Learning_Theories

Assessment 1 As a nurse I am constantly learning, as a Nurse Lecturer and Clinician, I am constantly teaching. In this essay, I will demonstrate my knowledge of learning theories and attempt to link them to familiar contexts. Autonomy is associated with independent thinking, individual decision making and critical thinking. Autonomous students are responsible for their own learning. According to Knowle’s (1975) theory of Androgogy, the students are self directed and responsible for their own decision making, and that adult learners have specific needs, which differ from child learners. Some of the principles of this theory include: * Adults are to be involved in the planning and evaluating their learning * Learning (from mistakes) provides basis for gaining experience * Adults prefer to learn what is relevant to them or their jobs * Adults respond better to problem-centered learning, than content-centered learning. The advantages would include, the student being more motivated to learn, they feel connected to the learning process, and it allows students to study at their own pace. The disadvantages would include, students feeling unmotivated and a disruption in the learning process if the content is not understood. One example from my practice could include the development of a care plan by the Nursing Assistant students. Whilst on clinical placement in the community, the students had to work towards a plan of care, by researching their client, their client’s condition and the medical and surgical history. To achieve this the student must select a client to base their care plan on, research, utilize, reflect and critique their own work. This would form a basis of self-directed learning, with the student planning and evaluating their care. This allows the student to assess the relevance of planned care. Own goal setting is where adult learners set their own goals through self assessment. By doing this they become and active partner in their own learning. According to Magel’s (1975) Theory, where he developed a framework for the design and delivery of training programmes. This framework identified learners’ needs, formulated performance objectives and the evaluation and development of learning, in relation to the objectives. Some of the principles of his Theory include: * Objectives taken from job performance, reflecting competencies that need to be learnt. * Students are allowed to practice objectives and get feedback on their performance. * Students are allowed repeated practice in difficult skills. * Student’s progress is controlled by their own competence. The advantages would include, autonomous clinical learning for students, once personal goals are met students have greater sense of self worth, which motivates the learner to succeed. The disadvantages would include, feelings of failure if personal goals are not met, and unmotivated if personal goals are set too high, making them unobtainable. An example from my practice would be, after two weeks of the Nurse Assistant’s placement, a self assessment tool is completed by the student. In conjunction with this, personal goals are set. Students are kept motivated during their placement, by doing this, and their interest is focussed on achieving their goals that they had set. I have only experienced a few students who had become unmotivated, due to setting themselves unobtainable goals, but with some guidance and re-direction, are able to continue their autonomy and work through their set tasks. Self assessment is an essential part of a student’s balanced assessment. They gain a better sense of themselves, as readers, writers and thinkers, when allowed to become an active part of their own learning. They do begin to develop tools in becoming more effective learners. According to Gibb’s (1988) Theory, a reflective cycle was developed to assist with the learners self assessment. A tool was developed to encourage the student to describe a situation, allowing them to analyze and evaluate their feelings, and the experience to make sense of the situation and to see what they could have done differently. They can then develop a plan to prevent these situations from re-occurring in the future. The advantages here would be that the student can reflect on their own practice and performance without feeling judged. This also promotes self growth within their own practice. The disadvantages of this theory would be that the student may not be aware of limitations on their practice and this could ultimately limit their growth. An example from my practice would be when a Nurse Assistant was asked to write a reflective journal whilst out on community placement. I found the journals to be an honest reflection of their own experiences, both good and bad experiences. They were able to identify their mistakes and put plans in place to prevent those mistakes from happening again. This encouraged the students to further develop their practice. Self Motivation is a pivotal concept in most learning theories. A cognitive learning theory is that motivation tends to create intentions of goal seeking acts essential to our learning. A behavioral learning theory is a primary drive function, where the degree of learning depends on the strength and drive of the learner’s motivation. According to Roger’s (1983) theory, he believes that all people have a drive, and this ultimately motivates learning. He believes that whole learning is achieved through experiential learning, which requires the participant to, Have control over the direction and nature of their own learning. Directly confront problems that they may experience. Perform self evaluation to assess their own progress in either their success and/or failings. The principles of his theory include: * The student will learn more, as the subject matter is of interest to the learner * Learning about self attitude and perspective can be less threatening * Learning is faster when the environment is more conducive. * Self initiated learning is more meaningful, and therefore lasting. The advantages here would be that the students are able to work at their own pace, they are able to explore areas of interest in depth and learning becomes more meaningful to them. The disadvantages are that the students could become unmotivated to learn or that the course content could become superficial. An example from my practice is that the students are asked to set personal and professional goals for themselves toward the end of their placement. It is very interesting to see the degree of motivation that most of the students have. Their goals include witnessing more procedures being performed on clients, becoming more skilled in wound care techniques, or fine tuning their report writing abilities. Some personal goals included gaining full time employment so as to pay off debt, taking family away on holiday and buying a house. Those students who struggled with the autonomy and lack of direction had very different goals, perhaps depicting the lack of direction and constant encouragement they thrive on. Some examples from them were, to never study again, and another goal was to change career ! A specific adult learning environment that I would like to describe, would be that of distance learning. Courses such as these are chosen by the students for particular reasons. They could be for increasing self worth, broadening knowledge, or to obtain employment in a particular field. This learning environment would be one of Autonomy, as the learner could study at their own pace. They could set their own goals to achieve. This environment is best suited to those who would have to work full time, or look after families. It is for these reasons that they could not study in a full time classroom setting. For those adult learners who are self motivated and are driven at setting their own goals, as in Mager and Knowles’ Theories, this is an ideal learning environment. However, for those learners who require a practical approach to learning, this will lead to their failure. These learners can easily become unmotivated, distracted and learning content can become superficial. References Course required Text Cross, K.P (1981). Adults as learners. San Fransisco: Jossey-Brass. Knowles, M (1975). Self Directed learning. Chicago: Follet. Mager, R. (1975). Preparing instructional Objectives. (2nd Edition). Belmont, Califrnia: Lake publishing company