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Running head: PERSONAL TEACHING-LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

Personal Teaching- Learning Philosophy

Athabasca University HLST 320

October 13, 2019

Personal Teaching-Learning Philosophy

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Running head: PERSONAL TEACHING-LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

Introduction

Teaching and learning are two very important concepts that I value as a health care

professional and as an individual. My personal and professional goal is to be a lifelong learner

and to share my knowledge with others at each opportunity I get. This will allow me to widen

my knowledge and experience and groom me into a more competent, responsible, and

resourceful individual and professional. Throughout my nursing career I have seen various styles

by which people learn; the different environment in which they learn, and the various and

different values and beliefs people hold about learning. Throughout this paper, I will outline

what my personal teaching and learning style are and what impact they have on my professional

life. This paper will explain which theoretical underpinning I resonate with, which is the of

behaviorism, and why I have made this choice. It will conclude by discussing what my beliefs

and values are about teaching and learning, providing specific examples of how I apply what I

believe, and value to my nursing career.

Personal Learning Style

“Learning style is defined as the composite characteristic cognitive, affective,

and physiological factors that serve as relatively stable indicators of how a learner

perceives, interacts with, and responds to the learning environment”. (Keefe, 1979).

Everyone learns and processes information differently; therefore, it is crucial that a teacher, in

my situation a nurse, knows his or his client’s personal learning style. There are various theories
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Running head: PERSONAL TEACHING-LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

of learning available; One such theory classifies an individual as a tactile, visual, or an auditory

learner.

According to the self -assessment tool what is your learning style? I am classified as a

combination of visual and tactile learner (Pennsylvania Higher Education assistance Agency,

2011). Being a visual learner, means that I learn by reading and seeing pictures (Pennsylvania

Higher Education Agency, 2011). I understand and remember best by seeing what is being

taught. As a visual learner, for example; when I am writing an exam, I often close my eyes to try

to visualize and recall information. I like being taught using colors and having presentations rich

imagery.

I am also a tactile learner. I learn by touching and doing (Pennsylvania Higher Education

assistance Agency, 2011). When I was attending classroom lectures, I found it challenging to sit

and listen to my lecturer teach for hours, especially if he does not demonstrate using diagrams,

pictures, and or video. I liked having hands on experiences. I enjoyed the clinical settings

because I had the opportunity to observe, and to physically participate while accomplishing

learning. Knowing what my learning style are have contributed to my personal and professional

development.

Teaching- Learning Philosophy and Theoretical Underpinning

According to Schonwetter et al, (2002), a philosophy statement is “A systematic and critical

rationale that focuses on the important components defining effective teaching and learning in a

particular discipline and or institutional context”. As a health care professional, it is imperative

that I establish what my philosophy is about teaching and learning. Being a nurse, it is one of my

professional responsibility, to ensure that patients and their love ones are provided with the
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Running head: PERSONAL TEACHING-LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

necessary information so that they can make informed decision. Distinguishing what my

philosophy is about teaching and learning has guided me throughout my teaching experiences.

My teaching-learning philosophy is to facilitate health education at every possible

opportunity I have and to make teaching individualized. To be an effective educator it is

imperative that I recognize that every individual is unique and therefore have different learning

needs. As part of my learning-teaching philosophy, it is required that the first step to providing

education is establishing a baseline, finding out how health literate my patient .Having this

foundational information will help me in making a teaching plan that will aim to the specific

learning needs of that patient. I will learn to adopt to my patient learning style if their learning

style is not the same style as what I use. I will attempt to provide an environment that facilitates

learning, one that is non-judgmental, one that my patient feels safe and comfortable in.

The theoretical underpinning that I resonate with is behaviorism I believe that learning

leads to change in behavior. The key principle in behaviorism theory is that behavior changes

according to its immediate consequences (Unit 2 study guide, 2019). Behaviorism theory involve

embedding concepts such as reinforcement, extinction, punishment, shaping and randomness

into your teaching. (Unit 2 study guide, 2019). If I educate someone about an unhealthy

behavior, providing teaching about what the consequences of that practice are, and what the

benefits of not practicing that behavior are, might lead to a change in their behavior. Examples of

ways that I can incorporate behaviorism into patients’ education is by providing punishments or

positive reinforcement. Punishment involves presenting a strong stimulus that decreases the

frequency of a particular response (Zhou and Brown, p. 8 2015). Punishment is effective in

quickly eliminating undesirable behaviors. An Example of punishment include: A diabetic client

is having consistent high blood glucose levels due to non-compliance with his diabetic regimen;
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Running head: PERSONAL TEACHING-LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

If you provide a punishment, then it is likely that this punishment he is receiving will lead to a

change in his behavior. Positive Reinforcement is presentation of a stimulus that increases the

probability of a response (Zhou and Brown, p8 2015). If you reward a diabetic client each time,

he has a normal blood glucose level, due to him avoiding a high carbohydrate diet during

mealtime; it is likely that he will repeat the same good behavior. I incorporated behaviorism into

my teaching-learning philosophy because It is practical for me to apply it into the healthcare

setting.

Values and Beliefs

Teaching and learning are an integral part of my career as a nurse. I believe that the sky is

the limit when it comes to learning. There is new health information available everyday that is

essential to my practice. Keeping up to date with current health information, allows me to

provide my client and their families with the best possible information available so that they can

make informed decisions. I believe that in order to be successful at teaching I must first establish

a rapport with that person; therefore, I always try to establish good communication with my

clients before I try to provide them with any teaching. Before I try to motivate my patients to

learn or change their behaviour, I assess their learning needs and their willingness to learn.

I can relate my philosophy, belief and values about teaching with the health belief model

of behavior change found in the World Health Organization (2012) document. According to this

model, people’s belief about the severity of their disease and their susceptibility to it, influence

their willingness to take preventative action (World Health Organization, 2012). Its core

concepts include perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefit, perceived

barriers, cue to action, and self-efficacy. An example of am experience that I had to incorporate

this model is: I had a 75-year-old client that I cared for that has being refusing to get out of bed
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Running head: PERSONAL TEACHING-LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

and assist with his activity of daily living. When I informed this client about his susceptibility of

having a pneumonia, how severe the disease can be, explaining what the benefit of getting out be

can achieve, providing this client with the necessary information, assistance, reassurance, giving

him cues, reminders, working together and providing him with goals, promoting self efficacy, all

assist him in changing his unhealthy behavior.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I have demonstrated how my personal learning style- being combination of

tactile and a visual learner have been effective in my learning experiences. I have also pointed

out that to be an effective teacher, I must learn to adapt my teaching style to my patients learning

style. I value teaching and learning, and therefore I have made it part of my philosophy to be a

lifelong learner, and to make every opportunity a learning and teaching experience. The

theoretical model of behaviorism has linked to my personal philosophy because I do believe that

learning can leads to a change in behavior and that providing positive reinforcement and

punishment can also bring about a change in my patient’s behavior. I have also shown how I can

utilize the health belief model of behavior change in the health care setting. Overall, the concepts

that I have learned throughout unit one to three have helped me to establish what my teaching

and learning philosophy is and, will also contribute to my personal and professional growth.
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Running head: PERSONAL TEACHING-LEARNING PHILOSOPHY

References

Keefe, J.W. (1979) Learning style: An overview. NASSP's Student learning

styles:Diagnosing and proscribing programs (pp. 1-17). Reston, VA. National

Association of Secondary School Principles. Retrieved October 9, 2019 from

(http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/styles.html.

Pennyslyvania higher Education Assistance Agency. (2011). What’s Your Learning style? The Results.

Retrieved October 9, 2019. From http://www.educationplanner.org/students/sel

assessments/learning-styles-quiz.shtml?event=results&A=8&V=10&T=2

Schönwetter, D., Sokal, L., Friesen, M. & Taylor, L. (2002). Teaching philosophies reconsidered: A

conceptual model for the development and evaluation of teaching philosophy statements.

International Journal for Academic Development, 7(1), 83-97.

Unit 2: Theories of Learning & Motivation. (2019). Retrieved October 9, 2019. From

http://charon.athabascau.ca/cnhsundergrad/320c8/unit2.htm

World Health Organization. (2012). Health Education: theoretical concepts, effective strategies, and

core competencies: Mediterranean region: Author. Retrieved from

http://applications.emro.who.int/dsaf/EMRPUB_2012_EN_1362.pdf

Zhou, M., & Brown, D. (2015). Educational Learning Theories. Retrieved October 9, 2019 from

https://oer.galileo.usg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=education-textbooks