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Diane Rudas, RN
Instructor, School of Health Care Management, ASMBC
Stonecliffe College Online, an academic division of Colorado Technical University, instructor Diane Rudas likes trying new things, especially if it means a challenge. "I have always had an interest in teaching. Instructing is a very challenging, dynamic profession. Every live session is different and each student is unique. Some individuals learn in different ways than others. The style and methods that work for some students may not work for others. I am constantly adjusting my approach and methods in order to reach all my students. As an instructor, I learn as I teach and I find that very exciting and rewarding."
Diane is a Registered Nurse and Director of Nursing for a clinic that specializes in outpatient surgery. She brings 15 years of nursing experience into the virtual classrooms of the Health Services Organization and the Anatomy and Physiology courses that she facilitates through Stonecliffe College Online. That experience gives Diane up-to-date, practical knowledge to pass on to her students that can be immediately applicable in modern health care organizations. "I have clinical experience in nursing that includes direct patient care, RN training, and Health Care management skills. Performing my duties as a Director of Nursing concurrently with instructing through Stonecliffe College Online gives me many timely, real-world examples that I can relate to the concepts and projects in my courses. That helps students learn practical knowledge that is immediately applicable in the health care profession."
Although teaching at a university level is a new challenge for Diane, she also has a lot of experience with education in a health care organizational setting that is applicable to teaching in on online setting. "My professional background has also helped me develop the educational methods that I use at Stonecliffe College Online. A lot of the focus in outpatient surgery is on educating the patients and their families on dealing with pre and postoperative care. Preoperative instruction is done via the phone, not being able to present face to face with patients. In other words, it is very similar to online education."
According to Diane, however, there is a key distinction between outpatient education and teaching online through Stonecliffe College Online. "Stonecliffe provides many more educational tools that I can use in my courses than I have at my disposal in my profession. In the live sessions, for example, I can use power point presentations or share my screen with students as I navigate through web sites and conduct my lectures. Then I address students' questions in real time or via e-mail. If I assess that a student has a weakness in a particular area, there are learning labs that I can suggest to them. Combining visuals with my narratives and the course material helps me reach students that are visual learners as well as those who learn better verbally or from written materials."
Diane takes a two-fold approach to her students with her educational philosophy and expectations. "I have learned that it is just as important to be patient with students as it with patients in the health care profession. While I found that it is very important to interact with students individually in order to assess their learning curves, it is also important to have certain expectations that apply to every student. For example, I expect my students to not only understand the concepts in the courses I teach, but also demonstrate the ability to apply the concepts to real-world scenarios. In order to demonstrate that ability, I think it is important for students to demonstrate proficiency in written work using proper academic format. Stonecliffe College Online provides a wealth of resources on the Virtual Campus for instructors to teach and for students to learn APA format. I believe that developing good written communication skills is valuable in any profession."
On a more personal note, Diane has found that teaching through Stonecliffe College Online fits into her personal life as well as it fits into her professional life. Diane has a very active family life, with a husband and three children. She also has a passion for arts and crafts, and enjoys spending time in the kitchen perfecting her culinary skills. "My husband is very supportive and one of my daughters is fascinated with the idea of online education. I think that the flexibility that online education offers can work just as well for instructors as it can for working students. The convenience of being able to conduct live course sessions and maintain office hours from my home frees up a lot of time that would be spent commuting to and conducting classes at a brick and mortar campus. That enables me to work full time, pursue my interest in teaching, spend quality time with my family and leaves time for me to do the things I enjoy doing. In fact, in my current capacity, I would even have time to pursue my goal of earning an advanced degree. I would recommend Stonecliffe College Online to anyone, both educators and students."
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