Evidence-based practice (EBP) is crucial in teaching to assist learners in understanding the necessary practical and theoretical know-how to ensure patient safety. Teaching and learning EBP is vital for interactive clinical activities in nursing school. Some of the most common teaching strategies for EBP include:
Using learning outcomes
Remain clear about student objectives during the year for every lesson. If you cannot articulate it, how do you expect the learner to know? It helps both you and the learner focus on those learning outcomes in a classroom or didactic environment: This might be very formal.
You might have written learning outcomes that start with something like, at the end of this session, students will be able to, and then recommend three to five learning outcomes per class. If you are in a clinical environment, this might be something that you hold in your head but have a clear idea of what it is at the end of the learning session.
Active learning
This strategy has a positive impact on student learning. Educators could use an opening activity related to the learning outcome, engage them in the lesson, and use questioning polling. Active learning is essential when you are teaching dense content.
Retrieval strategies
This technique means getting students to pull up information that is in their heads. One retrieval strategy is starting the class or learning session with an opening question. Your opening question could reference back to prior learning, such as asking who can remember what you discussed in the last session or gauge students' knowledge of the content you will be addressing in the current session.
A question on a controversial topic is an excellent way to wake everybody up and get the conversation flowing. Strategic questioning is a very effective teaching method. If it is done correctly, it can be a powerful tool in the clinical setting. So what you are looking for is an optimal level of stress which is suitable for learning,
Another effective retrieval strategy is quizzing. Practice quizzes or pretests are great methods to improve student learning. Although some students may get some answers wrong on the practice quiz, they have higher chances to do better on the accurate assessment than those who did not take the practice quiz. Self-evaluation questions can help students prepare for USMLE.
Using flashcards
Even though it is an old idea, modern technology has brought back this retrieval strategy. When people use old-fashioned index cards, they usually remove something from the deck after they have answered it correctly.
These tools are available all over the internet and will narrow down the deck based on the number of times students have responded to something correctly, but they do not pull it out of the deck. Moreover, there is always the option to personalize the decks.
Just as beginning class with an opening question is a great retrieval tool, ending with a closing question. Often you want this to be a review of what was covered in the current lesson. So even something as simple as what you think was the most important thing we talked about today can be a compelling closing question. However, you have to frame these closing questions in ways that allow students to answer them and encourage discussion.
One specific way to practically apply this strategy is by using a concept map or a graphic organizer. A concept map is where learners fill in a visual representation of a concept individually or in small groups. It is an excellent way of illustrating connections between terms and concepts.
They connect individual words with lines that indicate relationships between sets of related information. This effective strategy requires students to identify, organize information and establish meaningful connections between different content.
Another way to connect information that is conducive to learning involves scaffolding your lessons. Therefore, rather than thinking of the entire class in one big chunk, try scaffolding to build on connections from previous lessons. Some specific scaffolding techniques include pre-teaching vocabulary or a reflective question that will raise an audience response.
Lecturio nursing courses is a virtual learning platform with effective evidence-based practices to enhance your learning experience.
