Learning Theory Annotated Bibilography - Research Paper Example

Annotated Bibliography [ID Humanistic Learning Theory Purdy, M. (1997). Humanist ideology and nurse education. 2. Limitations of humanisteducational theory in nurse education. Nurse Education Today, 17(3), 196-202. Purdy argues that humanistic learning theory, with its accompanying humanistic ideology, is often incompatible with nursing education. Purdys arguments are a fewfold. First, he claims that self-directed learning is “problematic” in the education of nurses, because required course content must be so circumscribed and specific.

The medical industry in general requires highly controlled and ordered training and transmission of knowledge. Second, safety and the humanist model conflict sharply: Nurses have to be taught specifically to provide safe care. Third: Nursing learning must be institutionalized to be effective. Fourth: Humanist learning theory is a “new orthodoxy”, a form of social control that keeps nurses from being flexible. It also expresses free market orthodoxy. Fifth, and most importantly: Humanistic learning theory emphasizes individualistic learning and values.

But nurses must be socially oriented to be successful. They must coordinate with other nurses, with doctors, with medical practitioners and logistics experts, and with the community. Because humanistic learning, in Purdys view, directly detracts from “social learning”, it must be rejected for nursing. Instead, Purdy recommends a communalistic value system, ideology and teaching paradigm. He argues that nurses taught in this vein will learn how to coordinate and compromise with others more efficiently, and that this alternate paradigm is more effective for the unique needs of nurses.

Behavioral Learning TheoryHezekiah, J (February 1993). Feminist pedagogy: a framework for nursing education? Journal of Nursing Education, 32(2):53-7. Hezekiah examines the benefits of feminist pedagogy for nursing education in Pakistan in particular and Muslim countries in general. The concerns are obvious: Feminist ideology in fundamentalist Muslim countries will be controversial. The question is if the benefits outweigh the risks. Hezekiah concludes that they do. Hezekiah claims that feminist pedagogy, when examined through the lens of Schniedewind (1993)s five process goals, have great potential for nurses for two reasons.

Feminist pedagogy empowers nurses. It allows them to make decisions quickly without being vetoed or disrespected by patients, essential for delivering optimal care quickly. And it improves the health care system as a whole, because it allows female nurses to participate as equals and thus increases the pool of qualified medical practitioners available to Muslim countries.Social Learning TheoryBahn, D. (February 2001). Social Learning Theory: Its Application in the Context of Nurse Education.

Nurse Education Today, 21(2), 110-117. Social learning theory emphasizes the way that people, such as nurses, learn based on behavioral cues such as role models, superiors, and so forth in their social environment, and focus on making outcomes positive and clearly indicated so as to increase the likelihood of modeling. Dolores Bahn finds that social learning theory is appropriate for nursing theory. Bahn finds that the salient elements of social learning for nursing theory are “attention, retention, motor reproduction, and motivation”.

She points out that nursing theory has numerous salient elements that make social learning theory a good framework. Nurses are within established institutional structures. Motor skills, such as hand-cleaning and surgery prep, can be repeated and learned through motor reproduction. Positive results of good behaviors can be seen and modeled, since the results are discrete and concrete (e.g. a good behavior helps a patient, a bad behavior hurts them). And attention and retention can be easily emphasized by instructors.

One recommendation is to have nurses look at experienced RNs and doctors and model their behavior.