Adult Learning Strategies

Being a student in the UW nursing school, I can not only take advantage of the special classroom settings, but also the advanced technology. With classroom settings designed for active learning, it gives me opportunities to share my thoughts and ideas with other students. Instead of listening passively, we would work as a team to find out the best solution for patients. Besides, the unique state-of-the-art technology allows me to practice and apply my knowledge in a simulated hospital setting. Since every practice is recorded, I can take a look at those videos several times and self-reflect. Thus, I can correct my mistakes and improve.

As the demand for nursing education grows and with the rapidly advancing roles of nursing, educators need to stay up-to-date. “Theory-based practice provides nurses with a perspective” (Parker, 2006, p.28). With the comprehension and use of educational theories, nursing educators can support student knowledge and development into practice. These theories are outlines of cohesive concepts and principals that describe, explain, or predict how people learn. Every one learns differently and as an educator you need to be familiarized with and open to the use of one or more combinations of theories to successfully teach adult learners in this ever changing health care system. This paper will highlight the use of Constructivist Learning Theory and its application to nursing practice.

Nursing students today are diverse with different learning styles. Nursing educators must shape students to become critical thinkers and there are a host of approaches for instructors to develop needed teaching skills (Kostovich et al., 2007). There are many models of education styles; one to fashion teaching after is from Kolb’s model in 1985 which suggests matching learning methods to teaching approaches. However, educators need to become proficient in identifying individual student learning styles. Nursing educators should also recognize their own teaching style and the effect it has on learner development and socialization (National League for Nursing, 2007). The National League for Nursing (NLN) has developed eight core

Looking at learning theories through two different views was interesting. In the article, Revisiting Adult Learning Theory through the Lens of an Adult Learner, it was the basic guidelines and idea of adult learning theories. In the article, Revisiting Adult Learning Theory through the Lens of an Adult Learner, the article was written from the view of an adult student and covered what some of the first article had addressed. Author discussed about how some adult learners make their own learning theories. Also, saw some of the pressures that adult students can be faced with and they were addressed in the article. It was about how some adult learners make their own learning theories some of the pressures

I believe that the profession of nursing requires that we continually seek learning opportunities and strive to improve our skills and knowledge. As an instructor my role is not only to teach evidence based material but to make it applicable to subsequent classes and future professional practice.

What could the faculty incorporate into the curriculum to decrease the “reality shock” of transition from student to the professional nurse?

The assumptions of Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory, first proposed in 1980, have since become an accepted part of the framework when one considers how adults learn. It is difficult to argue with the fact that adults enter each new day with a background of previous experiences. In formal learning situations, an instructor can use the variety of life experiences brought in by students to build a learning

The theories that I have identified to meet my phenomenon of concern seem to be best suited for how nursing students learn to develop and use critical thinking and clinical judgment. The nurse educator needs to create an environment for student learning and theory-based learning activities such as simulation, case studies, and concept mapping must be integrated into the nurse educator’s teaching methods. Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Benner’s Novice to Expert Model can be used as the theoretical framework for these learning activities. There are some other theories that can be considered as well to explain how students learn.

In today`s dynamic health care, in order to provide high quality and safe care to the patients, the nurses require increased levels of critical thinking, clinical judgment, and decision- making skills. Hence, the nurse educators should employ teaching strategies that promote critical thinking and clinical judgment skills (Hughes, 2008). When determining teaching strategies for student learning experiences the instructor must consider the content, curriculum, course, and unit objectives, feasibility of the technique, time available, strength of the class, room size, the required equipment availability, students` learning style, and the money cost of both the teacher and the student (Billings & Halstead, 2012). The use of simulation and case study are the two different teaching strategies chosen for the care of a patient with post-operative wound infection.

When did adult learning begin to take a stance in the field of Education? Adult Learning started to be considered a professional career in the early 1920 's. The basis of the adult Learning method cannot be summed into only one Theory of how Adults Learn . We can however, note the similarities and differences of adult learning based on relevant information that compares and contrasts how individuals act and react to different theories . Many different theories exist in the Adult learning world although there are two theories that will be compared. These theorists are, Malcolm Knowles and David Kolb. Although differing in theory Knowles and Kolb bring uniquely different insight to the Adult Education world. Exactly what is the Adult learning theory ?

The primary purpose of the written assignment is to enable students to develop a higher order of thinking and to help students to examine their feeling and belief about patient outcomes. According to Gaberson and Oremann (2018), written assignment help student in understanding theories and other content as it relates to patient care. There are various types of written assignments for clinical reasoning and learning. For example, concept mapping is a graphical concept of the crucial element that relates to patient care. Nurses confront complex problems and decisions that require critical thinking to identify patient needs and implement best practices. An active strategy for teaching students the skills to think critically is the concept map.

Are people too stubborn and independent to learn once they become adults? The Adult Learning Theory focuses on the difference between how adults learn and how children learn. There are three main central ideas that support the Adult Learning Theory. These ideas or theories are known as andragogy, self-directed learning, and transformational learning. Andragogy is the teaching of adults, self-directed learning is the individual controlling their learning, and transformational learning is the individual learning from life experiences.

ADULT LEARNING THEORY 2 Adult Learning Theory Malcolm Knowles Malcolm Knowles (1913-1997) was a key figure in America’s adult education in the second half of the twentieth century (Smith, 2002). Early Life “Born in 1913 and initially raised in Montana,” Knowles seems to have had “a reasonably happy childhood. His father was a veterinarian and from around the age of four Knowles often accompanied him on his visits to farms and ranches” (Smith, 2002, para. 2). His mother also played a critical role in his character building. During his campaign for the scouting prize, he developed a technique that would help him compete successfully (Smith, 2002), which he always thanked his mother for. In 1930, He entered Harvard University with

Basically, this article by Malcolm Knowles is a conglomerate of all aspects of adult learning. It outlines aspects of adult learning, theories of adult learning, and expands on them. The main idea of this article is to create awareness on the existence of adult learning, and to help instructors of adult learning to know how to go about it successfully. Additionally, the article is of help to adult learners to enable them to learn the most they can (Knowles, 2007).

The six principals of adult learning are the )learner needs to know( 2) self-concept of the learner (3)prior experience of the learner( 4) readiness to learn(,5) orientation to learning and(6) motivation to learn .Learning is an active exercise, healthcare professionals prefer to learn independently and self-directed. Learner have control over their learning process. Adult learners use past experiences and present concerns and their role relevant to work, and family and to learning.