NUGGETS stands for 'New undergraduate Gems: Great Educator Tips Shared'. This is a monthly remote workshop (12-1pm first Wednesday of the month) which aims to develop educators. The first workshop was held on the 7th of September and below is a summary of ideas.
How do students feeling valued relate to wellbeing and learning?
How do we make students feel valued as part of the clinical team?
What might this look like for inducting students into our practices?
Providing food and drinks to create an informal atmosphere
We provide them with food and drinks. We ask them what drinks they would like.
We provide them with cake, flowers and drinks
I want them to be comfortable
Make it less formal. Provide coffee and a welcome party.
Getting to know the students
We spend a significant amount of time getting to know each other
We have a structured induction plan
I tell them about my life story. My interests, career, and hobbies, then they open up and tell me about themselves
Students meet most of the staff.
Making the students feel valued
We make sure everyone is aware of the students and get them to meet the staff.
I took the students to a care home ward round.
I want to make sure the students don’t feel useless
If they are not engaged on the first day it will be difficult to engage them during the placement.
They are part of the everything. Meetings, huddles. They see fully trained drs asking questions and they get involved.
Ideas for activities and engaging with students
Observing consultations and then the students type this up. They learn how to use the patient health record.
Students get involved in the teaching. They plan their session. When they get involved they are more engaged.
I invite students to help plan the next teaching session.
The ideas shared and discuss related to educational theory.
Students learning on placements is inherently risky. They are learning and performing in front of their peers, tutors and patients on complex subject matters. The interpersonal risks include mistakes, sharing ideas, challenging others, showing emotions, and experimenting.
Psychological safety is defined as “a shared belief held by members of a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking.” Amy Edmondson
How can you reduce these interpersonal risks and create a safe learning environment?
Communicating with students, and the practice team before they attend placements.
The first day is really important.
Providing basic needs eg lockers, food, drinks
Use conversations to share your experience and find out theirs.
Make statements about mistakes, and vulnerabilities and that it's ok.
Get them to meet the team.
Create informal spaces eg coffee shop, walks, and unstructured sessions.
Students develop their learning
There is evidence that task authenticity or fidelity enhances the learning for students.
How can you deliver authentic experiences?
Students documenting in patients' notes
Observing encounters
Being on-call
Situated learning suggests that placements are communities of practice. Students arrive at the periphery and move towards the centre, where they are part of the team.
Support students to move to the centre of learning
How can we do this?
Provide psychological safety
Provide authentic learning opportunities.
Attending to the social and psychological needs
Ensuring the whole practice is aware and engaged with the students learning
Constructivism suggests that learners co-construct their knowledge through experience and reflection. This is building on prior knowledge. Knowing where they are helps to provide tailored learning experiences.
How can we achieve this?
The first day is important. Create a safe environment and understand what their ideas, concerns and expectations are.
Learning at the zone of proximal development (ZPD) provides better learning. Students need to be scaffolded by a more knowledgeable other (MKO). This is an idea developed by Vygotsky.
How might we do this?
Authentic patient encounters (eg on-call) with support from the tutor (eg remotely via MS teams)
Inputting medical records
Students learn better if the opportunities are developed around their learning needs.
How might we do this?
Students developing the tutorials. They feel more engaged.
Being flexible and asking them to guide the learning
Sian Hsiang-Te Tsuei 1, Dongho Lee, Charles Ho, Glenn Regehr, Laura Nimmon
Affiliations expand
PMID: 31365407
Int J Med Educ. 2019; 10: 113–121.
Published online 2019 Jun 14. doi: 10.5116/ijme.5cf7.d60c