Learning Styles and the Clinical Education experience Steve Milanese

2 The Journey Clinical Educator in Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy on/off since 1997 in Australia and UK In 2011 commenced role as senior lecturer in musculoskeletal physiotherapy at James Cook University, Townsville, Qld. Involved: Developing, coordinating, teaching (both theory and practical component) of musculoskeletal physiotherapy for second and third year physiotherapy students. Supervising students in their first musculoskeletal clinical placement at the JCU clinic Background

3 The Problem Why do some students cope better than others in a Clinical Education environment ?? Capacity Vs Demands Background

4 Demands Clinical environment Unstable environment Patients/conditions, educators Need to sort through many bits of information – mostly irrelevant Detective work Depends on transferring theory to practice on the spot You can’t go back later in the day and check something up There are many correct answers. Background

5 Capacity How can I identify the capacity of the student BEFORE they enter the Clinical Education environment? Background

6 Learning Styles Experiential Learning Theory defines learning as “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of grasping and transforming experience” (Kolb 1984: 41) EL is portrayed as an idealized learning cycle or spiral where the learner “touches all the bases”—experiencing, reflecting, thinking, and acting-in a recursive process that is responsive to the learning situation and what is being learned. Background

7 Immediate or concrete experiences are the basis for observations and reflections. These reflections are assimilated and distilled into abstract concepts from which new implications for action can be drawn. These implications can be actively tested and serve as guides in creating new experiences Background

8 Learning Styles Influenced by personality type, educational specialization, career choice, and current job role and tasks, and cultural influences. (Kolb 1984) Kolb described four major ‘Learning Styles’ Assimilating, Accommodating, Diverging, Converging. Some evidence in undergraduate Allied Health programs that an understanding of these learning styles results in improved student performance. Background

9 KLSI on fourth year physiotherapy students who had just completed their 12 month Clinical Education roster. Currently have data from 71 students (2 years of data) Study 1

10 Study 1

11 Converging style (32%) Have the ability to solve problems and make decisions based on finding solutions to questions or problems. Prefer to deal with technical tasks and problems rather than with social issues and interpersonal issues. Assimilating style (30%) Less focused on people and more interested in ideas and abstract concepts. In formal learning situations, prefer readings, lectures, exploring analytical models, and having time to think things through. Study 1

12 Accommodating style (21%) Enjoy involving themselves in new and challenging experiences - learn from primarily “hands-on” experience. Rely more heavily on people for information than on their own technical analysis. Diverging style (17%) Best at viewing situations from many different points of view. Likes generating ideas, such as a brainstorming session. Interested in people, tend to be imaginative and emotional, have broad cultural interests. Prefer to work in groups, listening with an open mind to different points of view and receiving personalized feedback. Study 1

RankJCU 2011/12 (Aus) (N=71) Zoghi et al 2010 (Aus) (N=49) Brown et al 2008 Aus) (N= 60) Linares 1999 (USA) (N=31) Wessel et al 1999 (Canada) (N=94) 1Con AssCon 2AssAccConAss 3AccAssDivAcc 4Div AccDiv

14 What Teaching and Learning Opportunities did the students feel were the most useful ? T&LO questionnaire (Ernstzen et al 2009) Series of TLO (43) in 6 domains which the student ranks from 1 (I learn and extreme amount) to 5 (I learn nothing). Clinical Educator questionnaire (Onuoha 1994) Subject selects 5 attributes of clinical educator that facilitates clinical education from list of 30, and 5 activities (from list of 40) Study 2

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19 Use this data as the basis for further exploration on the relationship between student, clinical educator and the ‘clinical education experience’ – UniSA Divisional Grant Develop an understanding of the demands of Clinical Education. Explore different ways of measuring student capacity. Next step

Ultimate aim 1.Aim to identify students at an early stage who may struggle with the clinical education process. 2.Identify strategies to facilitate learning in these students from the first year. 3.Develop resources for clinical educators to help improve the clinical education experience for the student.