Graduating Nurses in the Time of COVID-19

Nursing has been a leader in online education for more than two decades. Nursing students have taken advantage of the flexible scheduling and variety of online nursing programs to pursue their education due to distance, family, or work demands;however, since the outbreak of COVID-19, nursing schools in the United States have adapted by implementing an online alternative to assess students’ clinical skills required to graduate. Nursing faculty have been forced into this new learning culture, navigating the online landscape, learning new technologies and teaching methods, and adapting to clinical social distance education. Nursing is a performance-based profession in which the clinical learning environment plays an important role in developing skills and professional abilities. The purpose of this evidence-based teaching project is to, based on National League for Nursing (NLN), not only contribute to improvement but ensure educational quality for undergraduate nursing students by examining how online simulation compared to clinical experience with an actual patient, affects nurses’ clinical competence. Therefore, after reviewing 14 peer-reviewed articles, evidence shows benefits for undergraduate nursing students to retain better clinical competence when virtual simulation and clinical sites are combined;however, further research is recommended. Articles were selected as the evidence base for this project, following specific inclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria for evidence were articles within six years, including undergraduate nurse students with online clinical education;the exclusion criteria were studies including graduate nurse students and articles older than six years. Based on the project’s outcome, it is suggested that a nurse residency should follow online simulations to complete clinical hours. .

Ten Years’Chinese-Canadian Collaboration in Undergraduate Education in Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University of China:Curriculum Development

The Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University-Nova Scotia Agricultural College(FAFU-NSAC)2+2 undergraduate program initiated in 2003 is a model for creative collaboration between China and Canada in undergraduate education.This paper addresses the achievements of the program development and highlights the process for successful curriculum development in the joint program.The authors also discuss some issues and challenges related to the Chinese-Canadian experience in undergraduate education,and propose some recommendations for further collaborations including:enlarging the scale of qualified programs;proposing a systematic baseline to control the program at a macro-level;simplifying coordination procedures with foreign partners;and adjusting the emphasis of courses introduced by the cooperative partner from quantity to quality.

Review and Critique on the New Higher Education Policy Promoting “The First-Class Major Programs” in China

Purpose:After the concepts of first-class universities,first-class research disciplines,and firstclass undergraduate education,China’s Ministry of Education(MOE)proposed a new concept of first-class undergraduate major programs and also proposed policy initiatives for relevant selection and funding.This article provides an in-depth analysis of the motives,historical background,policy texts,core concepts,and unintended consequences of the policy and proposes six criticisms.Design/Approach/Methods:This education policy analysis article uses two research methods.The first is a content analysis that focuses on policy text.The second is comparative and historical research that focuses on the history of the undergraduate education organization model in China and the background of the four first-class concepts.Findings:This article argues that the first-class major programs in undergraduate education include provincial-level points of these programs,which stealthily narrowed the scope for comparison from potentially the whole world to that of provinces.The policy also essentially strengthened the traditional concept of zhuanye as a physical unit and caused unintended consequences in its attempts to cultivate innovative talents and to adjust the zhuanye structure.Originality/Value:This article addresses a new education policy in China and its unintended consequences.