Running head: EVALUATION OF PRACTICUM EFFECTIVENESS 1

Evaluation of Practicum Effectiveness

Kristen Eden

Bethel College
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Evaluation of Practicum Effectiveness

The Masters of Science in Nursing teaching practicum through Bethel College has

allowed me to improve my skills as an educator in a variety of ways. I have been able to

experience teaching undergraduate nursing students in the clinical and classroom setting while

working with medical-surgical level two students from Bethel College. Both the clinical and

classroom settings are unique, and it has been interesting to see how the learning that takes place

in the classroom relates to the learning that takes place in the clinical setting.

I have enjoyed teaching the students in the clinical setting the most. Assisting them to

connect how their patient’s disease entities relate to the care they require has been a wonderful

experience. I love watching as they use the nursing skills they have been taught to care for their

patients. The excitement is contagious as they successfully complete a skill and feel proud of

themselves.

Being present as they thought through and questioned why their patient is receiving their

prescribed medications was an interesting experience and one that was the most challenging for

me. Although I have been a nurse for five years, I continue to learn new things every day about

medications such as how they are used and complications to monitor for. So at the beginning of

the practicum I was unsure if I knew enough to adequately teach them. But I realized that I do

know more than I thought and that my knowledge base is something that will continue to grow

with time and experience. Helping the students connect the rationales and nursing safety teaching

related to the medications was something I saw as a great responsibility. So I focused on

encouraging them to research these things before coming to me to administer their patient’s

medications.
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Throughout my time working with the students I learned so much from Lisa Ericson, my

preceptor, who coached me on all types of things from confronting students on unprofessional

behavior to quizzing students on medications and pathophysiology. She has been a wonderful

example of a kind yet strong clinical instructor and professor. I have really enjoyed observing

how she questions students and encourages them to use the knowledge they have to think

critically about why they do what they do for their patients. I have been able to learn so much

about asking students the right questions and linking new information and experiences to the old

information the students learned in prior courses and clinical rotations.

Self-Evaluations of Clinical Experience

Teaching in the clinical setting requires the educator to be knowledgeable about

pathophysiology, medications, nursing skills, charting, and professional communication with

patients, their family members, hospital staff, and students. At first, the idea of being responsible

for knowing everything my students needed to know was daunting and I felt inadequate to do

this. But as the weeks went on I saw that I was able to answer the students’ questions well and

help them connect their didactic learning to their experiences while caring for patients in the

clinical setting.

There were times when I had to look up certain diagnostic tests to explain them fully to a

student and reference the drug book before quizzing a student on the medication side effects and

nursing indications. But as I discussed this with Lisa, she said that after all her years of nursing

and educating she still has to look things up too. It is normal to need refreshers on these things,

and continuing education is important because in medicine and nursing there are always new

discoveries and changes to best practice.

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I feel that I performed well as an educator in the clinical setting. I assisted Lisa in

choosing interesting patient assignments for student with diseases and conditions that related to

the classroom content. This allowed me to encourage solidification of learning as I was able to

provide the students with real-life examples such as patients with COPD and sickle-cell anemia.

I also made an effort to ask students what skills they have not yet had a chance to practice in the

clinical setting and assign them patients that fit their learning goal.

I was also able to practice my leadership skills while facilitating discussion during post-

conference. I encouraged the students to share about their experiences that day so everyone was

able to learn something new that they did not get a chance to experience firsthand. Leading post-

conference also allowed me to teach new information, such as the time I explained how g-tubes

are different than j-tubes and the rationale for one over the other. I was able to present

information on professionalism in the nursing profession during one post-conference and

included a role play game that encouraged the students to interact with the material in a creative

way and make decisions on how they would react to a situation where bullying was taking place.

I also enjoyed the post-conference time because it gave the students an opportunity to process

their day and discuss any questions they had about their patient’s care with myself, Lisa, and the

other students. It was enjoyable to observe the students communicate how their experiences

related to each other’s.

I made my best effort to integrate my Christian faith into the experience as well. My faith

in Christ enables me to find hope in seemingly hopeless situations and share that hope with my

students and their patients. Having a heart that cares about the needs of others is something that

comes from God and is something that I always want to value in my students. I showed the

spiritual fruit of patience in many situations during the semester and at times needed to be kind-
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hearted with students that had bad attitudes or seemed unmotivated and bored. Being a godly

example by speaking with respect and kindness to others is something that I wanted to impress

upon my students. I feel that I did a good job exemplifying these qualities.

Self-Evaluations of Didactic Experience

I was able to prepare and present a lecture on the musculoskeletal system content of the

course for my classroom teaching requirement of the practicum. I enjoyed researching the

diseases such as osteoporosis and lupus and preparing visually appealing PowerPoint slides that

encouraged my students to learn. I liked searching for pictures to use to illustrate and assist me in

describing musculoskeletal abnormalities such as fractures and surgical interventions such as

fasciotomies. As someone who learns best through visualizing the material, I chose to

incorporate lots of graphics and a video into my lecture.

I feel that I did a good job developing the outcomes to reflect the content and objectives

of the course. I linked my content to the outcomes and ensured that the students understood the

importance of the information taught and how it would enable them to meet the learning

outcomes of the teaching presentation. However, I would have liked to have done a better job at

incorporating professional nursing standard terms such as evidence-based practice and safety

concerns. Though the material I taught was from peer-reviewed sources, I should have

verbalized this to the students so they would gain a greater understanding of the importance of

these terms.

I feel that I did a good job explaining the content on diagnostic imaging, fractures, and

surgical interventions but struggled to fully explain the disease entities of osteoporosis and lupus

as they are more complex and detailed in nature. This content was also towards the middle of the

presentation and I became nervous as I realized I was quickly running out of time. Next time I
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teach a lecture, I will practice timing each area of content and knowing the key pieces of

information to share on each topic. I will also review the content several times, especially the

content that I am unfamiliar with. This will allow me to thoroughly teach on each point without

missing key pieces of information.

I feel that I showed enthusiasm for teaching and an interest in the subject matter. I tried to

ask questions throughout the lecture to keep student interest and attention to promote learning.

However, I should have spent more time allowing student to ask and answer questions. I know it

was because of my nervousness and dislike for silence, but it important for student

comprehension. So next time, I will pause after each new area of content and allow for questions

and responses.

I feel that I did a good job creating an atmosphere conducive to learning. I was friendly

and approachable at the beginning of class before lecture began, asked questions throughout the

lecture, and thanked students for their responses. I avoided using sarcasm or other types of

negative and unprofessional language. And I demonstrated concern for students when I offered

to allow them to share their prayer requests during the devotional time before beginning the

lecture.

Preceptor Evaluations of Clinical Experience

My preceptor, Lisa, provided me with some encouraging feedback. She said that my

input when making patient assignments was very helpful and that I am able to choose

appropriate patients for the students to care for. She said that I am an excellent role model with

my clinical skills and knowledge and that I am approachable for my students and the patients. I

have also done a great job building relationships with my students and have developed the ability

to ask good questions to encourage their critical thinking.

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She suggested I continue to grow into the faculty role and see myself as such and not as a

graduate student. Though I am close in age to many of the students, my experience puts me in a

different category than that of the students and I need to see myself as their leader and resource.

She also suggested I continue to work on providing students with helpful feedback on their care

plans. She said this comes with time and experience but that I have a good start in knowing how

to compare good care plans from bad and how to give suggestions for improvement.

Preceptor Evaluations of Didactic Experience

Lisa challenged me to improve my lecture skills by thoroughly knowing the information I

am presenting so that I will not struggle to remember terms or make mistakes when describing

how disease entities work or why medications are prescribed. She also suggested this will help

with my tendency to look at the PowerPoint slides so often. I feel that most of my need to look at

the PowerPoint slides while lecturing related to my nervousness. Lisa stated this is something

that will subside with time and experience as I become more comfortable simply being in front

of a large group of people. The fear of public speaking is something I will have to overcome as I

continue my career as an educator and nursing faculty member.

Lisa did encourage me, however, by stating that my lecture looked well developed with

nice visuals and organized content. I was happy to hear this as preparing lecture content is

something I really enjoy doing. Though the idea of creating a course from scratch seems like a

great undertaking, I feel that I have the tools to do so successfully if I am required to do so in the

future. I know where to find evidence-based material, how to choose what is most important for

my students to learn, and creative ways to present the material using a variety of active learning

methods that I have learned throughout the MSN program.

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Student Evaluations of Didactic Experience

I asked the students to evaluate my presentation of the musculoskeletal content during my

lecture in the classroom at Bethel. They provided some insightful suggestions for improvement

and I am impressed with how gracious they were when doing so. I provided them each with an

evaluation form at the beginning of the lecture. This form asked the students to rate the quality of

my performance as well as the quality of the presentation.

A few of the students suggested the need for me to pause longer after new content areas

to allow for questions. This is something that both my preceptor and course faculty suggested as

well. In order to improve in this area, I will ensure that I try to relax before class so that my

nervousness does not take over and prevent me from performing to the best of my abilities. I

might also include a slide after each new content area that simply says “Questions?” in order to

force myself to allow time for this while I am getting used to the flow of lecturing.

The students also suggested that I fully explain new concepts that are difficult to

understand, such as the pathophysiology of osteomyelitis. I do feel that I prepared the material to

teach thoroughly, but forgot to include mention some key pieces of information or spoke too

quickly for the students to listen and comprehend what I was trying to explain to them. To

improve in this area, I will explain each step of the process and link the steps together in a clearer

way so that the students are able to grasp the information and retain it. I will again allow time for

questions when I notice the students are struggling to understand the steps or pieces of

information and how they fit together.

Faculty Evaluations of Clinical Experience

Dr. Gillum, the practicum faculty member, was present to observe me interacting with

students during clinical time on the post-surgical inpatient unit at the hospital. She shadowed me
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as I checked in with students and asked them about how their patients were doing and if they had

any questions about treatment plans, medications, or nursing interventions. Her evaluation of my

performance was that I did a good job facilitating critical thinking in my students by relating

medications to disease processes and laboratory values. One student in particular had a patient

with diagnoses of COPD and heart failure. I asked the student to explain heart failure and

assisted her in thinking critically about the prescribed Lasix and lab value of potassium to assist

her in forming connections in her mind on these aspects of the treatment.

She suggested I continue to promote critical thinking and management of patient care

during a situation where a student did not recognize the significance of a low oxygen saturation

reading in her patient with COPD. Though I talked to the student about the significance of the

reading and the need for intervention, I forgot to instruct the student to first recheck the value

before reporting the finding to the patient’s nurse and treating the patient with oxygen. My initial

response was to react by applying oxygen and monitoring the patient for signs of respiratory

distress. Dr. Gillum reminded me of the need to walk the student through each step of the

process when assessing for respiratory distress and responding with oxygen. I also forgot to

allow the student to apply the oxygen cannula to the patient because I was in a rush to manage

the situation. Next time I will ensure that I am allowing the student to perform this intervention

themselves so they learn the psychomotor skill and are able to respond appropriately next time.

Dr. Gillum also evaluated my relationships with others and commented that I have great

relationships with the staff and students and that I worked with the students individually to help

foster their growth. This was encouraging to me because the part of educating that I most enjoy

is building relationships with my students so that they feel comfortable asking me questions that

promote further learning. Nursing is a profession that thrives on positive personal relationships
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among staff members, patients, and their family members. I hope to encourage my students to

build good rapport with their patients so that they maintain trusting relationships with medical

staff and promote compliance with their patient’s treatment plan.

Faculty Evaluation of Didactic Experience

Dr. Gillum also observed my lecture on the musculoskeletal content. She gave some very

helpful feedback. She said I did a good job developing my presentation outline and outcomes but

that I should have incorporated more evidence based practice and safety concepts throughout the

material. Though my content for the lecture came from the assigned textbook, I should have

referred to these terms while lecturing and shown how the nursing interventions talked about

were evidence-based.

As far as my presentation of the material, she said I did a good job presenting the material

clearly and at an appropriate level for the students, integrating my Christian faith into the lecture

time, and utilizing audio visual materials to exemplify the presentation material. She suggested

that I make sure to summarize or stress the major lecture topics and to integrate more legal and

ethical concepts into the content. She also pointed out that I need to work on avoiding using filler

words such as “uhm” while I lecture. This is something that can be avoided by slowing down and

thinking about the next thing that I want to say before actually saying it. Silence is not harmful to

anyone, and I need to be ok with there being pauses throughout my time lecturing.

Dr. Gillum said that I speak audibly and clearly and how enthusiasm and interest in the

subject matter. I maintain student interest and am motivating. However, I need to remember to

check for student understanding by allowing time between new content to allow for questions

and processing of information. She said that I maintain good control of the classroom and use

appropriate pedagogical methods to teach the subject matter. I should practice using physical
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proximity with the students and to dispel my nervous energy by walking around in front of the

class, as I have the tendency to rock back and forth on my heels while lecturing. I also need to

increase the integration of nursing interventions into my content to assist the students in making

connections with the application of the material.

I have also done a good job of creating an atmosphere conducive to learning by

responding appropriately to criticism and suggestions, demonstrating concern for my students,

and showing respect for their ideas and opinions. I dress professionally and maintain professional

student/teacher relationships. I need to work on demonstrating more confidence while lecturing,

however. This is something that some of the students also pointed out in their evaluations of my

lecture. Since this was my first time lecturing for a large group of students, I think that my

nervousness caused me to feel less confident that I usually am. I will improve my appearance of

confidence with time as I become more comfortable lecturing for large groups of students.

Strengths as an Educator

The evaluations of my strengths as an educator from the students, preceptor, and

practicum faculty member were similar in many ways. They all said that I have the ability to

develop good relationships with my students and explain concepts in a way that is

understandable and encourages critical thinking. I believe that developing good relationships

with my students enables them to learn because they feel comfortable asking me questions and

for assistance while performing nursing skills in the clinical setting. I feel that I project warmth

and acceptance and am nurturing with my students that allows them to be confidence in

themselves and the learning they have achieved. I do not care to be an intimidating faculty

member. I want my students to respect me for my knowledge and expertise while feeling they

can relate to my experiences and learn from them as well.

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I also feel that I have a strong ability to prepare quality lecture outcomes and learning

material. I enjoy researching evidence-based articles, textbooks, and websites to find current

information on diseases, medications, and nursing skills and interventions. I am creative and

have found fun and interesting ways to present material during my lecture and post-conference

teaching times.

I was especially proud of my ability to motivate my students to participate in a roll play

activity during my post-conference teaching presentation on professionalism in nursing. I

planned a scenario for the students and gave them the freedom to be creative and act out the

scenes as they saw appropriate. I feel this learning method encouraged application of the material

and was an enjoyable way for the students to learn. I will definitely use this method in the future.

I also feel that I have improved my test item writing this semester. It is a challenge to

write questions that are at an appropriate level for students without being too difficult or too

easy. I am able to write questions with stems that are clearly understood and distractors that are

plausible yet completely incorrect. This is a skill that will improve as I review test banks and

obtain advice from other educators who have much experience writing challenging test items.

The Nurse Tim podcast on test item writing gave me some good ideas that I have incorporated

into my writing as well, and I will continue to use that site as a source for improving my teaching

abilities.

Areas for Improvement

I can identify many areas of my teaching that can be improved upon. And I know that as I

begin my career as a nursing faculty member I will be required to continue learning for the sake

of my students. I am excited for the opportunity to do so.

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One area that I know needs improvement is my presentation of new material while

lecturing. Because I become nervous while public speaking in front of large groups, I need to

ensure that I am very familiar with the content I am presenting so that I can be confident in my

knowledge. I need to remind myself of my abilities and find ways before lecturing to dispel my

nervous energy. I may try exercising before lecture so that I am not physically stressed as I

present.

I also need to increase my knowledge base of the content by continuing to read about

disease processes and their treatments. During my time working with the students I felt that there

were times I struggled to help them formulate good care plans or grade the ones they completed.

I can improve in this area by reviewing the course textbook and searching for appropriate

nursing interventions and rationales.

I also need to start seeing myself as a nursing faculty member. Though I have not yet

graduated and do not have a job as a professor, I need to have the confidence that I have what it

takes and present myself as the expert when working with students. If I am not fully confident in

my knowledge, I will search for the answers in an appropriate source such as evidence-based

nursing journal articles and professional nursing websites.

Evaluation of Written Outcomes for Practicum

At the beginning of the semester I wrote ten SMART outcomes to describe my goals for

improvement as a nursing educator. The first outcome was to refresh my knowledge of

medications by spending time reviewing my pharmacology book so that I would be prepared to

question students on the classes, side effects, and nursing safety indications they would need to

know in order to safely administer medications to their patients. I planned on spending an hour a

day before the clinical rotation began. This assisted me in remembering the aspects of different
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classes of medications that I had forgotten and helped me learn new things about medications

that I do not administer frequently as a medical-surgical nurse. Throughout the semester I also

found myself looking up medications at the start of the clinical day that my students would be

administering so I had the information fresh in my mind as I quizzed them.

Outcome two was about reviewing nursing skills so that I would be able to assist students

in performing them according to best practice and “by the book”. I used Mosby’s nursing index

to review the process for indwelling foley insertions as well as IV insertions and colostomy

system applications. This allowed me to be confident in my skills and helped me guide the

students as they performed these skills both while practicing in the nursing lab and clinical

setting.

My third outcome was to be comfortable with the clinical setting and be able to identify

resources available and who to seek guidance from. I wanted to know what it would be like to be

on a unit that I am unfamiliar with. As I worked with the students on the oncology unit, I

identified the charge nurse as the best resource when making the students’ patient assignments. I

would check in with them at the beginning of the clinical day and ask who would be interesting

for the students to care for. I asked them about procedures and surgeries scheduled for the day

and any interesting things such as foley insertions or drains to be managed. I also found the unit

educators to be good resources when asking about available spaces in the hospital for post-

conference.

Outcome four was to be familiar able to prepare learning objectives, an outline, and class

presentation for the theory portion of the course by the sixth week of the semester. I ended up

presenting on the musculoskeletal content of the course towards the end of the semester but feel

that I prepared outcomes that met the learning objectives for the course and included the content
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that needed to be taught. My outline was organized, but I was not as pleased with my

presentation of the material as I would have liked to have been. I feel that I was very nervous

while presenting the lecture. I know I have to give myself some grace for this, however, as it was

my first time preparing and presenting an hour-long lecture for a large group of students. I feel

that in the future, I will do a more thorough job practicing the timing of each area of content and

allowing time for questions and discussion so that I am able to cover all of the content that needs

to be taught.

The fifth outcome was to be familiar and comfortable with grading student course work.

During the semester my preceptor sent me e-journals to review and comment on. I was able to

get a better idea of what my students were thinking as they processed their time in clinical.

Responding to these e-journals allowed me to correct any misunderstandings about patient care

and encourage further critical thinking. I learned that responding to e-journals is a great way to

provide formative evaluation. One student in particular was at risk for failing the clinical rotation

due to unprofessional behavior. These behaviors were addressed with the student in person and

by e-journal so there was documentation of those evaluations and corrections. If Lisa were to

have failed this student, she would have had adequate documentation to support her decision.

Outcome six was that I would be able to address and correct noncompliance in safe

practice in a constructive manner. There were quite a few times where I had to remind students

of the need to perform hand hygiene before entering and exiting the patient’s room. At first it

was uncomfortable for me, but I realize that part of my role as an educator is to ensure patient

safety is maintained and protocols are being followed. I addressed the students in a calm manner

but reminded them of the need to perform this necessary step before coming into contact with

their patient. There were also a few times where I felt students were unprepared to safely
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administer their medications. Before we proceeded further, I required them to find their drug

guide and review the medication before coming to me to be quizzed further before administering

the medication. Most of the students I had to do this with took it graciously, but there was one

who became defensive. I simply explained that it is unsafe to administer medications when the

side effects and safety indications are unknown. I quickly realized the need to be firm with safety

standards and not allow my students to get by with shallow understanding.

Outcome seven was that I would be able to facilitate post-conference conversations and

learning activities. There were several weeks where my preceptor allowed me to take charge of

the discussion and question students on their patient care that day. I liked facilitating that

conversation and feel that post-conference is a great way for students to learn and process with

each other. By describing the care they performed that day, they allowed all the students to have

an understanding of the patient’s condition and how nurses participate in caring for that specific

type of patient.

Outcome eight was that I would be capable of choosing appropriate patient assignments

for students in the clinical setting. Lisa did a wonderful job of guiding me in choosing patients

that were appropriate to the level of the students’ understanding and fit the content of the

medical-surgical course. We reviewed medications and nursing skills that would be interesting

for the students and assigned each student with different types of patients each week so that they

could have a broad range of experiences.

Outcome nine was that I would be able to write test questions that coordinated with the

didactic teaching content of the course. I feel that my test item writing improved this semester as

I became more familiar with the process and rules for writing quality questions. The questions I

wrote for both the didactic and clinical teaching presentations were at an appropriate level for the
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students and included distractors that were plausible yet incorrect. I referenced them

appropriately and assessed their effectiveness after each teaching presentation.

Outcome ten was that I would have a thorough understanding of the knowledge, skills,

and abilities required to pass a BSN medical-surgical student in the clinical and didactic setting.

Throughout the semester, Lisa coached me in assessing my students’ understanding of

medications, disease processes, lab values, nursing skills, and professional communication and

how to correct misunderstanding this information. I became familiar with the course and clinical

outcomes as I read and responded to e-journals and was able to determine whether students met

these outcomes, needed practice, or were unsuccessful in these areas. Because evaluating

students in the clinical setting is so subjective, I had to pay careful attention to how the students

responded to my questions and observe their performance of nursing skills closely. Lisa said it is

difficult to fail a student for their clinical rotation and there must be plenty of attempts to provide

formative evaluation and intervention throughout the semester. I feel that I have a thorough

understanding of the expectations for students at this stage in their education and would be

comfortable leading clinical groups on my own in near future.

Learning and Growth during Clinical Practicum

At the beginning of the semester I felt very unsure of myself as an educator. I felt like I

had forgotten much of the information I learned during nursing school and wondered if I knew

enough to adequately teach my students. As the weeks went on, I realized that I was able to

answer the questions my students asked of me and if I did not know the answers, I simply found

resources with those answers. Sometimes I would encourage the student asking the question to

search in their text or online for the answer. Doing so encouraged them to be a self-sufficient

learner and allowed them to get practice researching the information for themselves. I would
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then check back in with the student and ask them what they found out about the medication or

disease they were asking me about and I would share with them what I discovered from my

research. My preceptor encouraged me by saying that even with all her experience as a nurse and

educator, she still has to tell students she does not have the answer but that she will find out.

I feel that my confidence in my role as the clinical instructor grew as I developed

relationships with my students and began to learn how each of them learned best. I feel that they

saw me as a valuable resource and someone they could go to for sound advice and instruction.

As my confidence grew, I began to enjoy working with the students more and more. This made

me excited, as I know now that I made the right decision to pursue my master’s degree in nursing

education.

I feel that my ability to teach about medications and proper administration also grew

significantly this semester. I was unsure how to teach students the things that I had become so

accustomed to doing almost without thought. But working with the students and ensuring they

knew the medications and how to safely administer them was something that Lisa taught me. She

taught me what I needed to quiz the students on, how to deepen their thinking, and how to detect

when a student is unsafe to administer medications due to lack of knowledge.

Learning and Growth during Didactic Practicum

I feel that my ability to develop and present lectures grew significantly this semester.

Throughout the master’s program I was required to present on a variety of topics, but the didactic

presentation I gave on the musculoskeletal content was the first time I was required to teach for a

whole hour. I learned a great deal from the evaluations provided by my students, preceptor, and

course faculty as well as the coaching from my preceptor during the development of the lecture.
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The course faculty also provided a thorough evaluation of my lecture and gave me many

suggestions and ways to improve.

The main thing I learned during the didactic portion of the practicum is to be thoroughly

prepared by practicing and reviewing frequently the material I will be presenting during my

lecture. If I do this, I will be prepared to teach the material and remember what is important for

my students to know. I can continue to prepare notecards and practice lecturing in front of family

and friends so that I become more familiar with the act of public speaking. By practicing in front

of others, I will also learn how to pace my speaking and practice leaving time for questions and

processing of information.

I also learned that preparing a lecture takes a significant amount of time. I learned how to

search through the textbook and pick out the important information and organize the material in

such a way that would make sense to the students. I incorporated graphics and videos into my

teaching and discovered new ways to incorporate active learning. I learned that role play is a fun

way to get students to use their creativity and apply the material they have learned into a real-life

scenario. And I learned that students respond best when they are asked questions and allowed

time to answer and process their learning together.

Methods to Improve Clinical Teaching

My clinical teaching can be improved by my continuing to learn to a greater depth about

diseases, their treatments, and nursing indications. I can continue to do this by participating in

continuing education seminars and workshops as well as online programs developed for nursing

education. I will also continue to read about the material I want to teach in evidence-based

practice journals and published nursing texts. By continuing to grow my knowledge base I will

have more to share with my students in both the clinical and classroom setting.
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I can also improve my clinical teaching by engaging my students in more critical thinking

exercises. I really enjoyed being part of the clinical simulation day at Bethel. The students were

able to use the knowledge, skills, and abilities they had learned throughout the semester to

respond to a “patient” with COPD. The students were required to use their assessment skills to

determine the needs of the patient and respond according to best practice. I can improve my

clinical teaching by incorporating what I learned during that experience to simulation days with

my future students. I learned that debriefing is important and that processing the good and bad

aspects of the simulation allow the students to recognize ways to improve their clinical practice.

Methods to Improve Didactic Teaching

I can improve my didactic teaching by continuing to practice my lecture before

presenting in class. I will try recording myself with a camera to practice my speaking and

language skills. This will allow me to observe my areas of weakness and enable me to practice

improving in those areas before teaching in front of a class full of students. I think this will

improve my confidence as I will feel more prepared and that I know the material to a greater

degree.

Several of the evaluations from the students as well as those from my preceptor and the

course faculty suggested that I find ways to not look at the PowerPoint slides as much when I am

lecturing. This distracts the students and does not encourage their engagement with the teaching.

I found that when I got lost about what I wanted to say or felt nervous, I would look at the slides

to help me remember what I wanted to talk about. I can avoid this in the future by being better

prepared by practicing more beforehand and writing good notecards with key words to assist me

to remember the material I want to cover.

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Theory to Improve Clinical Teaching

Behaviorism is a learning theory that incorporates reinforcement of good behavior or

performance to encourage repetition of the behavior (Aliakbari, Parvin, Heidari & Haghani,

2015). In nursing education, students are observed in the clinical setting to assess competencies

in performance of nursing skills. When a student performs a skill well, they should be told

exactly what they did well and praised for their good performance. When they perform the skill

poorly, they should be told exactly what they did poorly and required to review the skill in the

nursing lab before again performing it on a patient in the clinical setting. This feedback and

reinforcement of good performance assists the student in recognizing areas for improvement as

well as strengths in performance.

The clinical instructor’s goal should be to reinforce these good behaviors so that the

student will repeat the good behavior in the future when they are practicing independently as a

registered nurse. Maintaining the safety of the patient should be the priority of the clinical

instructor and student, which is why it is so important for the instructor to reinforce and model

good clinical skills and behaviors.

I will incorporate the aspects of behaviorism by ensuring that I carefully observe my

students as they perform nursing skills and provide immediate feedback when I detect errors in

technique. I will also encourage remembrance and repetition of good performance by praising

the students when they perform the skill well. I will detail each step that was correctly performed

and explain how the performance maintained patient safety.

Theory to Improve Didactic Teaching

Cognitive learning theory focuses on the learner’s mind and how they think through

information and processes. This theory suggests that learners must change their perceptions and
EVALUATION OF PRACTICUM EFFECTIVENESS 22

thoughts to form new understanding. Old information is reorganized and changed as new

information is introduced (Aliakbari et al., 2015). In nursing education, students are encouraged

to incorporate the learning from prior didactic courses and clinical experiences to their current

experiences in the clinical setting. For example, the students this semester were required to know

how to administer heparin injections to their patients. They incorporated past learning of the skill

of subcutaneous injections and knowledge of appropriate needle length and gauge to

appropriately administer the medication to their patient. They were required build on the

knowledge of anticoagulants that they learned in the didactic pharmacology course and relate

that information to new didactic learning in the medical-surgical nursing two course on the

prevention and treatment of pulmonary embolisms.

Nursing faculty utilize cognitive learning theory when they assist the student to

incorporate prior learning with new information to form a new understanding of the concept or

process being taught. They must first ensure that the information is accurate and assess the

student’s learning so that there is opportunity for correction of misinformation and

understanding. For instance, the faculty must first assess a student’s understanding of how the

respiratory system of the body works before they are able to teach on treatments of respiratory

diseases such as COPD. The anatomy of the respiratory system as well basic concepts such as

oxygen and gas exchange must be understood before students are taught about treatments with

bronchodilators.

I can use my understanding of this theory to ensure that I assess the current level of

knowledge of my students before I incorporate and relate new information. I must ensure that

they are able to link the new information I present to them to their prior learning. Assessing this

type of learning by incorporating application/analysis type test questions will allow me to

EVALUATION OF PRACTICUM EFFECTIVENESS 23

determine areas of learning that need to be reviewed and errors in thinking that need to be

corrected.

Conclusion

The teaching practicum provided me with a comprehensive experience in preparing,

presenting, and evaluating teaching material. I was mentored in methods of teaching and

evaluating students in both the clinical and classroom setting. I learned how to develop and

maintain professional relationships with my students and was able to experience the students

grow in their knowledge and skill while caring for their patients in the clinical setting. I am

excited to begin my career as a nurse educator and am will remain dedicated to improving my

ability to teach and produce quality future nurses.

EVALUATION OF PRACTICUM EFFECTIVENESS 24

References

Aliakbari, F., Parvin, N., Heidari, M., & Haghani, F. (2015). Learning theories application in

nursing education. Journal of Education and Health Promotion, 4(2). doi: 10.4103/2277-

9531.151867