Interactive Learning with Technology – Oh…the Possibilities!

 

"Learning is an experience. Everything else is just information."

-Albert Einstein 

An amazing variety of technology resources are available for the nurse educator to create an interactive and fun learning environment for students! Teachers can use these tools to increase students’ engagement in active learning and provide real-world experiences. The possibilities seem endless for the creative teacher who uses interactive teaching strategies to help students understand, remember, and apply knowledge. High fidelity simulations provide an opportunity for students to develop skills and competencies that prepare them for future nursing practice. Other cutting-edge technology (Voki, blogs, clickers, serious gaming, Webquests and digital story telling to name a few!) offers various approaches to best fit the learning needs of the student nurses. Integrating technology into the classroom allows educators to promote active, authentic, applied and experiential learning experiences. 

As a nurse educator of the 21st century, it is vital to use technology to promote active learning in my class. This will engage my students in learning and prepare them for clinical practice. A variety of technology-supported assignments will be used to meet the diverse learning styles of my students. I am especially interested in accessing electronic repositories for Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs). RLOs are learning activities available in digital format that can be used and reused with nursing students to achieve learning outcomes. They are developed by content experts, peer reviewed, and made available for educators to use in their own courses. RLOs are easy to locate and use to assist learning. They save educators from “reinventing the wheel,” and can add variety to lesson plans and course activities. RLOs can also be used as tutorials for content that is difficult to learn; as simulations to give users an opportunity to apply information to a clinical problem and make decisions about patient care; and as games that allow users to practice learned material. 

 

As a student, I have enjoyed the use of wikis and plan to implement this technology tool in my teaching strategy. A wiki is a collaborative website allowing users to edit and contribute information in an asynchronous environment. The use of a wiki allows group work to continue beyond the classroom, promoting student engagement and a sense of community. A wiki might be used as a collaborative space for scheduling meetings with students, sign-ups for presentations, interactive study guides, and posting of additional course resources (e.g. videos, links to documents/media, etc.). It can also be a platform for reflective writing and dialogue, for clinical preparation (creating a care plan, or debriefing after a simulation), and for presenting an evidence-based approach to a nursing problem. 

Technology resources for nurse educators...Oh the possibilities! Which interactive teaching strategies would you like to use?