Engaging Learners

I currently work with students here at NKU in the Athletic Training Education Program as they complete their clinical assignments to our varsity sports. I have included a picture above with one of our students during his clinical rotation with women's softball. This is a unique instructional setting as most of what I do is completely hands-on. To actively engage these students, I have provided three examples. The first example is asking these students to perform clinical skills appropriate to their class level. For example, asking a level one student to perform wound care on an athlete- both appropriate to his or her skill level as well as promoting interaction with the athlete. Following this interaction a discussion is encouraged to evaluate how the skill was performed and critique the interaction. Secondly, in the world of sports medicine there can be a lot of downtime while covering a practice or treatment hours where the attention of both the student and the teacher is not directly focused on an athlete or patient. This time can be utilized to discuss various topics related to sports medicine or athletic training. While it is fun to engage in more lighthearted conversation, not much learning would take place. Therefore, students are often quizzed on recently discussed topics or skills they have learned in their coursework. When a student has difficulty recalling this information they are asked to look up the correct answer later that day and report back to the clinical instructor to be accountable for the information. This activity proves to be beneficial to both the student and the instructor as it provides opportunity for discussion, feedback and critical thinking. Finally, it is not possible to provide each student with hands-on experience for every situation they might encounter in their professional careers. At times the students will be provided with hypothetical situations to process and in some cases perform the clinical skills that would be appropriate in that situation. These interactions are great for targeting the weaknesses of a student as the situation provided to the student is at the discretion of the instructor and can change rapidly as it evolves. Additionally, I often have multiple students of varying levels. To utilize this, the senior student is used as a mentor to the sophomore or junior level student and is a valuable teaching/learning exchange. Finally, the text I have chosen for this course is Cultivating Judgement: A Sourcebook for Teaching Critical Thinking Across the Curriculum written by John Nelson. This book includes a variety of resources to promote critical thinking. It will prove an interesting exercise to adapt these activities for use in the clinical setting I currently operate in as well as the classroom setting in the future.