The course handbook is another useful resource which contains all the information for this module. One potential problem is that if the learner has already pre-read the book then the small group work might not draw on the learner’s pre-knowledge but on the information they have just read. This problem can be overcome by ensuring the learners do not pre-read the book but make reference to it just before the small practical group work sessions.
Using such a wide range of teaching methods and resources in that order can help learners achieve the outcomes, as Bruner (1915-62) which has three elements
- Acquisition: the acquisition of new knowledge
- Transformation: The learner does something with this new knowledge. They manipulate it and apply it work out a problem.
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Evaluation: The learner assesses and evaluates the utility of the new knowledge in relation to the problem or task. (Scales, 2008:64)
Once these activities have taken place is it important to assess. Assessment is
“A way of finding out if learning has taken place. It enables you, the assessor, to ascertain if your learner has gained the required skills and knowledge needed at a given point.” (Gravells 2008:74)
The two main type of assessment are formative and summative. Both have there place and purpose within the whole learning process. Formative assessment assesses the learners and the level of learning that is taking place. This helps the trainer know the progression and stage of the learners and to what extent the learning has been successful. It is normally carried out informally in the classroom and works best when a range of active teaching methods are used, this can also motivate learners.
“Formative assessment should improve learning by enabling progress to be regularly monitored and reviewed. The learner can then see what they need to develop further, before the summative assessment takes place.”(Gravells 2008:76)
Summative assessment measures the knowledge of the learner at a conclusion of a course or module. This can be used to measure how far the learner has travelled if used against the initial assessment. This method of assessment is normally completed in a formal way at the end of any course particularly if the course leads to a qualification or an award.
Assessment is only worth completing if it is specific and relates to the learning outcome. It must be achievable, aimed at the learner but measured against the standards and learning outcomes.
The assessment strategies used on the whole Four Day First Aid at Work Course are a mixture of Formative and Summative. Formative assessment is used throughout the whole four days to improve learning and highlight where further learning is needed, ready for the formal summative assessment. The formative assessment allows the trainer to tailor the learning to the learner’s specific needs. The formal summative assessment is carried out by external independent assessors whom have not been involved in any of the teaching. The standard that each learner must achieve to gain the award is set by the governing body, the Health and Safety Executive. This ensures that all first aiders have met that national standard.
In the module, the main type of assessment used is informal formative. This is carried out by the trainer but also the learner and their peers. During the group work the trainer is observing all groups ensuring they are all on task, working towards the outcome, offering further support where needed and asking open questions to groups to assess their underpinning knowledge. The use of open questioning during the practical demonstration to assess how much information was retained while they watched the short DVD film clip. This can form a very effective way of self and peer to peer assessment
“The essence of mastery-learning strategies is group instruction supplemented by frequent feedback and individualised corrective help.” (Petty 18998:405)
Positive constructive feedback from the trainer and the peer’s helps the learner evaluate their performance, and highlights areas for improvement, this also helps the other learners in the group as they can all learn from each other.
The purpose for this formative assessment is to get the learners up to the standard required ready for the formal summative assessment. This assessment criteria is nationally set (See Appendix one).
“Extensive written work is disliked and largely avoided except by A-Level takers. Even In schools and college-based AVCEs, the view is emerging that these are becoming too based on writing about the vocational field being studied, rather than engaging in the practical development of competence.” (Torrance 2005:83)
As the topic First Aid is all about the learner gaining new skills and knowledge to be able to competently deal with an emergency situation assessing the learner in a practical way is imperative. Gibbs’s model of learning supports this:
(Gibbs 1988:51)
At the conclusion of the course the three practical assessments are how to deal with an unconscious breathing casualty, one who is not breathing and needs resuscitation and one who is wounded or bleeding. The Health and Safety Executive states that these are the three essential assessments as they assess the competence of a learner in three life threatening emergency situation. These situations are very relevant and appropriate to any learning who wants to become a First Aider. This assessment is carried out by two independent assessors who have not been involved in any of the teaching. As it is a formal summative assessment to a National Standard it is in the form of a competence check list. This assesses if the learner completed the tasks/activities in the right order. The level of this is nationally set and at the conclusion of the assessment the assessor needs to decide if the learner acted in a way that was safe and effective. Depending on that conclusion the assessors will deem the learner as competent and allow the issue of a certificate or refer the learner on to further training.
As this is such a formal assessment it is important that all learners meet this assessment criteria in order for them to pass and qualify as a First Aider. This can sometime cause slight problem when you need to meet the learners needs. The pace of the course can be slightly tailored but as the course is an intense four day course, the speed in which each module is covered can be altered as long as all the topics and modules are covered each day. The variety of teaching methods used can vary depending on the learner’s needs, more short DVD films can be used to help engage the younger learners. The times in which the course is delivered can vary dramatically depending on the learners and their background. If this course is delivered for industry the course can be delivered at their place of work, subject to a suitable learning environment which is sometime a problem. The problem here is getting access to the room early enough to set it, also noisy from production does not allow for effective learning. These issues need to be addressed at the planning stage of the course. If the training can take place onsite the course can be delivered in a variety of ways, either one day a week for four weeks or four consecutive days, even half days could be an option. Another way the learning can be taught varies depending upon the learner’s background. For instance if the course is being delivered for a chemical manufacturer more time would be spent on certain topics. These topics might be on chemical burns and scalds, this is due to the likelihood of this type of accident happening is very high within this industry.
At the start of all the courses the assessment criteria, methods and the skills required are clearly explained and the learners are given the opportunity to ask any questions. The assessments are very easy to administer as the emphasis lies with the two independent assessors. The imperative part of the assessment procedure for the trainer is to use the formative assessment as much as possible during the teaching/learning sessions to measure and monitor learning and ensure that the learner is ready for the summative assessment by day four.
During the past six years of teaching this course my reflective skills have improved which has enhanced my teaching. Data from learners course evaluations sheets identify how hard it was to imagine assisting someone who was choking. This module used a few teaching/learning methods including the trainer explaining things, the use of a short DVD video and a short practical none contact demonstration on a fellow learner. This none contact was very important because of the amount of harm and damage this would cause someone if we carried out the procedure is immense. That is why I invested heavily into purchasing a rare choking manikin. This helps all learners visually imagine the whole scenario and shows each learner how much pressure is needed to help the casualty. The learners can also evaluate their treatment and analyse how to offer the treatment to different sized casualties, which in a real situation could be quite a problem. The feedback now from all learners about that session is very positive as they can visually see how the treatment works but also they get to practice the procedure.
After the teaching lessons every learner is asked to complete a in-house company evaluation sheet so that the company can gather the thoughts, options and ideas of all the learns and look how they can consciously improve the course. This forms part of the company’s quality assurance plan. During the early part of 2009 I created my own evaluation tool (Appendix Two) and asked twenty learners who attended a Four Day First Aid at Work Course to complete a questionnaire. These two courses were run at our company training centre and the learners were all from a care sector background.
The questionnaire was given to a group of middle age learners all working within the Care Sector the results made interesting analysis (Appendix Three). The first few questions asked were to obtain some background information about the delegates. Just under half of the learners last attended a training course two to three years ago (Appendix Four). This could be due to the fact of all first aid qualifications are valid for three years and then they need updating. In conclusion to this 85% of the delegates had been on a training course within the last three years, which shows that ongoing training happens within the Care Sector. Not all the delegates had formal qualifications, 75% of them had a level two qualification or less, this shows that within the Care Sector the workforce have basic qualifications (Appendix Five). This could be a problem if the course they was attending was theory based and involved lots of reading and writing. An interesting result was that 60% of the learners stated that they were attending the course because they have been sent by their employer or for legal reasons (Appendix Six). This then makes it hard to engage the learners if they cannot see the personal benefit of attending this course.
Question four then contradicts these results, as all learners said they would use the skills and knowledge from this course in any situation either at work or home (Appendix Seven). This shows that the delegates are attending due to work reasons but understand that they will learn life skills that can be used at any time. Only two learners from the whole group said they prefer to learn alone, this could show that there’s learners like to work with others, maybe this could reflex the Care Sector is very much based on team work (Appendix Eight).
Half of these learners identify themselves as kinaesthetic learner (Appendix Nine). So a practical hands-on approach to the training would suit them. It also helps with the topic of first aid being such a practical subject. This could also be linked to the learner’s job; the care sector is a very hand-on practical physical job.
Each learner was asked to rank in priority order what helps then retain information the best. In total 60% of learners said that by physically doing something helps them the best (Appendix Ten). The same percentage of people also said that by watching someone else physically doing something helps them retain information and was ranked in second position. Both of these results confirm these learners like to see things in a visual way or practically carry something out.
The learners questioned stated that the most effective resource within the classroom was the trainer’s knowledge (Appendix Eleven); this could be due to the fact that a lay person attending a first aid course believes the course could not happen without a trainer’s or their knowledge. The trainers knowledge could also include the trainer past experiences, here the trainer may share their relevant experiences with the group, tailoring the course to the delegates background and industry.
The next effectiveness teaching resources was the course handbook, 60% of the learner may feel this is effective so they don’t feel that they need to make any notes but also to help them in the future (Appendix Eleven). As the qualification is valid for three years the book could be seen as an aid a few months down the line to refresh their memory. Even though the majority of learners are kinaesthetic the results show that the learners find PowerPoint presentation and the short DVD film clip as either effective or very effective teaching resources (Appendix Twelve).
When the group was asked about when they like to be assessed, over half of them answered “ongoing throughout the course” (Appendix Thirteen). This shows that informal formative assessment would best suit the style of the learners; the problem with this is as the course requires competence then this choice of assessment might not be the best. The reason for the summative assessment is to make the learner understand what it would be like to deal with an emergency situation (Appendix One). This is as close to a real situation as it can be made, with an acting casualty and casualty makeup and simulation, this also promotes the learners confidence in a real life situation.
The data collected has its limitations due to the fact it was a small sample from two groups of learners all working within the Care Sector. This does not offer a broad picture of the sector. The questionnaire was completed at the start of the training, which could have influenced the learners comments, the results might have been different if the results were collected before the course when no time or peer pressure was present.
In conclusion to my analysis of my research and as a reflective practitioner, gaining the right balance of different teaching methods like listening to the trainer, sharing past personal experiences, watching a DVD, watching a demonstration from the trainer, practical group work and teaching/evaluating other learners performance. The right type of assessment is also critical using both summative and formative methods. Tailoring the teaching methods used for the group and the industry will enhance the whole learning process. This can be achieved once the initial assessment (Appendix Fourteen) has been carried out before the course starts. Using a wide range of assessment methods is important, the most important type of assessment needed in this practical topic is formative as this is ongoing and can rectify or change the teaching to suit the learner. This is certainly going to be more of a focus for myself during my future teaching. I am also going to carry on analysing the evaluation feedback at the end of the course to see how the learner found the learning process and hopefully this will enable me to improve my future teaching. Future development will be needed as the structure of the First Aid training changes later this year. The new changes include all First Aiders attending an annual update; this will influence my teaching as the focus will then lie more on, shorter training sessions but more regularly.
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Bibliography
Gibbs, G (1988) Learning by Doing. London: Further Education Unit
Gravells A (2008) Preparing to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector, Learning Matters Ltd
Hay, M (2000) Research into Teacher Effectiveness. London, Hay Group/DfEE
Petty, G (1998) A Practical Guide to Teaching Today. Stanley Thorne (Publishers) Ltd
Scales, P (2008) Teaching in the Lifelong Learning Sector. McGraw-Hill Education
Simpson, S (2008) Planning and Enabling Learning in the Lifelong Learning Sector, Learning Matters Ltd
Torrance, C (2005) The Impact of Different Modes of Assessment on Achievements in the Learning and Skills Sector. London: Learning and Skills Development Agency.