I have learned as an instructor, that to ask students for examples of their great work achieves two important things, a) it supports me to help future students with an example of what I am expecting from them (which provides clarity and transparency) and, b) it provides the student who is supplying the work with a massive boost to their self-efficacy. I am happy and proud to showcase some examples of student work here and I am grateful to them for allowing me to share.
In the lab with practical nursing students, I introduced the unfolding case study pedagogy. During the semester, students would practice and apply skills to their “client” – Mr. Harry Potter (apologies to JK Rowling)! Evidence for an unfolding case study pedagogy lends itself more to the classroom but it was introduced by my peers to the lab setting in the BSN program and when I transferred to practical nursing I brought it along with me.
It was introduced in level 2 and each week, students covered content in theory and then application in lab to Harry. An example for one of the weeks – Harry has back pain and requires medication for pain. This coincided with students learning theoretically about medication administration (in class) and then performing the skill in the lab setting – all with Harry in mind.
The first year I introduced this concept, the course ended with a final exam, all unrelated to Harry. As I watched the students write away at the multiple choice, I could not help but feel that something was lost. All of the great connections and learning they had made about Harry through working with him each week got lost. So for the next year i changed things up!
The result was a three part assignment so that students could demonstrate in all ways – written, visually and orally, what they knew about Harry, the connections they had made, and how this all informed their nursing practice.
The visual part of this exercise was a concept map in a group of three. Students were asked to choose three concepts form the semester and connect them. Here is what happened:
