Effective Teaching Techniques and Tips In Health Education

Teaching Techniques and Tips

7 principles of good teaching, Best Practices in Nursing Education that are Needed, Intensive Faculty Perspectives of What Does Not Work, Students' Perspectives of What Teachers Do to Help Them Learn, Provide a sense of the whole the big picture, Students' Perspectives of What Teachers Do That Does Not Help Them Learn.

    An important component of this work in preparing this topic was to explain an overview of teachers and students. There would be richness in the voices of those who were presently engaged in the teaching/learning process. As a course is developed over time, teachers identify and test strategies to make the course better. These strategies then become tried and true tips and techniques that, when made available to others, can be a valuable resource. 

    These propositions are made without contact with students and teachers. It is known that the teaching/learning tips and techniques offered by faculty and students will be instructive to others, including new and experienced teachers. New teachers may wish to first peruse the list and choose several that they may not have thought about but seem to be good ideas that fit the course. 

    Second, they may include the activity throughout the design of the course and accompanying learning activities, and lastly they may use the content to evaluate the effectiveness of the incorporated activity. If a teacher is teaching a distance education course, he or she might choose to focus on integrating activities that foster student interaction with faculty and peers. 

    In thinking through the question about how to foster interaction with students who may be located across the It has an extended opportunity to de bate the pros and cons of the various suggestions, to understand them in relation to educational theory, and to consider the categorical structures that would help others to understand the lists. For example, Chickering and Gamson (1991) have delineated 7 principles for good practice for undergraduate teaching. 

    These principles have been studied in a number of undergraduate venues and could provide a method of studying the tips and techniques that were generated by our limited survey. Although the principles have not been studied in graduate education or with selected forms of education such as distance or intensive courses, it could be the project of graduate students to discern how the list of tips and techniques in these selected areas apply to the Chickering and Gamson (1991) principles.

These 7 principles of good teaching are as follows:

1. Good practice encourages student-faculty contact.

2. Good practice encourages cooperation among students and colleagues.

3. Good practice encourages active learning.

4. Good practice gives prompt feedback.

5. Good practice emphasizes time on task.

6. Good practice communicates high expectations.

7. Good practice respects diverse talents and ways of learning and teaching. (Chickering & Gamson , 1991)

    It is found that  both faculty and students in the following types of courses: intensive graduate level nursing courses, clinical nursing courses (both undergraduate and graduate), distance nursing courses (both undergraduate and graduate), and nursing research courses ( both undergraduate and graduate). 

    The first approach is to try to categorize and organize the various tips and techniques. In fact, it pursued several versions of categories. In the final analysis it is decided to present the data, in the words of the students and the faculty, so that the reader might be exposed to the richness of these data. Each of the sections below is preceded by a short introduction

Best Practices in Nursing Education that are Needed

How to Help Students Learn and Gain

1. Allow library time for student preparation of presentations
2. Attend to compressed format of an intensive course
3. Balance between informal and formal teaching style
4. Balance heavy and light content
5. Be flexible and fair to all students
6. Be positive
7. Be realistic about amount of content given to students
8. Build on students' life and professional experiences
9. Communicate clear expectations that remain in place throughout the course
10. Communicate frequently
11. Develop a peer feedback system to get constructive feedback from students
12. Discuss students' questions completely
13. Display a sense of humor
14. Do a summary evaluation of class session at the end of each day
15. Engage students in learning through projects
16. Get to know the students
17. Interject human interest stories
18. Involve physical activity in teaching modalities
19. Let student discussion evolve
20. Prepare for students who register at the last minute
21. Prepare for the class
22. Promote an environment of partnership between students and faculty
23. Provide a “roadmap” to identify the direction of the course
24. Provide multiple short breaks
25. Provide the syllabus 4-6 weeks ahead of time
26. Recognize student energy lags
27. Select self-motivated adult learners for the course
28. Structure plans for negotiating an incomplete course grade
29. Take brain breaks frequently
30. Take care of yourself
31. Understand the intensive teaching modality
32. Use a variety of classroom approaches, including debates and class presentations
33. Use a variety of teaching techniques
34. Use active learning strategies
35. Use an occasional guest speaker
36. Use available course management systems
37. Use blackboard, email, and phone as means of communication
38. Use multiple teaching strategies
39. Use the time-honored tradition of food wisely
40. Websites are available to all students

Intensive Faculty Perspectives of What Does Not Work

1. Allowing too much time before assignments are due
2. Attempt to use same format and assignments as regular semester course
3. Failure to provide syllabus ahead of time
4. Lack of preparation
5. Not enough structure
6. Not varying the teaching methods
7. Too rigid
8. Class size not large enough

Students' Perspectives of What Teachers Do to Help Them Learn

1. Act as role model for professional life/development
2. Be available to answer questions outside of the classroom
3. Demonstrate knowledge of the course material
4. Discuss how to write for publication
5. Display qualities of a master teacher
6. Focus on learning, not assignments
7. Give a template for identifying learning needs
8. Have a positive attitude
9. Have a sense of humor
10. Help students in the process of discovery
11. Offer a variety of teaching methods
12. Provide a comfortable and conductive learning environment
13. Provide a sense of the whole the big picture
14. Provide a collegial atmosphere
15. Provide encouragement
16. Provide flexibility in learning activities
17. Provide positive feedback and reinforcement
18. Provide skillful guidance
19. Provide small group discussions
20. Serve as a guide for learning
21. Share ideas and information
22. Show advanced knowledge and enthusiasm
23. Show genuine interest in the students and subject matter
24. Show importance of engaging students
25. Summarize main ideas
26. Teach the process of scholarly writing
27. Tell stories
28. Use clinical examples, case studies, and visual aids
29. Use multiple teaching modalities

Students' Perspectives of What Teachers Do That Does Not Help Them Learn

1. Displaying the fact that they are burned out
2. Failing to be engaged in the course
3. Failing to integrate guest speaker content into the course
4. Failing to provide course materials in a timely manner
5. Imparting the feeling that this is just his/her job
6. Lack of preparation
7. Not able to move beyond their own work
8. Providing unclear directions for assignments
9. Using too many guest speakers