Thanks for your honest account Evan. In my case, I would have to say that as a student nurse before I practically learned the passive way too. The knowledge was entirely provided by our professors and though they encouraged and motivated us in the learning process, we still submissively accepted whatever they say and even deemed it as universal truths. But just like Cristina, I believe all of our undergrad schools applied both passive and active course designs, specifically in our RLE. I have to be honest that although I am personally aware that what my professors teach me and what I am practicing in the area are relevant events for my future, I had no time to reflect on all of those experiences as much as I really wanted to. I guess everyone would agree that as student nurses, we’re mostly preoccupied with getting good grades and passing our exams rather than understanding and giving meaning to our experiences at school. It is only now that I understand more and was able to appreciate both passive and active teaching styles. Grad school accentuates active learning more by allowing us to create our own paradigm of knowledge specifically through responding and interacting with diverse group of people and with our environment too.

evancarlo wrote:

Going back to my undergrad days, i can say that i learn RLE in a passive way. During those times, they will only provide us, teach us hte concepts, show us only once a certain nursing skill, and that expectations from them are very high, wherein in my own point of view, few of those information retained in my mind. i have to ask my classmates to sleep over n our house just to practice that skill. It never helped me at all, but one thing passing style taught me, is to exert more effort, if you want to learn, then you have to be independent. Through the use of guided practice, it will enhance the students mind to think critically in a given situation and will enhaned their nursing skills. Return Demonstration as far as i can see is a means of evaluating the students performance in doing the skill. Assumptions for the students who pass the R.D. is that they know the skill but we dont have a means to gauge how much did they learn in RLE. - This of course is my own point of view Josh wrote: Ideally, RLE courses should be presented to students in experential method of teaching, i would like to ask everyone, as nurses how did you learn RLE? Traditional way or the active learning approach way? is the mere return-demonstration in RLE an Active learning approach?

A pleasant morning to everyone!

The article shows the different types of course designs and subtypes. In order to fully understand this, we must then go back to what we have learned in our face-to-face discussion in Instructional Design. Learning styles is the method of educating, particular to an individual that is presumed to allow that individual to learn best. (Wikipedia, 2008) As what Sir Butcon has emphasized, there are different kinds of learners as well. There are students who learn best with visuals, which learn based from experience, who learn with the incorporation of movement, who learn through music, and so on. Addressing the needs of all kinds of learners is a challenge for educators in any school. (Winter, 2004) Now, going back to the two different types of course design, the active and the passive. I, as a student, have encountered these two designs in my undergraduate and graduate days. Both have advantages and disadvantages as well.

The active learning allows learner’s participation throughout the process of teaching. Studies show that students can lose interest and become bored if not actively engaged in the learning process. Active learning techniques can

•give students time to process material.
•help students link new material to previous knowledge.
•reinforce lecture content by providing a context in which to apply material.
•give students an opportunity to check their understanding of material.

Though active learning includes experiential and participative approach, not all learners benefit in this way. There are learners who learn better with the use of visual aids, or the traditional lecture way. I think this is the down side of it.

The passive course design, however, provides lecture based learning. Lecture is an efficient way to deliver content. It can provide important background information, introduce new material, and set the stage for activities or discussion. However, when lecture is continuous without time allowed for student processing, students may have difficulty understanding and retaining material. Though lecture type can be beneficial especially with the written examinations or board exam.

If I may be given the chance to become a nurse educator, I wouldn’t stick with only one type of course design. Quoting Sir Butcon, you should be able to touch at least three types of learners in your lecture to be an effective educator.

RLE, I believe, is a form of experiential learning. In this, we apply what we have learned in the classroom into the real world. For example, we are taught on how to get the vital signs of a patient, and how to determine if it’s within the normal range or beyond, we then apply it to our patients in the hospital setting. For me, experience is indeed the best teacher, as what Sir Josh has mentioned. I learn a lot in experiences, be it clinical or personal. But again, the effectiveness of this type of learning depends on what kind of learner you are, and the effectiveness of each type of learning also depends on the attitude and the level of acceptance of new pedagogical approach of every learner.

References:
Wikipedia, 2008. Retrieved August 21, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_styles

Winter, 2004. Retrieved August 21, 2008 from http://cache.search.yahoo.net/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=kinds+of+learners&fr=moz2&u=www.allkindsofminds.org/documents/shibboley1.pdf&w=kinds+kind+learners+learner&d=EOgv4Bg5RKFs&icp=1&.intl=us

Retrieved August 21, 2008 from http://www.iupui.edu/~idd/active_learning/1_5.html

I agree with you. Exactly what I wanted to say. Thank you.

sdlopez02 wrote:

RLE is there to "put the theory into practice" and for students to experience and learn firsthand the valuable lessons of their actions and discoveries, rather than reading it from a book or hearing their teacher's experiences. It hones the qualities of students to develop initiative through self-discovery and self-evaluation of ones capability to perform duties. Factors that may prove RLE ineffective are the fault of the student or the instructor. As with any form of learning, it depends on the attitude of the student and the capability of the teacher to instruct for Significant learning to occur. The lack of initiative and/or interest of the student to learn or ineptitude of the instructor to supervise, delegate or even create an effective instructional tool would all hinder learning to take place in the RLE. REference: Wikipedia.org, Experential learning. Retrieved August 21, 2008 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiential_learning

As we close this discussion today. I hope every one of us will learn from this forum. In the future each one of us will encounter difficulties when it comes to teaching styles. With this topic I hope every one of us enlighten their minds just like what Sir josh said, assessment on students educational learning needs should be assessed first. As a nursing process always assessment is the first thing we need to do before we can make plan. In this topic we need to assess the learner’s ability before we can decide what kind of strategy we can use to be effective in learning. Such thing, we should recognize that each person prefers different learning styles and techniques.

Everyone once again thank you for your participation in this wonderful and fruitful discussion

-- Ian Enguerra --