Parts of Dr. McGuire’s presentation really resonated with me. The students I have in the last course prior to graduation and taking the licensing examination often feel defeated, neglected, and just plain fried. Some don’t feel they can perform any better than a “C,” and indeed, aspire to barely pass. It doesn’t take all that much to make them feel better about themselves as students, and as individuals. Acknowledging their contributions to the classroom and clinical settings, becoming excited when they try to successfully put the pieces together, and promoting that they have worked hard to occupy the seat in class, all go a long way in making a positive difference in how students see themselves as well as the educational process. As Dr. McGuire emphasized, many students really do not know the difference between learning and studying. Having discovered that to be true long ago, I always start the first day of the semester discussing and illustrating learning, studying, reading, teaching, and Bloom’s Taxonomy. We discuss the autonomy, accountability, responsibility, and persistent discovery inherent in the educational process. These students need to appropriately assess how people learn, because they need to teach people all facets of health, and then evaluate the outcomes of their efforts. So, much of the presentations validated why we do what we do as educators, as well as what we call it, so we can properly name it. Before we can change things, we must give it a name. Dr. McGuire helped to do that.
I saw your head nodding often during the presentation and I see why now (especially since I could not “see” during the presentation!). As you expressed, when a nursing student is nearing their exams there is a certain transition they need to make from student to professional. I believe this is true is all our majors but in nursing and the other health fields there is the EXAM that looms over them almost like another stamp of approval they seek from a peer.
You seem to set them up well for their next steps, you make a difference!