Assist students and instructors in recognizing the three basic learning styles, auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Brainstorm with instructors to determine what existing programs meet these needs and which learning styles are currently not being thoroughly addressed. Make special efforts to offer multisensory learning experiences for nursing students, due to the necessity in their career to perform in all three arenas.
Poll students to identify what they believe their program's strengths and weaknesses are. Make sure to facilitate both study groups of small numbers of students and review sessions, generally conducted by an instructor or advanced student, that may include the entire student population. Determine whether your facility has the personnel to be able to offer one-on-one tutoring to students who need individual remediation. Develop intervention for students who have special needs, such as learning disabilities, severe test anxiety or other limitations that could have a negative effect on learning the material.
Provide proper materials for auditory learners, who need to hear the information. Tape lectures or specific explanations of difficult material for these students to review on audio-visual media. Make available guest speakers who can approach the target material from a distinctive perspectives. Have study sessions at which an advanced student is present to verbally answer students' questions and conduct spoken recitation of memory work.
Help visual learners to succeed by giving them the opportunity to see that which they are required to learn. Demonstrate the information whenever possible. Record these demonstrations and make the recordings available to students to review as needed. Have pairs or trios of advanced students demonstrate the same material and encourage discussion regarding similarities and variations. Focus on developing visual representations of the information in the form of posters or other diagrams.
Give kinesthetic learners the opportunity to learn by doing. Use working models to provide these students with hands-on learning. Encourage instructors to offer practicum sessions where students can go through the exact motions of a procedure with an expert standing by to offer suggestions and corrections. Have these students make models or draw things if it is not possible to actually perform the action in real time (cadaver studies for example).
Require nursing students to participate in small-group discussions regarding their internships and clinical experiences. Have group moderators aid students in identifying what knowledge could have enhanced their practical experience and how to obtain that information. Provide students with frequent self-evaluation questionnaires to enable them to evaluate their own performance and identify areas in which they feel they need additional training to be successful.
Continue to review new educational media as they are developed; interactive, computer-based materials are becoming more popular all the time, especially in the science and health care industries. Keep records of student grades and the dates of the implementation of new learning experiences. Periodically review which types of new programs have the greatest effect on student learning.