Get Your Students Hired
I teach veterinary technician courses - and one of them I teach is a office procedures course - since this class doesn't directly deal with animals - it can be a challenge to keep students interested. So what I like to do is a brief lecture about a topic and then involve the students by having them role play - I will have them act out a situation since we are talking about situations that deal with clients. Gets the students involved and they have fun with it.
Having them act out is definitely creative. I think role playing and doing it effectively can be used as a reward to move onto the real thing. This would especially be useful in a vet school setting.
Hi Cassey,
Good point. Remember the human factor whether it be working with patients or with students. This is a good lesson for the students to learn early in their careers as the human factor will carry them far as the progress in their profession.
Gary
One of the courses I teach is Dental Administration Procedures, and I feel that role playing is the best technique. I love the book that I use for my class but, you have to learn how to interact with patients. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to practice after all practice makes perfect. I feel that it is very easy to get caught up in teaching by the book but sometimes we forget that most patients’ are not going to understand text book talk. We also have a tendency to forget our manners and not treat the patient's or people in general the way that we would want to be treated.
Hi Nicole,
This phase of their education is so important because as you say it is the only time they will be in this safe environment. They can develop their problem solving skills while getting feedback from an expert. So upon graduation they will have knowledge and expertise that will enable them to be successful from the beginning of their careers.
Gary
I agree that this is a very useful and effective teaching tool. If you can put the students into the situation that they may encounter in the future, they have a better idea of how it feels to have to make decisions in those situations. They can also learn by trial-and-error without there being any adverse consequences. In other words, it's a safe environment.
Hi Jeffrey,
Once you have gotten techniques down in using role playing you are going to have good results with it as a strategy. The students really get into their roles and appreciate how they get to apply their newly acquired knowledge in such a setting.
Gary
Hi Heather,
I like role play as well. I use role play situations a lot in my classes and the students really get into the roles they have. Everyone has a good time and they really become engaged in the content.
Gary
Thanks for the advice, Heather. I teach vet tech courses as well. Role playing is a wonderful method for teaching the students to empathize with coworkers and with clients.
It has worked fabulous for me! Like I said I teach a course which deals with client relations - so instead of me lecturing or showing powerpoints and videos, I involve the students by having them role play - one of them acts as a client (which I give them a client to play and vary it) and one acts as the Veterinary Technician. I also had a Veterinarian offer to have my students go to his practice while he was closed and role play there. They did that just a couple of weeks ago and LOVED it! I find this to be a very valuable tool for my class and the students have fun while doing it.
I have not had to experiment a lot with role playing yet. It appears that it is a good tool for you to use and a valauble tool altogether. I am intrigued at finding a way to implement this tool into my teaching from time to time.