Active Learning Techniques I use

In nursing, you have to teach a lot of information.  Everything they need to know can not be presented in a lecture format. If there was enough time to deliver lectures with all the information a nurse needs to know, the students would disengage from information overload in the classroom.  This is particularly true in the community college setting where I teach.  There are several active learning techniques I use in class.  My favorite is probably in class or online discussions.  Most commonly, these will involve a case study applying concepts the students have learned to a situation or client presentation that has not been covered in class.  I give the students some leading questions, then let them loose in groups of around 4 students to answer the questions and think of new questions to ask each other to investigate the case ans discover what is going on with the patient.

I also at times have had the students write a one minute paper at the beginning of class to see where they are with understanding a concept. I then have them partner, read the other's paper and discuss how their understanding of the concept was similar and different.  This leads the students to see which outlook is most correct and we discuss as a class.

A third active learning technique my students and I have enjoyed is gaming.  I have created games from Jeopardy, to Millionaire (complete with phone a classmate) and Nursopoly over the years.  Although I have mostly used these for course review, I have occasionally used them earlier in the learning process.