Assistant professor among inaugural USM Elkins Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Fellows.
Cory Stephens, DNP, MSN, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, assistant professor, will be among the first to receive the inaugural 2023 - 24 Elkins Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Fellowship award for a "compelling and very timely" project. In collaboration with the MSN Nursing Informatics specialty faculty, Stephens will design and implement a novel virtual cafe using Microsoft Teams for one cohort of online nursing students during the fall 2023 semester. The purpose of the virtual cafe is to foster a sense of community and belonging among online learners as well as to provide opportunities for knowledge and resource sharing, collaboration, feedback, and career development. In spring 2024, the Nursing Informatics team will evaluate and disseminate the results of this pilot program.
Sponsored by the University System of Maryland's (USM) William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation, the Elkins SoTL Fellowship awards $1,000 to each recipient to support scholarship of teaching and learning, defined as the systematic investigation of student learning, instruction, and/or teaching innovations and the dissemination of findings to contribute to a broader knowledge community. In line with the USM strategic plan, selected projects examine some aspect of diversity, equity, and inclusion. SoTL projects at their essence aim to improve student success by providing an evidence base to help inform course design and instructional decisions undertaken by faculty and programs.