Stephanie
Gingerich
May 2021
Stephanie
Gingerich
,
DNP, RN, CPN, BSN, AA
University of Minnesota School of Nursing
Minneapolis
,
MN
United States
Dr. Gingerich is continually striving to provide multiple modalities for creating an excellent learning climate.
I am writing to nominate Dr. Stephanie Gingerich for the School of Nursing DAISY Award for Out of the Box Thinking. Dr. Gingerich has shown creativity and ingenuity in her teaching and advising faculty roles. Her novel approaches to teaching have accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic when she was an early adopter to shift her teaching to zoom classes. She worked diligently to provide a culture of safety to all students and considered student's personality styles, their technology accessibility, and their overall emotional state. She initiated the tradition of opening every class with a blank slide that asked a simple question on the Zoom whiteboard for students to check in. She posted commitments of respect and kindness toward each other which reminded everyone to ensure a safe space for learning.
She adapted her courses to reduce the number of places and pages students needed to search to find so that students could focus on learning content. Dr. Gingerich is committed to co-design methodology in teaching, a truly creative and novel approach of involving students in creating an assignment that would be meaningful and reach the learning goals in ways that benefit the students. Through this approach she is able to adapt some assignments for students who are struggling and has helped them demonstrate their skill and knowledge and find success. This is a truly inspiring example of out-of-the-box teaching.
Dr. Gingerich is continually striving to provide multiple modalities for creating an excellent learning climate. She recognizes that learning styles and the environment both play into successful learning, so she takes into account visual/kinesthetic/auditory learning styles and whether face-to- face or virtual platforms to create an environment where all can learn. Sharing the wealth of what she quickly learned in teaching in the on-line platform, Dr. Gingerich was willing to teach other faculty important tips and tools in a special faculty webinar, and she was seen as a leader and resource for many faculty members who otherwise would struggle in this format.
Dr. Gingerich's students offer many positive comments about her creative and caring approach to teaching, that her classes were safe places to share ideas and to learn. In Stephanie's words, she works diligently to provide a safe and inclusive environment for students to learn, debrief and succeed.
She adapted her courses to reduce the number of places and pages students needed to search to find so that students could focus on learning content. Dr. Gingerich is committed to co-design methodology in teaching, a truly creative and novel approach of involving students in creating an assignment that would be meaningful and reach the learning goals in ways that benefit the students. Through this approach she is able to adapt some assignments for students who are struggling and has helped them demonstrate their skill and knowledge and find success. This is a truly inspiring example of out-of-the-box teaching.
Dr. Gingerich is continually striving to provide multiple modalities for creating an excellent learning climate. She recognizes that learning styles and the environment both play into successful learning, so she takes into account visual/kinesthetic/auditory learning styles and whether face-to- face or virtual platforms to create an environment where all can learn. Sharing the wealth of what she quickly learned in teaching in the on-line platform, Dr. Gingerich was willing to teach other faculty important tips and tools in a special faculty webinar, and she was seen as a leader and resource for many faculty members who otherwise would struggle in this format.
Dr. Gingerich's students offer many positive comments about her creative and caring approach to teaching, that her classes were safe places to share ideas and to learn. In Stephanie's words, she works diligently to provide a safe and inclusive environment for students to learn, debrief and succeed.