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Growth and Change

Morgan Burke

Health Sciences, Sault College

BSCN 1206: Relational Practice I

Barabara Blair

December 18, 2020

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Growth and Change

The Coronavirus pandemic has affected all individuals regardless of nationality, level of

education, income or gender. The lockdowns in response to COVID-19 have interrupted in

person education with nationwide school closures. The educational community has made many

concerted efforts in order to maintain a learning environment during this period, the main

method being converting regular classes to online platforms. Reflecting on how the Coronavirus

pandemic has affected a students learning experience is important as it is an event that will shape

how we adapt, change and grow towards becoming a professional nurse. This paper will outline

how the Coronavirus pandemic has influenced an event that has personally affected my journey

to becoming a registered nurse.

Description of Event

Around the end of July the student received an email stating that they were still interested

in attending their program of choice at Sault College to contact the given email. Prior to the

email the student experienced many conflicting thoughts about whether to attend schooling

during the pandemic and decided that it would be better to wait another year in order to make

enough money to pay off her tuition. Despite conflicting feelings and worries of education

pertaining to a professional degree being online the student contacted the College in August to

determine whether or not their application was still valid. After speaking to many different group

members in the last week of August the student was informed that there was only one spot in the

Collaborative Bachelor of Science in Nursing program if she was still interested.

Reactions and Response to Event

The late notice of acceptance, and the impulsive action of acceptance made the student

feel uneasy about previous factors she had worried about. The student worried about personal
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learning barriers, home based barriers, and whether or not it was the right decision to make

during the pandemic. The student also felt a wave of relief as they finally had made a solid

decision after months of contemplating attending online secondary school.

Self-Awareness

The students' feelings of uneasiness with whether or not she had made the right decision

about accepting her late acceptance letter was provoked by many factors. One of the main factors

was the controversy of online learning being an adequate supply of education. The student

worried that the quality of learning would be lower as the nursing students would not have the

engaging hands-on experience needed for activities they would perform in their careers

environment such as bed-bathing, or feeding a range of clients with different disabilities. The

student also had a strong feeling that transitioning from an in class environment to an online

learning environment took away from the opportunity to learn from and with other peers. The

student felt the online setting would not be able to make up for the human connections made in a

classroom setting. Not knowing the outcome of the students education created a feeling of

uneasiness because she was worried it would affect how she performs in a future clinical and

professional setting. Home barriers such as having a poor internet connection, a house that was

busy with siblings, and the distracting factor of being in her own environment also created a

sense of uneasiness as the student felt her home was not a very suitable learning environment for

success.

Values and Beliefs Related to Feelings

The students' parents have raised her with the belief that the most important thing she can

do in life is complete her education, and she felt that by not attending college for one year she

would be hindering her overall success in life. The student has also observed the trend in her
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community that those who decided to take a gap year often didn't have the initiative to return

back to school. By not accepting the offer the student felt that she was not pushing herself to her

full potential which generated an anxiety that she would not be successful in the future. This

influenced the swift action of the student contacting the school inorder to see if the late

acceptance was still offered. The student also personally values being organized, so by acting

swiftly without thought made the student reflect on everything that could go wrong because she

had not planned the action in advance. The swift action was not organized in any means and

upon reflecting on her action the student began to overthink everything that could go wrong in

her education causing a feeling of uneasiness in her decision.

Critical Analysis

Good and Bad of Situation

Due to many students deciding to take a year off instead of attending school the student

believes that the projected applications for next year will be much higher which means there

would be more competition for the student if they had waited another year to apply to Nursing

School. Whitney Soule (2020), suggests that 4%-20% of graduating highschool students decided

to take a gap-year due to the pandemic circumstances with the intent that they would attend

school in 2021. Many of the schools have allowed students to hold their place in their program

for the fall of 2021 instead of attending during 2020.

The student has faced many learning challenges through online learning, including

feeling that the online learning experience is impersonal. Appana describes that feeling as “e-

solated” from instructional staff and peers. She states the fault in online interaction is that it is

lacking the nonverbal cues that are necessary in face-to-face interaction, which in turn is a cause

for a reduction in the extent of the communication that occurs. The author also identifies there to
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be a lack of spontaneity associated with group work which results in less time for self reflection

and generation of response (Appana, 2008). Attempting to learn through the online education

system the student is able to experience what online learning is in a college setting, and has

therefore come up with many methods in order to cope with new challenges in order to become

successful in the new environment.

Experience from Others Perspectives

Prior to the student making their own decision about the late enrollment, they had spoken

to their friends about their different experiences with debating on accepting their offer. It was

apparent that many highschool graduates faced the same dilemma. Much like what the student

believed she could benefit from this experience, many of the students' friends felt that the reason

they decided to pursue online education was because it would strengthen the resilience of both

the education system and themselves in future events. The students' family was very supportive

of whatever decision the student decided to make, but believed this could be turned into a

positive experience as while working in an online environment the student would not have to pay

for renting or residency, and the students support system would be readily available as they

would not have to travel 8 hours to Sault Ste. Marie in order to visit the student in a time of need.

Ethical Considerations

One of the main challenges the student had trouble coming to terms with was if an online

education system would provide the student with the necessary skills in order to become

successful in a clinical environment. The student worried that the lack of in person practice

would affect the skill level of themselves which would in turn affect the patients' care given.

Implications for Practice

How This Experience Will Influence Future Practice

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Experiencing an online learning environment has allowed the students' concerns about

professional performance skills in a clinical setting to be utilized as a drive to continually look

for opportunities to increase their skill level such as extra clinical time, or spending more time

practicing their clinical skills.

Accepting the late admission has allowed the student to take their worries about unknown

outcomes such as how online learning will affect their skill level in clinical, and use it as a drive

to ensure that they are able to perform the skills to the best of their ability and the student will

continue to search for opportunities to improve their skills.The feelings generated from the

students experience will act as an incentive for the student to look for new opportunities to gain

skill practice. Studying in an online environment might have affected the students future practice

in terms of what skills they developed due to the situation. In a class environment the student

might have better learned clinical skills, but due to online learning the student has had the

opportunity to develop initiative that they might not have had given the resources provided in an

in class environment.

Better Supporting Myself and Others Due to This Situation

After the students experience of attending online schooling with little knowledge on what

it would be like, the student is better able to guide future students in the direction of where to

find resources needed in order to promote a better learning environment at home. Sadeghi (2019)

suggests both students and educators look into the Moodle learning management system which

offers a variety of content, applications, and forms of communication catered to the e-learning

environment.

Evaluation of Learning

What I Have Learned Through Reflecting

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Through reflecting, the student has been able to recognize why the decision made

regarding the event has influenced feelings of internal contradiction. Being able to acknowledge

why and where those feelings are coming from is extremely important as it allows the student to

better manage their thoughts and future actions.

Main Insights

The student has gained insight that some of the contradicting feelings were developed

due to them believing they were going against the beliefs of their family and what they

predominantly believed to be true. The student has realized the importance of reviewing what

their values are, not what others believe as it eventually only directly affects themselves. They

concluded that the main reason for their feelings of uneasiness mainly stemmed from the thought

of going against their parents value system. This can be supported through Maccoby's study

(2000) that concluded one's parental influence has great importance in shaping children’s values.

She describes it as a norm for training of children, and establishing social controls to bring

individuals up in a way where every new generation will acquire a prescribed pattern of beliefs

and values.

They also learnt that when making a decision it is important to think about how each

decision will affect them in their current state as well as their future state to pick the best suited

option for the students goal.

Although the student was concerned about whether or not online learning would be an

adequate amount of education. This semester has given the student an opportunity to manage

their time better than what they could have if in a contact learning environment. Bijeesh (2017)

argued that time management was much more successful in an e-learning environment due to
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students having all of their study material available from their computer and not having to use

time for transportation to and from the college.

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References

Appana, S. (2008). A Review of Benefits and Limitations of Online Learning in the Context of

the Student, the Instructor and the Tenured Faculty. International Journal on E-Learning,

7(1), 5-22. Waynesville, NC USA: Association for the Advancement of Computing in

Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/primary/p/22909/.

Bijeesh, N. A. (2017). Advantages and disadvantages of distance learning.

http://www.indiaeducation.net/online-education/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-

of-distancelearning.html

Maccoby, E. E. (2000). Parenting and its effects on children. Annual Review of Psychology,

51(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.51.1.1

Sadeghi, M. (2019, March 20). A Shift from Classroom to Distance Learning: Advantages and

Limitations. International Journal of Research in English Education.

https://ijreeonline.com/article-1-132-en.pdf

Soule, W. (2020). 5 Ways COVID Could Affect College Applications. Hispanic Outlook on

Education Magazine, 31(2), 26.