Teaching Strategies Essay

Teaching Strategies Essay

Teaching methods emphasize the interactions between instructors and learners necessary for encouraging learners to build self-confidence, broaden their knowledge, and improve learning outcomes. According to Abulhul (2021), appropriate teaching strategies are consistent with the overall objectives of enabling learners to link past experiences to new knowledge, acquire real-life problem-solving skills, and provoke them to participate actively in the learning processes. When implementing a new nursing education course for nursing informatics, it is essential to consider teaching strategies that are responsive to learners’ diversity and complement students’ learning needs, goals and preferred learning styles. Equally, it is crucial to identify and respond to Barrie to effective implementation of this course to ensure that learners acquire the targeted knowledge and skills consistent with learning objectives and the desired outcomes. Consequently, this paper discusses various teaching strategies for the nursing informatics course and potential solutions for barriers to effective course implementation.

Learning Outcomes for the Nursing Informatics Course

Nurses operate in ever-dynamic professional environments that require them to update their skills, knowledge, and core competencies to address intricacies and meet the demand for quality, timely, patient-centered, and evidence-based care. Informatics is one of the core competencies in nursing that enables them to effectively utilize digital health technologies guess to support quality care delivery. According to McGonigle & Mastrian (2018), the American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nursing informatics as “the specialty that integrates nursing science with multiple information and analytical sciences to identify, define, manage, and communicate data, information, knowledge, and wisdom in nursing practice (p. 308). The nursing informatics (NI) concept supports the nursing profession by improving decisions, enhancing the utilization of information processes, and promoting interprofessional collaboration.

In the current healthcare systems, nursing informatics is synonymous with advanced health information technologies, including electronic documentation, clinical decision support systems (CDSSs), artificial intelligence (AI), and data analytics modalities. Amidst the need to incorporate informatics into nursing practices and decisions, nursing students should update their skills and competencies that enable them to effectively utilize and operate computer systems and translate knowledge to practice (Harerimana et al., 2020). The core competencies within nursing informatics education include knowledge and information management, regulatory, ethical, and professional accountability, and the utilization of information and communication technologies in delivering quality care.

A nursing informatics course focuses on various learning concepts, including an overview and introduction of informatics theories, critical theories that support nursing informatics, informatics specialties within healthcare, and informatics competencies for healthcare practices. Also, it covers the thresholds for utilizing nursing informatics in promoting quality care delivery and improving patient safety. Therefore, the desired course outcomes emphasize three levels of learning; knowledge, skills, and application of knowledge and skills.

Knowledge

By the end of this course, learners will:

• Appraise the fundamental aspects, concepts, theories, and terminologies that underpin nursing informatics
• Understand and assess competencies within the nursing informatics specialty
• Critique nursing informatics theories and justify their application in nursing practice

Skills

• Develop skills in computer literacy
• Use information systems and computer literacy as the foundation for interdisciplinary collaboration
• Develop analytical skills consistent with the need to analyze complex health data sets

Application of Knowledge and Skills

• Utilize knowledge of nursing informatics in interdisciplinary collaboration and problem-solving processes
• Demonstrate adherence to professional, ethical, and regulatory requirements for handling, transferring, and utilizing health information and data sets.
• Apply information technology in improving care coordination
• Create a personal informatics competency plan consistent with the need for ongoing professional development.

How Course Outcomes Relate to Overall Course Content

Course outcomes denote the expectations, objectives, and desired results of teaching nursing students about nursing informatics. It is essential to evaluate these outcomes by the end of the course to evaluate the learners’ levels of knowledge, skills, and ability to apply knowledge and skills in different clinical contexts. On the other hand, the course content entails profound topics central to the achievement of the course’s desired outcomes. For example, teaching learners about theories of nursing informatics and their clinical application enables them to understand concepts that underpin nursing informatics and link them to current healthcare systems. As a result, it is valid to argue that comprehensive coverage of the course content results in the realization of learning outcomes.

Identifying and Evaluating Teaching Strategies Used in the Nursing Informatics Course

The target audience for this course is high-diverse due to differences in language, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status. As a result, instructors should adopt teaching strategies that improve learners’ motivation and engagement in learning activities. Sabornie & Espelage (2022) contend that effective classroom management involves approaches for creating and maintaining a conducive learning environment that improves learners’ involvement, attention to lessons, and motivation. Examples of teaching strategies that improve learners’ involvement in the learning process, motivation, and attention include classroom lectures, online learning, and self-directed learning.

Classroom Lectures

Classroom lectures are profound teaching strategies that emphasize physical interactions between learners and instructors, as well as close monitoring of students’ participation in learning activities. According to Abulhul (2021), lectures are essential in promoting deep learning by promoting interactive strategies, including discussions and other classroom activities. Class activities like quizzes and end-of-lesson questions engage students in class discussions and promote their participation in learning activities. This teaching method is the most effective in teaching the nursing informatics course.

Online Learning

The emergence of virtual learning modalities, including video conferencing, has provided opportunities for leveraging technologies to promote learning. Abulhul (2021) contends that applying technology in learning enables teachers to track students’ progress, as well as improve learning. When learners access online resources, they can gain an understanding of the class materials and advance their critical thinking skills. Equally, online learning saves time and improves students’ self-learning initiatives. As a result, it is an effective teaching strategy for educating students about nursing informatics.

Self-directed Learning

Self-directed learning encourages learners to set goals, determine progress, and define the structure and sequence of learning activities. According to Robinson & Persky (2020), teachers can promote self-directed learning through appropriate scaffolding and the provision of learning materials. This strategy has various advantages, including enabling learners to set goals, improving self-confidence, and alleviating pressure. However, this approach can be ineffective for teaching nursing informatics since it results in less motivation, time wastage, and complexities in assessing learners’ results.

Possible Barriers to Learning and Solutions

Although rolling out the nursing informatics course is consistent with the need to improve nursing students’ competencies and skills, instructors can encounter various constraints and barriers to effective course implementation. Due Plessis (2019) argues that managing diversity in classroom contexts is a complex endeavor, considering multiple barriers, including lack of necessary skills for classroom management, limited support from colleagues and school management, inexperience, and temporary teachers’ negative influence on the teaching and learning environment, and a lack of belongingness to the subject matter. Equally, external issues, such as education quality concerns, student dispositions, and situational disharmony compromise skills for effective classroom management. Often, these factors facilitate the adoption of rigid teaching methods and limit the scope of instruction differentiation consistent with the prevailing students’ diversity. As a result, it is vital to embrace interventions for cultivating an ideal learning environment and responding to students’ diversities.

Educators, faculty managers, and decision-makers can address barriers to effective classroom management and course implementation by developing training programs for instructors to improve their pedagogical content knowledge. Also, training instructors can alleviate their negative influence on the learning environment (Due Plessis, 2019). Other solutions to these barriers include promoting interdisciplinary collaboration to support the new course, incorporating the constructivist perspective of learning which emphasizes active learning and learners’ motivation, and differentiating instructions to address learners’ diversity.

Conclusion

A nursing informatics course is profound in empowering and equipping nurse students with the necessary skills, knowledge, and competencies essential for their transition to nursing practitioners. Although this course is vital to the nursing profession, instructors should adopt teaching strategies that improve learners’ involvement, motivation, and engagement in the learning processes. For example, classroom lectures coupled with classroom activities, such as end-of-lesson questions and field visits are ideal in promoting knowledge acquisition. Expectedly, implementing this course would face various constraints, including limited support from colleagues and school management, inexperience and temporary teachers’ negative influence on the learning environment, and the persistent adoption of rigid teaching methods. Educators, faculty managers, and decision-makers can address these challenges by training instructors, differentiating instructions, and collaborating to provide adequate resources and support necessary for the effective implementation of the course.

 

References

Abulhul, Z. (2021). Teaching strategies for enhancing student learning. Journal of Practical Studies in Education, 2(3), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.46809/jpse.v2i3.22

Du Plessis, A. E. (2019). Barriers to effective management of diversity in classroom contexts: The out-of-field teaching phenomenon. International Journal of Educational Research, 93, 136–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2018.11.002

Harerimana, A., Wicking, K., Biedermann, N., & Yates, K. (2020). Integrating nursing informatics into undergraduate nursing education in Africa: A scoping review. International Nursing Review, 68(3). https://doi.org/10.1111/inr.12618

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. G. (2018). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Robinson, J. D., & Persky, A. M. (2019). Developing self-directed learners. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 84(3), 847512. https://doi.org/10.5688/ajpe847512

 

Instructions
Create three learning outcomes for your course. Conduct research on your course topic as necessary to create these outcomes. Summarize general course content and how these outcomes will relate to overall course content and how they align with learner expectations.
Identify and evaluate at least three teaching strategies that could be used in your course and that are a good fit for your learner population, course topic, outcomes, and content. Explain which are the most appropriate teaching strategies for your course and audience, and why they are the most appropriate. Be sure to describe the advantages of using the selected strategies. Support your assertions with research from the field.
Explain some of the possible barriers to learning might you encounter in your course. Identify the strategies you could use to overcome those barriers and to keep learners motivated.
Additional Requirements
Format: 12-point Times New Roman or Arial font, double-spaced in Microsoft Word.
Length: 5–7 pages, plus a title page and a references page.
Use correct APA format, including running head, page numbers, and a title page.
Use and cite at least two scholarly articles in your plan.
Writing should be free of grammar and spelling errors that distract from content.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

Competency 1: Appraise the influence of learner’s culture, gender, and experiences on teaching and learning.
Explain how selected strategies will help to maintain diverse learners’ motivation.
Explain how selected strategies will help overcome learning barriers in the anticipated audience.
Competency 2: Apply educational theory and evidence-based teaching practices when implementing teaching strategies.
Evaluate appropriate teaching strategies for an educational topic and audience.
Competency 3: Apply a variety of teaching strategies appropriate to diverse learner needs, content, and desired learner outcomes.
Describe learning outcomes for a course.
Competency 4: Integrate best practices for classroom management
Describe evidence-based strategies for managing potential barriers to learning in a classroom.
Competency 5: Communicate in a manner that is scholarly, professional, and consistent with the expectations of a nursing education professional.
Support a position with effective written communication; use correct spelling, grammar, punctuation and mechanics, and APA style and formatting.