Faculty And Students In Clinical Learning In Health Education

Students In Clinical Learning  In Education

Clinical Course Faculty Teaching Strategies and Techniques In Health Education, Clinical Faculty Perspectives of What Does Not Work, Students' Perspectives of What Teachers Do to Help Them Learn, Students' Perspectives of What Teachers Do That Does Not Help Them Learn, Faculty and Students In Distance Education Courses,Distant Faculty Perspectives of What Does Not Work

   Clinical courses consisted of courses in which there was a clinical component in addition to the didactic component. Both undergraduate and graduate faculty and students were surveyed. Faculty were asked to provide tips and techniques for clinical courses, and also to indicate what does not work in clinical courses. Students were asked what teachers do to help them learn and what teachers do that does not help them learn.

    Distance education courses were those in which the course was offered with a physical distance between faculty and students, through interactive web-based learning or through the use of other technology. Faculty were asked to provide tips and techniques for distance education courses, and also to indicate what does not work in distance education courses. Students were asked what teachers do to help them learn and what teachers do that does not help them learn.

Clinical Course Faculty Teaching Strategies and Techniques In Health Education

1.  Address student fears and earn trust and respect  
2. Be patient and offer guidance to enhance student learning
3. Case presentation
4. Case studies
5. Case studies with simulated patients
6. Challenge but do not overwhelm students with a clinical assignment
7. Clinical conferences
8. Communicate the plan for each class, including break times
9. Communicate via email to post announcements and changes in the schedule
10. Competency-based education tools
11. Convey a nonthreatening demeanor
12. Create a nurturing environment
13. Create learning experiences where students are not bogged down by staff demands
14. Demonstration lectures
15. Demonstrations
16. Discuss case scenarios
17. Do not give all the lecture notes to students ahead of time, so that they are encouraged to pay attention
18. Evaluate strengths and weaknesses of each student daily
19. Examples from clinical practice
20. Faculty engagement with students
21. Foster self-esteem
22. Get to know students before taking them to the clinical area
23. Give a practice math test so students know what to expect
24. Give clear guidelines and expectations
25. Give constructive feedback with specificity on how to improve
26. Grade contracting
27. Group learning
28. Guide independent practice of procedures before clinical application
29. Guide students to assess and document from a holistic perspective
30. Guide students to identify their own learning needs and set goals for their clinical day
31. Guide students to not prejudge patients
32. Help students analyze their thinking underlying an error that they have made
33. Help students learn to think for themselves by being accountable as caregivers
34. Implement roundtable discussion after each clinical course, where students share salient experiences
35. Include stories from the teacher's practice that illustrate important points
36. Include student exercises as part of the class
37. Include visuals in presentations
38. Involve students in learning
39. Lecture
40. Maintain good relationships with clinical staff so that the environment is supportive of learning
41. Morning rounds to each assigned client
42. Ongoing student evaluation with a great deal of feedback, both positive and developmental
43. Participate as an expert in the practice area where students are learning
44. Point out subtle differences in practice
45. Power Point presentations with handouts of the slides as study guides
46. Practice so that the teacher walks the walk as well as talks the talk
47. Practice what is preached
48. Preceptor ships in clinical setting
49. Proofread and edit notes with the student before they are written on the chart
50. Provide a nurturing environment
51. Provide clear objectives
52. Provide handouts for students
53. Provide a highly structured environment
54. Provide opportunities for students to learn from each other as well as from the teacher
55. Provide opportunities for students to observe the teacher in practice
56. Provide repeated exposure to important content
57. Provide students with opportunities to explore many ways of intervening
58. References, including web resources
59. Reinforcement of learning
60. Repeat very important points several times through out the lecture
61. Respect each student
62. Role model interactions with students and patients
63. Role play
64. Schedule a test review session after each test so students can evaluate their own learning
65. Sequence learning tasks
66. Show enthusiasm for teaching
67. Spend time in pre-conference reviewing each student's care plan for the day
68. Stay available to the student
69. Stay current in practice
70. Student presentations
71. Support student self-evaluation on a weekly basis
72. Take time to help students with a procedure by guiding them through it
73. Team building activities
74. Tell stories
75. Use a scavenger hunt to orient students to the new hospital unit
76. Use as many pictures as possible in Power Point slides
77. Use contracting for student learning
78. Use experts
79. Use humor when possible
80. Use journaling
81. Use multiple teaching modalities
82. Use pictures from the Web
83. Use simulations
84. Use Socratic method to assist students to develop problem solving skills
85. Use the Internet
86. When many students fail to perform as the teacher expects, review in detail in formation they have been given
87. Work with students in order to provide a richer clinical experience 

Clinical Faculty Perspectives of What Does Not Work

1. A clinical environment that promotes fear
2. All lectures, all of the time
3. Clinical objectives that are not clearly written
4. Enhancing one's power by being overly aggressive with students
5. Evaluating students before they have time to learn
6. Group projects where some do more of their share of work and others do less
7. Increasing student anxiety by talking down to students and being overly critical
8. Instructor who is not clinically competent
9. Instructor who lets the students go at their own pace
10. Lack of patience in guiding students
11. Long class days
12. Long videotaped lectures
13. Prejudging a student by appearance or rumors from other faculty
14. Providing expectations that are not clear
15. Surprises on clinical evaluation because students have been mislead by positive faculty remarks
16. Class size too large
17. Videos longer than 5-10 minutes

Students' Perspectives of What Teachers Do to Help Them Learn

1. Answer questions in detail
2. Apply text material to real life situations through examples
3. Are clear about expectations
4. Are organized and prepared for learning experience
5. Are patient and let the student work through problems without telling the answers
6. Ask questions to focus the group on discussion
7. Ask the question, “Why?”
8. Build trust in the teacher-student relationship
9. Discuss clinical situations, including what to do and why the steps are important
10. Discuss student strengths and weaknesses individually
11. Display an open personality
12. Encouragement involvement and interaction
13. Encourage students by telling them that they are doing a good job
14. Engage in one-to-one discussion
15. Expect the most from students
16. Explain equipment in detail
17. Facilitate learning
18. Focus on student success
19. Functions as a role model that shows students how to practice
20. Give immediately
21. Go into the patient's room with the student for the first few times
22. Have a knowledge base and expertise
23. Have student exchange experiences at the end of each clinical day
24. Help students focus on the patient from a holistic perspective
25. Help students to go beyond the traditional textbook
26. Incorporate different learning methods
27. Offer constructive criticism
28. Patiently talk the student through performance of a procedure
29. Provide copies of notes and stick to the syllabus
30. Provide a framework for learning and expectations
31. Provide hands on experiences
32. Provide nursing knowledge and reinforce theory with an emphasis on critical thinking
33. Provide office hours
34. Provide study guides to show important information
35. Relate clinical stories and connect the story to what is being studied
36. Relieve stress through humor, caring, and compassion
37. Stay calm
38. Review procedures with students before entering the patient's room
39. Start discussions that make you think
40. Stay focused on topic content
41. Tell stories about real patients
42. Use case studies incorporating theory and critical thinking to arrive at a solution
43. Use variety of resources
44. Use visual tools
45. Willing to work one-on-one with students at feedback

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

1. Adding to the students' nervousness
2. Not being approachable
3. Assuming everyone knows the terminology
4. Assuming students already know the content
5. Assume students have acquired information in past courses
6. Being unprepared
7. Breathing down students back by staring at them
8. Correcting students by yelling at them in front of the patient and family
9. Demeaning students
10. Drawing lectures from limited resources
11. Expecting students to read the teacher's mind
12. Expecting the student to answer a question quickly
13. Failing to explain concepts related to the slides
14. Failing to use current technology
15. Not having patience with students
16. Injecting negativity into the learning experience
17. Involving students in group work when the information needed to do the work is not provided
18. Lectures all of the time
19. Making students buy five textbooks and only use one of them
20. Omitting practical information in clinical course lectures
21. Not providing enough lecture time on assigned readings
22. Not providing more days and longer hours for clinical practice
23. Reading from lecture notes
24. Reading from Power Point slides
25. Requiring study guides for each of the areas covered in the course
26. Requiring too much reading
27. Straying from topic
28. Telling student to “figure it out”
29. Throwing students into unexpected situations
30. Use of negative talk

Faculty and Students In Distance Education Courses

1. Anticipate problems with the technology
2. Avoid communicating unnecessary information and communicate often
3. Be available
4. Call on students who do not respond in the chat room
5. Check all websites to which you refer students
6. Create diverse course activities
7. Demonstrate mutual respect for other faculty team members
8. Demonstrate proficiency with information technology
9. Develop teaching skills
10. Engage the students in active learning
11. Get to know the students
12. Give detailed and specific instructions
13. Identify a portion of class grade for participation
14. Integrate activities that foster student interaction with faculty and peers
15. Limit number of students in a chat room
16. Link to other on-line information
17. Offer synchronous group work assignments
18. Participate as teacher and producer of the course
19. Plan content from back to front
20. Post the structural components of the course
21. Post weekly course notes
22. Promote student peer support
23. Provide active learning activities
24. Provide clear online instructions for each assignment
25. Provide a framework for student lifelong learning
26. Provide group work online
27. Provide rapid response to questions
28. Provide step-by-step plan for student success
29. Put faculty and student addresses on the webpage
30. Require group work and projects
31. Require weekly reflections
32. Review course content
33. Seek peer support and feedback
34. Use all of the facilities and resources available
35. Use case studies and scenarios
36. Use exercises to help the students learn online technology
37. Distant Faculty Perspectives of What Does Not Work
38. Assigning an excessive amount of work
39. Avoiding long explanations of assignments
40. Displaying indifference to students
41. Failure to attend to student group participation
42. Giving busy work to students
43. Post unrelated materials on the course website
44. Treating the course as self-study rather than distance education
45. Using excessive Power Point slides
46. Using passive learning strategies
47. Waiting until the last minute to put course materials online

Students' Perspectives of What Faculty Do to Help Them Learn

1. Be as clear as possible about what is expected
2. Discuss various topics on a discussion board so that all can see the discussion
3. Encourage open communication
4. Encourage student responsibility for assignments
5. Give direction for further development
6. Give feedback on work that has been completed
7. Touch base with students frequently
8. Keep students involved in learning by asking poll questions
9. Make course announcements available to everyone
10. Provide timely responses to questions
11. Provide detailed written responses to assignments
12. Provide for interaction with all members of the class
13. Provide online opportunities for student contact outside of class
14. Provide students with a way to reach each other in the class
15. Recognize busy schedules of students
16. Repeat questions before giving the answer
17. Space out assignments over the term

Causing anxiety by not answering student questions

1. Not communicating with the students regularly
2. Not providing feedback
3. Not returning assignments or answering questions in a timely manner
4. Giving assignments that are difficult to understand
5. Giving reading assignments that are overwhelming
6. Not being available for immediate personal assistance
7. Providing unclear answers to questions
8. Putting too much responsibility on the student for learning