Challenges of Nurse Educator in the 21st century
Challenges
of Nurse Educator in the 21st century
How
does an understanding of instructional contexts and designs models, learning
objectives and lesson plans will help to overcome these challenges.
Over
the last decade nursing education has become increasingly demanding. Reflecting
on the role of nurse educator in 2001 while I was a nursing student to present I can safely
conclude that the role of the nurse educator has undergone significant changes.
The 21st Century has
been conceived as: The age of ‘Globalization’, the age of ‘Knowledge Economy’,
and the ‘Information age’ (Pritchard, 2008). The educational
challenges in a globalized world include: ensuring that learners acquire the
technological skills that enable them to access the global information and
telecommunication networks, transforming learner attitudes and dispositions to
enable them adapt to change and uncertainty, fostering character traits in
learners that make them functional in a cross-cultural and democratic setting.
Such traits include open-mindedness, tolerance and intellectual autonomy, enhancing
learner’s capacity and attitude to think critically and creatively (Wragg.,
2004).
Nursing education needs to go beyond
merely informing students. Nursing students have to be enabled to learn on
their own, make sense of and apply knowledge innovatively.
Learners, therefore, need to take charge of their thinking and direct it towards
solving problems as well as formulating and pursuing desired goals. Information
and telecommunication technologies that facilitate and support knowledge-based
activities have become extremely useful. Information has become easily
accessible with the use of the internet hence the use of the term “information
age” to refer to the 21st century.
How
does an understanding of instructional contexts and designs models, learning objectives and lesson plans
will help to overcome these challenges.
According to Pritchard
(2008) the best way for a person to learn depends on the person. It is well
know that people have different learning styles that work best for them. The
best approach for a teacher to take is to address a variety of learning styles
is by preparing a teaching plan.
In overcoming
challenges in the 21st century, Wragg (2004) recommended that nurse
educators when preparing their teaching plan should create an environment with
lots of tools for developing an understanding of the topic, such as PowerPoint
slide and image from the web so that the students can learn in both way from
the slide and image.
This is my first
teaching practicum March 2019 at the University of the West Indies St Augustine
Trinidad and Tobago. Teaching the 2nd year pre-registration
students, using power point presentation so students can better understanding
the topic and also increase their attention span.
Further
lesson plan is one of the most important principles of good teaching so
that the teacher can check that he/she is keeping to time and the content of her/his lesson is, as well
as a framework for reflection and evaluation (Pritchard 2008). With a teaching lesson
plan it can guide the teacher about the title for the session, the type of
expected learning, about teaching and learning methods, length of time
available, location of teaching session, access computer, internet resources, further
they also think about the audience the number of learners and their study level
or stage in training, and how will the teacher know if the students understand?
This is by assessing student informal and formal way, questioning techniques,
feedback from learners.
When the aim and objectives are set out for the
teaching session, that way the students know what to expect and also what they
are expected to know by the end of the session explained that the goal of
creating learning objectives is to provide a means of clarifying the purpose of
teaching to ensure the lesson is successful and the objectives are achieved.
Clearly identifying learning objectives improves the communication between the
teacher and the learner. When the objectives of a teaching have been clearly
identified and presented in an orderly progression, the desired learning
outcomes will be attained.
Reference
Pritchard, A. (2008).Ways
of learning: Learning theories and learning styles in the classroom 2nd (Ed).
Routledge.
Wragg.E.C (2004). An
introduction in the classroom. Classic edition.Routledge
Hi there, I like your lesson planning illustration/picture of mind-mapping. It is true educators need preparation using lesson plan to overcome some of the challenges but how can we remember all the steps of lesson planning and instructional design? I would like to think of a model or acronym like ASSURE model or BOPPPS for lesson planning. Lesson plan is just like nursing care plan which I would remember the short way of writing nursing notes using ADPIE or SOPIE.
ReplyDeleteGood morning Suzette
ReplyDeletethankyou for the blog write up
I can truly say that as a Educator every time a lesson is to be taught, one must first have a teaching plan. He who prepares and chart a course with a good plan is moving in the right direction. Thankyou
Hi Susette.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a wonderful and informative blog post. You have managed to state some of important challenges that the nurse educators in 21st century are facing. Not only stating the challenges, you have also identified ways to overcome these challenges. To add onto your body of discussion, you have stated that when preparing for a class session, the nurse educators must use a lot of tools to prepare, which includes use of powerpoint presentations and use of image. How about using a video as a part of the teaching process? Would using a video in the class be also providing clear picture and make the students to understand the content better? I like the fact where you have stated that lesson plans will guide the educator where the lesson is aiming at and stay on the correct path.
Hey Susette good day. A timely piece of work on Nurse Educators' role in the 21st century. I see you justly identified two categories of learners: visual and auditory; when you spoke of using images and the words of your PowerPoint slides. That is very good and it can also be emphasized that most persons are visual learners. Moreover, studies have shown that this kind of learning is equal to the lesson being done twice. So that was good that you brought out that point.
ReplyDeleteHowever, what about active learning. Have you also thought that about adult learning. The fact that your audience in the nursing environment will be adults and young adults, it has been proven that andragogy learning will provide a longer lasting learning for students.
That is another important point to note in addressing the challenges.
Finally, the use of a teaching plan is more of an "on the ground guide" for Nurse Educators. So I would definitely endorse that point and all thanks again for your insights.
Hi Suzette.
ReplyDeleteYour post raised quite a few points. For one, you mentioned the paradigm shift for nursing education to go beyond informing students to application of knowledge. In 21st century education, performance-based or proficiency-based learning is key! This requires educators to take a more hands-on, active-learning approach instead of the traditional passive approach.
I also liked the way you emphasized that educators need to cater to different learning styles (the differentiated classroom), and build this into their lesson plans - this requires educators to think/design well ahead of time. Sometimes this can be as far as 2 or 4 weeks ahead of time. How much time do you think you might need to prepare a lesson plan for a differentiated classroom?
Good Day Susette,
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you that in this globalized environment, one of the many challenges which nurse educators face is to get learners to acquire the technological skills needed to assist them in their learning. But also very important is that nurse educators move away from rote teaching which focuses on content to teaching which encourages the development of critical thinking skills. To achieve this educators must know their how their students learn best (learning styles) as well as prepare themselves which demonstrates the importance of preparing a lesson plan. A lesson plan is a blueprint as it will guide how exactly a teaching and learning session will take place therefore ensuring its' success.