MCC Nursing Program Faculty Go Above and Beyond

Middlesex Community College celebrates its phenomenal Nursing Program. The program transitioned to remote and virtual learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic. For Middlesex, students and their success continue to be the number one priority, and faculty have risen to the challenge of altering their teaching styles in a manner of weeks.

Dr. Sandra Shapiro, MCC’s Program Director of Nurse Education, believes that educating nurses has never been so important – on the local level and globally. She credits the MCC faculty for their creative approach to making the transition to remote learning.

“Every nursing faculty member in the department has been courageous, flexible, creative, collaborative and simply amazing as they have had to move – without preparation – from face-to-face teaching to remote learning,” she said. “They are all doing a herculean job within each of their courses to ensure that students are able to meet the student learning outcomes, are supported in their efforts to learn remotely, and are acknowledged for the challenging times that they find themselves in.”

Dr. Shapiro believes the pandemic has shifted the way the Nursing Program will continue in the future and has created an opportunity and circumstances to allow for positive changes despite the challenges.

Faculty have been using voice-over PowerPoint presentations, case studies and Blackboard Collaborate sessions. Susan Miller, a new full-time faculty member in the ACUE course, created a research assignment for her students called “The COVID-19 Student Presentation Project” – an assignment Dr. Shapiro calls “new, appropriate and timely.”

“When the March break ended, they were able to continue the learning in a remote fashion as if they had been doing it that way all along,” Dr. Shapiro said. “Each faculty member took this opportunity to grow and be creative.”

The biggest challenge for the program is providing opportunities for students to practice in a clinical setting. To combat this, Middlesex provides software to simulate clinical experiences so that students have access to a virtual simulation model that continues to provide valuable and deep learning.

Although the program has made a successful and well-rounded transition to remote learning, behavioral skills – such as giving injections – need to be taught and practiced in a classroom or lab setting. Dr. Shapiro looks forward to when this can happen again.

“The nursing faculty await a time in the near future when students – even in small groups – can return to the classroom and gain competence in these skills,” Dr. Shapiro said. “Until nursing education at MCC once again takes place in our classrooms, faculty will continue to adapt, be nimble and be creative in order to provide a quality education during a pandemic.”

When making these changes, faculty also have to take into account the regulating agency – the Board of Registration in Nursing – and the accrediting agency – the Accrediting Commission for Nurse Education – both of which oversee the program and any changes that are made.

Dr. Shapiro – and the Nursing faculty – have received positive feedback from students.

“It has been humbling to the faculty that in times of great turmoil students are valuing their professors,” Dr. Shapiro said. “From one student to her professor, ‘You have worked so hard to keep us all updated as you move everything to online and remote learning. I can’t express how appreciative I am that you are so organized and open with us. You have put so much effort into all of this for us. You made us feel worthy of being nurses of the future.’”

Middlesex offers both full-time day and part-time evening/weekend options to prepare nurses to earn an Associate in Science, as well as eligibility to take the NCLEX. Visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/nursing/ for more information on MCC’s Nursing Programs.

To register for classes at MCC – for the summer and fall – visit www.middlesex.mass.edu/registration/ or call 1-800-818-3434.

Discover your path at Middlesex Community College. As one of the largest, most comprehensive community colleges in Massachusetts, we educate, engage and empower a diverse community of learners. MCC offers more than 80 degree and certificate programs – plus hundreds of noncredit courses – on our campuses in Bedford and Lowell, and online. Middlesex Community College: Student success starts here!