Rita Benor           

I hear that Nursing teaching programmes commonly have each lesson formally evaluated by the students.

  Rita:  Yes.  We are concerned that each lecture should enhance the students' personal and professional knowledge and performance.  These evaluations assess the session content, to assure that the aims of the session have been met; the quality of the presentation and whether it reflects the expertise of the teacher; and whether the standards of the course have been met.  The evaluation comes in two forms.  In verbal reports during open plenary sessions the nurses give feedback.  In written evaluations they describe what they believe they have gained from the session as well as what they perceive were the strengths and weaknesses of the presentation.  Comments are also sought on the teaching style, visual aids and written handouts.

  How does students' feedback influence teachers?  Aren't they self-conscious and nervous about criticisms?

  If students know that the evaluation will be addressed seriously and acted upon, they are usually construct-ively critical.  In my experience, most speakers now actively seek to be given both written and verbal feedback on the session.  If this is done in a positive and reinforcing way, even when a speaker's performance has not come up to the expected standard one is able to say it so that adjustments can be made in future presentations.  The more often a teacher receives feedback, the less they are intimidated by it.

   This process encourages the development of freshness and originality because speakers are often repeating their materials.  Even when there is nothing new to say about a subject (such as anatomy, for instance), the way one presents the materials can make a world of difference in how it comes across.

  Feedback points out to teachers that they always have more they can learn themselves.  Teaching should be dynamic.  Modern teaching methods support and encourage audience participation and reflective process.  Feedback also keeps teachers focused.  It can be unnerving for a shy or inexperienced teacher.  However, there are ways to teach and involve students which allow even the most introverted teachers to be successful.

  What can get in the way of teachers?

  Most adult student have memories of enjoyable learning but also of very demanding, unsuccessful, or unhappy education programmes.  They may well have been used to a system where the teacher was seen as the 'oracle' or enforcer and may have experienced teaching methods which were dry or boring - the usual 'talk and chalk' lecture style.  It is said that the definition of a lecture is 'a method by which the notes of the speaker are transferred to the notebook of the student without necessarily going through the minds of either!'  It is easy for teachers to evaluate the results of such lectures but whether they have had any meaningful impact on the student is another thing entirely.

  Teaching is not just about transferring information.  The challenge of teaching is to be able to help people to stimulate their own learning processes just as healing stimulates them to activate their own healing processes.  So the skill in teaching is to be mindful of previous learning experiences and any potential blocks.

  Can teachers themselves prove to be a block to learning?

  I have attended lectures, workshops and group work which were unfocused and unstructured and I have found some facilitator so laid back that they could have been accused of being horizontal!  This can leave students (and course organisers) frustrated, angry and in need to make up lost content which should have been supplied.  In contrast, I have participated in sessions which have been encouraging, supportive and thoroughly enjoyable experiences.  The teachers were relaxed but attentive, guiding and balancing exchanges from known information/skills and moving on to introduce new knowledge in ways which helped student to grow.

  Isn't healing better taught through intuitive and experiential processes rather than didactic ones?

  Teaching should reach the head and heart simultaneously.  People with active minds need to grasp the material intellectually as well as emotionally/intuitively .  Professional methods can enhance the teaching of healing.  Remember as children we used different textures when we were learning and discovering the world.  Personal anecdotes, demonstrations, question and answer sessions, provocative questions, participatory exercises, colour slides, acetates and handouts enliven and summarise sessions so that students need not take reams of notes.  People learn better when they are involved and when teaching methods are stimulating.

   Over twenty-five years of teaching I have learned the following principles:  Respect what is known.  Move on to what is unknown.  Relate it in any way that will encourage and promote confidence.  Acknowledge the different ways people grasp and assimilate new information.  Keep the principles simple.  Have fun!

Rita Benor is a Lecturer in Palliative Nursing (specialising in care of the seriously ill, the dying and bereaved), an Autogenic Training therapist and psychotherapist.
 

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Copyright © Daniel J. Benor, M.D. 1993 Reprinted with permission of the author P.O. Box 76 Bellmawr, NJ 08099 www.WholisticHealingResearch.com   DB@WholisticHealingResearch.com 

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