Jan. 4, 2012

Lecture again at 0800, during which time we had lecture.  Well, at least that's what I'd like to say.  Instead, we have "team-based learning".  And, we don't even get to choose our teams!  I can appreciate the wisdom in randomly selecting our teams--we are going to have to learn how to work with all sorts of people, even people we may not get along with or associate with.  However, I feel I would learn better if I was in a group of people I am friends with or associate more frequently with--or just am more comfortable around.  Not to mention that we are basically being asked to learn the material ourselves and then present case studies.  So, read your textbook and then teach the class.

I can see this being useful in some settings.  But when we are learning how to care for human beings, I don't think having inexperienced nursing STUDENTS read dry textbooks and then present the information is the best way to go about it.  The professors are supposed to be TEACHING us, using their experiences and the textbook as a guide that has the most up-to-date evidence-based practices.

Not to mention that if you get a bunch of students in groups, how many of them are actually going to do the group work?  Only one or two, and the others will just chit-chat.

I am frustrated by this method of "learning"--if you can even say that we are learning anything.  I know I am learning a few things, but I don't feel I am getting as much out of it as I could be getting if it were a more traditional, lecture-style class.

In any case, I will hope that the other professor who teaches this class will have a lot less team-based activities, and a lot more lecturing.

And now that I am done ranting about this ridiculous experiment in learning, I will go on to say that we had lab this afternoon.  We got to meet our clinical instructors, and then we had the opportunity to watch the instructors demonstrate the postpartum and newborn assessments.  The catch?  We have to check off on these during our hospital orientations this week.  If we don't pass, we don't get to participate in clinicals--they have to make sure we are competent enough to handle doing these assessments on real patients.

Upon getting home--I feel like sleeping, but I have many more videos to watch and readings to get done before class.  At 0800 in the morning.  Again.