The learning environment and practice placement I currently work in is a substance misuse service. The clinical learning environment is where students work directly with patients whilst enabling them to and are able to conductively learn. Burns and Patterson (2005) state it is the responsibility of higher education institutes in partnership with the NHS to prepare nurses to cope with the complex nature of clinical practice. In my opinion I believe mentors play a significant role in relation to the clinical learning environment, as mentors are who support the student during their placement. Students learn most effectively in the environments that facilitate learning by encouraging and supporting whilst also making them feel part of the team …show more content…
(this bit in brown doesn’t make sence explain the point u trying to get acorss it dusnt have to be the authors exact words but it needs to make sense). In addition to this Ixer (1996) published an article to criticise: “There is no such thing as reflection” which attempted to stop the unquestioning acceptance of the concept of reflection from academics and professionals. Students are required to demonstrate their ability to reflect in practice yet reflection is ill defined therefore problematic to assess (Ixer, 1996).
Having an effective working relationship with a student is an important goal and will underpin all other aspects of mentoring (Walsh, 2014). It is advisable to build this relationship quickly and effectively within the first week of the student’s placement, this is known to be the mentor’s responsibility and allows the mentor to demonstrate to be organised, productive and welcoming (Walsh,
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Anderson (2011) suggests that a dual learning style has an important role in the development of skills. Using learning styles allows the student to understand how they work best and what their preferred learning style is. However learning style theories have been criticised extensively by many, there are many educational psychologists who believe that there is little evidence for efficacy of most learning styles models. According to Greenfield (2007) the practice is “nonsense” from a neuroscientist point of view. Furthermore Henry (2007) believes “Humans have evolved to build a picture of the world through our senses working in unison, exploiting the immense interconnectivity that exists in the brain” (Henry, 2007).The foundation of being a good mentor is building a good working relationship with the student (Walsh, 2014). The student – mentor relationship is crucial to the students learning throughout the placement (Wilkes, 2006). All mentors when working with students must have effective professional and inter-professional working relationships which will enable and enhance to support the learning for students. Part of the skills required maintaining the relationship with students and the multi professional team include; being organised, prioritising, providing ongoing support and constructive feedback and being able to liaise with other
...g environment can have a direct effect on the mentor – student relationship and on the process of giving feedback. It is essential that the mentor prepares prior to a student arriving on the ward in order to use the learning environment to its full potential. There is also certainly scope for further research to be carried out in relation to mentor / mentee relationships and how this can impact on both learning of the student and the mentor. The same can be said about the process of giving feedback; once again the current literature finds it difficult to agree on a specific formula on how to achieve this. The most important thing that I will take away from my experience is how I can improve for the next time I mentor a student nurse. I will be looking to improve on the way in which I give feedback so that it is done in a way that supports learning and not animosity.
Factors that may affect the perceived effectiveness of the leadership styles in clinical teaching may extend to leaders’ mentorship abilities and the pupils’ learning styles. This may include utilising inappropriate pedagogical or andragogical frameworks that are not conducive to the student nurse. Research suggests that most clinical educators will revert to previous educational forms, and will utilise pedagogical theory, inclusive of quizzes etc., which are considered too behaviourist for the contemporary nursing student, whom may require andragogical approaches which provide student-focused methods, and is considered an effective framework in nursing education (McKee & Billman, 2011). Additionally, this may extend to utilising didactic direction, Socratic methods or heuristic models that do not adhere to the students’ learning styles (Eniko, 2013) or needs and neglect to maximise the engagement or comprehension of the pupil (DaRosa, et al.,
...ot only use the cognitive skills of the students but also their affect. This will allow the students to process and reflect on how they made that specific decision or answer. They are not just focusing on the end result but how they end up in that result or scenario. Teachers need to incorporate more reflection pieces or activities in their lessons because it not only enhances the cognitive skills of the children but also addresses their social and emotional needs.
In the last few decades the concept of reflective practice has burgeoned throughout numerous fields of education and professional practice. Regardless of its prevalence there continues to be a considerable variance in the understanding of reflective practice (Fook et al, 2006). Even within the same theories, contradictory perceptions of how reflective practice should be executed are observed (Hébert, 2015).
Reflection usually means reflecting on an experience usually a bad experience that requires the practitioner to stop and evaluate the best way forward. Leeson (2010) suggests practitioners to 'feel' their work as opposed to just observing. This can challenge practice and knowledge and hopefully give greater understanding. However, reflection requires the practitioner to question their own professional practice and as such this self knowledge is not an easy option. As Crowley (2009:4) states practitioner research may well:
Reflection is defined as a process of reviewing an experience which involves description, analysis and evaluation to enhance learning in practice (Rolfe et al 2001). This is supported by Fleming (2006), who described it as a process of reasoned thought. It enables the practitioner to critically assess self and their approach to practice.
This experience will definitely influence my future practice; my action plan would be using those teaching strategies in preparing students to face the clinical environment, to ensure optimal patients’ health outcomes and it helps to build a competent and independent clinician.
student. In the following journal, we see the benefit of reflective practice and what it achieves
Garvey, R. Stokes, P. and Megginson, D. (2009) Coaching and Mentoring theory and Practice. London: Sage
Reflective thinking is hypothesis testing, and real-time experimentation done in situations where “wicked problems” occurs that facilitates deeper knowledge and understanding (Rolfe, 2014). For Rolfe (2014), knowledge is a verb, not a noun, and he Rolfe (2001) claims that reflection- in-action is more advanced form of thinking and leads to more advanced practice. He further describes that is it is a process of what the nurse is always testing theories and hypothesis in a cyclical process while simultaneously engaged in practice (Rolfe, 1993). It means examining behaviour and that of others while in a situation (Schon, 1995; Schon, 1987). “To be able to reflect one must step outside the experience in order to make the observance comprehendible” Gray (1998).
As it mentioned above this reflective essay is based on the main theory on Reflection, which is the Honey and Mumford’s learning styles that was developed from Kolb’s work. This is based on four stages of specific styles of learning:
I believe placing student nurses in the clinical setting is vital in becoming competent nurses. Every experience the student experiences during their placement has an educative nature therefore, it is important for the students to take some time to reflect on these experiences. A specific situation that stood out to me from my clinical experience was that; I didn’t realize I had ignored the patient’s pain until I was later asked by the nurse if the patient was in any pain.
“Reflection becomes critical when it has two distinctive purposes. The first is to understand how considerations of power undergird, frame and distort so many educational processes and interactions. The second is to question assumptions and practices that seem to make our teaching lives easier but that actually end up working against our own best long term interests - in other words, those that are hegemonic.” (Brookefield, 1995) Basically, it emphasises the importance of challenging one’s pre-existing beliefs about teaching and deducing whether or not said beliefs are correct and hold true following contestation.
Learning style models differ depending on the theorist that has created them, even though practically all of them contain an accentuation on processing and personality. The learning styles model created by Harvey Silver, Richard Strong, and Matthew Perini versus the Dunn and Dunn learning styles model, is one example of how their is a wide range of theories that can appreciated. These two models diverge because while Silver’s model focuses on the four main types of learner styles, the Dunn and Dunn model explores the 21 elements that affect how a human being learns. The Dunn and Dunn model classifies these 21 elements into five categories: emotional, environmental, sociological, psychological and physiological variables. Silver’s model instead explores the strengths of each of the four types of learners. Although these models contain differences, they both put an emphasis on the relevance of the process and approaches to learning, while Gardner does not eminently consider either ideas within his theory.
Thought out our lives, we are faced with many different learning experiences. Some of these experiences have made a better impact than others. This can be attributed to everyone’s different multiple intelligences or learning styles. A persons learning style is the method though which they gain information about their environment. As a teacher, it is our responsibility to know these styles, so we can reach each of our students and use all of the necessary methods.