Teaching In Nursing: A Guide for Faculty, Research Paper Example

Theoretical Learning Foundations

Nursing education is a complex process that requires significant attention to detail and a greater understanding of the challenges that exist in practice settings. These factors are instrumental in shaping learning outcomes and in supporting the knowledge base. Adapting theories to practice settings also requires a greater understanding of the issues that nurse educators must consider in their teaching settings and how these impact student learning. For example, cognitive learning theories seek to better understand how patterns influence thinking, rather than individual components (Billings & Halstead, 2012). In using cognitive learning theories, active learning is achieved and provides additional forms of knowledge through information processing, while also demonstrating the value of learning from consequences (Billings & Halstead, 2012). This process requires learners to obtain information and process it using complex mental capacities so that it becomes a new form of knowledge, rather than solely a transfer of information that is not well understood or well received by the student (Billings & Halstead, 2012). Nursing students must be able to apply this knowledge through practical examples that they might experience in their own careers, as this process will enable students to process and retain information more effectively to ensure that knowledge is applied to practical situations to improve patient care (Billings & Halstead, 2012). The complexities of cognitive learning theory distinguish this approach from others and provide a basis for exploring new objectives and insights that will accomplish new objectives in acquiring, and most importantly, retaining, new forms of knowledge (Billings & Halstead, 2012). Cognitive learning theory is applicable to adult learners because it enables these students to acquire new information effectively and to use advanced brain processing techniques to adopt this information to the real-world setting (Billings & Halstead, 2012).

Mission/Philosophy of the Institution

El Camino College Compton Center represents an opportunity to explore the different dimensions of registered nursing as a career. According to the nursing program website, “The ECC Associate Degree in Nursing provides students with skills needed to enter the nursing profession and the ability to assess unique patients of any age in terms of their basic human needs and structural variables. Degree competence will be assessed regularly by evaluations of expected learning outcomes in the clinical setting as well as course examinations. Emphasis is placed on the use of critical thinking and creative problem-solving in the clinical setting” (El Camino College Compton Center, 2014). This philosophy is aligned with the practical applications of registered nursing as a professional career with a primary focus on patient care and treatment to achieve greater wellbeing, using practical knowledge acquired in the traditional classroom and in clinical settings in order to accomplish these goals (El Camino College Compton Center, 2014). This philosophy will train and prepare nurses to earn their degrees and to prepare for the NCLEX-RN examination in order to obtain full licensure to work as a registered nurse in the field (El Camino College Compton Center, 2014).

Outcome Objectives

The adult learning program will foster students’ learning potential in order to achieve the desired outcomes in an effective manner. This process will support the continued growth and development of the educational environment in order to ensure that students are adequately prepared for the challenges that they face in their future roles as professional nurses. The primary objective of the teaching plan is to enable all students to obtain a score of 80 percent or higher on the Renal System theory knowledge that is provided during classroom instruction and in the simulation laboratory. These efforts will demonstrate the importance of achieving new perspectives to ensure that students are adequately prepared for examination and for the application of this knowledge to future settings where its value is likely to be applied in a variety of situations. It is essential to develop new approaches that will encourage students to work collaboratively with others in order to achieve the desired objectives in preparation for the examination and for practical applications. It is important to utilize this knowledge to improve practice and to recognize the needs of patients as they face new challenges in the nursing field and beyond.

Framework/Model

For the proposed teaching plan, the Adult Education Framework will be used because it provides an opportunity to focus on the specific needs of adult learners, as well as the opportunities that are available to support active participation in the learning experience at all levels. In addition, this process will enable students to adapt to curricular models that are specifically designed to improve learning outcomes for adult learners at all levels of development and growth. These factors will enable adult learners to acquire knowledge and to absorb the material at their own pace without added pressure. This will encourage adult learners to address the information that is required for their field without additional levels of stress that could ultimately hamper their ability to be successful in these practice settings. These factors demonstrate the importance of new challenges in order to ensure that patient outcomes are achieved, while also considering the different principles that are likely to support adult learners in a positive manner.

The learning curve is critical to the adult learning path, as it enables this group of students to achieve greater insight into their own pace of learning so that the outcomes are rewarding and appropriate for the needs of these students (Bastable, 2014). Since their needs are likely to be different from that of younger learners, it is important to recognize these differences and to take the steps that are necessary to adapt to new nursing frameworks in a positive manner to achieve effective outcomes in the student environment. This offers an important understanding of the challenges and considerations of adult learners as they seek to overcome any personal challenges that are associated to the learning process and strive to be effective communicators regarding the knowledge they receive, using cognitive learning theory as a model for success and the acquisition of knowledge.

Learning Objectives

The proposed learning plan and teaching exercise will use a number of approaches to improve learning outcomes for adult students. This learning plan will begin with the lecture format in order to provide information regarding the renal system, including the interpretation of the following laboratory results: BUN/creatinine, chemistry panel, intravenous pyelogram, cystoscopy, urine analysis with culture and sensitivity, and 24-hour urine collection. These tests are commonly used to determine the level of urine and renal function and whether or not there are abnormalities in these tests that must be addressed further by a physician. This is an important step towards the discovery of new challenges to ensure that patient care outcomes are achieved in a timely manner, given the knowledge that has been acquired regarding individual patients in a simulated setting. With these fictitious scenarios, students are able to acquire the skills and knowledge that are necessary to achieve effective outcomes and to demonstrate their ability to apply this knowledge to real-time patient care settings in the future.

These learning objectives will also include the differentiation between hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis. In addition, they will address other challenges, such as gerontological considerations due to the age of these patients and how these factors impact their direct care, including but not limited to physiologic and pharmacological factors.  Since the identification of acute renal failure is one of the primary objectives, it is necessary to address these objectives in such a way that they provide further insight into the principles of direct patient care for this specific population group. This knowledge will then be evaluated by the instructor and then applied to real-world settings in the future.

These learning objectives offer a number of different approaches that include cognitive, affective, and psychomotor models. The cognitive domain enables student learners to utilize their critical thinking skills in an effort to better understand abnormal lab values and their association to end stage renal failure. The affective domain enables student nurses to better understand learning content that is demonstrated through students’ verbalization of their feelings. Finally, the psychomotor domain supports the demonstration of the Foley Cath insertion and how this impacts the learning curve in a positive manner.

Strategies to Support Classroom and Clinical Teaching

The appropriate instructional methods for the above referenced domains include lectures, lectures combined with discussions, written assignments, observations made in the simulation laboratory, handouts, and role playing, all of which contribute to the adult learning experience in a positive manner. It is important to identify the resources that are required to ensure that patient care outcomes are achieved, while also considering the application of new models to demonstrate the importance of different types of teaching methods to support learning in a positive manner. These factors will represent a means of evaluating teaching methods that will be effective and applicable to large group settings as best as possible. Learning methods require an effective understanding of the challenges and considerations that will improve learning-based outcomes, and the development of new perspectives to improve learning over time.

Other key principles to consider include convergent thinking, which is represented by the adoption of lectures, different forms of printed material, demonstration, and multiple choice quizzes in order to achieve these principles. In addition, divergent thinking is best represented by the adoption of case studies, discussion, simulation, and feedback in order to achieve the desired learning objectives. These factors play a critical role in the ability to educate adult learners in the desired manner, while also considering the challenges that they face as learners and in the context of their learning objectives. Divergent and convergent approaches to teaching provide a greater understanding of the knowledge and principles that are available to support student learning objectives in a positive manner that will meet their needs accordingly.

In addition to these principles, a number of learning styles must also be considered in order to accomplish the desired objectives, including the following: 1) Visual learning, which is accomplished through the use of handouts and pictures that represent the kidneys, whereby the quiz must be passed with a grade of 80 percent or better; 2) auditory learning, which is accomplished through listening to the information that is being provided and participating in all classroom discussions; and 3) tactile/kinesthetic, which is accomplished by enabling students to have small 15-20 minute breaks in order to enable these students to remain focused on the tasks at hand. These learning styles will provide a comprehensive set of approaches to ensure that the knowledge acquired during these exercises is appropriate, timely, and effective in supporting the needs of adult learners. Specific learning activities should include puzzles, case examples or scenarios, videos, discussions, questions, role-playing activities, and oral presentations provided by students regarding timely topics of interest that relate to the renal system. These options will enable adult learners to effectively adapt to the nursing education environment and to be able to acclimate to the nursing education environment and to the task at hand in an effective and consistent manner.

It is also important to address the challenges associated with nursing education for adult learners through successful testing and evaluation methods that will encourage these learners to achieve their full potential (Oermann & Gaberson, 2014). These efforts will support the adoption of nursing education models that will support effective training and education for these students, while also considering the challenges that are associated with nursing education for this group of students (Oermann & Gaberson, 2014). Conducting an assessment of the classroom setting is essential in the development of the appropriate teaching strategy; therefore, the use of different types of models will be effective in providing nursing students with the knowledge and resources that are necessary to achieve the desired results in the classroom setting and beyond (Oermann & Gaberson, 2014). Creating an instructional lesson in nursing requires a critical understanding of the objectives that are sought, as well as the opportunities that are available through different strategies that encourage problem-solving capabilities, as well as an opportunity to enable instructors to assess their own material in order to achieve favorable outcomes in the classroom setting and in the simulated laboratory (Gronlund & Brookhart, 2009). These factors will support the continued growth and expansion of objectives that are designed to facilitate effective outcomes for students, as well as for teachers who are seeking to expand nursing-based knowledge and improve practice settings through evidence-based approaches to care and treatment for patients, particularly those with renal conditions.

Evidence-Based Nursing Education Problem

Evidence-based nursing practice requires a greater understanding of the challenges that nurses face as they strive to achieve patient care outcomes in a unique setting. Nurses face many significant problems in this process and are required to support any number of critical objectives that support and enhance learning outcomes. These factors will demonstrate the importance of new perspectives to ensure that patients receive adequate care and treatment on a consistent basis that will meet their needs, while also contributing to the practice in a positive manner. These contributions will demonstrate the value of successful simulated patient care that will be applicable to future settings.

Renal failure is a serious and complex condition with many multifaceted responses; therefore, it is important to identify the resources and existing knowledge that is available to support the learning curve regarding this topic. This condition represents a serious set of concerns for patients; therefore, registered nurses must be able to exercise their vast knowledge base and apply practical principles to these patients in a timely manner. These factors are critical in the development of new support systems to accommodate student learners in an effective manner. These learners require a comprehensive set of approaches and/or strategies in order to maximize their learning potential in different ways and to enable them to be effective communicators and promoters of successful nursing practice in the future.

Nursing educators must be able to utilize evidence-based scenarios, such as those introduced with renal conditions, in order to accomplish the objectives sought through key areas of instruction and practical applications of this evidence to address real-world problems. These factors support the continued growth of nursing practice objectives and also demonstrate the ability to learn from these resources and to apply new forms of knowledge to achieve practical solutions. These factors support the growth of practice settings and also demonstrate an effective understanding of evidence-based practice and how it impacts modern nursing care and treatment in real-time settings. It is important to apply this evidence as necessary to significant health problems that require further evaluation, such as those attributed to renal conditions. These efforts will enhance the knowledge that already exists within this field and also support the development of new perspectives to ensure that patient care outcomes are achieved in a timely and efficient manner.

Conclusion

Nursing instruction for adult learners requires an effective understanding of the challenges and considerations of key principles that govern the field. A successful teaching plan must adopt a theoretical framework, a practical strategy for rollout, and a strong understanding of the subject matter, including the body of evidence-based practice knowledge that is available. Through a combination of classroom instruction and learning using a simulated laboratory setting, it is likely that nursing students at the adult level of will achieve the expected outcomes by understanding their own learning curves and how to adapt to different practice methods in the nursing education environment. Nursing instructors must adopt cognitive approaches to learning using existing theoretical principles in order to achieve these objectives, while also considering other principles that might be effective in supporting long-term nursing educational outcomes for the adult learner population. As a nursing instructor teaching adult learners, it is important to identify their strengths and weaknesses in order to enable them to adapt to different principles effectively and efficiently through a combination of teaching methods that will support their individual learning curves. These may include traditional classroom lectures, discussion groups, critical thinking skill development, problem-solving, simulated laboratory exercises, and other factors that will provide further support and knowledge for adult learners in order to achieve success in their rules as future registered nurses.

References

Bastable, S.E. (2014). Nurse as educator: Principles of teaching and learning for nursing practice, 4^th Edition. Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Billings, D.M., & Halstead, J.A. (2012). Teaching in nursing: a guide for faculty. St Louis.

El Camino College Compton Center (2014). Welcome to the El Camino College Nursing Program. Retrieved from http://www.compton.edu/Academics/CTE/nursing/index.aspx

Gronlund, N.E., & Brookhart, S.M. (2009). Writing instructional objectives. Columbus: Pearson.

Oermann, M.H., & Gaberson, K.B. (2014). Evaluation and Testing in Nursing Education, 4^th Edition.