Self-Study: A Method for Continuous Professional Learning and a Methodology for Knowledge Transfer

Abstract

Purpose: Clinical nursing instructors must participate in continuous professional learning to maintain competency in nursing practice and in clinical instruction to prepare nursing students adequately for professional practice. The purpose of this research was to examine self-study as a method of continuous professional learning in nursing education.

Procedures: A clinical instructor undertook to improve her clinical instruction with regard to five formative assessment strategies illustrated to promote student learning in regular classrooms. She translated and then implemented these strategies in nursing education. This self-study of instructional practice employed a reflective journal and systematic documentation of iterative processes of planning, action, reflection, and decision-making to examine the use of these strategies with nursing students.

Findings: Self-study was demonstrated to be effective as an approach for continuous professional learning. Guidance for employing self-study to support a clinical instructor’s professional learning outlines four steps: provoking ideas, describing implementation, reflecting on implementation and the consequences of practice, and making decisions for moving forward. It was found that self-study facilitated the transfer of knowledge about formative assessment from classroom education research to nursing education and supported knowledge transfer from one teaching discipline to another.

Conclusions: Self-study was an effective method for personal and professional growth and development pertaining to formative assessment in nursing education. As a methodology, self-study facilitated knowledge transfer between professions. This is the first known self-study of pedagogical practice in clinical nursing education.