Vickie,
Excellent point! You are very right that internships bring together 'theoretical learning and classroom instruction.' We can't necessarily teach students what the workplace will be like, but an internship helps bridge those gaps.
Dr. James Willis III
Real world application can only go so far in the classroom or online. Allowing students to have feet on the ground learning opportunties, not only enhance the curriculum, but advance the student's transfer of knowledge.
Kassy,
I think your point about the transfer of knowledge is very important; students can learn all kinds of things in a classroom, but at some point that has to translate into real-world application. Great point!
Dr. James Willis III
Experiential Learning is important for the student to not only apply what they have been learning in the classroom but to see how what they learned is simply a foundation for what they need to learn & experiences that they have on the job every day. They leraning that their schooling & training are simply building blocks and that they are life-long students in their careers. They also learn how to interact and present information/knowledge for those around them whether they be clients, patients, co-workers, or employers and as interns they receive timely feedback on those interactions that will be beneficial as there is a difference between theory and application of information that is only truly learned through practice.
Chrystal,
You bring up some great points! I like that you reference 'building blocks' because I think that's an excellent way to think about it. You are also right to bring up feedback; this is a valuable learning tool for students in internships.
Dr. James Willis III
Students often may have a misconceived idea about the quality, amount and integrity of the work they are to accomplish after graduation. This seems to be particularly relevant when a low achieving student is about to graduate. The opportunity to visit and work in their future career environment may motivate them to raise the bar on themselves and become more self-efficacious thereby creating a higher level of self esteem and encouraging a more highly engaged internship and future worker.
James ,
This is an outstanding point! You are very right that students often have a much higher or much lower perception of their quality of work. An internship helps apply "real world" lessons in a way that often gives a much more accurate representation of one's own ability. Great point!
Dr. James Willis III
Experiential Learning will assist students in externship to continue their education in learning technical skills school did not teach them. Also, by learning new skills, the student will have an advantage to sell themselves to future employers when applying for jobs.
Mary,
This is a good summary; you are right that students will have a chance to "sell" their skills and knowledge to future employers. Good point!
Dr. James Willis III
In the field of healthcare, experiential learning is perhaps the most important aspect of the students academics. It is difficult for the students to grasp the concepts they are learning in class sometimes until they have a clinical experience to help put the information into perspective. It helps them understand why information that they are learning in class is important for patient care.
Leslie Morgan
Leslie ,
Excellent point; I think you're right that experiential learning is critical in healthcare. Having the clinical exposure helps bridge the gaps in classroom learning. Great point!
Dr. James Willis III
The class I will be bringing into "clinicals" are LPN students. Some have experience in the medical field, others do not. By introducing these students to the workplace, they will get a feel for what happens in the real world. Some students may have unrealistic ideas of what nursing is all about; surely the students are there to "help" people, but the reality is it is hard work. I am hoping to expose them to the joys, the respect, the professionalism, the continuum, and the love of nursing!
Mary Ellen,
Excellent points. I think you're very right about students' perceptions of nursing (and other fields); it's common (arguably even healthy to an extent) to be idealistic about a field. But, it's good to tamper that a bit with real-world application and expectations. Great points!
Dr. James Willis III
Experiental learning help students to connect the relevance and application to what they are learning when the students are engaged at the site gives them the opportunity to incorporate the three learning domains such as the affective, cognitive and psychomotor domains learned in the class room. This experinceal learning allow the students to develop self efficacy, by observing a role model being successful at a learning skills.
Medhin,
That is very true; internships do exercise the learning domains in a way that oftentimes doesn't happen in the classroom. Great point!
Dr. James Willis III
Experiential learning in the culinary field is so important because it is very difficult to mimic the real time experience of a fully functional kitchen. The pressures and 'hurried-up' nature of these kitchen tend to be a shock to many of our students upon entering their internship. The connection to relevancy is without question satisfied by our students working closely with qualified cooks and chefs. Many student return with great stories about how their internship was the most important piece of their education because it allowed them to have an experience within our field and still be "protected" by their student status.
Cheyney,
This is a fantastic example; thank you for sharing! Allowing a student to have the 'safe' space to learn is vitally important, and if not for anything else, it gives them the opportunity to experience first-hand before they go into the field. Thanks again for the example!
Dr. James Willis III
Our students are training to be RT's they go to a clinic or hospital and see life and death on a daily basis- I haven't seen a textbook that can teach that. They go to the experience with a younger frame of mind and come back more seasoned and more mature.
They practice/apply what they have learning in real life- and learning moves from the theoretical to the practical.
Eloise,
Excellent points! I think your 'existential' argument is very true; for students to work in the health field, especially in direct contact with patients, they need to have experience dealing with life and death. You are very right that no textbook can teach that.
Dr. James Willis III
Particularly true of adult learners, experiential learning is key to why they participate. These activities take the student from the theoretical to the physical execution of what they have learned. It goes beyond just application in terms of Blooms, but that is what experiential learning does for the student. Experiential learning answers "how does this work in the real world?"
We have developed an educational model based on the analysis of our adult learners who have a lot of experience in training (military). Because training is very kinesthetic, using Gagne's Nine, we created the model that weighted experiential activities very high (using all parts of VARK), with the other eight operations dispersed across the content/delivery mechanism based on the subject. So far, after over a year of employment, it is working out excellently!
