Creativity
As instructors we know that creativity is a requisite for the posiiton. A good portion of my instruction is devoted to medical coding. In the course of the instruction, I refer to disease processes and their development to help make them understand the reason for the specificity of the codes and also to give them a break from constant numbers and researching in coding manuals. There are times when students will volunteer information about diseases they are familiar with--it all provides a review of anatomy and medical terminology while inserting some human interest into the course. Of course, all identities are deleted from discussions which serves as a reminder of the HIPAA regulations they must follow.
Linda,
I think this is a version of teaching critical thinking. As long as students don't feel put down, being put in real-world settings, even making mistakes is OK, because we all learn by stretching our thinking and even making mistakes (that we learn from).
Barry Westling
I agree! In my classes I assign half the class to be the "patient" with a different illness or handicapp. The other half of the class are medical professionals completely unaware. I have found the students retain the information and learning experience from interaction on a level in which all the students can help each other.
Hi Carol:
Excellent! I completely agree that the more creative we can be (as in the example you described), the better chance a student will understand the concepts we describe in our learning sessions.
Regards, Barry
