Assessment, Learning, And Teaching In Practice: A Mentoring Approach For Nursing Students

Underachieving Student

Mentorship is commonly theorized and used contrarily in many areas (Chen et al, 2016).it’s an office approach of learning that is important to the mentee, employing institution and mentor like a home of transferring the unspoken perspective of office. Due to mentorship, starters are combined with the current group of training in the workshop. In clinical practices, it is a distinct assurance that flourished in a company’s social and encouraged counselling communication (Ferguson, 2015).

In many cases, the mentor is viewed as achiever by the mentee. He or She is the role model and is responsible for failure or success of the mentee (Nowell et al., 2015). The main intent of this paper is to articulate the concepts and protocols that have been guiding me to mentor nursing students in my career as a certified medical practitioner.  To achieve all these, I will follow a systematic process that will bring together all the basics of assessment. This will ensure the mentee is couched and motivated to achieve what earlier seems impossible to them (Oreskina&Greenberg, 2011). The systematic process will be followed throughout the learning period, and I will try to discover new things among the involved student. In this regard, the systematic process will be incorporated in the teaching and learning process whereby three meetings with the student will be organized systematically and coherently (Jakubik, 2016).

Under the nurse perspectives, Student’s underachievement is said to be a continuous failure to achieve credible expectations that are created on the inborn capability of the learner (Parker,). The underachievers mostly take themselves existing as inferior to their colleagues, they lack the confidence to ask and accomplish tasks, lack persistence, lack capacity to organize, design and struggle in the route of expected goal (Damber et al, 2012). Mentor plays a major role in this case of uplifting the self-esteem of the student who feels they are the failure. In this regard, it is a male second year nursing student who I am going to mentor throughout this paper

The most common notable feature of underachieving student I have encountered is fear. They commonly feel too much fear and are unable to control their fear. A good mentor

is the one who is able to identify this feature in a student and guides him to overcome the fear. (Bradshaw et al, 2013). In this regard, I believe I am a good mentor because of my past experiences with the students. I have been able to mentor several students. I believe I will be successful in mentoring the current student I am working on.

Learning Styles and Their Application

From my own experience as a nurse and a mentor, a mentor has to link expert conclusion to the process of making decisions by communicating with the mentee in person, communicating with the mentee about his concerns and challenges (Butterwortrth&Faugier, 2013). That is the second step a mentor should do. Free and openness are very vital in mentorship. A mentee should always be free to say anything in front of the mentor (single, 2012).

As a mentor, I have to trust the learner’s capability so as to assist him in attaining his goals. Mentorship is a student-oriented, active and intensely directed action (Oreshkina &Greenberg, 2010). Mentees and mentors have a common connection for fulfilment and occupation accomplishment for both. For mentoring connection to be effective, the mentee and mentor must have an affiliation of precise anticipations from each other, individual connection, shared values, reciprocity, and respect. On the other side, Straus et al. (2013) said that the mentee and mentor relation dies due to lack of commitment, communication, differences in their interests and values and mentors level of experience. In my experience, I have been trying as much as possible to establish an effective relationship with the mentees.

My own understanding of learning in nursing and mentorship is that learning is a change in understanding, feeling and thinking the process of a learner but it’s not an alteration of behaviours. Learners are grouped as follows: tactile/kinaesthetic learners, auditory learners, and visual learners. It is evaluated that styles of learning of a student are 29%visual, 37%haptic and 34% auditory (Billings &Halstead, 2015)

VAK model was developed by psychologists in 1920 to help learners understand what they are being taught. According to this model, students prefer to learn in three different ways which include visual, auditory, and kinaesthetic. In most cases, different students have their ways of understanding the content among the three. In short, some prefer to use the visual, others the auditory and some use the kinaesthetic (Hidayah, 2015). Those who prefer the visual learning tend to rely on presentations such as diagrams, pictures, and charts to absorb the learning. Besides, those who prefer the auditory way choose to rely on listening to what is being presented by the teacher. Lastly, those who prefer the kinaesthetic way learn by physical experience whereby they have to touch or feel objects in the learning environment. Most of my students have been preferring kinaesthetic style. My current project is no different from the rest. He prefers demonstration to visual and auditory styles.

Specific Application to My Mentee

Direct to the point, kinaesthetic students (My mentee) study through actions, demonstrations by touching and movement. He uses movement as a memory aid, learns via hands-on practice, chews gum or snacks when studying, moves around while listening and talking and enjoy acting. He prefers to stand instead of sitting when studying new things. He does well with role play, have hart time listening &sitting and they lose most of what is taught in a lecture. This students desire to take frequent learning breaks, they prefer to act instead of listening, have high energy degree and do well when actively involved (Truong, 2016). He loves to study via active participation. This student should be allowed to make models, use hand materials, formula-based when learning as this brings simulation (Gilley et al, 2014).

These days there is a lot of emphasis on the use of models in nursing. The dissimilar situation is acted in dissimilar ways. Information with the accomplishment of the setup regardless of the approaches that are used and the students level of education (Tosterud et al, 2013).

Learning theories include behavioural theory, cognitive learning theory, pedagogy, and andragogy. Behavioural theory views learning as the process of acquiring knowledge form the behaviours in one’s environment. It explains that learning develops when one is exposed to certain reinforcements. The reinforcements then trigger certain behaviours which become part of the person (Lee, 2016). However, this type of learning does not involve learning new things such as language since it only relies on a presenting stimulus. Therefore this theory is aimed at learning to gain general knowledge especially for children who are growing and developing. Another theory is the cognitive learning theory which involves deep

thinking to come up with solutions to problems or questions. In this case, learners are persuaded to learning through observing categorizing and coming up with decisions that can make them live in the existing environment (Waters, 2016). The theory applies to all levels of learning since it involves deeper thinking to solve existing problems.

Additionally, pedagogy, which is a teaching method used in delivering theoretical knowledge to the learner who knows the outcome of learning. It involves learning the academic concepts such as theories in the course of study (Muduli, 2018). Teachers are directly involved in delivering the content by explaining what learners might not be in the position to understand. The theories have become common in the current learning system where students attend classes and lectures directly. The theory can be well applied in teaching first-learners who need to gain knowledge about life and for future carriers. Finally, andragogy is another learning theory which is applied in teaching adults who are demanding for further studies to add to their current knowledge (Muduli, 2018). The system of teaching adults is different from that of teaching young students as they only need slight explanations so they can research on the rest. It is applied in those taking a master of a degree in their education and higher.

Application of Learning Theories in Learning and Teaching

Having explained the theories of learning and teaching, it is clear that each of the theories has a crucial place where it can be applied in learning. Thus, teachers should have adequate knowledge regarding these theories to ensure that they apply them appropriately to benefit learners. In some case, more than two theories can be applied to the same class of students for effective delivery and understanding of the content (Kolb, 2014). My mentee preferred a combination of the cognitive learning theory and pedagogy to teach. I observed this within the first week of the meeting. I am sure this is going to help him uplift his self-esteem and improve in his work and career in general. Cognitive learning theory which involves deep thinking to come up with solutions to problems or questions. In this case, the mentee is persuaded to learning through observing categorizing and coming up with decisions that can make him live in the existing environment and overcome the fear. Pedagogy involves learning the academic concepts such as theories in the course of study (Muduli, 2018). I will

be directly involved in delivering the content by explaining what my mentee might not be in the position to understand in the nursing career.

Learning outcomes refer to what the teacher plan to be achieved at the end of a course or a program. In every learning system, a comprehensive curriculum has to be established to ensure that every concept is captured before the end of the term. It also keeps teachers and student on the same track by avoiding time wastage (Ashenafi, 2016). Among the determinants of learning outcomes is the learning plan or action plan. Usually, these plans are made in an official meeting to ensure that every teacher agrees. Learning objectives are also established to avoid skipping important areas of study.

My mentee is a kinaesthetic student he learns through demonstration. This means that the environment influences him in learning.  Being an attentive profession, getting the skills and the profession that are very important in nursing from official education in various institutions,  it contains everything that is around the student nurse comprising the student clinical equipment, instrument, staff and the mentor ( Nowell et al, 2015). As a mentor, the student should be the priority while in the institution. Therefore, any progress in behaviour and academics should be monitored. Mentors should develop a rapport with their students so that they can freely discuss matters affecting them. A good clinical learning atmosphere is made well by encouraging positive learning.

A positive medical learning environment is the area where learning and teaching take place in the very good and productive way (Dimitriadou et al, 2015).  .The mentor role in an optimistic mentoring environment is to motivate, encourage as well as acting as a good role model. The mentor may be able to make various opportunities for the instruction to occur by choosing major points from a more complex work.

The other important thing is that the mentee must be oriented well and the mentor should make the learner to feel welcomed. The environment prepares the mentee to appreciate his career and adopt the skills applied in his career. This serves to motivate and provide him with a professional working environment. The tutor should make sure he lays

A strong bond between the student and the working environment are much tied. My work as a mentor is to make sure that readily available resources, for example, manpower, procedure manual, manikins, training rooms, SOP/HAP are also available to the student. Knowledge, attitude together with skills (KAS) of the learner is required for a full check up by the mentor (Chen et al, 2016).

SWOT analysis is used to assess strength and weaknesses as the internal ability of any given organization, as opposed to opportunities and threats posed by external environments. The evidence of this analysis is today used for strategic planning (Gilley & Clarkston, 2014).SWOT analysis is the strategic planning to identify the strength, weaknesses and threats that face or affects any business, project and any situation In this regard, SWOT analysis serves a very important role in establishing the effectiveness of the learning environment for my mentee.

The most common worry among the nurses and my mentee, in particular, is the phobia to fail, seeming to be silly, loss of face, loss of job and having to change. To make sure this fear training mechanism in the clinical environment should be much designed for instruction on a given topic with shortly managed steps (Chuang & Tsao, 2013). My mentee strength is learning very easy and being able to associate with people. His weaknesses are fear and low self-esteem. He also fears to speak in the public. Analyzing his strengths and weakness leads to an opportunity to coach and motivate him to be the best of what he can be. In the end, I am sure the trend will be admirable and the outcomes will be marvelous.

The mentee should be left to know the area of performance as well as possible and should be able to adjust according to the learner’s performance. The other thing to note is that the mentor should not compare the student with somebody else, give more room to the learner to more practice as you use positive reinforcement in any way possible to raise the ego of the learner (Dimitriasdou M et al, 2014).

In mentoring, the action plan has several components that determine the achievements that should be fulfilled in a specified period. The components include learning goals which have their ways of doing them. The ways, in this case, are the steps that will be taken to achieve that mentoring goal (Basturkmen, 2015). It also includes the evaluation part which involves reviewing of the goals that have been achieved.

Figure 1. Table Showing the Learning Action Plan.                                                                                                            

Assessment is needed for obtaining information on which educational decisions will be based. It includes the collection, measurement, and interpretation of information related to student’s responses to the process of instruction. It is a measure of the mentee’s competence and progress (Mathysen & Goldik, 2015). Accurate records need to be maintained by the mentor to keep a track of the progress of the mentee. Regular meetings with the student are also essential to assess the progress. Self-assessment by the mentee should be encouraged as it is an effective and efficient tool required to identify his strengths and weaknesses. The mentee must develop an awareness of his own strengths, weaknesses, and standard of practice. The mid (formative) and final (summative) assessment both need to be considered (Tosterud et al, 2013).  The assessments should be consistent, stable and valid.  

The students who are slow learners need more time and attention as well as support to provide proper care for the patients. The mentors work is to integrate the theory into a practical aspect. Team orientating as well as induction are also very crucial (Lahti et al, 2014). Audiovisual aids and some techniques such as simulation must be used to make a real practical environment.  The team must also work in conjunction with a simulated medical environment to developed contact between the team and the mentor (Nowell et al, 2015).

Self-awareness and regulation are the two of the five very important components of emotional intelligence. This helps in recognizing the moods and understanding oneself emotions. It’s about understanding whatever somebody may be feeling or doing as well as the factors that may have brought it (Hidayah, 2015). We are always fearful about the things that we sometimes not understand. Self-awareness helps one to reduce anxiety or what is called panic, the most important to personal success and the growth is always to pay attention to our emotional patterns, learn from them, ready to regulate them but not to fight them (Hidayah, 2015).

The importance of feedback is very important since provides timely and is very specific. Seeking feedback from the student is very crucial for a mentor to adopt the new strategies.

If a student is to benefit from a feedback it must not be frequent and timely, but also very important for improving performance by checking the key three areas. It entails what the student performed well, what the student requires to improve in and how to improve. Giving a detailed feedback is very crucial and very important to give it in a timely manner.

Conclusion

I have learnt that it’s significant to evaluate the style of learning of the mentee before making decisions for dealing with underachieving learners. The information got from theories is useful in the evaluation process. Team support and clinical working environment play an important function. The teaching and learning assessment under the three discussed meetings can help come up with the best teaching and learning style, and also identify the effective work plan that can improve the performance of students. Applying the VAK learning styles and theories of learning appropriately also can improve the learning outcome. More so, teachers should always encourage their students to ensure good performance.

 Lastly, teachers and mentors should always award marks to students according to their efforts in class and during practice placements, as this will instil a positive attitude in all learners in a learning institution. The mentee desires to be fully aware and conscious of their inability. If the awareness of deficiency and skill is non-existent or low. The learner will have no desire to learn (unconscious incompetence). Thus it is essential to create alertness of the faintness (conscious of their wants and its importance) earlier to revealing guidance so as to proceed to the following phase, for example, learning (conscious incompetence). I would recommend that the mentors be given all infrastructural resources they need to enhance physical learning to the students.

References

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