I don't have the answers

What makes gero education successful? The question should be “What makes gero teaching successful?” By “successful,” I refer to the ability to get messages across to an intended audience—students—molding attitudes, nurturing attributes, and so on. The truth is, after 17 years as a teacher, I don’t have answers to every question about education.

We are supposed to know how to teach, and teach well. We are expected to be knowledgeable about what strategies help students learn. The current trend in education is to focus on outcomes. By teaching content X and Y and using methods A and B, we expect students to attain outcomes i, ii, and iii—the knowledge and skills the educational institution wants students to master by the time they complete a course or graduate.

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The truth is, we can plan on and account for our teaching of subject matter in a certain manner, but whether the actual outcome aligns with the intended outcome is not guaranteed. Humans are not computers. By tapping certain “keys,” we don’t always get output related to those keys.

By gauging test results and grading assignments, we can tell to a certain extent if we have “succeeded,” assuming, of course, the assignments are designed in such a way that they accurately reflect what the students should learn. I wonder if anybody ever questions the validity of these circular arguments. I am not saying that focusing on outcomes is not good, just that the usefulness of outcome-based education has to be put in perspective.

We teach, and we hope for the best. We know some students perform exceedingly well within the academic system while others barely get by, but academic performance is not the ultimate measure of whether a student turns out to a good nurse. I know, because a number of undergraduates I taught have returned to their alma mater to take a master’s program. Some who showed great promise as undergraduates return for another degree intent, it seems, on little else than earning another diploma, while others, some of whom drove me nuts when I supervised their clinical placement as undergraduates, return as delightful nurses motivated to learn more.

As teachers, we cannot know which words we say will strike a chord in which student. Such thoughts humble me as an educator. While they pain me at times, they also remind me that I need to be every bit as reflective as I expect my students to be.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.

Intended vs. actual outcomes: Puzzles of a teacher

In a previous post (13 March 2014), I mentioned that, to help my students become more observant of age-related issues, I ask them to write a journal. A natural follow-up question is, “So, how useful is that?” All I can say is, “I’m not sure.” Actual outcomes may be very different from intended outcomes.

When reading my students’ journals, I’m sure that some of them must have been written over a very short period of time, shortly before the due date for submitting them. I also read journals that are purely post-lecture reflections. That is, the entries are discussions of concepts I taught in class, which is not what I asked for. I wanted them to think about elder care outside of the classroom. Sometimes, I read journals that are superficial, mere recounting of what a student has read or heard in the news, but without personal reflection. Such entries are distant and somewhat “cold.”

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So, how to teach elder care? How to ensure that students have learned something? These are intriguing issues.

Through group seminars (oral presentations and discussions), written papers, and tests, I know how my students have performed academically and what knowledge they have mastered. But I can never be sure whether I have prepared them to be better nurses in caring for older people.

Have I helped them develop the right attitude for interacting with older people? In the relatively few clinical practice hours required by the Nursing Council (the regulatory body for registered nurses in Hong Kong), have my students been able to translate what they have learned in the class into actual practice? Have they developed a deeper understanding about older people as unique beings? Do they care about older people who come under their care?

I have no answers to these deeper questions. By interacting with my students, I know for sure that some of them have developed such understanding and care. But, as a teacher, my goal is not to teach just a few; I have been given a class.

My students may have performed satisfactorily in their course requirements. Knowledge can be acquired, but attitudes develop over time.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.