Professional portfolio development and presentation

Teaching Philosophy

I'm assuming that my teaching philosophy will change significantly throughout the next several years as I gain experience as an educator, and as I learn best through experience, I am assuming that many of the teaching and nursing environments in which I participate will greatly influence how my approach to teaching is molded into a cohesive and extensive philosophy. That being said, my initial philosophy is based upon what I have experienced, read and studied during the last few years as I pursued an advanced degree.

My teaching philosophy is based on the belief that students learn best through hands on experience and self-evaluation. I also believe that students, especially nursing students, learn compassion and understanding through selflessness that can be gained through experiental learning. A recent study confirms that belief by finding that the experiental teaching method enhances student's "academic learning, interpersonal skills, and sense of responsibility while making meaningful contributions to the community" (Basi, 2011, p. 162). The same study concluded that "service-learning projects can help nursing students accomplish key developmental tasks of the college years (such as building their competence, autonomy and integrity) while helping impart the skills and values they will need as they graduate and seek professional nursing roles (p. 163). This type of approach, therefore, seems as if it is successful in assisting prospective nurses in gaining not only the academic learning that will be needed, but other equally important nursing attributes as well.

Including the experiental approach in my teaching philosophy makes entire sense to me but I am going to complement that style with another that has a stronger emphasis on developing a nurse's 'bedside manner'. There have been a number of studies that have shown that using a preceptor as a teaching tool accomplishes that goal (Lillibridge, 2007) and since I believe that the bedside manner is an extremely important element of nursing, I will do my best to incorporate that aspect of teaching into my philosophy.

My personal approach to teaching is to emphasize the ability of the students to learn, make effective decisions, and be objective. I believe that students who are capable of 'learning to learn' are much more capable as professionals, in whatever field they aspire to, but especially nursing. It is important for these students to understand the importance of continuing to learn and applying the knowledge they gain through learning to other situations. As Gagne espoused a progression of intellectual knowledge in a step-by-step process, I too would require the same type of process from my students. Beginning with the most fundemental nursing requirements and standards and adding to that each day in my classroom would assist my students in gaining the necessary knowledge they will need to succeed in the nursing community. Progression allows for a simple method of adding incrementally to their knowledge.