From Authority to Facilitator: The Modern Teacher

Discussion board post for NURS623 Clinical Teaching in Nursing, posted on May 11 2023. Post is in response to discussion about different teaching perspectives, including traditional liberal and behaviorist to modern progressive and humanist approaches.

"Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn." – Benjamin Franklin

Teaching is certainly shifting from an authoritative role to facilitator role, coinciding with a perspective shift from behaviorist to progressive humanist. Traditionally, academia and teaching were based on a behaviorist perspective that focused on unidirectional knowledge and skill transfer from teacher to student, with clear evaluative measures (Melrose, Park, & Perry, 2021). In contrast, a progressive perspective centers around problem-solving based learning, encouraging learners to actively participate in their learning environment, learn through experiences and collaboration with their teacher and others learners alike (Melorse, Park, & Perry, 2021). With the added humanist perspective, the idea is that this type of learning will be self-directed and self-motivated, with teachers serving as facilitator to the learner's self-actualization (Melorse, Park, & Perry, 2021).

Behaviorist approaches tend to be effective at satisfying lower-level learning needs, based on Bloom's taxonomy of learning, which include remembering and understanding concepts and applying them; but, it is not effective for higher-level learning such as analysis, evaluation, critical thinking, and knowledge creation (Bloom, 1956). These higher levels require interactivity, engagement, immersion, and communication for learners and teachers to co-create knowledge in a continuous and bidirectional method, which a progressive humanist approach involves. This also aligns with constructivist and transformative theoretical frameworks, which focus on collaboration and facilitation as means for constructing learning between learners and teachers, and learning as a continuous process of self-actualization and transformation in the learner and teacher, respectively (Melrose, Park, & Perry, 2013).

The behaviorist approach also enforces a hierarchy where the teacher is a superior authority above the student, which is an aspect of teaching that is becoming rapidly outdated as the progressive humanist approach gains more support and relevance. Humanism minimizes hierarchy structures as it acknowledges each individual's unique and valuable contributions, learners and teachers alike, in the process of knowledge acquisition and co-creation. In this framework, the teacher does not need to have all of the answers; rather the teacher is modeling and facilitating the process to gain the answers, the self-reflection to evaluate one's knowledge, and the critical analysis skills for working through the lower levels of learning to the higher levels. Engaging in the process of learning is much more valuable to the student than a straightforward answer.

References

Bloom, B. (1956). Taxonomy of educational objectives, handbook I: The cognitive domain. New York: David McKay Co Inc.

Melrose, Park and Perry (2013) Teaching health professionals online: Frameworks and Strategies. Athabasca, AB, Canada: AU Press.

Melrose, S., Park, C., & Perry, B. (2021). Creative clinical teaching in the health professions. Athabasca, AB, Canada: AU Press.