Instances of Effective Teaching and Learning - Case Study Example

Reflective Learning and Teaching Name Institution Professor Course Date Introduction Teaching in the clinical setting is a taxing task, a task that scores of clinical educators assume without sufficient orientation or preparation.  As most of clinical teaching is carried out in ambulatory settings, educators must be efficient to maximize the placement of student’s learning. Effective clinical educators show interest in learning and teaching, spend time with their learners explaining things and answering questions, they are well organized and prepared and they facilitate learning through focusing on the reasoning skills of their students (Witte, 2010). This essay highlights three instances where learning and teaching is effective, obstacles that block effective teaching and learning and strategies that help in overcoming these obstacles. Instances of Effective Teaching and Learning Providing Feedback The first instance where my teaching is effective is offering feedback. According to Gaberson, Oermsann and Shellenbarger (2014), providing punctual and rich feedback in clinical teaching is important and beneficial to educators and learners. According to Oermann (2013), proof regarding accuracy of learner’s self-assessment implies that higher achieving learners underestimate their performance while low achievers over-estimate their performance. This aspect makes the role of mentoring and feedback essential in assisting learners to improve their learning (Lockwood, 2013). The only type of feedback in pre-clinical curriculum is examination scores, but there is often not sufficient time for students to reflect on their examination performance and learn from their mistakes. In this regard, I normally focus on reflecting on class and individual performance to help students recognize areas of misunderstanding besides helping them identify how to enhance preparations for examinations or teaching (Rowell, 2013). Feedback holds strong effects on motivation of students and I employ feedback to keep my students motivated (Delany & Molloy, 2009). I engage professional communication and interviewing skills that help in promoting students’ learning. Through understanding that feedback takes place in a setting supportive of learning, I put my learners in groups to enable them learn from each other (Rowell, 2013). I provide accurate, timely and specific feedback founded on observable conducts of students. I promote self-reflection and allow my learners to build up their own improvement practices besides providing them with prospects to give their thoughts on their performances. I make sure that students are part of the feedback process and I encourage them to rate themselves against class performance indicators (Lockwood, 2013). My engagement and that of my students in the feedback procedure help us in creating positive student-teacher relationships that in turn helps in improving the student’s performance. Epstein (1999) asserts that self-reflection allows learners to listen attentively to their instructors, identify their own mistakes and refine their knowledge. Ability to Scaffold The second instance where my teaching is effective is my ability to scaffold. I model a favorable learning task or strategy and progressively shift the responsibility to my learners. According to Kaufman (2003), engaging students in learning is indispensable and should necessitate appliance of applicable issues and group interface. Through scaffolding, I facilitate the intellectual development of my students via offering them temporary support and information that I gradually lower as my learners increase their competence level (Lockwood, 2013). Scaffolding helps my students to become self-regulated and independent thinkers who are less teachers dependent and more self-sufficient (Lockwood, 2013). According to Leva and Swayer (2011), educators utilize scaffolding as a policy for shifting learning from teachers control to learner’s self-regulation. The role of the teacher shifts from an educator to a manager who provides corrective and prompt feedback (Leva & Sawyer, 2011). In my class, I guide the activities of my student’s and model them on how to carry out tasks while they observe and do little independent thinking. The students then copies my learning and thinking strategies and apply them to their academic work (Leva & Sawyer, 2011). The students try to carry out the task while I provide supportive ideas, additional modeling and assistance as required (Leva & Sawyer, 2011). I regulate intricacy during guided activities, provide different perspective for learners practice, offer feedback, and augment the responsibility of students besides offering them independent practice. Promoting Active Engagement of my Students The third instance where I use effective teaching and learning is my ability to promote active engagement of my students through cooperative and inquiry-based learning. Graffam (2008) asserts that questioning enhances the engagement of learners; promote contextualization of composite materials besides creating bridges among dissimilar material. Asking questions help students in grabbing the facts presented via learning materials (Bohan & Many, 2011). Before asking questions, I always target specific students and make sure that the questions fit a certain context. I allow the feedback to spawn another question and I use questions to probe critical thinking of my students and inspire alternative perspectives. I work together with my students towards accomplishing a common goal. I ensure that all learners are actively engaged in the learning process and allow the students to teach each other (Oremann & Heinrich, 2003). My ability to promote active engagement of my students and a social context motivates my students to learn and augments confidence in students, promotes self-esteem and enhances social links (Oremann & Heinrich, 2003. I carefully observe my students to assess their performance and areas that need improvement. Barriers to Effective Learning and Teaching in Clinical Environment Lack of Interest and Motivation for Learning Excellent clinical educators are interested in learning and teaching. They spend time with students, answer questions and explain things (Buchel & Edwards, 2005). Barriers to effective teaching and learning include students’ lack of motivation and interest to learn. According to Blackburn (2005), motivation is a psychological aspect that stimulates a person to attain a desired goal. Motivation of learners takes two major diverse forms that include extrinsic and intrinsic motivation (Blackburn, 2005). Intrinsic morale is activated when learners are engaged in the learning process because the subject captivates them while extrinsic motivations arise from grades and societal expectations. Feedback Complexities Another barrier to effective teaching is complexities arising from feedback process. Providing high-quality and consistent feedback is essential in clinical instruction (Gerstenberg, 2013). I find giving feedback particularly negative feedback difficult. This is because my students always want to receive positive feedback while negative feedback hurts them. According to Stevens (1996), giving no feedback or only negative feedback hinders the self-confidence of students. Negative feedback allows students to understand their weaknesses while positive feedback helps students in understanding their strengths (Walsh, 2013). According to Gaberson (2010), high-quality feedback leads to higher grades while high-quality negative feedback instigates self-evaluation of learner’s performance (Plankt & Raizer, 2012). Moreover, students always want to receive timely feedback which at times is hard due to educators work load. Strategies to Overcome the Barriers Conducive and Supportive Learning Environment Motivation allows students to be actively involved in the learning. Lack of interest and motivation can lead to poor performance and withdrawal from learning (Rowell, 2013). Educators can boost students’ motivation to learn through providing a conducive and supportive learning environment, providing positive feedback and setting practical expectations (Gaberson, Oermsann &Shellenbarger, 2014). They can also develop activities that activate student’s competence, autonomy, value and relatedness besides offering adequate orientation and mentor their students (Stuart, 2013). Establishing Trust To address the barriers to provision of effective feedback, educators can establish trust as a crucial feature in providing feedback (Rowell, 2013). The educators can spend sometime in class to explain what compels his/her approach to providing feedback (Stuart, 2013). Making students understand that they are in class to attain their goals facilitates the process of feedback as students understand that the educator is committed to helping them attain their goals. Rationale and Implementation The role of clinical instructors is to ensure that students attain their goals. As a result making the students understand the implications and importance of both positive and negative feedback is paramount (Delany & Molloy, 2009). Establishing trust amid learners and educators allow students to acknowledge their teachers’ feedback. This can be implemented through gathering students in class, seeking to know how they view and feel about feedback and the changes they want implemented during the feedback process. Teachers can ask students who supports the feedback process to raise their hands. They can also ask those who want to attain their educational goals to raise their hands (Oremann & Heinrich, 2003). If all students raise their hands, then trust is established and the teacher can freely, but effectively provided highly-quality feedback to learners. This strategy can be executed through self-reflection where the students assess their learning; their failures and successes, identify areas that calls for further development and become independent learners (Oremann & Heinrich, 2003). With respect to motivation, educators should develop activities that activate student’s competence, autonomy, value and relatedness (Rowell, 2013). By developing the four motivation dimensions, the students deem their hold the ability to accomplish a give task, and feel in control of their learning through viewing a direct relationship amid their actions and results (Delany & Molloy, 2009). With respect to value, learners understand the value linked to a given task while relatedness helps student in gaining social rewards. This strategy can be implemented through learning contracts which offer learners the prospect to take charge of their learning (Delany & Molloy, 2009). The students are provided with an agreement that highlights their goals how they will achieve them, the resources needed to facilitate achievement of the goals, a plan of the learning experience, the timeframe and finally the contract is reviewed based on the achievement of the leaning objectives. Conclusion Helping learners in clinical setting presents distinct challenges such as lack of motivation and difficulties in presenting feedback. Prospective physicians must learn to recognize their own learning requirements, determine suitable sources to address their needs besides learning how to utilize the skills and information attained to patients care during medical school and beyond. These aspects can be achieved through learning contracts and self-reflection that promotes students’ motivation towards the learning process. References Blackburn, B. R. (2005). Classroom motivation from A to Z: How to engage your students in learning. New York: Eye on Education, Inc. Bohan, H., & Many, J.(2011). Clinical teacher education: reflections from an urban professional development school network. New York: SAGE. Buchel, T., & Edwards, F. (2005). Characteristics of effective clinical teachers. Family Medicine, 37 (1), 30-35. Delany, C., & Molloy, E. (2009). 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