The Creation of an Effective Learning Environment

Nurse Educator and Good Learning Environments Effective learning can only take place under conditions that are convenient for both the student and the teacher. It is imperative to note however, that the effective learning environment can only be created with the collective contribution of both the teacher or instructors and the students.

Each faculty must have guidelines that are geared towards creating an environment that enables the learners to get to understand their lessons and avoid situations where the instructional and learning time is wasted for both the instructors and the learners. An effective environment in the instruction halls and classes can be created by the instructors first so that the time allocated to learning and instruction is maximized.

The instructors can create an effective learning environment trough having a proper curriculum planning which will enable the teachers to dwell on the relevant material for the class and at the right pace and level that the students will understand. If the instructor does not do a proper curriculum planning, he may end up dwelling on irrelevant content that will distract the learning process rather than helping it.

Systemic assessment also needs to be put in place by the faculty to ensure that there are no haphazard approaches to the assessment of the students' progress and achievements. Another behavior that will provide a positive learning environment from the side of the faculty is putting in place effective strategies for delivering instructions in the classrooms by the instructors and teachers. This will ensure that there is a standard set which each instructor has to meet and in effect giving the students the best quality of instructions and learning material.

The other tenet is that each faculty must have a mechanism to prevent and respond to student problem behavior in the classroom or within the learning institution (Garber C.A., 2008). This will ensure that there is no disruption of the peace that other students need to carry on with their studies. When these measures are in place, then there will be maximization of the learning and instruction time within the faculty that will lead to better quality in the education and training given to the students.

Students are also responsible for the positive learning environment within the institution since as a nurse educator I expect the students to cooperate with the outlined rules and regulations of the institutions that are purposed to create a positive learning environment and protect the rights and peace of each student within the institution. The students need to give feedback on issues negatively affecting them with the suggested solutions to the instructors and even administration in order for us to make the required adjustments for a better learning environment.

Students within the institution ought to handle laboratory equipment and chemicals with utmost care and follow instructors' directions as required since being a nursing training institutions, accidents that happen in the practical sessions can lead to fatal accidents or injuries that can have lifelong implications. There are faculty behaviors that do not offer the positive learning environment but instead disrupts the peace in the faculty hence derailing the learning process and the attainment of the desired goals by both the students and the instructors.

A faculty that has noisy environment either through the carefree attitude of the students or vehicles and human traffic next to the faculty will definitely make a bad environment for learning. The other aspect is the lack of organization in the learning system where students do not have prior knowledge of where they need to be at a given time for the lesson. Such confusion will lead the students to miss the classes they should have been in due to uncertainty of the time or venue of the lesson.

The instructors can also contribute in the unfavorable learning environment when they do the planning of their lessons without involving the students or updating the students with the outline for the semester. This will make the students lag behind the instructor yet with the outline given out prior to the lessons and the relevant discussions with the instructor held, the students will be able to read ahead and be at pace with the lecturer.

The lack of a classroom code of conduct will also result ineffective learning environment since each student, especially the problematic ones will not be cautious about what they do in class. The instructors can also contribute to ineffective learning environment by dwelling on irrelevant materials that have nothing to do with the training and learning of the students. There are a number of faculty behaviors that I would incorporate in my teaching style, main one would be the proper planning of the lessons in collaboration with the students.

This is one of the surest means of getting cooperation throughout the semester from the students as well as wining their confidence from the very start of the semester. I would ensure I discussed with the class the course outline that is to be covered and to slot in the timing of the classes appropriately as well as make any necessary adjustments to the time and venue is the majority of the class members have problems with the either the time or venue.

The second thing that I would use in my teaching is to have a proper curriculum planning in line with the faculty requirements and once that is done I would concentrate on the relevant materials for that class especially when I meet the students in class during the officially assigned class time.

In as much as I may digress once in a while to social issues and other maters that have no direct bearing with the curriculum material, this would be kept the minimum as possible, not more than 5% of the entire time. These would be the three guiding principles that I would use in my teaching style and which would guide me to conducting a successful class for the entire semester.

One of the fundamental principles that each learning institution strives by all means to maintain is the academic freedom within the learning environment. Any vices that may curtail this freedom like bullying, hearsay, gossiping and harassment must be fought at all costs. First, each institution must have in place the policy that is against such vices, these policies must be in writing and they must be accessible and served to each student upon joining the institution.

The consequences of contravening this institutional policy must also be made known to the students and be implemented in cases where such vices arise as this will serve as a stark reminder to the rest. The institution must also have a reporting mechanism of such acts of bullying and it be made known and be functioning to enable the victims of harassment and bullying find a means to get recourse. The institution must also have a mechanism of listening to each.