Overview of Microteaching and its Benefits

Question:

Discuss about the Reflective Report On Microteaching Technique.

Microteaching is a training technique for upcoming teachers which currently been practiced worldwide (Arsal 2014). This technique provides those upcoming teachers with an opportunity to enhance their skills and add real-time experience in their profession. the core skills of microteaching like presentation and strengthening skills helps upcoming teachers to learn the techniques and arts of teaching at ease and to enhance their expertise. The effect of this teaching skill is evident in subjects such as science educations (health and life sciences), practical subjects and many more (Remesh 2013).

In our previous assignment, I, in a group of four students, facilitated a microteaching session of 15 minutes. Our teaching session was comprised of visual resources and we used presentation to conduct the microteaching session. We included different adult learning styles and teaching techniques to include the audience in our presentation. The topic of our presentation was effective communication in nursing profession and we were to teach an idea to the audience or group of student we were interacting (Broadbent 2013).

In this critical analysis of the previous assignment about importance of effective Communication in nursing, I am going to discuss the different adult learning techniques and strategies our group had used to engage the audience during the presentation. During this microteaching session, we also provided a lesson plan including lesson outcomes, content of session, teaching methods, resources required, and different key-skills learnt during that day. I am going to use Gibb’s reflective cycle to analyze my facilitating skills and will discuss how my facilitation skills improved while facilitating the group (Husebø O’Regan and Nestel 2015).

The lesson plan prepared by my group members and me was comprised of aspects such as details of facilitators, goals (general and specific), learning outcomes, preparation, implementation and reflection (Chong and Kong 2012).

The prime goal of the microteaching session was to improve our teaching skills in the real-time experience (Saito 2012). As a team, we were aware of the topic of our discussion. We divided the topic in four different segments however; our goal was to understand every section of the presentation so that we can create a connection while presenting the topic. I was also aware of the importance of effective communication in nursing and prepared all the readings regarding my section and the whole topic before the presentation. Other than these, the general goal was to create a learning contact with the audience and I as a mentor was dedicated to make my audience understand every aspects of communication skills. According to Milkova (2012) contact learning technique help the learner or mentee more confident about themselves and they never forget those real-time learnings. To make the audience understand the importance of effective communication, I had to assess my learning needs. I had to understand which strategy could help the audience to connect with the topic effectively.

Microteaching Session on Effective Communication in Nursing

After the microteaching session, the audience would understand the learning outcomes of our presentation. These outcomes are

• Effective communication is a core skill for nursing professionals.
• The definition of communication and aims of good communication in nursing practice.
• Characteristics of effective communication skills including pro-active participation, active listeners, ability to learn from others and staying focused while practicing communication skills.
• Communication barriers and different types of communication barriers
• Effectiveness of communication skills in nursing practices.

The content of the session was comprised of sections and timings for every facilitator. Process of planning is time consuming however, me and my group members were benefitted from the session preparation. During planning the session, I was able to visualize the class and each steps of that class was clear to my vision. It helped me to ensure the thoughts I have prepared for my section and the whole topic. It also helped to me logically arrange the content for presentation and underline points that audience might feel problematic.

The session content was comprised of the following steps:

• defining key objectives
• clarifying key points and related topics
• organize material regarding the topic
• plan the presentation technique, strategies to involve audience
• evaluation process
• and timing division

Teaching method is an important part of microteaching technique as a proper teaching method can help the audience to understand the topic effectively (Kowalczyk, Hackworth and Case-Smith 2012). There are different teaching methods such as class participation, citation, memorization, demonstration and combination. These techniques help the teachers or facilitators to create a positive learning environment to make a classroom friendly and supportive. The technique we used for our microteaching session was class participation. The advantages of class participation technique are –

• It ensures everyone’s attention in learning.
• It ensures every distractions are removed from the class
• Activities and questions help the audience to engage in the class and creates non-threatening environment
• Maintains smooth transitions from one topic to another

There are six different adult learning techniques used for microteaching processes. These techniques are visual, aural, tactile, print, interactive and kinesthetic. Within these techniques, visual learning helps people to remind the learning for a longer period. Hence, for our microteaching session we chose PowerPoint presentation to define our topic.

Our next aim was to make the audience engage in our PowerPoint presentation. Hence, to meet these strategies, we chose four ways to engage the audience in our presentation (Rui and Stefanone 2013).

• Asking questions- this technique is also known as Socratic technique, in which teacher teaches by asking questions to the student. The materials in presentation then support student’s replies. Socratic Method helps the presenter to shine out in the room and engage a lot of audience in the process.
• Providing examples and case studies while presenting the topic help the audience to understand the consequences easily. We provided examples of effective communication and how this communication helped patients overcome the adverse health condition. The barriers and enhancers of effective communication was also discussed with examples and stories to engage more audience.
• As we were four group members and the whole task was divided into four segments, we decided to use the entire stage instead of podium, so that our group can look different in the eyes of audience. I was sure of this technique as eye connection is the strongest connection human can use while conversation.
• Memorizing the presentation was another step to engage the audience in the presentation. I knew of the fact that if I am looking at the slides every minute to understand the topic I am presenting, my audience will also become reluctant to understand the topic. Hence, my group members and I decided to memorize the individual as well as whole presentation topics.

Lesson preparation is an important part of lesson plan are critical aspects of teaching and learning (Darlind-Hammond 2012). A well-developed and prepared lesson that has been prepared in advance makes the presentation smooth and engaging and student can understand the topic easily.

Authenticity of the topic delivered depends on the materials provided through authentic resources. In our microteaching process, we have included resources like books, research journals, and authentic websites. Furthermore, to deliver the topic effectively, we also require resources such as books and handouts for the audience to be aware of the flow of presentation. PowerPoint to prepare the presentation, projector, computer, questionnaire sheets and feedback sheet. According to our lesson plan, these resources were to help us engage the audience in our presentation.

Adult Learning Techniques and Strategies

After the completion of the PowerPoint presentation, it is very important to understand whether the audience have grasp the key points of the presentation or not. Our aim was to get the feedback of our presentation within that provided time; hence, we included the audience in the process and provided them with situation to reflect their action. A small questionnaire was also provided to point out the key skills learn (Danielson 2013).  

Time management was the most important and crucial part of the microteaching session. We were ready with our reading materials, evidences, and evaluation skills (Kirillov et al. 2015). However, without a proper time management strategy, our presentation could have been failed to draw attention of the audience. Hence, I decided to divide time for each presenter, and duration of the time depended on the importance of the topic in overall presentation. Therefore, the presenter, who was to present the introduction of effective communication, got 2 to 3 minutes whereas the presenter defines the characteristics of effective communication got 5 minutes to explain the topic. Furthermore, to conduct audience interaction and questionnaire discussion 5 to 8 minutes was proposed. This way we divided the time throughout the topic to target the entire section of audience for our presentation (Milkova 2012).  

To propose a reflective analysis on this issue, I am going to use Gibb’s reflective cycle. The Gibb’s reflective cycle is comprised of six stages such as description of the situation, feelings, evaluation and analysis, conclusion and action plan (Paterson and Champan 2013).

It was the assessment 2 stage 1 of the assignment and my three group members and I were ready with our topic effective communication in nursing. We had divided the topic in four segments such as introduction of effective communication, characteristics of effective communications, possible barriers of effective communication and strategies to promote it in workplace. Communication is essential in nursing practices for patient’s safety and well-being. Nurses are the center of patients care and hence, it is the responsibility of the nurses to initiate dialog. Four members of our group described four aspects of communication skills such as definition of communication skills, characteristics of communication skills, potential barriers enhancers and examples of effective communication enhancing patient’s health.

We all were prepared with our topics and had practiced it several times; however before the presentation I was feeling nervous. This was my first microteaching experience hence I was very hopeful about the results. We had arranged our presentation in such a way that I was sure about audience support and engagement. We started the presentation with strong and positive note. The entire group member delivered their portion efficiently. Even I started with potential barriers of effective communication and delivered my readings however, I forgot to mention the types of barriers effecting communication between nurses and patients.

Lesson Plan and Teaching Methods

While evaluating the course of action I came to the point that the presentation was successful. We all delivered our part effectively that helped to engage the audience in our presentation. When I forgot the important portion of my topic, I became nervous. However, I compensate the fault by addressing the types of communication barriers with examples.

The only thing helped us to gain confidence and deliver such presentation was fluency and practice. We prepared our presentation with dedication and helped each other to prepare speech and final questionnaire. The theory of effective communication helped me to interact with my audience as well. As per the theory, communication helps to mend the barriers and let the knowledge flow in every direction. I understood the theory with personal experience while our presentation. After forgetting my speech, this connection helped me to reinforce my courage to deliver the entire section with effectiveness.

Conclusion

In the conclusion, I can say that the entire experience of microteaching process was positive for my team and me. We all were new to this experience. However, the feedback from the audience and their involvement in the process of presentation increased our confidence. Furthermore, the way our team responded to the adverse situation, it filled all the team members with utmost confidence.

After this presentation, I am going to take part in some workshops to enhance my interaction skills, because the engagement of audience made me nervous and I forgot the lines. However, I will be preparing my slide notes by my own for any future presentation as research and slide note preparation helped me to overcome the fear of stage and deliver quality presentation.

Conclusion

In this critical analysis of my previous assignment assessment 2 stage 1, I had to prepare a report explaining the lesson plan our four-membered team used and all the strategies we used to deliver our presentation. I mentioned about the learning techniques of adults and the strategies my team and I used to engage the audience in the presentation. Finally, I presented reflective analysis of the entire scenario using Gibbs reflective cycle and mentioned all the six stages of it regarding effective communication skills in nursing profession.

References

Arsal, Z., 2014. Microteaching and pre-service teachers’ sense of self-efficacy in teaching. European Journal of Teacher Education, 37(4), pp.453-464.

Remesh, A., 2013. Microteaching, an efficient technique for learning effective teaching. Journal of research in medical sciences: the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, 18(2), p.158.

Arnold, E. C., & Boggs, K. U. (2015). Interpersonal Relationships-E-Book: Professional Communication Skills for Nurses. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Broadbent, D.E., 2013. Perception and communication. Elsevier.

Husebø, S.E., O’Regan, S. and Nestel, D., 2015. Reflective practice and its role in simulation. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 11(8), pp.368-375.

Chong, W.H. and Kong, C.A., 2012. Teacher collaborative learning and teacher self-efficacy: The case of lesson study. The Journal of Experimental Education, 80(3), pp.263-283.

Saito, E., 2012. Key issues of lesson study in Japan and the United States: A literature review. Professional development in education, 38(5), pp.777-789.

Danielson, C., 2013. The framework for teaching: Evaluation instrument. Princeton, NJ: Danielson Group.

Milkova, S., 2012. Strategies for effective lesson planning. Center for Research on learning and Teaching, pp.1-4.

Kowalczyk, N., Hackworth, R. and Case-Smith, J., 2012. Perceptions of the use of critical thinking teaching methods. Radiologic technology, 83(3), pp.226-236.

Rui, J. and Stefanone, M.A., 2013. Strategic self-presentation online: A cross-cultural study. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), pp.110-118.

Darling-Hammond, L., 2012. Powerful teacher education: Lessons from exemplary programs. John Wiley & Sons.

Kirillov, A.V., Tanatova, D.K., Vinichenko, M.V. and Makushkin, S.A., 2015. Theory and practice of time-management in education. Asian Social Science, 11(19), p.193.

Paterson, C. and Chapman, J., 2013. Enhancing skills of critical reflection to evidence learning in professional practice. Physical Therapy in Sport, 14(3), pp.133-138.