The value of a successful student-led service-learning experience

Title : The value of a successful student-led service-learning experience

Abstract:

Nursing students view clinical placement abroad as very beneficial to their learning. However, international experiences for nursing students can be complex to arrange and implement. This can be even more challenging and difficult to coordinate for students who attend small regional universities or community colleges. The National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA) describes unmotivated faculty, demanding curricula, financial constraints, and lack of diversity as the most common barriers that impact students’ opportunities for study abroad. All of these barriers, with the exception of faculty motivation, applied to a group of Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) students at a regional university in Southern Ohio. The presentation will discuss how this group of nursing students, with the assistance of nursing faculty, overcame these barriers and organized a successful service learning experience to Costa Rica. Planning processes, lessons learned, and application to other campuses will be described.

Audience Take Away:

• The audience will identify common barriers and recognize principle points of consideration when planning an international service learning experience.
• The audience will identify the value of a student-led service learning experience on a nursing student’s development of professionalism, cultural acceptance, altruism, and global awareness.
• The audience will be able to apply lessons learned from this experience to the implementation of a service learning experience on their own campus.

Biography:

Christy Vickers earned her Master of Science in Nursing from The Ohio State University in 1998. She has worked as a pediatric nurse practitioner in both private practice and public health settings. Ms. Vickers currently serves as a full-time nursing faculty at Ohio University-Zanesville where she provides classroom and clinical instruction in the areas of pediatric and community health nursing. She has recently co-supervised an international service learning experience for a group of BSN students. Her research interests have focused on teaching and learning strategies.