Wisconsin Society for Healthcare Education and Training Fall Conference

Level Up Learning: Innovation in Orientation and Education

Join us for this all-day healthcare educator professional development and networking opportunity! This conference is for educators, nurse educators, unit-based educators, preceptors, managers, charge nurses, instructors, simulation specialists, and healthcare academia.

Topics will include:

• Implementing the Tiered Skills Acquisition Model
• Supporting and enhancing the first year of nursing practice
• Fresh teaching ideas for dry content
• Creating games that inspire deeper levels of thinking

This conference features presentations from Michele L. Deck, RN, BSN, MEd, LCCE, FACCE, and M. Ellen Joswiak (Joes-Whack), D.N.P., RN, NPD-BC. See below for additional session and presenter details.

Light breakfast and lunch will be provided from Mission Coffee Stevens Point.

Continuing Education:

The Wisconsin Society for Healthcare Education and Training designates this activity for up to six (6) contact hours (0.6 CEUs) of continuing education for allied health professionals, dependent on their participation in the event and completion of the event evaluation.

When and Where

Friday, October 24, 2025
8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Stevens Point Downtown Campus

Registration will open soon. (Registration required by October 15, 2025.)

Cost and Registration

• WISHET Member – Early Bird Rate (Ends 9/19/2025): $200
• WISHET Member – General (Non-Early Bird Rate): $225
• Non-WISHET Member – Early Bird Rate (Ends 9/19/2025): $225
• Non-WISHET Member – General (Non-Early Bird Rate): $250

If you become a member now, you will receive a coupon code for $25 off. Join now.

If you have a disability and need accommodations to take part in this activity, please let us know. Contact the event coordinator as soon as possible, ideally 14 days in advance.

Register

Cancellations/Refunds

Cancellations received by October 10, 2025, will receive a full refund. No refunds will be given for cancellations received after this date. Substitutions are accepted until October 16, 2025. Please contact Ashley Borchardt at ce_events@mstc.edu.

Lodging

For those traveling from around the state or elsewhere, we have secured a room block, valid until September 9, at the Cobblestone Hotel & Suites – Stevens Point (within walking distance of the event).

Phone: 715.343.0522
Email: stevenspoint@staycobblestone.com

You will receive additional room block details when you register for the conference.

Session Descriptions and Learning Objectives

Inject New Life into Teaching

Presenter: Michele L. Deck, RN, BSN, MEd, LCCE, FACCE

Are you seeking new and creative ideas to breathe life into some tired programs? Do your participants sometimes need resuscitation after a particularly long class? Is that content "sick" enough to need some "intensive care?" If so, experience some first-aid ideas to rejuvenate even the most ailing of lectures.

Discuss three ideas to review critical content points. Describe three strategies to begin a learning session. Identify four ways to resuscitate dry or boring critical content. Plan a strategy to utilize a fresh teaching idea in your next class.

Educators, Get Your Game On: Pedagogy of Gaming from Theory to Practice

Presenter: Michele L. Deck, RN, BSN, MEd, LCCE, FACCE

Younger learners spend many hours enjoying gaming in their leisure time. What if you could use gaming to teach and reinforce learning? Have you noticed that gaming can engage and enhance content? This session offers both simple hands-on and technologic approaches to gaming, depending on your learner needs and content.

Examine evidence as to why gaming is a teaching practice with effective teaching results. Analyze innovative and creative gaming to teach and inspire deeper levels of thinking and engagement for your learners.   Compare ways to increase energy and participation while learning with games. Contrast different object lessons for use in gaming. Discuss applying reviews and new approaches to your teaching practice.

Transforming Clinical Orientation Using the Tiered Skills Acquisition Model

Presenter: Michele L. Deck, RN, BSN, MEd, LCCE, FACCE

This presentation explores the evidence-based framework for nursing clinical orientation. A comprehensive description of the Tiered Skills Acquisition Model (TSAM) from the early stages of development and implementation to current state will be explored. The three critical components of the TSAM® framework will be discussed in detail with examples that offer insight for operationalizing this method in your organization or practice setting.

Describe the history of transforming nursing orientation from a productivity-based orientation model to that of a competency-based tiers model. Discuss the three pillars of the tiered skills acquisition model. Explore implementation strategies and sustainability plans. Develop appropriate orientation outcome metrics.

Saving Novice Nurses! Peer Mentorship for Transition in Practice Support

Presenter: Michele L. Deck, RN, BSN, MEd, LCCE, FACCE

This presentation reviews a peer mentorship model to support novice nurses after the formal clinical orientation ends. Session participants will gain knowledge on development, implementation, and evaluation of a peer mentorship model that promotes ongoing professional role development for novice nurses in a safe learning environment facilitated by trusted, experienced colleagues.

Explore a peer mentorship model as a strategy to support nurses new to a clinical setting Analyze outcomes from a pilot peer mentorship program Describe strategies to operationalize peer mentorship in practice settings

About the Speakers

Michele L. Deck, MEd, BSN, RN, LCCE, FACCE

Michele Deck has presented nationally and internationally on innovative teaching methods in the field of health care education and training for over 39 years. She is the recipient of many honors and awards for her creativity, innovation, productivity, and exemplary leadership qualities.

Honors include the prestigious Belinda E. Puetz Award from the Association of Nurses in Professional Development (ANPD), election to Sigma (formerly called Sigma Theta Tau) National Nursing Honor Society, and Business Woman of the Year by the National Business Council.

Dr. Deck is co-founder and chief executive officer of GAMES, a company specializing in seminars on adult learning and interactive training methods, and Tool Thyme for Trainers, a company  supplying innovative and creative presentation tools for educators worldwide. Dr. Deck has authored twelve books on creative and involving ways to teach adults. She is a past president of Lamaze International and past accreditation chair. She served on ANPD’s Education Committee and was a member of the editorial board of the Journal For Nurses in Professional Development for 8eightyears. www.micheledeck.com

M. Ellen Joswiak (Joes-Whack), DNP, RN, NPD-BC

Dr. M. Ellen Joswiak is a distinguished thought leader and innovator in nursing professional development. She currently supports both inpatient and ambulatory nursing units at a prominent academic medical center in the Midwest. Dr. Joswiak earned her doctorate in nursing practice from Augsburg University in 2017 and is board certified in nursing professional development.

With a deep passion for curriculum development, novice nurse transition, preceptor role development, and quality improvement, Dr. Joswiak has made significant contributions to the field. She is one of the co-innovators of the Tiered Skills Acquisition Model (TSAM®) and has presented this clinical orientation framework at national and international conferences.

Dr. Joswiak brings decades of experience in nursing and professional development and has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals.

Questions?

Event Questions:
Brooke Eckelberg (WISHET Conference Chair)

Registration Inquiries:
Ashley Borchardt (Mid-State Technical College)