The Learning Atmosphere, Evaluating the Teaching Process - Essay Example

Introduction Nursing care industry is growing rapidly. With better equipped services the satisfaction level in patients is high and this helps them to recuperate faster. It is also important to pay attention to the safety of health care workers along with patients. It’s important to spread awareness among the health care workers as they handle the needles directly so there are high chances that the needles might prick them and cause injuries like Hepatitis B & C which could even result him losing his life. (Weber & Kelley 2006) Training and education is the only way to come out of this overhauling problem. Here, we will try to present strategies to reduce the problems of needle stick injuries and also ensure that people are made aware the danger it processes. Literature review and analysis Training and educating an adult is difficult compared to children as an adult has a different mindset. To design pedagogy for adults is difficult as they have a different set of emotions, ego, feelings and thought process. So, it’s important to identify those differences and then design the programme while educating adults. (Chen, 2003) Adults are mostly individualistic. They believe doing things by themselves so teachers should act as a guide by guiding them. So, teachers should act as a bridge between the knowledge they want to impart to them. They hate to be treated as students so they should be given the freedom to work by themselves. This will help to build group dynamics. They should guide them in difficulties and show the learners the important of learning by showing how it would help him grow in life. (Curtis, 2005) Adults have gone through the various ups and downs of life where they have gained tons of experience. Relating this real life experiences to the teaching process helps learning faster. So, it’s a teacher jobs to relate this experiences to his teaching to make learning fun. As, adults have already experienced it so teachers should bring a link between the experience and theories preached. (Currance, 1999) Adults believe in accomplishment of tasks in hand. They have an idea what they will achieve while they pursue a certain course. So, the teaching pedagogy should be designed in such a way i.e. concise and clearly defined. (Joseph, 2006) Adults are result oriented. They prefer doing things which will help them in their task and they see there is relevance in doing so. The teaching should be applicable to their work and people. So, the teachings should include those theories which adults are familiar with and they should be allowed to participate and express their views. Adults prefer doing things which would yield benefits in the long run. They prefer doing things which help them grow and in the process they are ready to learn things. Things which directly affect their work are easy for them to grasp so the pedagogy should be such that it invokes interest in them as the teaching should include things related to real life. (Currance, 1999) Adults experience millions of different situations in life which help them learn more. A person who has seen more events like this are likely to learn faster and easily as he is readily welcome changes and wishes to become strong so that he can face difficult situations in his near future. Motivation plays a big factor in guiding adults to learn new things in life. A person who has gained a lot of experience knows the importance of learning to cope with the changes. An experienced adult knows that changes are bound to happen and he is more ready to learn so as to deal with the difficult situation. He knows that he can’t escape changes and the only way to escape is to face it so he is ready to learn. It is easy to persuade them as they are heavily motivated with comes with age and experience. Lastly, adults need respect in whatever they do. They also have an urge to express themselves. Providing this helps to motivate them easily as their social needs are satisfied which falls very high in the needs table. So, if the curriculum should provide them to share their experiences without being disturbed. The Learning Atmosphere Adults desire a clean and healthy environment for learning. Atmosphere especially physical plays an important part. Adults want up to date amenities like projectors, comfortable chairs and air conditioned room for better learning. At the same time they prefer that the though process and delivery system should be sound. (Barak, 2001) The surrounding environment also helps learning better. Adults want a calm and peace atmosphere where they can relax and learn. There are also some adults who have seen failure in the past so teachers should watch out that extra pressure is not applied to them but they are made more comfortable. (Currance, 1999) Learning should be made a two way process where adults are allowed to express their views. Adults should be allowed to express their experiences as every individual had faced different situations in life so it helps others to learn from their experiences. There should also be a feedback process from the teachers as it helps the adult to grow in confidence and helps him realize the importance to speak and motivates him.The teaching process should be such that the classroom training should not be very long to exhaust adults. Infact, it should be designed in such a way that it provides maximum learning with fun and excitement. Control is important in every process. Teachers should be in a position to handle classes. He should ensure that fair opportunities are provided to every adult to express their views. Since, the teacher controls the classes he needs to balance the timings of presentation, help in equal representation of each adult and see that adults don’t digress from the topic to make learning effective. Still, a lot of other factors also affect the learning environment. The environment should be such to provide flexibility in the teaching procedure. It should try to include both the behavioral and humanistic concept.This will ensure teachers coming up with new strategies to teach which would make learning interesting for adults. Pedagogy Adults with experience on their side want the curriculum to be such which applies to real life situation. Adults want new ideas to be mixed with what they know so that implementation becomes easier for them and it readily affects their daily life dealings. Here, we will try to present what a teacher should teach adults to reduce needle prick injuries which happen due improper disposal of needles, using the used needles again and improper disposal of used linens and other materials. Some of the things which teachers need to preach adults to reduce injuries are provided for. (A) Used needles and syringes should not be capped again for future use. Do not point the used needle towards the body as the chances of pricking needles are high which would lead to transfusion of disease. (B) A technique should be used to handle the needle. (C) Do not use bare hands to remove the needles as it might prick and cause transfusion of disease. (D) The used needle should be disposed at the appropriate place. The container used should be puncture resistant. The layout should be designed in such a manner that there is minimum movement to dispose of the needle. This process should be done at regular intervals. (E) The used needles disposal box should be transferred to the disposal place where they are burnt or reprocessed as fast as possible to reduce the occurrence of accidents because this reduces the chances of mishandling the used equipments. (F) All injuries should be reported. It is important that all important information relating to the risk of needles is reported to the employer. (Dunphy & Winland-Brown, 2001) As a pedagogy planner, I should verify the concepts and ideas. The teaching should be such that it is uncomplicated and as adults have the knowledge how a particular learning can help them in their daily life so it can act as a tool to motivate them. Evaluating the teaching process 1. Goals should be clear and properly communicated Adults should be communicated properly what they will learn during the course so that they can visualize what they will achieve at the end of it. This will help them have clear idea what the curriculum desires out of them and what they should do to get best results. It is also important course agenda is clear after each class so that it doesn’t leave any ambiguity. 2. Encouraging participation and usage of skills to solve problems An environment should be created where students are allowed to communicate both among themselves and with the teacher. Participation should be both ways to make learning better. Students should feel free to raise doubts at the same time answer to queries raised irrespective of the fact what they are saying is correct or wrong. This creates healthy environment and a sense of competition to prove their skills. Adults should be allowed to form groups and find the solution of the problems assigned to them by working in the group. Adults should also be allowed to decide the layout as it will help them understand things better. This will ensure students to know the importance of facing each other especially when a workshop is organized. Participation among groups should be allowed as it helps them realize the importance of team and belongingness. They should be assigned problems and should come up with a solution after discussion among their group members. Each group should handle a different problem and they should present their idea before the whole class. Role play also should be encouraged as it would help them enforce what they have learnt and make the learning process enjoyable. The other groups should also present their comments and views on the performance; they should express what they have learnt and provide feedback for their colleagues. (Douglas & Hosokawa, 1998) 3. Information provided should have relevance and should be applicable The information imparted should be relevant for adults. They should realize that they have learnt something in the process. So, the information provided should be clear and relevant. The lectures should not be very long as it causes the efficiency level to dip and students can’t concentrate. The communication process should be complete by allowing students to raise their voice and speak what they feel. Topics should be discussed freely and teachers should encourage adults to raise questions and see that classroom training is relevant to what need to be taught. 4. Understanding adults hierarchical needs and principles which guide them Adults hate to be treated as students. So, it is important to treat them as grown up. They don’t like to unlearn to acquire new knowledge so it is important that teachers show them the benefits they will receive by something new. For example an adult who has been hired to use a certain type of needle are reluctant to learn about the new needles which can help them prevent this injuries. So, teachers should show them the advantage of the new device being used and motivate them to use this new device. (Knowles, 1978) It is important that adults are respected as self esteem need is very high in them. Teachers should also be well versed in what they ought to preach so that adults realize that their teachers have a good knowledge of the subject they intend to teach. More freedom should be given to adults as they are more tasks oriented and they have a sense of responsibility in them. Adults also prefer teachers to act as a facilitator in the process as they are more teachers directed. Teachers should also realize this and adults should be given an opportunity to take responsibility of their learning. 5. Innovation in teaching methods To make learning effective the technique and pace of presentation should be such that it can generate maximum attention. Teachers should come up with new styles to impress and gain attention. It is also important that teachers some time rush through the presentation but see that students learn something. Though, this is a traditional method of teaching where students sit and listen to the lectures but it’s not very effective. (Knopke & Diekelman, 1981) 6. Summarization and Feedback Restating at the end what was discussed during the session helps to refresh everything learned. It could be done by the teacher or the students. Asking feedbacks from adults helps to improve the teaching process and realize whether the goals set were achieved. This will help to design the future course in a better way as teachers will realize which all fields they need to work upon. (Cranton, 2001) 7. Lending flexibility and importance learners Flexibility is the key. Teachers should ask every student what he expects from the course. This should be done on an individual basis. Then he should discuss in the class which goals will be met and are overlapping with the course and which all goals will not be met. This will help students know the direction in which the teaching will move. Teachers should know that every person has a different reason for taking a particular assignment. This will bring a sense of respect among adults and they will realize how important they were to the organization. 8. Making Learning Pleasurable Learning process should be made enjoyable to reduce stress and increase motivation. Students are motivated and want to learn more when they are happy. At the same time teachers should be in a jolly mood and if he is happy in teaching then students will also have a pleasure time to learn Read More