I’ve written on previous occasions about lessons learned
from Training, a magazine for
professional trainers in business and industry. I find many similarities
between what they do and what we as an educational institution aspire to do.
In a recent issue author J. Brooke Hoover offers a methodology called “TIPS” which stands for Teach, Illustrate, Practice, and Simulate. Hoover says, “The goal is to go from zero
grounding to fluency without compromising quality as quickly as possible.”
The first step, Teach,
involves subject grounding and knowledge transfer. This is perhaps the most traditional step in
higher education. Unfortunately in many
cases, this step has become routine and done without much planning or
forethought. For example, lecture has
been described as the quickest way to get information from the teacher’s notes
to the students’ notes without going through the brain of either. Knowledge transfer doesn’t have to be
boring. We should use all the technology
and bells and whistles that we can to make this step fun and exciting.
The next step is Illustrate. In many classrooms Teach and Illustrate are
combined. If teach is the let me tell
you part then illustrate is the let me show you part. Often this is where the students have that
discovery moment. This is particularly
true in our visually centered society.
Again, technology is our friend and the multiple online resources
provide us with multiple media devices for illustrating.
This is the point where Hoover makes what we in higher ed
might see as a startling suggestion. He
offers that, “Teach and Illustrate should take up about 20 to 25 percent of the
training time . . . tops! Practice and
Simulation should take up the remaining 71 to 80 percent.”
The third step is Practice. “This is the ‘Now you do it’ part.” Hoover believes that this is where real
learning results are exponential. In
Math these are the practice problem sets.
In other classes it may be the writing assignments. In skills based classes like our Health
Science classes it is demonstrating proper technique. In science classes, laboratory sections are
much about practice. Even assessments
like quizzes and tests can be considered practice, especially those that
require students to do more than regurgitate information. Our efforts to have more flipped classes give
us more time for practice.
And the final step is Simulate. The author acknowledges that it is hard to
separate Practice and Simulation.
Simulation involves “real world conditions, situations and sometimes
unfortunate realities.” In Health
Science the hi-fidelity, mannequins are the ultimate simulation. I remember when we obtained the first one in
the nursing program at Cleveland State.
The most impactful lesson came when students were allowed to simulate
treatments and make mistakes that ultimately lead to the “death” of the patient. Problem based learning in business and
critical thinking in other disciplines is a way to simulate. This is often referred to as authentic
assessment. Service learning is a highly
effective real world opportunity that even goes beyond simulation.
So the challenge for us as educators is to find ways to
enhance but shorten the Teach and Illustrate steps and find opportunities to
increase the Practice and Simulate steps.
-Dr. Jerry Faulkner
-Dr. Jerry Faulkner
