Role of Educator in Learning In Nursing Education and Determinants

Whats are Determinants
of Learning

    In
a variety of settings, nurses are responsible for the education of patients,
families, staff, and students. Numerous factors make the nurse educator’s role
particularly challenging in meeting the information needs of these various
groups of learners. For example, short lengths of stay compress the amount of
contact time the nurse has with patients and families, making it difficult to
capitalize on teachable moments. 

    In the case of staff, educational and
experiential levels differ widely and time constraints are ever present in the
practice setting. Various staffing patterns, part time employment, and varied
job functions can put the educator’s ability to complete an accurate education
assessment of staff to the test.Also,
the nurse educator must consider many other factors in meeting information
needs of learners. 

    For example, the US population is becoming more culturally
and linguistically diverse because of the increased number of foreign-born
individuals entering the country in recent years. Notably, the percentage of
baccalaureate nursing students from minority backgrounds rose from 25.2% in
2006 to 31.6% in 2015 (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2016). In
addition, the nation’s population 65 and older is growing rapidly. As for age,
students are entering schools of nursing at an older age, bringing with them
diverse life experiences and the demands of working and raising families while
furthering their education. 

    These factors all affect the nursing educator’s
assessment of information needs of nursing students, patients, and families (US
Census Bureau, 2012, 2015). Other changing healthcare trends and population
demographics mean that nurse educators must constantly assess the determinants
of learning for the varied audiences of learners they teach.

Factors Affecting Learning

To
meet these challenges, the nurse educator must be aware of the various factors
that influence how well an individual learns. The three determinants of
learning that require assessment are:

(a) the preferred needs of the learner

(b) the state of readiness to learn

(c) the learning styles for processing
information. 

Role of Educator in Learning

    The
role of educating others is one of the most essential interventions that a
nurse performs. To do it well, the nurse must both identify the information
learners need and consider their readiness to learn and their styles of
learning. The learner not the teacher is the single most important person in
the educational process.Educators
can greatly enhance learning when they serve as facilitators helping the
learner become aware of what needs to be known, why knowing is valuable, and
how to be actively involved in acquiring information (Musinski, 1999; Sykes,
Durham, & Kingston, 2013) . 

    Just providing information to the learner,
however, does not ensure that learning will occur. There is no guarantee that
the learner will acquire the information given, although there is a greater
opportunity to learn if the educator assesses the determinants of learning.

    Assessment
permits the nurse educator to facilitate the process of learning by arranging
experiences within the environment that assist the learner to find the purpose,
the will, and the most suitable approaches for learning. An assessment of the
three determinants of learning enables the educator to identify information and
present it in a variety of ways, which a learner cannot do alone. Manipulating
the environment allows learners to experience meaningful parts and wholes to
reach their individual potentials,

The
educator plays a crucial role in the learning process by doing the following:

    Assessing problems or deficits and learners’ abilities Providing important best
evidence information and presenting it in unique and appropriate ways
Identifying progress being made Giving feedback and follow-up Reinforcing
learning in the acquisition of new knowledge, skills, and attitudes Determining
the effectiveness of education provided

    The
educator is vital in giving support, encouragement, and direction during the
process of learning. Learners may make choices on their own without the
assistance of an educator, but these choices may be limited or inappropriate.
For example, the nurse facilitates necessary changes in the home environment,
such as minimizing distractions by having family members turn off the
television to provide a quiet environment conducive for concentrating on a
learning activity. 

    The educator assists in identifying optimal learning
approaches and activities that can both support and challenge the learner based
on his or her individual learning needs, readiness to learn, and learning
style.

 Assessment of the Learner

    Assessment
of learners’ needs, readiness, and styles of learning is the first and most
important step in instructional design but it is also the step most likely to
be neglected. The importance of assessment of the learner may seem
self-evident, yet often only lip service is given to this initial phase of the
educational process. Frequently, the nurse dives into teaching before
addressing all the determinants of learning. The result is that information
given to the patient is neither individualized nor based on an adequate
educational assessment. 

    Evidence suggests, however, that individualizing
teaching based on prior assessment improves patient outcomes (Corbett, 2003;
Frank-Bader, Beltran, & Dojlidko , 2011; Kim et al., 2004; Miaskowski et
al., 2004) and satisfaction (Bakas et al., 2009; Wagner, Bear, & Davidson,
2011). For example, Corbett’s (2003) research demonstrates that providing
individualized education to home care patients with diabetes significantly
improves their foot care practices.

    Nurses
are taught that any nursing intervention should be preceded by an assessment.
Few would deny that this is the correct approach, no matter whether planning
for giving direct physical care, meeting the psychosocial needs of a patient,
or teaching someone to be independent in self-care or in the delivery of care.
The effectiveness of nursing care clearly depends on the scope, accuracy, and
comprehensiveness of assessment prior to interventions.

    What
makes assessment so significant and fundamental to the educational process? This
initial step in the process validates the need for learning and the approaches
to be used in designing learning experiences. Patients who desire or require
information to maintain optimal health as well as nursing colleagues who must
have a greater scope or depth of knowledge to deliver high-quality care to
patients deserve to have an assessment done by the educator so that their needs
as learners are appropriately addressed.

    Assessments
do more than simply identify and prioritize information for the purposes of
setting behavioral goals and objectives, planning instructional interventions,
and being able to evaluate in the long run whether the learner has achieved the
desired goals and objectives. Good assessments ensure that optimal learning can
occur with the least amount of stress and anxiety for the learner. 

    Assessment
prevents needless repetition of known material, saves time and energy on the
part of both the learner and the educator, and helps to establish positive
communication between the two parties (Haggard, 1989). Furthermore, it
increases the motivation to learn by focusing on what the patient or staff
member feels is most important to know or to be able to do.

    Why,
then, is this first step in the education process so often overlooked or only partially
carried out? Lack of time is the number one reason that nursing educators
shortchange the assessment phase (Haddad, 2003; Lee & Lee, 2013; Marcum,
Ridenour, Shaff, Hammons, & Taylor, 2002). 

    Such factors as shortened
hospital stays and limited contact with patients and families in other
healthcare settings, combined with the tighter schedules of nursing staff as a
result of increased practice demands, have reduced the amount of time available
for instruction. 

    Because time constraints are a major concern when carrying out
patient or staff education, nurses must become skilled in accurately conducting
assessments of the three determinants of learning in order to have reserve time
for actual teaching in addition, many nurses, although expected and required by
them nursing practice acts to instruct others who are unfamiliar with the
principles of teaching and learning. 

    The nurse in the role of educator must
become better acquainted and comfortable with all the elements of instructional
design, particularly with the assessment phase because it serves as the
foundation for the rest of the educational process. Assessment of the learner
includes attending to the three determinants of learning (Haggard, 1989):

1.     1.Learning
needs what the learner needs and wants to learn.

2.    2.Readiness to learn-when the learner is receptive to learning.

3.    3.
Learning style-how the learner best learns.