Technology & Teamwork

If any field should adapt an interdisciplinary approach to education, it’s nursing. Hands down. Not only because nurses already wear the hats of so many other likened professionals, but because it’s obviously essential to ultimately improving patient outcomes.

The field of nursing has changes drastically over the past decades and currently continues to follow the trends of advancing technology, political involvement and patient advocacy (Turale, 2011). I believe nursing is becoming an individual medical entity that is independent from, but equal to physicians in that each profession has specific characteristics that cannot be done by the other, but that cannot be done WITHOUT the other. IOM (2010) recommends allowing nurses to lead and manage collaborations between physicians and other disciplines, strengthening the argument of nurses having abilities to do more than just bedside tasks.

We are quick to departmentalize education as a way to keep things specialized. Nursing is nursing and pharmacology is pharmacology, right? Sure, but can we nurse with out a pharmacist, I bet not.

This being said, we can see where having a specialty in nursing is essential, but because of nurse collaboration with and management of other disciplines, nurses should have an understanding of these other disciplines.

So what role does technology play in interdisciplinary education? Well, for one, it’s essential to incorporate a technology discipline to the interdisciplinary team in the workplace.  Whether it’s an IT specialist, or EMR coordinator, technology is basically the glue that holds the whole health system together. From an education standpoint, technology plays a role in the form of simulations, grades and student dashboards, library cataloguing systems and tons of others. Nurse educators need to embrace these technology disciplines and work to educate students on this necessity as well.

Check out more on Interdisciplinary Studies!

How Technology works for a team

Institute of Medicine. (2010). The future of nursing: Leading change, advancing health. Retrieved from http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12956&page=R1

Turale, S. (2011). Preparing nurses for the 21st century: Reflecting on nursing shortages and other challenges in practice and education. Nursing & Health Sciences, 13(3), 229-231 3p. doi:10.1111/j.1442-2018.2011.00638.x

Active Learning

We all know how it feels to begrudgingly sit through an uninteresting, plain lecture perhaps with a generic Powerpoint presentation containing upwards of 100 slides of words. It’s boring, and exhausting. And I don’t think I’ve ever really taken away a true understanding of the material when learning is facilitated this way.

Enter Active Learning.

Here’s where the real learning takes place.

The doing.

The moving.

The making.

The being.

Just as the name implies this strategy engages students through technology and components that connect the real world to the classroom. It is through these experiences I believe that students can build on skills that perpetuate lifelong learning. As Bonnel & Smith (2010) put it, active learning is learning how to learn.

The glue that ties this theory together is technology. This allows students to engage and be active in the facilitation of course content. We can appeal to multiple learning styles using technology, too. Which just sweetens the pot.

Benefits of and Barriers to Active Learning 

As an educator, I will take risks and maybe incorporate off the wall or outrageous experiences to make learning memorable and exciting. I mean, why NOT? As I’ve reflected in past courses, I aim to be the educator that uses humor and understanding to build connections with students. I will keep the classroom up to date and relevant. I believe that active learning encompasses both authentic and experiential learning and assists with subsequent applied learning. In other words, engaging students in active learning so they can easily relate to clinical practice.

Again, as I have once reflected, I view educating as being similar to raising a child. For a more specific example, I would utilize technology and active learning to evaluate student learning and several points of a lecture/presentation with the use of clickers. After a number of slides, a question is posed to the class who must participate using the clicker and then a short debriefing will occur.  Just as I would start out teaching my child ABC before DEFG. I’d make sure he got the hang of the first three letters before I moved on to the rest. And every few letter I will re evaluate how he is learning. 

This picture says it all. Why would one want to be passive about anything?  You get out what you put in, and so as a student or an educator we should strive to active!

“Go big or go home.” 

Learn about the implementation of TEAL

 

Becoming an Educator in the 21st Century

As the educator, the responsibility lies with me to ensure that my students receive the optimal education possible. Of course, students are obligated to show and do the work, but I feel that unless I give them the tools, they can’t fully succeed. Just as we expect a chef to create a meal with fresh and delicious ingredients with their knowledge of cooking or baking, and new innovations they may have picked up along the way, we should hold educators accountable for delivering education in a manner that creates the best end product possible!

I have learned a lot recently about blended learning and the success of blended learning techniques in the classroom. While this model applies very well to a k-12 curriculum and student demographic, it can easily be applied to higher education. The idea is to not only bring technology into the classroom, but to directly facilitate learning with the use of technology.

Learn more about Blended Learning here!

Blended Learning in Higher Education

At this point, technology should be synonymous with education. In our personal time removed from institutional learning, we have access to the WORLD via our electronic devices. We connect everyday to people and view information from around the world. Why shouldn't this be the same in the classroom. Jessie Woolley-Wilson presented a Ted Talk on the Blended Learning model and highlighted the point that every student should have access to education and classrooms that optimize a students ability to learn. Ms. Woolley- Wilson says that this methods will seek out those students who are uninspired and overlooked and give them opportunities that best suit the newer generations of students.

In my classroom, I hope to emulate a blended learning model and ensure that my students have access to technology not only to receive course content, but in a facet that actually engages and facilitates learning. As a 21st century educator it should be an expectation of us to provide education that reflects our culture.