Noting that some of his graduate nursing students had barriers to success鈥攍ike tech skills or communication challenges鈥擡dmund J.Y. Pajarillo, PhD, launched the Equitable, Targeted and Structured Onboarding Program. Read about the success of this program, and how he is now collaborating with four other universities to replicate it.
Professor Edmund J.Y. Pajarillo, PhD, remembers seeing the frustration on his students’ faces as they began their graduate nursing studies.
As graduate students, they all came into the program with different backgrounds and levels of experience. And many found it tough to get up to speed at the same pace.
鈥淎s I鈥檓 teaching my introductory course, I can see the perspiration on their faces,鈥� said Dr. Pajarillo. 鈥淪ome are nodding, but some are confused鈥攅specially when we start dealing with technology like Moodle or our library databases. So I wondered: How do you level the playing field for these students who come to the graduate program at different points in their lives?鈥�
That鈥檚 when Dr. Pajarillo, who at that time was a Viret Family Faculty Leadership Fellow, decided to create a first-of-its-kind resource for 成人影片 University graduate students: the Equitable, Targeted and Structured (ETS) Onboarding Program. What started as a pilot program for 成人影片鈥檚 College of Nursing and Public Health in 2019 is now expanding to other 成人影片 departments and being replicated at colleges and universities across the nation.
鈥淭he ETS Onboarding Program was helpful for my transition to becoming a graduate student,鈥� said Leah Delman 鈥�17, who completed the ETS Onboarding Program in Spring 2023, her first semester in the graduate program. 鈥淚t has been a little while since I was in school as an undergraduate and I definitely needed some guidance. The ETS Onboarding Program provided a framework for understanding how to use the technology such as CLASS and Moodle, and the ETS onboarding covered academic writing and literature search methods. I felt more prepared for graduate studies after I completed this onboarding.鈥�
Graduate student Marina Ryan 鈥�17, who just completed her first full year in the graduate program, also appreciated how this structured onboarding helped her to compose research papers. Most notably, she remembers 鈥渨atching the videos on writing a research paper and how to properly use the electronic databases. This is a skill that I practiced a few times鈥攁nd it has made a tremendous impact.鈥�
Four other institutions are now working with Dr. Pajarillo to customize and implement their own versions of the ETS Onboarding Program: Bradley University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Toledo and the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Professors from each university joined forces to create a consortium and present the progress of their programs at conferences in Philadelphia, California, Florida and Montreal. The collaborative work within this consortium is experience enriching. Each school is learning from one anothers鈥� respective programs.
鈥淭he program worked wonders at 成人影片, but for replication, you need to consider the population that you鈥檙e applying this to, and you need to adapt it to the culture of that environment. This is evidence-based practice,鈥� he added.
鈥淭his is a consortium of ETS Onboarding programs that 成人影片 University is leading.鈥�
Dr. Pajarillo also built a multidisciplinary team of 成人影片 professors and staff to continue expanding the ETS Onboarding Program throughout the University. The team consists of Karen Kolb, director of the Faculty Center for Professional Excellence (FCPE); Mary Jahrsdoerfer, PhD, clinical assistant professor of nursing; Michael Matto, PhD, instructional designer and associate professor of English; and David Lau from the Office of Academic Services and Retention.
The program is currently being adapted for 成人影片 University鈥檚 communication science and disorders, nursing, and health informatics graduate students. And a prototype for an undergraduate version of the program is in the works. ETS Onboarding may also help 成人影片 programs earn and retain their accreditation. As Dr. Pajarillo noted, accreditors consider what steps schools are taking to orient and acclimate incoming students to enhance learning, program retention and success. That鈥檚 where the ETS Onboarding Program shines.
As for his graduate nursing students, Dr. Pajarillo is dedicated to their retention in the program, no matter their age, experience or background. 鈥淚 am really passionate about innovation and creative ways of teaching,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why I developed this particular ETS Onboarding Program … so that they are guaranteed success.鈥�
Edmund Pajarillo, PhD, is Nurse Executive Advanced-Board Certified, a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality, a Board Certified Nurse Informaticist, an Academy of Nursing Education Fellow and a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.