Learning Contract

Learning Contract

Learning Contract

SUMMARY

Learner needs in clinical practice can be identified by working within a framework where the focus is around learner strengths and learner weaknesses. By using their academic and experiential expertise, faculty can identify, for learners, individual strengths and weaknesses within the practice context. Once identified, the learner and faculty can work together to meet the learner's individualized learning needs. The learner and the faculty can interact so as to create a meaningful and effective teaching-learning partnership.

PART I: THE FORMATIVE ASSIGNMENT

The program of studies selected for this project was a four semester diploma nursing program. The diploma program provides the learners with integrated classroom and clinical learning opportunities, with a significant amount of time dedicated to clinical learning. Pending the successful completion of the program, the graduates are expected to write a national licensure examination, which in turn makes them eligible for provincial licensure, as well as licensure in most other Britain territories.

The average age of learners was twenty-seven years, thus allowing them to be characterized as adult learners. The educational and experiential backgrounds of these learners varied. Some had previous health related work experience, whereas others had completed other non-nursing educational programs prior to entering into this diploma nursing program.

Every learner signed an individual consent form, agreeing to the use of their feedback and comments in any presentations/publications on the topic of Learner Contracts in Nursing Education. The learners were told that the NPLC's were not being used as a permanent part of their individual learner evaluation record. Any issues or concerns arising with respect to learner progress at the time that the NPLC's were being piloted, were to be addressed through the standard evaluation tools already established for the program.

There were a total of eight clinical nurse educators, herein called instructors, who involved in the clinical application of the NPLC's. The clinical nurse educators were not necessarily the same for each year of the study, as there was no control, by the project leaders, over the assignment of faculty from year to year. The role of these nurse educators was teach, to supervise and to evaluate learners in a clinical setting, depending on the Nursing Practice clinical objectives for the specific clinical area in which they were assigned(see Box 1.2). Specific to this project, the role of these nurse educators was to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the learner's performance. The clinical nurse educators must be registered nurses, holding a minimum Bachelor's degree, with a preference for the completion of a Master's degree.

The Contract

It is known that the work associated with using learning contracts can be time consuming ([Bevis and Watson, 2000] and [Timmins, 2002]). Neither faculty nor learners need more paperwork, therefore the authors were acutely aware of the need to design user-friendly learner contracts. The contracts needed to be concise and to the point, easy to interpret, and requiring minimal in-servicing. The contract was therefore deliberately limited to one single page with content restricted to 'need to know' ...