easy and RNMagazine (Source: What is a scholarly article.docx; Created 06/09 CK/CL Revised: 02/17/11, 09/02/11 nlh/clm)
   • Can the lesson for the week be used as a scholarly source?
     • Information from the weekly lesson can be cited in a posting; however, it is not to be the sole source used in the post.
   • Are resources provided from CU acceptable sources (e.g., the readings for the week)?
     • Not as a sole source within the post. The textbook and/or assigned (required) articles for the week can be used, but another outside source must be cited for full credit. Textbooks are not considered scholarly sources for the purpose of discussions.
   • Are websites acceptable as scholarly resourcesfordiscussions?
     • Yes, if they are documents or data cited from credible websites. Credible websites usually end in .gov or .edu; however, some .org sites that belong to professional associations (e.g., American Heart Association, National League for Nursing, American Diabetes Association) are also considered credible websites. Websites ending with .com are not to be used asscholarly resources.

4. Professionalism in Communication: The post presents information in logical, meaningful, and understandable sequence, and is clearly relevant to the discussion topic. Grammar, spelling, and/or punctuation are accurate.
5. Wednesday Participation Requirement: The student provides a substantive response to the graded discussion question(s) or topic(s), posted by the course faculty (not a response to a peer), by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT of each week.
6. Total Participation Requirement: The student provides at least three substantive posts (one to the initial question or topic, one to a student peer, and one to a faculty question) on two different days during the week.

DISCUSSION CONTENT

DISCUSSION CONTENT
Category	Points	%	Description
Application of Course Knowledge:	20	27	Answers the initial discussion question(s)/topic(s), demonstrating knowledge and understanding of the concepts for the week.
Engagement in Meaningful Dialogue With Peers and Faculty	20	27	Responds to a student peer and course faculty furthering the dialogue by providing more information and clarification, adding depth to the conversation
Integration of Evidence	20	27	Assigned readings or online lesson and at least one outside scholarly source are included. The scholarly source is: 1) evidence-based, 2) scholarly in nature, 3) published within the last 5 years
			Total CONTENT Points= [60 pts]
DISCUSSION FORMAT
Category	Points	%	Description
Grammar and Communication	8	10	Presents information using clear and concise language in an organized manner
Reference Citation	7	9	References have complete information as required by APA In-text citations included for all references and references included for all in-text citation
			Total FORMAT Points= [15 pts]
			DISCUSSION TOTAL= 75 points

Preparing the Assignment

Nursing knowledge is classified in a variety of ways, one of which is Carper’s Patterns of Knowing (Carper, 1978). Carper’s framework offers a lens through which the nurse can reflect upon insights acquired through empirical, ethical, personal, and aesthetic knowledge (Carper, 1978). Through intentional reflection using Carper’s Patterns of Knowing, nurses can process experiential learning and knowledge acquired through practice. The purpose of this assignment is to reflect upon a specific practice situation and better understand the professional knowledge and insights obtained through that experience.

Criteria for Content

1. Think of a surprising or challenging practice situation in which you felt underprepared, unprepared, or uncomfortable.
2. Select an important nursing issue/topic that was inherent to the identified situation.
3. Briefly explain the situation
4. Identify the nursing issue inherent in the identified situation
   1. As a method of refection, use Carper’s Patterns of Knowing to analyze the situation. In your discussion, address ONE of the following Patterns of Knowing:
      1. What do you think was the underlying reason for the situation? (Esthetics)
      2. What were your thoughts and feeling in the situation? (Personal)
      3. What was one personal belief that impacted your actions? (Ethics)
      4. What evidence in nursing literature supports the nursing importance of the identified issue? (Empirical)
5. What new insights did you gain through this reflective practice opportunity? How will this apply to your practice as a nurse practitioner? Be sure to use scholarly literature to support your position.