Discussion
Topic 1: Creating Learner-Centered Lessons for the On-Site Environment
You will be assigned to Discussion Topic Group 1 or 2 to post your initial assignment and will be posting your responses to your colleagues in the other Discussion Group. For example, students assigned to Discussion Topic 1 will be posting their initial assignment in the Discussion Topic Group 1 Forum and post their responses to their colleagues in the Discussion Topic Group 2 Forum.
Dorothy: Oh, will you help me? Can you help me?
Glinda: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
Dorothy: I have?
Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?
Glinda: Because she wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.
-The Wizard of Oz, 1939
What is a learner-centered teaching approach? Furthermore, how might you design a learner-centered lesson? Just as it sounds, learner-centered teaching approaches place the learner at the center of the lesson. Based in constructivism, this approach prompts learners to become active participants in their learning. Where traditional teaching approaches tend to place educators in a more omniscient role, learner-centered approaches require educators to scaffold student learning towards the achievement of learning objectives. Much like Glinda the Good Witch guided Dorothy on her journey home, so too should an educator guide learners through the examination of a new concept, skill, or process.
The ability to engage learners in this type of active learning is a crucial skill for nurse educators. Whether teaching nursing students, staff, or patients, educators must find an effective balance between the dissemination of information and hands-on, active learning. Doing so will not only benefit the learner but also the nurse educator.
To prepare
• Reflect on the on-site learning environment. As a nurse educator, what type of classroom management concerns might you have about teaching in on-site situations?
• Review this readings on classroom management strategies. What does classroom management look like in the on-site environment? How might nurse educators employ strategies throughout their lessons to decrease classroom management concerns?
• Reflect on the audience, learning need, learning objectives, and learning activity that you described in last Discussion, "Crafting Meaningful and Measurable Learning Objectives." How might you build upon these initial ideas to create a 15- to 20-minute lesson for the on-site environment? Specifically, what might you add to your activity to transform it into a comprehensive lesson that consists of a beginning, middle, and end?
• Using a blank copy of the Lesson Plan Template document (introduced last week and also presented in this week's Learning Resources), design a learner-centered lesson that aligns to your identified learning need and learning objectives.
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.