Principles, Theories, and Models in Teaching and Learning - Case Study Example

Reflective Evaluation Report of My Clinical Teaching Session Including Recommendations Student’s Name Institution Affiliation Introduction- A Demonstration of Understanding of Principles, Theories, and Models in Teaching and Learning Planning is essential in almost every sphere of life; therefore, its role in education cannot be underestimated (Gurney, 2007). When I embarked on creating a teaching plan for nursing students, I prepared lesson plans that would enable me effectively teach, engage, and stimulate the nursing students in order to better understand the causes of diabetes mellitus and its treatment. The plan had mixed results that will be analyzed and discussed in this reflective essay. When preparing the lesson plans, I ensured that they all the qualities of a good plan. The plans clearly stated the learning objectives, learning activities, and student participation and assessment criteria as outlined by Neeraja (2003). They were not only a guide but also a constant reminder of what was expected of me as a teacher. During the process, I realized that it was important that I encourage the students to participate in the process. According to Gaberson and Oermann (2010), engaging students in the selection of a clinical topic builds their research and summary skills, in addition to improving their analytical and critical thinking skills. This task was not easy as the students in the beginning were reluctant, perhaps because they had never experienced this teaching approach before. I realized that the students were used to traditional teaching methods whereby instructors bore the greatest load of the learning process hence, learner participation was minimal if not absent at all. The traditional teaching methods failed to acknowledge that learners too had expectations and therefore, a student-centered approach would be a good approach (Walkin, 2000). There would be Lab work involved, during teaching; therefore, I decided to adopt a participatory approach at both individual and group level. Ornek and Saleh (2012) confirm that such an approach promotes and reinforces teamwork and encourages peer learning. It also has high cognitive value if teachers can well manage the different preconceptions, ideas, hypotheses, and abilities coming from both individual learners and groups (Gurney, 2007; Ornek & Saleh, 2012). I attempted to adopt various learning styles theories in my teaching plan. One of them was David Kolb’s experiential learning theory. My decision to use this model was informed by the fact that Kolb acknowledged that there are at least four types of learners: the reflectors, theorists, pragmatists and activists (Leonard, 2002). I expected to encounter all these type of learners among my students. Sandler-smith and Evans (2006) note that learning styles and approaches contribute to the academic success of students, hence, failure is not necessarily because of lack of ability since learning styles, studying approaches and instructional formats also contribute to the overall success. Following this revelation, I realized that institutions need to encourage their teaching staff to adopt flexible and suitable teaching practices in order to improve or maintain their performance standards. As earlier noted, I experienced mixed reactions during the teaching sessions. There are areas that were very successful, while others required some form of fine-tuning. Overall, the strategies employed can be described as effective but the limitations experienced need to be addressed. Therefore, I part of this reflective essay will discuss some of the challenges encountered, and how they will be addressed in future. According to Gurney (2007), when planning, it is important to anticipate challenges and propose action plans on how best to handle them. That is why this essay will not only point out the challenges experienced but also identify possible areas of concern based on my experience. It is my hope that with this in mind, future learning processes will be record greater successes. Review and Critical Analysis of Relevant Literature Including Existing and Novel Pedagogies Used in Clinical Education Review and Critical Analysis of Teaching Objectives My teaching session involved working with second year nursing students. I was going teach them about type2 diabetes mellitus, which is one of chronic diseases that are rapidly becoming prevalent in Australia. My objective was to ensure that at the end of the learning sessions the students were able to describe the pathophysiology of type2 diabetes, identify the risk factors, signs, symptoms, propose medication and treatment, understand how to manage and prevent complications and learn how to handle related emergencies as well as relieve symptoms. The first thing I noticed is that I had set out a very wide scope that may not be effectively covered within the allotted time. While planning I failed to anticipate the learners increased interest in the topic seeing that it was an emerging issue in Australia. At least a third of the students knew a person who was suffering from diabetes therefore; they were genuinely interested in the subject. This meant that much time had to be spent explaining the fundamental concepts and dispelling myths and misconceptions as we went about describing the pathophysiology of type 2 diabetes. As the lessons progressed, I realized that my teaching plan had failed to include learners’ expectations and thus I was being forced to constantly revise it. The teaching plan should have incorporated more than one learning domain as Bastable (2008) advices. This would have assisted me in maintaining consistency in relation to course objectives (Bastable, 2008). He adds that it is important to factor in student’s readiness to learn and learning needs when deciding the amount of information to be taught. It is also important to allocate sufficient time for the teaching and learning of each objective. The factors to be considered while making this decision include learner’s attributes, amount of information to be given and available resources (Bastable, 2008). The teaching sessions should not be too short or too long, the challenge lies in reading the student’s body language to assess their concentration levels. While going through the session, I realized that the plan had to be revised accordingly, however, this all revisions had to be consistent with the learning goals and objectives otherwise the plan would have lost purpose. As noted in the introduction section, I decided to use more than one learning theory. I wished to stimulate interest as well as reinforce positive learning behavior. Therefore, I decided to use Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory and Skinner’s Positive Reinforcement Theory. Besides identifying four types of learner’s, Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory identifies four learning stages namely; concrete experience, reflective experience, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation (Taylor & Furnham, 2005). The process was evident as the students began to immerse themselves in the topic and open themselves up to new knowledge and experiences. I observed this to be true especially when we visited the endocrine ward. The students were able to observe and reflect on the experiences thus, well grasping multiple concepts and meaning. When it came to abstract conceptualization, almost the entire class was able to match their observations with classroom theories. From my assessment, those students had some difficulties applying theories in decision making and problem solving also experienced difficulties understanding concrete experiences from multiple perspectives. Skinner’s positive reinforcement theory sought to reward students who showed exceptional understanding of the topic as well as motivate the rest to work harder. Overall, despite the unanticipated challenges I was able to deliver the course content within the specified time. I managed to achieve my teaching objectives as outlined in my plans. Upon assessment of learners, I confirmed that more than ninety percent of them had a good understanding of the course objectives. Review and Critical Analysis of Learner’s Objectives The second year nursing students were expected at the end of the session to have learnt about type2 diabetes as specified in the course outline. At the end of the course, most of the students had a good understanding of the course content. Basing my arguments on test results, I believed that the course objectives had been achieved and therefore, the session a success. However, this was not enough to judge if all had gone well, it was important that the students’ opinion be included. To gauge whether the learners had appreciated the topic and found the information useful and applicable, I decided to engage them on a one -on-one discussion session. This was done just before the assessment and was meant to be a group revision as well as a feedback session. The discussion occurred outside the normal classroom settings, which I realized that was more relaxed and interactive. The students were free to ask questions relating to the topic and before I answered a question, I gave a fellow student an opportunity to do so. This participatory approach was both new and exciting for both the students and me. Sankaranarayanan and Sindhu (2012) acknowledge that participatory approach is one of the most effective teaching strategies in nursing. Harmonization of teaching and learning processes makes it easier to achieve the desired outcomes (Sankaranarayanan & Sindhu, 2012). The process has to be an interaction between teachers and learners. Excellent communication between teachers and learners is very crucial since it very important to the learning process (Carcich & Rafti, 2007). Therefore, I ensured that the learners got all the relevant information and established proper communication channels. The resultant effect was, students were more willing to communicate with me as a teacher, some even thought of me as a mentor. Having such a relationship ensured that the interactive session was a learning experience for both of us. During the exercise, I realized that students respond well to some of the maxims of teaching outlined by Sankaranarayanan and Sindhu (2012) in their book “Learning and Teaching in Nursing.” During the question and answer session, I found it interesting that the student had a good understanding of the principle ‘proceed from known to unknown’. When answering questions, a student began by explaining a known concept before proceeding to giving an answer. The approach was impressive since it not only demonstrated a student’s cognitive skills, but also proved to be an effective teaching strategy (Wilison & O’Regan, 2007). Watching the students engage each other and analyzing the quality of answers given confirmed that the students had indeed grasped all the important concepts. At that particular moment, I was sure that even without the confirmation of test results, these second year nursing students owned the content. When assessing whether the learners’ objectives had been achieved, I realized the importance of place- based learning. Wurdinger and Carlson (2009) define place-based learning as a holistic educational approach that integrates particular areas such as community, education, conservation among others into the learning process. Studying type 2 diabetes in Australia stimulated the students’ interest since the community was dealing with the issue. As part of the community, the students felt that this was a topic that meant more than good grades confirming Wurdinger and Carlson (2009) assertion ” place-based education enhances the vitality of the community.” The positive aspects of this approach is that it is interdisciplinary, it is not restricted to any particular environment, focuses on local themes, promotes customization of content among others. I came to appreciate all these, when I was undertaking this session (Shute, 2008). Theories/Models Strategies and Evaluation When I began my teaching session, I was confident that the Experiential Teaching Theory and the Positive Reinforcement Theory were sufficient; however, along the process; I realized that I had applied other relevant theories even though that was not my initial intention. The contributions of Experiential Learner’s theory have been extensively covered in previous sections therefore; I will delve more on the other models as well as strategies. As earlier stated, I used Skinner’s Positive Reinforcement Theory principles, to promote positive learning behavior among the students. The theory is credited with initiating, promoting, and maintaining desired behaviors (Engler, 2013). According to McClincy (2010), the theory helps instructors to develop approaches that influence how students learn. He asserts that positive reinforcement is very important for a successful learning process. Another contribution that the theory makes to teaching is that it enables instructors to predict and control behavior (Engler 2013; Barrington, 2008). The principles of this theory also promoted positive interaction between the students and the teacher. Resnick and Weaver (2013) believe that Skinner’s theory promotes positive behavior between the teaching staff and administration too. During the session, I realized the benefits of place-based learning model earlier discussed as well as the importance of crafting clinical learning assignments as an effective teaching strategy. It was critical that I set realistic assignments if I wanted the students to appreciate the topic. In order to do this, I borrowed some ideas from Gardner and Suplee (2010) who suggest that clinical assessment assignments should consider the students’ personal development goals. Doing so drives the students’ desire to master clinical objectives as well as motivates them to work on their clinical skills (Gardner & Suplee, 2010). It was compulsory that a test be administered to the students to gauge the success of the teaching session. A Test is common and widely accepted assessment strategy in nursing programs (Oermann & Gaberson, 2013; Webster, 2009). The students performed very well in both norm-referenced clinical evaluation as well as criterion-referencing evaluations. Criterion-referenced clinical evaluations considers a student’s performance against a specific criterion (Oermann & Gaberson, 2013), in our case this was the course objectives. I considered its results to be the most reflective since it was coherent with the teaching plan Conclusion and Recommendations The exercise was highly informative. It provided me with the opportunity to test several teaching and learning theories. Most of the theories worked very well albeit there was need for modifications. In general, most of recommended theories and strategies are effective; however, they revealed some gaps that were effectively addressed by combining two or more models. The experience brought to my attention a few issues that I would like to address in this essay. The recommendations made are based on my research as well as other scholars’ studies in this field. To begin with, I realized that the level of student participation in institution of higher learning needs to improve. My initial assessment of the situation reveals that the instructors prefer traditional teaching practices in nursing. Nabor (2012) appears to agree with my suggestions that instructors need to embrace modern teaching practices in nurses. Her research on “Active learning strategies in classroom teaching: Practices of Associate Degree Nurse Educators in a Southern State” revealed that passive teaching strategies were the most dominant and the least frequently used strategy was dialogue with learners. We both recommend that instructor begin to engage learner more during the teaching-learning process. Whereas resources can never be enough, every participant in the process has to contribute to their effective utilization (Hall, 2006; Murray et al., 2008). Resources from a teaching perspective can be quite broad. It includes materials, staff, funds, and facilities. During the exercise, I realized that the high demand for higher education was putting a lot of pressure on both teachers and learners. Therefore, I recommend that a study be conducted to establish how to best utilize the current resources without compromising education standards or the quality of the learning process. More needs to be done to equip teachers with the right skills. While interacting with other members of the teaching staff I realized that some of the practices they engaged in with regard to teaching had a negative impact on the learning process. As much as models and theories provide us with fundamental teaching principles, more needs to be done in terms of monitoring and evaluation teaching methods used in nursing schools. Hallarie (2007) asserts nursing teachers need to be encouraged to use teaching strategies that promote the learning process. It is recommended that teachers shift from being factors to mentors (Wilkes, 2006). References Barrington, K. (2008). 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Nurse Educator, 34(4), 148-149 Wurdinger, S. D., & Carlson, J. (2010). Teaching for experiential learning: Five approaches that work. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Education. Wilkes, Z. (2006). The student-mentor relationship: a review of the literature.Nursing standard, 20(37), 42-47. Willison, J., & O’Regan, K. (2007). Commonly known, commonly not known, totally unknown: a framework for students becoming researchers. Journal of Higher Education Research & Development, 26(4), 393-409. Read More