Determinants of

learning
Presented to:
Dr Manal Mohamed

Presented by:
Group 3
 Out lines
The Nurse Educator’s Role in Learning
Assessment of the learner
Assessing Learning Needs
Methods to Assess Learning Needs
-Informal Conversations
-Structured Interviews
-Focus Groups
-Self-Administered Questionnaires
-Tests
-Observations
Readiness to Learn
-Physical Readiness
-Emotional Readiness
-Experiential Readiness
-Knowledge Readiness
Learning Styles
Learning Style Instruments
Interpretation of Style Instruments
The Nurse Educator’s Role in Learning

For a nurse to carry his/ her

educative role well, s(h)e must
identify the information learners
need, their readiness to learn,
and their learning styles.
However, the learner remains the single most
important person in the educative process.
The role of the educator is to enhance the learning
process by serving as a facilitator:
The educator:

-assesses the learner’s deficits

-presents appropriate information
in unique ways.
-identifies progress being made.
-gives feedback
-reinforces learning in the acquisition of
knowledge, or performance of a skill.
-evaluates the learner’s abilities
The Educator’s Unique
Position
The educator is vital in giving support, encourage
ment, and direction during the process of learning.

The educator assists in identifying optimal

learning approaches and activities that can
both support and challenge the learner.
Assessment of the learner includes attending
to the three determinants:

*Learning needs (what the learner

needs to learn)
*Readiness to learn (when the learner
is receptive to learning)
*Learning style (how the learner best
learns)
Assessment of Learning Needs

Learning needs: are gaps in knowledge that

exist between a desired level of performance
and the actual level of performance.
The following are some important steps
in the assessment of learning
needs:

1 Identify the learner:

Is there only one learner with a single need
or many needs?
Is there more than one learner with
congruent or diverse needs?

2 Choose the right setting:

Establish trusting relationship through
assuring privacy and confidentiality, so that
learners feel secure in confiding
3 Collect data on the learner:
Determine characteristic needs of the audience by
exploring typical health problems or issues of interest.
Subsequently, identify the type and extent of content to be
included in the teaching sessions.

4 Include the learner as a source of information:

Allow the patient and/or family and staff members to
identify what is important to them. If the learners are staff
members or nursing students, ask them about areas of
practice they feel they need new or additional information

5 Involve members of the healthcare team:

Other healthcare providers may have insight into patient,
family, nursing staff, and nursing students educational
needs. Because of their frequent contacts with them.
 6-Prioritize needs:
A list of needs can become endless and
seemingly impossible to accomplish.
Using Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs, an
educator can prioritise identified learning
needs. The educator can then assist the learner
to meet the most important basic need first.
– Setting priorities for learning is often difficult when
faced with many learning needs in several areas.
Maslow’s hierarchy
 Learning must be prioritised based on
the criteria

Mandatory:
Needs that must be learned for survival or
situations in which the learner’s life or safety is
threatened.
For example, a patient with recent heart
attack needs to know the sign and symptoms and
when to seek medical help. The hospital nurse
must learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Desirable
:Needs that are not life-dependant but are related to
well-being.
For example , patients with cardiovascular disease
to understand the effects of a high fat diet on their health.

Possible:
Needs for information that are nice to know but not
essential or required because they are not directly related
to daily activities or the particular situation of the learner.
For example, a patient with diabetes mellitus
doesn’t need to know about travelling across time zones
7-Determine availability of
educational resources:
After identifying a need, it may useless to
proceed with the intervention if proper
educational resources are not available.
For example, if an asthmatic patient
needs to learn how to use ventolin inhaler,
that learning cannot occur if this equipment is
not available for demonstration .
 Methods to Assess Learning
Needs
The nurse educator must obtain objective data about, and subjective
data from, the learner. This can be achieved by using one or more of
the following methods:
1 Informal conversation:
Often, learning needs are identified during informal talk with
other healthcare providers, and between the nurse and the
patient/ family.

2 Structured interviews:
The nurse asks the patient direct and often predetermined
questions. Establishing trust,using open-ended questions, quiet
environment, and allowing the patient to state what his learning
needs are merit attention.
3-Focus groups:
The educator gets together 4-12 learners to
determine areas of educational need.
The educator leads the discussion and asks
open-ended questions.

4-Self-administered questionnaires:
the learner’s responses to questions about learning
needs can be obtained by self-administered
questionnaires. These are easy to administer and
provide more privacy than interviews.
5 Tests:
Written pre-tests given before teaching can
help identify the knowledge level of learners
regarding a particular subject matter and assist
in identifying a specific needs of learner. Tests
are useful as they prevent the educator from
repeating already known material.
6 Observation:
Watching a learner perform a skill more than
once is an excellent way of assessing
psychomotor need. Educators can assess whether
all steps are performed correctly.
 Readiness to Learn

Definition:
It is the time when the learner demonstrates
an interest, willingness, and ability to learn
the type or degree of information necessary
to maintain optimal health or to become
skilful in a job.
 Types of Readiness to Learn :-

P = Physical readiness

E = Emotional readiness

E = Experiential readiness

K = Knowledge readiness
The Components of Each Type of Readiness

1. Physical readiness
Measure of ability (strength, flexibility)
Environmental effects (noise )
Health Status (energy & comfort level )
Gender (women more receptive to medical care)

2-Emotional readiness:
Anxiety level
Support system
Motivation
Developmental Stage (human development)
3-Experiential readiness:
Level of Aspiration (long-term goals established )
Past coping mechanisms (previous problems )
Cultural background
Locus of control - ( internally motivated to learn )
Orientation

4-Knowledge readiness:
Present knowledge base
Cognitive ability (learner capable to learning)
Learning disabilities (mental retardation)
Learning styles
 Learning styles

"Learning style is the way in which

each learner begins to concentrate
and retain new anddifficult
information.
 The types of learning styles are:

visual:
A student learns by reading a material, and uses visual material
such as charts, pictures, maps.
auditory:
A student learns by listening, participates in discussions, makes s
peeches and presentations, and reads the text aloud.

kinesthetic: A student learns by touching.

 Learning Style
Principles
1. Style the educator prefers and style by which learners learn.
2.Caution against using teaching methods and tools that only apply
to the educators own learning style.
3.Assist the learner in identifying and learning according to their
own learning preference.
4.Learners given opportunity to learn through their preferred style
first.
5. Encourage learner to diversify their style preferences.
6. Specific learning activities that reinforce each modality or style.
Learning Style Models and Instruments

• Brain Preference Indicator

(Right-Brain, Left-Brain, and Whole-Brain)

• Environmental Preference Survey (EPS)

(Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Inventory)

• Kolb Learning Style Inventory (LSI)

 Right-Brain/Left-Brain and
Whole-Brain Thinking

•Brain Preference Indicator

•Right hemisphere emotional, visual–spatial,
nonverbal hemisphere
Thinking processes using the right brain are intuitiv
e, subjective, relational, holistic, and time free
•Left hemisphere vocal and analytical side
Thinking process using reality-based and logical
thinking with verbalization
• No correct or wrong side of the brain
• Each hemisphere gathers in the same
sensory information but handles the
information in different ways
• Knowledge of one’s own brain
hemispherical performance can help
educators identify the strengths and
weaknesses of various teaching methods
 Examples of Right-Brain/Left-Brain and
Whole-Brain Thinking
Left Brain Right Brain

Prefers talking and writing Prefers drawing and manipul

ating objects

Recognizes/remembers Recognizes/remembers faces

names

Solves problems by Solves problems by looking

breaking them into parts at the whole, looks for
patterns, uses hunches

Conscious of time and Not conscious of time and

schedules schedules
Environmental Preference Survey (EP
S) (Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Inventory)
Is a self reporting instrument that is widely used in
identification of how individual prefer to function,
learn , concentrate and perform educational activiti
es
 Basic Stimuli that affect a person's ability to learn:

-Environmental as sound, light, temperature.

-Emotional as motivation, responsibility.

-Sociological :desire to work alone or in group.

-Physical as time, mobility.

-Psychological: way learner process and react to

information.
 Kolb’s Learning style inventory

Kolb’s theory on learning style is that learning is a cum

ulative result of past experiences, heredity, and demand of
present environment.

Kolb’s Learning Cycle

He hypothesized that learning result from the way

learner perceive aswell ashow they process what they
perceive.
It include four modes of learning, which reflect :
A-dimension of perception:

1 Concrete Experience(CE mode):

Learner like relating with people, benefit from specific experience,
learn from feeling.
2 Abstract Conceptualization (AC mode):
Learner use systematic planning and logical analysis to solve problem ,
learn by thinking.
B- process dimension:
1 Active Experimentation(AE mode) :
Learner like to experiment to get things done, learn by doing.

2 Reflective Observation(RO mode) :

Look for meaning of things by viewing them from different perspectives,
learn by watching and listening.
*Kolb described each learning style
as a combination of four basic learning modes (CE, AC, A
E,RO). Learner demonstrates characteristics of one of
four style types:
1 diverger combine CEand RO modes.
Learner like to observe, gather information, gain insight
rather than take action, prefer working in group , Learn
best through group discussions , brain storming sessions.
2assimilator combine RO and AC modes. Learner
has ability to understand large amount of information
less interested in people, focus on abstract ideas and
concept, rely on knowledge from expertise, learn best
through lecture .
3converger combine AC and AEmodes.
Learner find practical application for ideas and
theories, has ability to use deductive reasoning
to solve problem, learn best through
demonstration- return demonstration.
4accommodator combine AEand CEmodes.
Learner enjoy new and challenging situations,
like to explore possibilities , learn by hand on
experience, learn best through role playing.
 Interpretation of Style
Instruments
• Caution must be exercised in assessing styles so that othe
r equally important factors in learning are not ignored.
• Styles only describe how individuals process stimuli, not
how much or how well information is learned.
• Style instruments should be selected based on reliability,
validity, and the population for which they are to be
used.
• More than one learning style instrument should be used
for appropriate assessment of learner.