Go forward together

In 2017, the National Consultation on Nursing Education worked with 5 universities on the flagship project OER hbo Nursing (hbo=University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands). The ambitions were greater and currently 15 hbo Nursing universities are working together in Together Nursing project. Both projects are viewed as role models: both in the Netherlands and internationally, they are considered successful when it comes to sharing OER within the context of an active professional community.

11 universities have already indicated that, after the current project Together Nursing has ended, they will invest time, money and energy in further expanding and making more sustainable what has already been achieved.

The project SAMEN verder (Go forward together) will work on the following objectives in the next 5 years:

• The main goal of the platform for educational resources and the professional community is to give each other insight into each other's work. Inspire each other. This will also improve the quality of the educational resources and make educators more aware of what quality is. Reusing educational resources can also save time and help the community stay up to date and be able to anticipate on new topics more quickly.
• The main objective of the professional community is to give stakeholders in education in bachelor of nursing in the Netherlands a platform to discuss issues that concern them in relation to nursing and to share knowledge about them.

The Go forward together project aims to preserve and continue the lessons learned from the flagship project and the together Nursing project. By continuing the project, time can be taken to experience for a longer period of time what works and what does not work. In the past project period there was too little time for this because the focus was more on achieving goals and targets. This cultural change is now underway, progress of the project is necessary for the cultivation of sharing and reuse of learning materials to make it sustainable (not dependant from external grants).

The objective of project Go further together can be achieved by:
Staying involved with 11 universities and implementing the following actions:

• Continuing and expanding the platform for educational resources, the digital platform for the community and the links between them.
• Continue to experience the open sharing and reuse of learning materials that comply with a jointly established quality model and embed this in the standard processes of the institutes. This will make it part of the job description of a nursing educator.
• Keeping the professional community active and developing it further.
• Bridging the gap between theory and practice by involving healthcare professionals in the professional community.
• Continue to be a part of existing conferences, training courses and professional journals.
• continue to evaluate the processes for sharing and finding OERs and the professional community. What is working and what is not working?

As of the cut-off date of 30 October 2020, the following institutions have indicated that they will participate in this follow-up project:

• Avans University of Applied Sciences
• Fontys University of Applied Sciences
• Haagse University of Applied Sciences
• Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen, 
• University of Applied Sciences Saxion
• University of Applied Sciences Utrecht
• University of Applied Sciences Arnhem en Nijmegen
• University of Applied Sciences Rotterdam
• University of Applied Sciences Zuyd
• North University of Applied Sciences Leeuwarden Stenden
• University of Applied Sciences Windesheim

Bron: Pixabay