Mexican Monday!
The theme of this month's gathering of our FLC was Mexican Monday! Our team participated in relaxation and camaraderie as we engaged in interesting conversations over drinks and delicious food! The guacamole was a hit, and everyone had so much to say it was tough to get a word in edgewise.
We talked about strategies to assist faculty with difficult students that have trouble working with others. The consensus was pretty much "suck it up, buttercup," but maybe having the learners identify the strengths of the "problem student" or having the "problem student" be the patient in a role-play scenario are a couple of ways that the students can work on the social skills that it takes to be a professional in healthcare. We all agreed that the bottom line is we all have to learn to be professionals even if we don't particularly "like" who we are assigned to work with.
Concern was expressed over the lack of study skills that students have, their tendency not to write down instructions when given, and just the absence of general organizational skills needed for learning. While there is no "magic" solution for these issues, there are things that we can do as educators to assist students in getting over the hurdle. Pinpointing particular students that are having trouble and suggesting that they go to Student Support Services is one option. Dr. Hunsinger jokingly suggested that students have a 6-8 week course on just how to study, take notes, and become self-directed learners before beginning their program of study. Strategies like prioritizing. and pulling pertinent information from difficult text are skills that must be developed, and unfortunately, many students are not coming to us with these skills.
Linda E. shared the organizational chart that she creates to keep up with all of the courses in which she's involved. The chart is much like a "to do" checklist for her courses so she knows that she's done certain things in each course (like date announcements, etc).
Here are a few resources that I came across while summarizing our FLC gathering that I hope will be useful for you ...
We talked about strategies to assist faculty with difficult students that have trouble working with others. The consensus was pretty much "suck it up, buttercup," but maybe having the learners identify the strengths of the "problem student" or having the "problem student" be the patient in a role-play scenario are a couple of ways that the students can work on the social skills that it takes to be a professional in healthcare. We all agreed that the bottom line is we all have to learn to be professionals even if we don't particularly "like" who we are assigned to work with.
Concern was expressed over the lack of study skills that students have, their tendency not to write down instructions when given, and just the absence of general organizational skills needed for learning. While there is no "magic" solution for these issues, there are things that we can do as educators to assist students in getting over the hurdle. Pinpointing particular students that are having trouble and suggesting that they go to Student Support Services is one option. Dr. Hunsinger jokingly suggested that students have a 6-8 week course on just how to study, take notes, and become self-directed learners before beginning their program of study. Strategies like prioritizing. and pulling pertinent information from difficult text are skills that must be developed, and unfortunately, many students are not coming to us with these skills.
Linda E. shared the organizational chart that she creates to keep up with all of the courses in which she's involved. The chart is much like a "to do" checklist for her courses so she knows that she's done certain things in each course (like date announcements, etc).
Here are a few resources that I came across while summarizing our FLC gathering that I hope will be useful for you ...