Introduction: Traditional vs. Non-Traditional Teaching

An excerpt from a presentation on traditional teaching vs. non traditional teaching given by Victoria Soltis-Jarrett, PhD, PMHCNS/NP-BC, FAANP, Clinical Professor, MPHNP Coordinator, Family Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recorded at the International Society of Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurses Conference

The whole idea of tonight is just to give some structure which is really looking at what what can you do to enhance your educational and teaching pieces and psych mental health nursing.

So we all know and particularly if you teach that nursing in particular any practiced discipline.

I think there is a chasm or chasm between theory and practice and there has been a long argument about how we do that. And so we know that people tend to stand up at a podium like I’m doing and and do PowerPoint lectures and then the students go out to their clinical and they’re trying to make that connection.

But the difference with using non traditional types of teaching are starting to evolve in technology and media or video is one way. Now we all remember as high score middle school even whenever it was movie day you saw the projector in the room and you were like “Oh good.” We’re not going to have that class.

Remember the old fashion.

But you know that again those of us that were in nursing I mean some of the movies we saw were pretty cheesy I think using your word which was you know like Mrs. Smith goes to the hospital or something.

Do you remember that one? Yeah, yeah. It was good. That was that.

Yes, you’re right. That was the only one because I still think about her. Yeah. So I mean it did in print but you know there were others that we were just like oh God you know we’re gonna watch like how to make a bed or how to do this or you know.

But this particular series and there’s several series that I want to show you is really a great way of either enhancing your teaching or affirming to the students a particular type of diagnosis symptom and I’ll show you some of them.

So when you’re looking at traditional teaching versus non traditional teaching and this is just really an overview that that traditionally we’ve done a didactic content member we used overheads with overhead markers. Yeah that was pretty bad. And then slides we use slides and then we evolved a PowerPoint right.

And now we’re, I’m evolving to his Mac which is like another language from Microsoft or a PC.

The other traditional way that we assess students were through multiple choice examinations. Now we know that our board exam is a multiple choice test and there’s no way we can get around that. So our students do need to have experience taking those. But I think there are other ways of assessing students that actually allow us to test their competencies in a different way not just from a multiple choice exam. So some non traditional teaching ways and I know that I’m speaking to the choir here but case based curriculum where you actually start with a case.

But what we did today was to show you that you could start with a case but you could also start with a video and you know you’re going to talk about a lecture and then you can break it apart.

Now there’s a whole series in this military series so you could actually have different clips from it that you watch or that you have the students watch the other sort of term or a concept in the literature as problem of folks focused content. Again it’s focusing on the problem that’s sort of the medical model the medical schools do problem based or problem focused content. So they’re looking at the problem I think in nursing we try to not say if it’s a problem or a strength or weakness we’re looking at both aren’t we.  But also the use of technology.

Many people are using blackboard and then also assessment is changing. I hope that it’s changing where you are and that you’re trying to use some other methods of assessing competence. So what is best when we’re using video or media in psych mental health nursing? Well when you’re in and if you’re teaching in an undergraduate program I mean media and the streaming is providing tools that can assist the student to pass and clicks That’s the end point.

So if we’re looking at and those of us that have taught an undergrad you know that here are the things they need to know. And so you just be reinforcing it. And I’ll give you some examples and show you the website so that you can see for graduate programs I really have a competent competency based program. So I basically have competencies embedded in the courses and then the students have to meet that competency by the end of the course and by the end of the program certainly in S.E.

I found this particular tool if you teach in a hospital or you are you consulting with hospitals or as you know a patient whatever. I have found this to be incredibly useful because many times these folks want to learn about it and they’re scared.  But giving them examples about what it looks like what.

And that’s what’s realistic about these actors is that they’re able to show that emotion or that symptom or an example of a developmental stage. They have different I’ll show you that as well. But it’s it’s been really good for. For when I do the consulting to be able to show med surge nurses in particular non psych nurses or the symptom or sorry that the psych nurses they actually do enjoy it.

Because you’re sitting in the audience but you can try these things out.

So we’re gonna give you that opportunity when you go home to be able to do this.

Help the teachers help the students deal with what comes up great in a very safe place. That’s right. Process. That’s right. Or or go again you I understand they have some issues to address. Exactly.