F.A. Davis Strategies for Effective Teaching | A guide for new health careers faculty
STRATEGIES FOR Effective Teaching A GUIDE FOR NEW HEALTH CAREERS FACULTY
Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN Managing Director Collaborative Momentum Consulting
“
Robert Jackson and Amanda Barton, two new faculty members, are commiserating with each other about their role as health careers instructors. “I know how to take care of patients. But how in the world do you teach in a class, lab, and clinical so that students will be successful following graduation?” Richard says. Amanda agrees. “The only thing I know to do is to teach the way I was taught. But things have changed—there is WAY more content to cover than when I was in school.”
Health care is certainly more complex than 20 or even 10 years ago. In addition, advances in technology which allow researchers to study the functioning of the brain, have given educators clues to strategies for improving students’ learning. Let’s delve into three strategies new educators can use to increase the effectiveness of their teaching and prepare students for the complex healthcare environment.
FADavis.com
1
Encourage student engagement in learning 1. Many of us remember the days when going to class meant listening to an instructor’s lecture, frantically trying to take notes of the important points—and wondering what the important points were! Today we know that if students are engaged in the topic under consideration, thinking critically about the subject matter and under- standing ways in which the material can be applied in a context (like a clinical situation), they are more likely to apply what they have learned in another situation. When the instructor sets up such an environment, student engagement with the learning is more likely to occur. Understanding what student engagement means is the first step in this process. The box below provides a definition of student engagement. In contrast, when an instructor
spends most of the time in class talking, rather than
listening, student engagement is less likely to be present. Why? Research on the brain finds that one’s attention span tends to be about 10-20 minutes at a
Definition of Student Engagement Students pay attention, demonstrate curiosity, interest, and passion about the learning process. These emotions increase the student’s motivation to remain on task and learn. Student Engagement is “a psychological investment in learning.”
time. During that period, the brain makes a quick determination of what is import- ant. If the content being provided in a class does not feel important to the student, their thoughts will move on to something they do consider important—maybe even what they will have for lunch. So HOW can instructors engage students in class, lab, and clinical experiences? Euler (2018) reviewed litera- ture in psychology, biology, and neuroscience to determine the most current evidence regarding how humans learn. He identified five conditions within the student which, if present, will improve their engagement: 1. CURIOSITY —the student is interested in knowing more about the content being discussed. 2. SOCIAL BELONGING —connection to the teacher and other students by sharing ideas and experi- ences provides the feeling of belonging to a group. 3. EMOTION —dry facts won’t spark a student’s engagement; emotions must be tapped. Considering how abnormal lab values affect a client’s condition is much more likely to stimulate an emotion than being required to learn normal and abnormal lab values without a client context. 4. FAILURE —if humans fail and they are provided with an opportunity to reflect on the failure, they may learn different approaches when faced with a similar circumstance in the future. Helping stu-
dents recognize that failure is a part of learning is an effective teaching strategy. 5. AUTHENTICITY —the recognition that a situation being discussed is “real.”
Certainly, it is much easier for students to be engaged in a well-designed lab or actual clinical experience because these activities, by their very nature, require students to be engaged. However, what can we do to encourage student engagement in the classroom? Health careers students learn by and in activities that involve real-world situations. Bringing clinical or other realistic scenarios into the classroom, as described by Benner, et. al, (2010) requires the use of case studies, clinical stories, and discussion about client care. This approach requires instructors to shift the focus in class from content about facts to the application of that knowledge in situations they are likely to encounter on the job. For example, in the past, instructors may have lectured in depth about the pathophysiology of diabetes mellitus. Today, the focus in the classroom should be caring for a patient with symptoms of diabe- tes based on an understanding of the pathophysiology.
2
2.
Provide opportunities for students to use critical thinking and problem solving in their professional lives.
Health professionals, regardless of their specific disciplines, will be expected to think critically and problem solve effectively to be successful in very complex health care environments. Critical thinking is defined as the use of logic and reasoning to resolve complex problems; problem-solving involves developing and evaluating specific interventions to resolve those same complex problems. These two cognitive processes combined with the knowledge students have gained will require either application, analysis, or evaluation to determine interventions that result in positive outcomes for patients.
+
=
Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving
Knowledge
Interventions
Positive Outcomes
How do we teach students to apply the necessary knowledge in specific situations to achieve positive outcomes? Three teaching strategies are important. 1. Students must have the opportunity to practice using critical thinking and problem-solving in class and other learning opportunities. Class activities and assignments must require students to demonstrate how they would apply, analyze, or evaluate knowledge in “real-world” situations, in order to develop interventions resulting in positive outcomes. 2. Students must also be able to transfer what they learned from one situation to another. An important part of teaching is to help students identify the similarities and differences in various situations, building the students’ “bank” of understanding of their discipline. For example, when respiratory care students can use their knowledge of the respiratory system to determine if the symptoms a young child is experiencing represents a potential danger, even though they have only cared for adults with similar symptoms, they are able to transfer knowledge across clinical situations. 3. Student testing, whether in written examinations or face-to-face competency evaluations, must require students to apply , analyze , or evaluate scenarios, not simply identify knowledge. For example, a physical therapy assistant student should be able to not simply identify bones, muscles, and joints, they must also know how to use that knowledge to answer a question about how to appropriately wrap a dislocated shoulder in a specific clinical scenario. The goal of all health careers faculty is to prepare students for successful practice in current and future health care environments. Providing multiple opportunities to apply, analyze and evaluate clinical information using critical thinking and problem-solving to provide the best care possible is a necessary skill for all health care faculty.
3
Build opportunities for students to reflect on their performance 3. Building opportunities for students to reflect on their performance throughout class, lab, and clinical experience is a third strategy for effective teaching. Not only is reflection helpful after a failure, but reflection also has benefits in all sorts of learning situations. For example, reflection encourages students to take charge of their own learning by reviewing a particular situation several times, exploring it from different points of view. This helps students to examine their own performance with more clarity than they might be about to do “in the heat of the moment” (Webb, 2018). Reflection can also help students build stronger connections among learning experiences. For example, when reflecting on the care they gave to an older adult, they may be able to see similarities and differences between this client and a younger adult. Reflection also encourages social interaction among instructor and students. Discussion of various individual reflections by a group of students can provide a breadth of understanding for all students that might not be achieved without such discussion (Webb, 2018). Numerous approaches to the reflection process have been developed to help students reflect on their own performance. A simple and easy to use template, Look, Think, Learn, Plan comes from Case Western Reserve Medical School (2020). Table 2 outlines those components in more detail and suggests some questions that will help students get started in each step of the reflection process.
TABLE 2: CaseWestern Reserve Medical School Reflection Template
Step
Questions to ponder
Look back at a situation or experience.
“How can I describe this situation?”
Think in depth about your experience or thoughts.
“My previous behavior might be because…” “Important ideas were…”
“I have learned that…” “I now realize…” “I wonder if…”
Learn about yourself or your role.
“I might do________ next time.” “I might change my thinking by…” “I may need to puzzle further…”
Plan what you will do next.
Faculty have the responsibility for preparing health professions students for an increasingly complex health care system. These three strategies can help you in your journey to becoming an expert teacher. Good luck on your journey.
4
References
Benner, P., Sutphen, M., Leonard, V., Day, L. (2010) Educating Nurses: A Call for Radical Transformation. Preparation for the Professions. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Case Western Reserve Medical School (2020) Four Steps for Reflection. Look, Think, Learn, Plan. https://case.edu/medicine/sites/case.edu.medicine/files/2020-09/4%20Step%20Reflection%20Template.pdf Accessed 2022.
Euler, J. R. (2018) How humans learn: The science and stories behind effective college teaching. West Virginia University Press.
Webb, L. (2018) Why reflection encourages better learning experiences. Learning Pool, https://learningpool.com/why-reflection-encourages-a-better-learning-experience/ Accessed 2022.
About the author Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN , is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant with over 10 years of consulting experience, providing program development and other consultation services to nursing and health professions programs throughout the United States and Canada. Previously, she served as Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Human Services at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas.
5
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5Powered by FlippingBook