We’ve come to the final article in our series on scenius. Remember, this is the collective creativity that emerges when communities support risk-taking, idea-sharing, and build momentum together. So far, we’ve explored mutual appreciation, rapid exchange of tools and techniques, and the network effect of success. You can read the previous installments below:
Week 1 - Mutual Appreciation
Week 2 - Rapid Exchange of Tools and Ideas
Week 3 - Network Effects of Success
The fourth and final ingredient, described by writer Kevin Kelly, is local tolerance for novelties.
Our environment significantly impacts our productivity, creativity, and overall well-being. As an innovative and experimental nurse educator, you may find yourself in a work environment that does not support your teaching ideas or changes you want to see in nursing education.
The scenius ingredient of local tolerance is a buffer zone where unusual ideas, experimental practices, and unconventional thinkers can exist, try things out, and even fail without fear. In other words, a space where the off-the-wall stuff is safe to try or suggest. It protects the creative from the surrounding environment, the “outside world,” and doesn’t allow it to shut down or punish creativity. Instead, the environment permits and encourages.
In nursing education, this means cultivating classrooms, clinicals, and faculty spaces where innovation isn’t just celebrated in the final stage, but the early ideas and the messy middle are protected. Below are a few ideas for how you can create this type of environment:
📚 In the Classroom: Permit Student-Designed Tools
As my kids grow up, I’m starting to realize something: I officially have no idea what’s “in” anymore. Whether it’s a snack I bring home or a shirt I pick out, I’m often met with that classic teen look, equal parts confusion and pity, followed by, “Really, Mom?”
And honestly? I think the same thing happens in the classroom.
We didn’t go to nursing school in the same era as our students. We didn’t face the same challenges, have the same technology, or navigate the world they’re living in now. So sometimes, what we think will help them succeed just doesn’t match the way they actually learn or live.
🧠 EXAMPLE: When I started recording my lectures as video lessons, I thought the “best way” was for students to sit down, watch the slides, follow my drawings, and treat it like they were still in class. I resisted offering audio-only versions because I assumed multitasking would mean they weren’t really paying attention.
But then students started telling me the lengths they went to just to listen. It wasn’t that they weren’t invested. They needed learning to fit into their lives while commuting, pushing the stroller around the neighborhood, or doing laundry, not the other way around.
Try making space for student solutions. This can be challenging because the ideas you invite in may feel unfamiliar, imperfect, or just plain weird. But try offering a short section of class or a forum in your LMS where you intentionally invite student-designed learning tools. Create this small space for novelty where students can bring their own study strategies, visuals, games, or mnemonics related to a unit you’re covering.
Encourage the group to try it out briefly, offer feedback, and or vote on which ideas helped them learn something new. Some ideas will flop. Others will spark unexpected insights. But the point is to normalize experimentation and show students that you value their insights as co-creators of their learning environment.
🩺 In Clinical: Notice the Unexpected
Clinical isn’t always the place for creative detours. But post-conference? It’s the perfect space to slow down and explore curious observations or “what if” moments students encountered during the day.
You could challenge students to be especially observant at the start of a clinical week. Not just about the tasks, but looking for gaps, things that don’t quite make sense, or the little moments that spark a question, ‘Why do we do it this way?’”
💎 EXAMPLE: One time, a student noticed her patient’s levothyroxine was scheduled for 0800, at the exact time when the breakfast trays arrived. She knew the patient should take the medication on an empty stomach and ideally not with other medications… many of which were also scheduled at 0800. So she started asking questions. “What if we gave it at 0700 instead?”
That simple observation led us down a rabbit hole - in the best way. We talked with pharmacy. We consulted the Nurse Practice Council. The student even helped write up a summary with supporting evidence. And guess what? That unit now schedules levothyroxine for 0700 for all patients.
It all started with one student’s curiosity and creating a space where it was safe to explore an idea.
Post-conference can be an excellent place for students to explore outside-the-box thinking. Ask students to “notice” tasks and routines that could be improved, often with minor tweaks. Over time, students begin to notice more, think more deeply, and feel more confident bringing up what doesn’t quite fit the mold. That’s precisely the scenius space where innovative ideas are born.
👩🏫 Among Educators: Normalize the Experimental
Faculty culture can make or break scenius. If every new idea is met with, “That’s not how we’ve done it,” creative risk-taking dries up fast 💨. However, when a department or team serves as a buffer to creative experimentation, even in small ways, those oddball ideas can lead to breakthroughs.
💡 IDEA: One of the best ways to protect creativity in a faculty community is by creating space for the unpolished ideas, quiet hunches, or “what ifs” that people might be hesitant to say out loud. These are often the seeds of real innovation, but need a little shelter to grow.
A simple way to build that safety is through an anonymous “idea box,” either digital or physical. Educators can use it to share strategies they’re considering, challenges they’re facing, or early-stage ideas they’re not quite ready to present publicly. During meetings, leadership or a facilitator can read a few aloud, without names attached, and invite the group to respond with curiosity, not critique.
Before opening the discussion, be sure to set clear ground rules. Responses should be grounded in encouragement and questions, not evaluation. The goal isn’t to pick ideas apart, it’s to understand what’s behind them.
Genuine curiosity is the key here. By asking thoughtful, explorative questions, you can uncover so much more. Not just about the idea itself but also about the challenges your colleague may be navigating beneath the surface.
When we feel that our baby ideas or our messy middle is protected, not picked apart, we are more likely to keep bringing ideas forward.
🌳 Protect the Space, Grow the Ideas
The final ingredient of scenius reminds us that creativity doesn’t flourish in rigid systems or under harsh critique. It needs protection, tolerance, and a little breathing room. When classrooms, clinical sites, and educator communities create buffers, where the new, odd, and unconventional are welcome, ideas begin to grow, confidence builds, and we all get a little braver.
An overall theme through this series has been leading with curiosity. When we approach each other’s ideas with curiosity and care, we create a community where everyone feels safe enough to try.
🎧 Check Out the Learning Lab RN Podcast
The second episode of the Learning Lab RN podcast is live! 🎉 I got some (not all!) of the nervous energy out by just getting started. That's the hardest part sometimes, right?
In each episode, you’ll hear real-world teaching strategies from nurse educators who’ve put them to the test. If one sparks an idea for your own classroom or clinical, you can grab the tool for yourself—plus, 50% of every purchase goes straight to the educator who designed it.
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02: It’s Snowing at the Picnic: Teaching the Clinical Judgment Model Without Medical Content
An engaging way to teach the clinical judgment model.
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I hope you enjoyed this series on scenius in nursing education. I plan to do one more series before I take an annual summer writing break. I have a few ideas for topics before then, but if there is something you are interested in exploring, please reply to this email and let me know!
