Approach to graduate nursing education pedagogy and learning transition

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of San Francisco (UCSF) School of Nursing (SON) is a historically in person graduate program that immediately transitioned to remote learning at the start of the pandemic. In 2022, upon emerging from the pandemic, the need to intentionally determine the teaching and learning modality of the UCSF SON became apparent. This is a report of the process of our institutions transition from an in person to a hybrid school. A task force was formed and charged with identifying the school's approach to the teaching and learning modality moving forward. A group think activity identified needs assessment for the task force's approach. The task force agreed upon definitions for in person, hybrid, online and hyflex learning, conducted a literature review, re-examined internal survey results from both faculty and learners regarding teaching and learning modality preferences and compared top graduate nursing programs teaching and learning modalities. The literature review revealed that hybrid learning was not inferior to in person learning and may improve educational outcomes. The faculty and learner survey results identified a preference toward hybrid learning and teaching. The task force recommended that the school change its public-facing information to identify as a hybrid school with specialty specific flexible design. This transition allows the school to carry out the mission of educating diverse health leaders.