Reflective commentaries of three teaching/learning events / Ana Maria Y. Jimenez

In this reflection, currently employed teaching strategies and educational models utilized for the benefit of Generation-Y students will be discussed in detail with a particular focus on methods that could be used to augment and improve the current educational paradigm of Generation-Y that the author of this reflective paper faces. This reflective paper will also attempt to call into debate the question of whether or not the current educational system is still effective in providing quality education to Generation-Y and exploring the possible methods that could be put into practice to ensure that teaching strategies used by educators from Generation-X remain relevant for Generation-Y students today. When I teach, I believe that the best way to help the students learn, understand, and for all intents and purposes "believe" the validity of the lessons, practical application and or live demonstrations of these truths is vital to help them learn, especially since majority of Generation-Y are Visual and Kinesthetic learners. These differences may be causing conflict with traditional pedagogy in educational institutions, thereby creating, while it may be unintentional, an inability for Generation Y students to learn under the standard educational method of lecture presented to previous generations". In the classroom, I use the benefits of cognitive and affective learning, especially since nursing education is largely practical in application and because it also appeals to the learning style of Generation-Y nursing students. Granted it is evident that certain modes of teaching are more effective over the other, even Generation-Y is not limited to a single learning style, rather if we refer to the learning styles as espoused by Fleming's (2001) VAK/VARK Learning Styles, people may be classified as Visual./Seeing. Aural/Listening, Read/Write and finally Kinesthetic/Experiencing learners. Even after they leave my lecture room, I want to be able to give them the opportunity to continue to understand what they've learned for the day by providing them the means to experience the truth and merit of their lessons, and then more practical learning measures that involve hands-on activities that would enabled them to apply practical concepts learned from class while at the same time lessening lecture time, or time spent sitting in the classroom listening to me drone on and on about the concepts.

Nursing.