Four faculty from the College of Nursing embarked on an education and research project that was 17 months in the making and 7,693 miles across the Pacific Ocean in Taiwan. The purpose was to begin an impactful partnership with National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) that would refine its Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree and launch a Collaborative Online Learning (COIL) global exchange for students from both universities.
The project was led by Dianne Morrison-Beedy, chief global strategy officer, Cindy Zellefrow, assistant clinical professor, Randee Masciola, director of DNP and Stephen McGhee, assistant dean of international education initiatives, and funded in part by grants awarded to Morrison-Beedy and Masciola through the Global Gateways and the Office of Global Innovations, respectively.
It was a visit by Chyongchlou Lin, who now serves as health economist in the college’s Martha S. Pitzer Center for Women, Children and Youth, in February 2023 to her home country of Taiwan, when the idea first materialized. Lin connected with NYCU colleagues, who in turn would visit Ohio State to continue discussions about enhancing its DNP program. “NYCU has the first and only DNP program in Taiwan, but all their faculty were PhD-prepared,” Morrison-Beedy said. The team resolved to figure out how to help NYCU adapt their curriculum to be tailored to DNP students.
Ohio State’s Office of International Affairs and Global Gateways grant supported travel by Masciola, McGee, Morrison-Beedy and Zellefrow to NYCU for almost two weeks in July 2024. During their stay, the Ohio State team engaged in intensive discussions with NYCU’s DNP program faculty, reviewed their curriculum and delivered tailored lectures and workshops. They gave curriculum feedback and surveyed students and faculty to gauge the impact of the EBP lectures on attitudes, knowledge and behavior.
“By the end of the first few days, we had students asking questions, staying after we gave the talks, coming in with information to us. They were really engaged,” Morrison-Beedy said. The team interviewed some of NYCU’s first DNP graduates to find out more about their roles and the influence of their education on nursing practice in Taiwan. They also gave lectures at the National Taiwanese Nurses Association.
The Global Gateway grant also helped to initiate the College of Nursing’s first collaborative online international learning (COIL) global exchange, led by Masciola, who was awarded support from the Office of Global Innovations’ COIL funding.
Morrison-Beedy said future goals include further collaborations in research and education areas, not only with NYCU, but with other universities in Taiwan as well. “When you have the brain and heart working together across countries, across colleges, across disciplines, that’s when you come up with ideas that change the world.”