Junior Faculty Teaching Fellow Spotlight: Melissa Glassfor
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h month, the CFT Newsletter highlights the work of our Junior Faculty Teaching Fellows. This month, Melissa Glassford, Nursing, talks about her teaching philosophy and interests.
I teach in the Family Nurse Practitioner Program at the School of Nursing, instructing nurses as they develop the skills and knowledge to become primary care providers for individuals across the lifespan.
“ I strive to create innovative and thought provoking assignments and discussions to foster stud ent inquisition and the development of critical thinking and evidence appraisal.”
My teaching philosophy is based on the demands of preparing students for careers in advanced practice nursing. The development of critical thinking, nursing ethos, evidence based practice and professionalism are fundamental to forming strong nursing leaders and health care providers. My role as faculty is to design and facilitate courses, assignments, simulations and reflections that motivate students to pursue new knowledge, evaluate existing knowledge, care for patients and creditably represent our profession. Furthermore, my goal as a Vanderbilt faculty member is to contribute to the general knowledge and application of evidence based teaching and help make our school known for its rigor, innovation and quality.
My teaching methods are a hybrid that varies with the type of content being delivered. Throughout the year, I have the opportunity to work with students online, in the classroom, in simulation activities and in clinical practice. One of my goals is to truly get to know each learner so they get a sense of faculty mentoring and feel that they are more than an anonymous student. I strive to create innovative and thought provoking assignments and discussions to foster student inquisition and the development of critical thinking and evidence appraisal. I want to provide feedback to students that builds their confidence while helping them progress as advanced practice nurses.
The most important skills I can plant in my students are reflection and critical thinking. We can teach students about a clinical practice guideline today, but it may change by tomorrow
What I want to instill in students is an approach to understanding and appraising evidence in their work with patients that will carry them throughout their career and further enhance the lives of the patients and communities in which they live and practice. I love to see students as they begin to realize the depth of their knowledge and see it actualized in practice. Teaching allows me to foster and encourage lifelong learners and advance the profession of nursing.
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