Observational Experience #1              

Observational Experience #1                                                                                  October 12, 2017 1300-1600

Observation of Graduate-level Health Policy course

As my first observational experience, this session was both eye-opening and illustrated the possibility of instructional expertise when one is knowledgeable of both content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge. It was especially helpful that I was fortunate enough to have this observational experience following our class session on pedagogical content knowledge. As I discuss this experience I will refer to my mentor as “Mrs. X” to respect the confidentiality of her as well as her students.

I began this observation experience having asked my mentor what aspects of her teaching she wanted me to focus on during the observational experience. She has over 34 years of teaching experience having her first formal teaching education through an instructional skills workshop in 1982. Along with her lengthy professional nursing career, she has also provided education through workshops, clinical practice experiences, as well as online and class-based courses. During this observation she wanted me to focus on the level of engagement of students during the session.

My personal focus for the session was to make linkages between the course objectives and the learning activities employed throughout the class. One noticeable difference from our own learning through the CATL program is that Mrs. X did not utilize formal learning objectives for each class. Instead she adapted a class agenda to guide the session and provided this along with the powerpoint prior to each class for students to familiarize themselves with the plan.

We began the class with a brief introduction of the agenda for the class. She also utilized this opportunity to introduce my presence in the class and gave me an opportunity to introduce myself to the students. She provided a recap of the plan for upcoming classes and answered any lingering questions from the previous class.

The first half of this class included a group presentation which was one of the assignments for the course. The presentation acted as a learning activity to show learning and provided an opportunity for the instructor to evaluate the effectiveness of the students learning. This learning activity provided multiple modes for student evaluation and it was comprised of three parts. As a group project students needed to work together to present a current health related policy based on a policy evaluation model presented during the course. During the active student presentation, students needed to demonstrate their learning through a well-thought out presentation and be able to teach their peers about their topic. Finally, students were required to write an individual one-page summary of their presentation as part of a separate yet related assignment. Looking back at the course objects, this project was able to tie in all the course objectives through the three learning activities.

In the second portion of the class, Mrs. X provided a 45-minute teaching session and engaged students in a engaging small group and later full class discussion. What was most interesting was her use of reframing discussion points and linking them back to the lesson with additional resources and quotes from readings and interesting research. These linkages really showcased her skill in pedagogical content knowledge and her skill as an instructor.

Overall, this was an amazing and rich learning experience, and I am very glad I have the opportunity to learn from a skilled and knowledgeable mentor.