Ghania Naeem, PharmD
PGY-1 Pharmacy Resident
LifeBridge Health
It is imperative for teachers to get to know the students they will be teaching. It is important to learn and understand the academic and socioeconomic profiles of the students in order to improve their learning experience and subsequently their overall development. It is also necessary to evaluate where the student population’s baseline knowledge and skills are, with respect to both the instructor’s assessment and their own self-assessment. Acknowledging and understanding these components for the teacher is crucial so that they can effectively target their respective instruction towards their students’ individualized learning needs.
In The Joy of Teaching, the author highlights how first-year students are at a different stage of cognitive development than final-year students, bringing up the key point of adjusting content and teaching styles to each student population’s relevant needs.1 Based off of this proclamation, getting to know students who are upperclassmen is especially important, because it is crucial to identify areas that may still need improvement as they are getting closer to the end of their didactic coursework. This identification can occur in class or electronically at the beginning of the course/teaching period via some type of pre-test (examining the knowledge base acquired thus far), survey, and/or a personality assessment asking for each student to note their strengths, weaknesses, confidence level in certain subject areas, et cetera.
As part of the reading, the author asserts that less is more when it comes to course content.1 This is possible once the instructors get to know the students they will be teaching, for they will come to know which aspects they should focus their qualitative efforts on and which topics they can omit from their designated teaching assignments based on what has been established as baseline knowledge. The author also advocates for the importance of constructive feedback, and that will become easier to provide upon getting to know the learners as well as their characteristics.1
In the digital age, it is not easily identifiable whether the relationships between learners and teachers have gotten better or worse. However, they have certainly evolved to adjust to the technological advancements. With this high-tech progression, there are both advantages and disadvantages for teachers and their learners. To begin with, learners may not have the opportunity to have their teachers assess and identify their strengths and weaknesses and communicate with them face-to-face. Nonetheless, learners should be emboldened to make the effort to meet with their instructors, especially when they feel the need to obtain constructive feedback. Any time learners want to clarify concepts, address exam-related questions, and/or voice concerns, they should be required to schedule an appointment with their instructor in person in order to reap the benefits of their educational experience. Learners will be able to receive the respective instructor's undivided attention, clarify the answers to both prearranged and impromptu questions, and have their pertinent concerns attended to immediately.1
Despite the shortcomings of the digital age when it comes to learners and teachers getting to know each other, there are considerable benefits to the digital age-associated changes. In-person, direct communication is not completely eliminated, as there is still the option for learners and instructors to meet and get to know one another face-to-face. Furthermore, the digital age invigorates communication between learners and teachers to enhance the learning experience even if both parties have busy routines. It is beneficial to be able to email and text instructors, for it enables establishing professional contacts and learning effective and respectful netiquette.
There are several strategies that teachers can implement in their education styles to get to know their learners better and facilitate instructive experiences for their learners in the digital age. In pharmacy education, instructors can implement the use of game-based learning platforms like Kahoot! and/or Jeopardy to review students' knowledge for constructive assessment or as a break from traditional classroom activities. Instructors can also use polls, having students utilize their laptops and/or phones, to submit answers to multiple choice questions presented during live sessions. Instructors should see themselves as co-learners: as they arrange activities and enable experiences of gaining knowledge for their students, they learn new teaching approaches and methods along the way. After each lesson, the learner and the teacher both walk away with newly constructed knowledge while learning more about one another.
Additionally, teachers in the digital age should apply the different forms of technology by staying current with research and latest trends so that they can integrate those tools in their learning environments. Most importantly, teachers in the digital age should be encouraged to have a growth mindset in lieu of a fixed mindset. A growth mindset essentially suggests that teachers are capable of learning and growing and that things will get better with confronting challenges, putting in the effort, and practicing. Teachers of the digital age who are getting the most out of technology are willing to work, occasionally be uncomfortable and uncertain, and grow themselves and their students while getting to know the extent of their knowledge.2-4
Ultimately, it comes down to the teacher and learner and how they choose to utilize their digital resources. The ideal approach is for learners and teachers to use the expansions of the digital age in moderation: teachers should continue to encourage their students to see them in person, but it is also important that the learners feel comfortable in reaching out to their teachers via email, text, and/or other virtual means.
References
1. Filene P. The Joy of Teaching. A Practical Guide for New College Instructors. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2005.
2. Lynch M. 9 Ways That Digital Age Teachers Sharpen Their Skills. The Tech Edvocate. 2018. https://www.thetechedvocate.org/9-ways-that-digital-age-teachers-sharpen-their-skills/.
3. Bates T. Teaching in a digital age: guidelines for designing teaching and learning. British Columbia: SFU Document Solutions; 2016.
4. Grand-Clement, S, Devaux, A, Belanger, J, Manville, C. Digital learning: Education and skills in the digital age. RAND Corporation and Corsham Institute, 2017. https://www.rand.org/pubs/conf_proceedings/CF369.html.
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