Book Review
Strategies for Healthcare Education: How to Teach in the 21st Century
Jan Woodhouse (ed) and Dorothy Marriss (foreword)
ISBN: 978-18461900-6-3 2007 153 pages Radcliffe Publishing
Angela Cushing
Honorary Research Advisor, School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Queensland, Ipswich Campus, Ipswich QLD
Woodhouse, a nurse, has produced the essential text on teaching strategies for nursing and allied healthcare education. The work comprises fourteen readable chapters - seven by Woodhouse - and the rest, also penned by nurses. Strategies discussed include: small group learning; problem based learning; case study; story telling and narratives; transforming technology into teaching; experiential learning; and blended and e-learning.
The introduction is an overview of changes in teaching styles and learning strategies from the latter half of the nineteenth century to contemporary times. The author contrasts the image of the early didactic teacher with today’s teacher as the learners’ facilitator. This facilitation is grounded in Knowles’ andragogy, a theory of adult learning equivalent to pedagogy and, as well, is bound up with the promotion of life-long learning. According to Knowles, the nurse facilitator requires a broad repertoire of strategies to meet the diverse needs of the adult learner.
Woodhouse notes pedagogic and andragogic influences on teaching methods during the twentieth century as schools of thought such as behaviourist, cognitivist, humanist and reflectionist; and names theorists including Thorndike, Skinner, Piaget, Gagne, Lewin, Kolb, Dewey, Habermas, and Schon. The author ranks these figures with the educational nurse theorists Dreyfus and Benner by discussing From Novice to Expert.
The impetus for this book arose for Woodhouse while doing a nursing education assignment. On reflecting on her own teaching and pondering the results of the investigation of health education sources, Woodhouse found that discussion of educational strategies was scattered throughout the literature and scant comment given to its usefulness for nursing education and solving clinical problems. The author has admirably addressed a wide gap in the nursing education literature on methods available for better teaching and learning outcomes. A shortcoming is the absence of debate such as the recent challenges to Benner’s work in nursing journals. However, the book’s strengths demonstrate that only so much can be achieved at any one time.
The author has enhanced the book by the inclusion of chapter summaries, recent literature, boxes on advantages and disadvantages of strategies, case study scenarios and humorous illustrations. The book’s uniqueness resides in Woodhouse’s sharing of knowledge and practical understanding of healthcare education. The work would appeal to educators, recently graduated nurse teachers, experienced nurse teachers, researchers, students and allied health professionals.
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