Student-Centered Solutions for EMS Education, Part 3

This is the last of a multipart series looking at the role new technologies can play in improving students’ EMS education experience. Find part 1 here and part 2 here. Author Rommie Duckworth recently presented a webinar on this topic; click here to view.

Answers to a few more common questions about deviating from the lecture approach.

Is this just a fad—a new name for the latest trend in education we’ll remember with amusement in five years when everything changes again?

Student-centered education has been around since late 1800s, promoted by Italian educator Maria Montessori and the “American Aristotle,” John Dewey. While such progressive thinkers likely did not have emergency services education in mind at the time, their focus on the ability of the student to learn, understand and perform, rather than the ability of the educator to present knowledge, has been adopted by the best educational institutions for more than 100 years. In our world, think of it as patient- or performance-centered education.

Why do I need to use new technology in my class if I or my students aren’t comfortable with it?

While no educator strictly “needs” to use technology in their classroom, powerful and widely available mobile technology now allows students and educators to employ different methods to learn, understand, practice and perfect their skills in ways previously unattainable or impractical. In addition, the pervasiveness of this technology demands that both providers and educators become familiar with it, as it is becoming integral to many aspects of emergency response, including field reference, monitoring and assessment, care delivery, documentation and patient follow-up.

Isn’t adding a technology component to class just asking for one more thing to fail?

Any component you add to your class could be viewed as one more thing to go wrong, but that is why we recommend focusing on simple classroom technology. Complex computerized education systems require good service and support and may be beyond what most educators have access to. However, what would have been considered leading-edge technology 10 years ago is now widely available through generally reliable smart phones, tablets and other Internet-connected devices.

Still, when using such mobile technology, any good educator will check the function of their equipment before they begin and have a backup plan in place, just as they would for any lecture, skills station or hands-on practical. That’s why we’ve focused on not just the technology itself, but on using it to facilitate student-centered activities that would be otherwise difficult to coordinate in class. The technology is sometimes a weak link, but that is why it must be used as a tool to enhance the education, not the focus of the education itself.

Is there any way to improve current “flat” online education if it is already being used in your agency?

Some services use “flat” online education that offers little chance for attendees to customize, question or otherwise interact with information coming from the screen. While this is not an optimal learning method, it can suffice for certain goals, including making simple information available to a group quickly and conveniently. Such education must typically be followed up with, at a minimum, some form of Q&A, practice with feedback, and assessment. It can also work well as an introduction, orientation or overview of a subject, as long as it serves as a beginning to education, not an end.

I am concerned about the use of social media in classrooms as a vehicle for potential HIPAA violations. How can I ensure my students don’t use technology in class to violate confidentiality?

Privacy violations must be recognized as a behavioral problem, not a technological one. In days gone by confidential patient information may have been shared directly among providers who may have thought it harmless as long as the public didn’t know. Current rights to privacy make this type of violation as onerous as if the providers share it using social media. The only real difference is that with the latter, a wider audience may view the violation. The answer is that the education we give students on patient confidentiality will guide their use of technology both in and out of the classroom.

I am concerned about technology in class increasing the likelihood my students will cheat.

Regardless of the degree to which technology is involved, increasing collaboration in the classroom may increase the likelihood that students will want to work together even when being tested individually. Collaboration is a vital component of emergency services and should be integral to both teaching and testing, but this does not mean boundaries cannot be set and controls put in place to keep integrity and accountability part of your program. Academic integrity and individual accountability are vital to any good education program. They begin with making expectations and guidelines clear. We should not prevent students from acquiring and using new tools to help them learn and practice simply because of the potential for abuse.

Won’t even effective use of technology in the classroom just make students who are book smart?

To prevent this, keep focus on the student-centered and performance-based aspects of education. Technology must be used to enhance assessment, decision-making, leadership, collaboration and psychomotor skills performance, not simply add activities and distractions to occupy students. It can be easy for educators anxious to use new technology or techniques to find themselves doing the latter. Students must become critical thinkers with good skills practice. Using the tools and techniques discussed here, your students will be just that.

What would your next steps be for educators who want to start integrating student-centered education technology today?

1. Use teleconferencing and recording software in your class to:

• Bring in guest lecturers;
• Allow absentee students to attend;
• Allow students to attend lectures after the fact;
• Help students review and remediate with extra recorded resources;
• Bring study groups together when students can’t meet in the same location;
• Offer virtual office hours for mentoring, coaching and counseling. 

2. For increased hands-on task-specific skills practice, have students record their individual practice and upload one “perfect” recording for review and feedback.

3. For improved critical thinking and putting it all together, give students low-cost, high-impact scenarios and simulations, record and make note of their actions as they proceed, then debrief them using on-the-fly video playback and associated notes.

An emergency responder for more than 20 years with career and volunteer fire departments, public and private emergency medical services and hospital-based healthcare, Rommie L. Duckworth, LP, is an internationally recognized subject matter expert, fire officer, paramedic and educator. He is a career fire lieutenant, EMS coordinator and American Heart Association national faculty member.