The Teacher and the Learner Influenced by Technology
Significance of Technology for the Teacher and the Learner
New and emerging technologies have had a significant influence on educators and learners in many ways. Most important, access to information bridges the gap between teacher and learner. When information is widely available, it is no longer necessary for the teacher to “find, filter and deliver” content (Warger, 2006,p.3). Therefore, the teacher is no longer the person who holds all answers or who is solely responsible for imparting knowledge.
Educator Role as a Facilitator and Information Source By Using Technology
Today's educators are becoming facilitators of learning rather than providers of information and are striving to create collaborative atmospheres in their teaching and learning environments. As information becomes more and more accessible, the need for memorization becomes less important than the ability to think critically. Hence, contemporary educators are helping individuals learn how to refine a problem, to find the information they need, and to critically evaluate the information they find.
Healthcare education can and should follow a similar path. Nurses must structure their approach to healthcare education to be consistent with the needs of today's patients. The first step is to reconceptualize the role of the nurse educator as someone who does more than impart knowledge. The nurse must be prepared to be a facilitator of learning by helping individuals to access, evaluate, and use the wide range of information that is available.
He or she must also be willing to encourage and support patients in their attempts to seek the knowledge they require.The Information Age was witness to some dramatic changes in the behavior of healthcare consumers, making the role changes inevitable for patients and nurses as discussed earlier.
Technology and the increased accessibility to information it offers have empowered and enlightened these consumers, encouraging them to form new partnerships with their healthcare providers (Foisey, 2015; Fox, 2011; Landro, 2014; US. Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS) . 2014).
Access of Health Information Online By Use of Technology
Access to health information online has been shown to encourage consumers to engage in greater dialogue with their healthcare providers as they seek clarification and greater understanding of their health, illness, diagnosis, and treatment (Xiang & Stanley, 2017).
Even those patients who are reluctant to assume more responsibility for managing their own health care are moving in that direction as changes in the health delivery system have forced them to assume more active roles. As a result, healthcare consumers are eager to learn about and make use of the many information resources available to them.
Today's consumers often enter the health care arena with information in hand. They are prepared to engage in a dialogue with their healthcare providers about their diagnoses and treatments. Surveys of the 113 million clients. who have gone online to find health information show that the information they found caused them to make decisions about treating a condition and made them more confident in asking questions of their care provider (Fox, 2006, 2011).
A survey conducted by Fox & Duggan (2013) found that 65% of consumers who go to the Web for health information will follow up with a healthcare provider whereas the remaining 35% will use the information to treat themselves at home.
Given this trend, nurses can no longer assume that the patients they see in a hospital or clinic will have little information other than what educators have given them or that they will not have explored the treatment options available to them. Furthermore, nurses cannot assume that patients will unquestioningly accept what is told to them. Research studies have shown that twice as many online health information seekers go to the Web after a doctor's visit than before such an encounter (Rainie, 2017).
Whereas healthcare consumers of the past were often isolated from others with similar diagnoses and were dependent upon healthcare providers for information, today's e-consumers and e-caregivers have the means to easily access networks of other patients and healthcare providers worldwide.
Online support groups, blogs, and discussion groups where healthcare consumers can share experiences are readily available. Consumers who are being treated for health problems can readily find detailed information about their diagnoses, treatments, and prognoses from myriad sources.
In this dynamic environment, it is not surprising that the teaching needs of today's health-care consumers and the expectations they hold for those who will be teaching them are changing. The role of the nurse educator has not been diminished, but it has changed. Nurses must now be prepared not only to use technology in education but also to help patients access information, evaluate the information they find. and engage in discussions about the information that is available.
In addition to aging the educational needs and expectations of healthcare consumers, the Information Age has made a tremendous impact on professional education. Technology has given rise to a dramatic increase in educational opportunities for nurses and other healthcare providers. Nurses seeking advanced degrees and credentials or continuing education credits can now study at colleges and universities offering distance education programs in a wide range of subject areas.
Computers have made it possible to provide anytime, anywhere access to job training and continuing education. Virtual reality and computer simulation can open opportunities to learn hands on skills and develop competencies in areas such as diagnostic reasoning and problem solving. Like consumers, health professionals in the Information Age can use the Internet and the World Wide Web as vehicles for sharing resources and for gaining access to the most current information in their fields of practice.
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