Project Demonstration Summary

Project Summary

In selecting my topic for the program syllabus design, I chose a program I was familiar with that had a need for improving.  I attempted to write my course and the syllabus for the course based on my own idea for a solution, which is to add a course to the current program that is used as a prerequisite to the students’ externship course.  By creating this course, the students would be able to practice on simulated humans, use medical equipment, and get exposure to patient needs all prior to going out into their externship in an actual ambulatory setting. 

After an in depth review of the literature surrounding the context and environment as it relates to adult learning, I found that the theories behind the physical environment and situated cognition would be a perfect theory and teaching strategy to use to create a ‘real life’ environment for the students in the medical assisting program.  As observed by Malcolm Knowles (1970), adults are more motivated to learn when they see the immediate application of knowledge and prefer to participate in problem-centered learning activities. The theory of situated learning suggests that knowledge and skills related to adult roles and responsibilities can be learned most efficiently within the actual context where they are used (MacKercher 2004).  In designing a program for adult learners, I want to emphasize how the environment in which they learn and the various forms of situated cognition can provide for an effective program of study for adults. 

The learners targeted for my program design are adult learners in a medical assisting training program who need a comprehensive course to prepare them for their formal clinical hours preformed at an ambulatory office.  It is important to provide a course to students at this crucial time in the program to properly prepare students for the live experience they are about to undertake during their externship clinical hours. 

To prepare students for this experience, I have designed a syllabus for a twelve week course combining theories and techniques the students have learned in prerequisite courses in their program with ‘real-life’ learning.  Students will go through situated cognition by practicing techniques on human volunteers and simulation models to draw blood, perform eye-washing techniques, and many other procedures. This ‘real life’ context in learning has been proven to be very effective in training adult learners.  In the situated learning model, the learner learns during experiences instead of only from experiences (MacKeracher 2004).  

The physical environment in the learning process is important to my program design as well.  Recent studies show that facilitators can actually choose the seating configuration conducive to the desired outcome (Lawson 2009). The learning environment for the medical assisting course will consist of a lecture area surrounded by a simulated laboratory.  The room is arranged to act and work like a ‘real life’ medical office complete with a patient check in area, medical records section, and numerous laboratory testing and patient areas.  In this setting, the students will feel as though they are actually in a medical office/laboratory.  I believe combining the theories behind situated cognition and the physical environment in adult learning will give an optimum learning environment for these medical assisting adult learners.

After designing a syllabus for adult learners in a medical assisting program focused on situation cognition and the learning environment, I asked for two experts in the field to review and evaluate my syllabus.  I asked each evaluator to provide me with the strengths, weaknesses, areas to improve, and overall comments related to the functionality of my syllabus. 

 The first evaluator has worked in education for twelve years and as a dean of health science programs for the past eight years.  My first evaluator has had a wealth of experience reviewing syllabi in adult programs from disciplines including business, human resources, medical assisting, nursing, and information technology.  I looked to her expertise on the overall design and flow of my syllabus. 

My second evaluator is an expert in the medical assisting field and, in fact, holds a CMA (certified medical assistant) license from the AAMA.  She also has years of teaching clinical and externship students as well as degrees in medical assisting and health information management.  I relied on the expertise from my second evaluator for the overall functionality of the program and syllabus design as well as the content related to the field of medical assisting through the AAMA. 

I found both evaluations to have a great impact on my perspective of my syllabus design.  I enjoyed seeing the concept of situated cognition and the physical environment analyzed through another educator’s eyes.  This was even more exciting when my syllabus was confirmed by another educator to exhibit the application of the theory.  I learned that it is very important to have input from someone with an educational background as well as expertise in the field. 

Overall, this project was very educational.  Each step is created to build upon the previous step.  Throughout the project, it is fascinating to use the knowledge gained from the literature review and analysis of the programs of practice to then create our own syllabus for a program design.   The experience is gained through the process itself.

References

Lawson, K. (2009). The trainer’s handbook (3^rd Updated ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer Wiley Press.

MacKeracher, D. (2004). Making sense of adult learning. (2^nd ed.). Toronto, Canada. University of Toronto Press.