by Rosemary Klein-Robbins

There is so much about the Conference that I would like to write about. The level of enthusiasm and excitement exhibited by the attendees was so very apparent.

There was a log of information and so much of it, so relevant to a new instructor. The presenters were enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and I cannot say enough about the facilitator, Todd Zakrajsek. The facility was perfect and the staff was friendly and helpful.

I was lucky enough to have a 40-minute one-on-one conversation with Todd, mostly due to the fact that his pop-up seminar (because some presenters were weather challenged) only had one participant-me!

Our discussion covered a great many topics, but the main point was the understanding that the belief of “lecture bad” and “active learning good” was just too black and white.  In the mental health field, we call it “concrete thinking”. Todd explained that the key to use group work and lecture effectively was to make sure that the groups were engaging, valuable, and informative. (Sounds a lot like Knowles’s Adult Learning Theory).  This hybrid of using cooperative learning and lectures provides a better balance for our students. With the M. S. in Nursing, a good deal of my research involved Problem Based Learning (PBL) and Cooperative Learning, so that made a lot of sense for me.

To clarify PBL and Cooperative Learning is the theory that assists the students in applying the theory (or foundation) that the lecture provides for the student. Being able to take the information that was delivered during the lecture and find practical application for it, is what we call Critical Thinking in nursing.  Think of the lecture as the foundation of a building. Without a solid foundation having the building be stable is not possible. Nor is it possible to building something, without the solid foundation.

This balance between lecture and active learning is way of  ensuring that the knowledge is applied effectively.