The goal of any course of study is to gain mastery over the subject. Even after “mastery” has been achieved, there is always something new to learn or something old to improve upon. The journey from novice to expert should not have an ending, but rather a hearty “to be continued” like the cliff-hanger season finale for a television show or Tolkien’s “Fellowship of The Ring”. Medical learning exemplifies this truth because the medical field itself is in a constant state of growing, changing, and advancing. The state-of-the-art technique you used today may not be the best option for your patient one year from now. How are healthcare practitioners supposed to keep up and provide the best quality of care for their patients at all times? That is where the work of Dr. Staci Saner comes in. Dr. Saner has dedicated her life to teaching educators how to produce self-directed learners that know how to define a goal, choose a strategy to accomplish that goal, and solicit feedback from their faculty and colleagues.
Setting up learners for success
It’s the job of every educator to set their learners up for success as much as they can. That’s especially true for self-directed learning environments. Most students have only ever experienced teacher-directed learning environments before graduate school. Taking personal responsibility for the quality of one’s education can be overwhelming, to say the least. However, Dr. Staner has developed several strategies for educators to help learners make the autonomous leap. The first is simple: talk about it! Staner encourages educators to adopt the status of a “lifelong learner” and to admit when they don’t know the answer. Talk about what you know, what you don’t know, and how you plan to fill those knowledge gaps. Communicating that not knowing is okay takes unnecessary pressure off of them and facilitates a nurturing learning environment.
Secondly, Dr. Saner recommends incorporating learner-centered instruction. That means helping students identify their knowledge gaps and providing the resources to fill them. It requires educators to step down from the “faculty pedestal” and develop a willingness to work side-by-side with their learners, be a collaborative force in their learning process, and ask strategic questions that help them figure out exactly what they don’t know. The final piece to Saner’s learning success puzzle is for educators to not only become a medical resource but also an educational one. Educators need to be well-versed in effective and research-based study techniques like elaboration. They need to be able to ask the learner “what does this remind you of?” or “what do you already know about this topic?” Saner believes that real learning takes place when you can take discrepant pieces of knowledge and connect it to something that you already know.
To err is human, but to learn is progress
I think Dr. Saner summarized her point best when she said, “we’re all human and learning is hard work.” She understands the difficulty in undertaking a medical education and her goal is to make sure that process isn’t any harder than it has to be. She desires to equip educators and empower students with tactics that lead to one common goal: progress. She wants educators and learners alike to view failure as a constant teacher instead of something to be feared and avoided. I am confident in the future of healthcare education because I know that Dr. Saner is helping to shape it.