Teacher perspectives and the psychosocial climate of the classroom in a traditional BSN program.

Developing and implementing a positive psychosocial environment should be one of the main responsibilities of educators. As educators influence the climate, learning is enhanced or hindered. Therefore educators need to understand their own teaching perspectives and how they in turn influence the classroom. Data were collected from nurse educators and BSN nursing students. The relationship between faculty teaching perspectives and the students' perceptions of the learning environment was examined. The data collection tool used to measure the educators' perspective was the Instructional Perspective Inventory (IPI), and to measure the students' perspective was the Adult Classroom Environment Scale (ACES). A MANCOVA was used to determine the relationship and significant differences between educators' and students' perspectives. The results indicated that the teachers in the high group of teacher responsiveness had students who reported greater teacher support, time on task, focus, organization, clarity of subject content, involvement, and satisfaction.

The effect of clinical nursing instructors on student self-efficacy.

Clinical practicum experiences for nursing students provides the students an opportunity to apply concepts learned in class, practice skills learned in lab, and interact with patients, families, and other nurses. Although students look forward to these experiences, they often feel intimated and anxious about them. Clinical instructors play an important role in this experience and can either help or hinder student learning and self-efficacy. Using Bandura's Social Learning Theory as foundation, this descriptive study examined the relationship between perceived instructor effectiveness and student self-efficacy. Data were collected from a BSN school of nursing at a Midwestern USA comprehensive masters university. The instruments used were the Nursing Clinical Teacher Effectiveness Inventory (NCTEI) and the student self-efficacy (SSE) questionnaire. Participants (n = 236) were from a traditional nursing program with 86% female and 14% male. Data was analyzed using Pearson's correlation and MANCOVA. Results indicated: Out of the five areas of attributes, one area showed significant (p < .01) difference between the lower and higher self-efficacy groups and with specific teacher behaviors within the Evaluation category. Students with high self-efficacy reported faculty who suggested ways to improve, identified strengths and weaknesses, observed frequently, communicated expectations, gives positive reinforcement ad corrects without belittling. This can help faculty develop behaviors that increases student learning and student self-efficacy.