Making global aging relevant to nursing students.

WHEN EVENTS IN THE NEWS DOMINATE THE CONVERSATIONS OF NURSING STUDENTS, WHAT SEEMS LIKE AN INTERRUPTION OR A DISTRACTION MAY, IN FACT, BE AN OPPORTUNITY TO ENHANCE THE TEACHING OF GLOBAL AGING. For faculty in Hawaii, such an opportunity happened in March 2011 when an earthquake devastated Japan and classes on our campus were cancelled. Our campus was open only to those seeking high ground for evacuation from the impending, Pacific-wide tsunami generated by the earthquake. Weeks later, chilling and gripping images of the devastation continued to dominate the headlines, and it was difficult for students to stay focused on their class work. However, gerontology lecture material became much easier when I adjusted the way in which content was to be applied. The media coverage on the Japan earthquake and tsunami became a welcome resource that contributed to the learning about global aging. Engaging Students A primary challenge when teaching gerontological nursing is how to engage students and make concepts relevant. Using online learning lends itself to interactive and collaborative learning experiences as students explore and apply concepts. With the world's population of older adults continuing to increase, aging as a global issue becomes more relevant (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN] & Hartford Institute for Geriatric Nursing [HIGN], 2010; National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, 2007). The AACN and HIGN have suggested that global aging is necessary content in baccalaureate nursing education. According to the AACN (2008) and AACN and HIGN guidelines, students should study global issues of aging in relation to the health issues of equity and social justice. Such study includes awareness of how the ability to access and receive care is directly related to the ways in which communities prepare for the health care needs of an older population (AACN). How local, national, and international communities prepare for and minimize the health consequences of mass casualty disasters for persons of all ages (AACN; World Health Organization, 2008) needs to be part of the discussion. In our baccalaureate nursing program, the gerontological nursing course is a core part of the curriculum and available to students in a variety of formats. In spring 2011, the four sections of the class were taught by five different faculty. One section was taught in a traditional, face-to-face classroom, and three sections were hybrid or blended classes, both online and in person, providing the benefits of both formats (Palloff & Pratt, 2007). Threaded discussions, shown to engage students in active and transformative learning (Baran, Correia, & Thompson, 2011; Vitale, 2010), were used, and discussion questions were structured to be interactive, to facilitate the building of a sense of community in the learning environment and reduce feelings of isolation (Palloff & Pratt). Research and critical reflection were used to assist students "to apply knowledge and to learn interactively" (Vitale, p. 551). Global aging was part of the course content, but is typically viewed as an abstract concept, often with little connection to the real-life experiences of the nursing students. Targeting the Discussion to the Tsunami Incorporating up-to-date information and online resources with student collaboration is one way to transform education so that it is relevant. At the time of the earthquake and tsunami, I was co-teaching the online portion of one of the hybrid sections, and the next few weeks were scheduled to be taught online with interactive discussion questions. It was therefore convenient to replace the planned assignment with a new assignment related to the tsunami, disasters in general, and global aging. Students were instructed to read a news article and view the accompanying video newsclip (Wong, 2011), which showed what it was like for elders who survived the tsunami. …