Student-Centered Solutions for EMS Education, Part 1
This is the first of a multipart series looking at the role new technologies can play in improving students’ EMS education experience. Rommie is also a featured speaker at EMS World Expo, November 9–13 in Nashville, TN. Register today.
As EMS educators we strive to prepare students to perform well in the field from Day One, as well as help practicing providers expand the breadth and depth of their skills. To accomplish these goals we have a wide array of instructional methods to use. Yet despite an abundance of choices, most educators return over and over to a method shown to be less effective and less engaging than many others: direct lecture.1,2
While there are certainly valid reasons educators may choose to lecture for a lesson, many fall into a trap of using direct lecture as the default (and sometimes only) method they use, rather than considering the pros and cons of the lecture method versus other, more student-oriented education methods.
Lecture pros:
- What most educators are familiar and practiced with;
- Requires minimal logistics;
- What many students expect;
- Allows a single educator to make a large amount of information available to a large group of students very quickly;
- Many teaching packages are designed around the lecture format;
- Centers control of the learning process with the educator;
- Can be integrated with other methods of education.
Lecture cons:
- Does not adapt well to a variety of student learning styles;
- Does not encourage (or in some cases even allow) a great deal of student engagement;
- Students who have difficulty with the lecture material become anxious and disengaged;
- Students who already understand the material become bored and disengaged;
- At best the lecture method addresses the lowest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning and does little to nothing for higher levels such as applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating.
Questions that require more than black-and-white answers require more than question-and-answer instruction. Direct lecture methods excel at delivering concrete information quickly, but fail at helping students understand and use abstract concepts. As a result, externally driven education tends to develop students who want to know what will be on the test, rather than what will help their patients.
While there is a current trend in education to use technology to create well-designed motion-graphic multimedia presentations, what many educators fail to recognize is that they are still effectively using the same teaching method first developed in medieval universities. Dress it up any way you want; a student will recognize a lecture when they see it. What the student won’t do, however, is be able to deliver field performance if this is the teaching method on which you rely most.
Education is often reworked but not redefined. Technology is harnessed to modify traditional methods, rather than implement new student-centered ones. In emergency-services education such instructor-centric direct-delivery teaching methods don’t allow students to analyze, assimilate and apply knowledge in ways that foster practical problem solving and real-world skills performance. Lecture-based methods do not help students learn or practice essential soft skills such as interpersonal communication, team dynamics and critical thinking.3 Students must be able to do more than acquire new information in class; they must be taught to manipulate and adapt that information to solve problems in the field. This is the appeal of the student-centered teaching methods now available to virtually every educator through a variety of new low-cost and no-cost technologies.
Teacher-Centered vs. Student-Centered Learning
Many educators seek to improve on the standard lecture format by adding a variety of activities and distractions to “liven up” the classroom. While it may be a step in the right direction, animation and activities are not necessarily student-centered learning. While it is possible to hybridize lecture with student-centered activities, there is a distinction between effective student-centered education and simply giving students something to do.4
Rather than a style of teaching or a group of activities, student-centered learning is an approach to education that focuses on the needs of the student, not just the requirements of the curriculum or the educator as the “sage on the stage.” The primary categories of student-centered learning are as follows:
Subject (inductive) learning—Students are presented with challenges (questions or problems) and learn course material in the context of addressing them. Inductive methods include case studies, problem-based learning, project-based learning, discovery learning and just-in-time teaching.
Self (active) learning—Students brainstorm, formulate questions of their own, discuss, debate and defend their ideas during class.
Social (cooperative) learning—Students work in teams on problems and projects under conditions that assure both collaboration and individual accountability, fostering the development of interpersonal communication and team-building skills.
This combination of student-centered methods has repeatedly been shown to promote engagement and motivation, short-term mastery, long-term retention and real-world application of classroom learning.
So why don’t more educators use student-centered education methods? One reason is that some educators find the role of guide and facilitator far more challenging than the role of sole arbiter of knowledge. Another is that until recently, the logistics of student-centered activities were prohibitive in most EMS classrooms. Luckily the development of Internet-based technology over the past 15 years has helped make information both widely accessible and individualized, two factors that allow practically any educator to employ truly student-centered programs.3
And just in time, too. We cannot view the use of student-centered technology in the classroom as a luxury. It is critical for EMS educators to speak the same language as the students they educate. While older students in current programs may accept traditional teaching methods, the EMS leaders of tomorrow are likely to be less accepting. Earlier this year PBS Learning Media conducted a national survey of pre-K to 12th-grade teachers to find out how many incorporated technology into their day-to-day classroom activities. The majority did so, reporting that they used educational technology for the following reasons:5
- To reinforce and expand content;
- To motivate students to learn more;
- To respond to a variety of learning styles;
- To “do more than ever before” for students;
- To “demonstrate things I cannot show any other way.”
Technology of the 21st Century
The variety, complexity and logistics involved in deploying new educational techniques and technology in the classroom can be intimidating. While some of these may be valid barriers, the greatest barriers are often simply the fear of change and a misunderstanding of the goals of classroom technology.
The purpose of implementing classroom technology must be to:
- Adapt to different learning styles;
- Focus classroom resources where and when they’re needed;
- Increase student engagement;
- Reduce disruptive behavior;
- Improve skills performance and retention;
- Impart a sense of responsibility for one’s own education;
- Develop soft skills including critical thinking, interpersonal communication and team building;
- Foster lifelong learning skills;
- Increase program efficiency and convenience for both students and educators.
The key is to integrate, not just use technology in the classroom.
Conclusion
With so much educational technology available right now and more being developed every day, what is true in the field is true in the classroom: Before you can make use of the technology, you have to master its techniques. You cannot expect to simply download the latest teaching app and see performance improvements in your students immediately.
EMS educators must adapt to this new role. Athletes and gymnasts are often “spotted” when performing their skills. They receive support and guidance, instead of just being told what to do, and are then evaluated on whether they can do it. Successful EMTs, like successful athletes, learn and practice simultaneously with guidance until they can perform independently, sometimes even surpassing their instructors.
Such technology democratizes the use of better teaching techniques for every educator. In the same way social media allows any one individual to broadcast their personal message to the whole world, new education technology allows educators to deliver the world of education personally to each individual. Students change from passive sponges to active participants.
Self-directed, guided exploration of the material leads students to find personal meaning and connect with the information with which they are interacting, as—with the help of technology—part of the exploration involves discovering new ways to interact.
Part 2 of this article will address the use of technology to solve classroom problems.
References
1. Forehand M. Bloom’s Taxonomy, https://epltt.coe.uga.edu/index.php?title=Bloom%27s_Taxonomy.
2. Armstrong JS. Natural Learning in Higher Education. The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2011.
3. Hannafin MJ, Land SM. The foundations and assumptions of technology-enhanced student-centered learning environments. Instr Sci, 1997; 25: 167–202.
4. Butler JA. Use of teaching methods within the lecture format. Med Teach, 1992; 14: 11–25.
5. PBS Learning Media. PBS Survey Finds Teachers Are Embracing Digital Resources to Propel Student Learning, www.pbs.org/about/news/archive/2013/teacher-tech-survey.
An emergency responder for more than 20 years with career and volunteer fire departments, public and private emergency medical services and hospital-based healthcare, Rommie L. Duckworth, LP, is an internationally recognized subject matter expert, fire officer, paramedic and educator. He is a career fire lieutenant, EMS coordinator and American Heart Association national faculty member.
