This past week at work was a very interesting! Now that we are in the middle of Spring Semester, I am finding the students I work with becoming very frustrated with their lecture classes. I saw a glimpse of this last semester, but did not have time to pay much attention because I so busy with my new responsibilities as the lab coordinator. This semester I am finding myself stuck in the middle!
I have always tried to be a strong student advocate but because I am not an actual instructor my hands are tied to my specific areas (lab and clinical math). The students come to me for help with math and then begin "venting" about a test they were given in lecture. Of course there is not much that I can say, because I would never disrespect an instructor to a student. I am torn because I feel that the majority of the older faculty is acting more as the "nurses who feed on their young" and less as student advocates. I honestly do not feel that the students are learning because they are so focused on the fact that the instructors are out to fail them. I find it very insteresting that an instructor would not question his/her teaching methods or test questions when only 2 out of 45 students pass a unit exam. When the instructor shared this information with me, my response was, "WOW, that really suprizes me because they are a smart group and made great grades in their previous class." The instructor quickly responded, "Well I think the first semester instructor really babies them through their tests." What does this even mean? If the majority of students are making good grades than the instructor is being too easy?
Of course not all instructors are using this same approach and as the students come to me and "vent", I find myself becoming more passionate about teaching in the future.
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It is truly frustrating to see this sort of behavior from faculty. Have heart! I see a new generation of nurse educators entering practice and this sort of thing seems to be far less common amongst them. In fact, I recently submitted a manuscript for publication in which one of the findings was that novice nurse educators were embracing humanist paradigms of educational thinking. The question is, of course, whether their new educational contexts will nurture them or "eat them."
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to hear that you're interested in pursuing a position as an educator. We need new nurse educators to bring fresh ideas and approaches to our educational practice. Keep on going with your education and you'll be there before you know it!