Tailoring Teaching to The Learner: Developmental Perspective on Learning, Motivation and Emotional Intelligence

Tailoring Teaching to The Learner: Developmental Perspective on Learning, Motivation and Emotional Intelligence. A Developmental Perspective on Learning, Motivation and Emotional Intelligence.

Developmental Perspective on Learning, Motivation and Emotional Intelligence: Tailoring Teaching to The Learner

A Developmental Perspective on Learning

Faculty should also consider the developmental views that students hold about learning. At the most elementary level is the learner who views faculty members as experts who impart knowledge that is to be memorized for future use. Faculty is seen as the keeper of the correct answers and depositors of knowledge into the learners’ brains. Eventually, learners move into the next stage, recognizing that knowledge is often a matter of opinion and that experts can disagree.

Some learners move to the next stage where they recognize that certain criteria are used as the basis for making sound judgments. Only at the highest level of learning is there consistent use of independent, critical, and creative thinking both in the classroom and in everyday living. At this point, learners become aware of and have the ability to evaluate their own thinking.

According to this developmental scheme, learners move forward and backward between levels rather than just upward to the highest level. Thus, faculty need to help learners age their ability to view knowledge and learning as concrete and stagnant, and should adopt a variety of teaching strategies to assist in moving learners through this developmental scheme (Bain, 2004). Several teaching tips include:

• Challenging students with questions, such as “How do you know that?” “What questions are still left unanswered?”
• Case studies with complex problems
• Problem-based learning activities
• Critical thinking scenarios that encourage students to weigh evidence and make judgments

Motivation

Learning begins only when the learner is motivated to learn the material ( Leamnson , 1999). Wlodkowski proposed that motivation refers to “those processes that can:

(a) arouse and instigate behavior

(b) give direction and purpose to behavior

(c) continue to allow behavior to persist

(d) lead to choosing or professing a particular behavior (1978, p. 12).

Motivation is concerned with the will or desire of the student to put forth the effort to teach (Davis, 1993). To become motivated to learn, the learner must experience it as a need or feel a desire to know. Thus, learning can be effective if it satisfies a curiosity or natural interest.

Faculty members need to capitalize on broad categories of motivators, such as individual improvement, needed employment competencies, or acquisition of a degree or certification requirements to influence or stimulate the student’s motivation to learn (Greive, 2002). 

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is often recognized as a central characteristic of effective clinical nursing practice (McCormack, 1993; McQueen, 2004). Emotional intelligence (EI) has been defined by Freshman and Rubino (2002) as “proficiency in intrapersonal and interpersonal skills in the areas of self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, social awareness, and social skills” (p. 1 ).

Given that nurses encounter stressful events, such as caring for a dying patient, nursing educators should be mindful of teaching students to enhance their performance abilities related to EI. EI can be learned and developed and improved with age (Vitello- Cicciu , 2003). Debriefing and discussing emotionally charged clinical situations can help students to learn about the emotional sides of issues and to remain calm and think more clearly under pressure (Miller, 2005).

First assessing and then enhancing EI can shield student psyches from emotional work that can be stressful and exhausting (McQueen, 2004). Unrelenting work of this nature otherwise can lead to burnout. One part of EI consists of interpersonal intelligence, which encompasses such abilities as being able to organize groups, negotiate solutions, make personal connections, and engage in social analysis.

The other aspect of EI is intrapersonal intelligence, which includes empathizing; trying to understand another’s perspective, and engaging in counseling skills (McQueen, 2004). The ability to monitor one’s emotions and the intelligent use of emotions to guide behavior and thinking enhances the effectiveness and outcomes in a given situation, which can ultimately lead to professional and personal success.

Evans and Allen (2002) suggest that nurses’ abilities to establish a rapport with patients, manage their own emotions, and empathize with patients are essential to providing quality psychosocial care. EI, however, is often not emphasized in nursing curricula. Cadman and Brewer (2001) suggest that faculty should assess the EI of students before program admission and provide interpersonal skills training to build a sound emotional foundation to help students deal more effectively with the emotional labor involved in becoming a nurse and to function effectively as part of the interdisciplinary health-care team.

The aim of incorporating EI training would not only be to improve the students’ self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation, social awareness, and social skills but also to augment their skills in the area of providing empathetic care to meet the psychosocial needs of patients. Learning to know oneself through self-reflection can lead to learning how to deal more effectively in challenging situations (Miller, 2005).

Strategies should be used to enhance self-reflection and self-evaluation to enable students to explore their feelings and the emotional work involved in providing quality nursing care. Developing EI does not occur simply by reading about it.

First, self-awareness of ineffective behaviors must be identified and new behaviors must be rehearsed until mastered and used routinely. Faculty can act as mentors and role models giving accurate feedback about a student’s behavior and performance during a stressful client situation. Some teaching tips include:

• In classroom and post-conference discussions, identify cause and effect behaviors that elicit ideas about alternative patterns of behavior to use when encountering difficult clients. This can lead to identification of one’s emotional reaction and how it can affect another person, as well as identify other possible effective responses.
• Have students write a reflective journal to identify their own strengths and limitations regarding their empathy, respect for diversity, self-control, trustworthiness, adaptability to change, etc. Have students write their feelings and concerns about clinical assignments before and after taking care of their patient assignment so they can begin to evaluate their EI.
• Encourage students to pursue goals beyond what is expected of them. Mobilize them to seize opportunities and participate as leaders and initiators of projects within student groups or classroom activities.
• Role model empathy with patients and students to foster students’ abilities to learn how to be attentive to emotional cues and listen empathetically.
• Offer frequent feedback, mentoring, and coaching to challenge students to objectively evaluate themselves and others.
• Employ cooperative learning strategies to emphasize the importance of team identity and modeling of behaviors associated with helpfulness and cooperation among students.

Read More: 

https://nurseseducator.com/tailoring-teaching-to-the-learner-assessing-the-learner-readiness-to-learn-barriers/

https://nurseseducator.com/tailoring-teaching-to-the-learner-millennium-students-and-characteristics/

https://nurseseducator.com/tailoring-teaching-to-the-learner-multicultural-assessment-of-students-and-environments/

https://nurseseducator.com/tailoring-teaching-to-the-learner-teaching-tips-to-help-students-strategies-to-enhance-motivation-and-literacy/

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