In education, lesson plans are structured in a manner that promotes exposure of students to core competencies of a particular topic. Curriculum designers focus on students’ needs as well as the demands in the various professional fields. In nursing, lesson modules address a number of aspects related to provision of efficient care services to patients, while also focusing on the needs of would be nurses. Some of the aspects addressed are such as nurse leadership and administrative skills, communication techniques, legal issues pertaining to nursing, alongside others. One particular topic, which has not received much attention in literature is visual literacy and its implication in revamping nursing. Being a novel topic in nursing, an evaluation of an existing nursing lesson plan is warranted. The idea is to identify the strengths as well as points of improvement in the lesson module as relates to the nursing practice and in particular, how it appeals to multicultural learning.
Kitano (1997) provided various aspects, which a course should have in order to appeal to the needs of diverse students. She advocated for the inclusion of multicultural approach in course plans to promote inclusivity following the existence of a body of students from different backgrounds. Having such a comprehensive course plans means demonstrating awareness of the uniqueness of students’ experiences. For instance, Kitano (1997) addressed the views of a Mathematics instructor, Allaga (1993) citing that the changing nature of instructions is meant “… to create a community of learners by encouraging students to participate, talk, debate, disagree, argue, take risks, and make mistakes” (p. 11). Thus, based on this understanding, it becomes clear that adopting a multicultural approach in course modules means allowing students the freedom to express themselves relative to their individual backgrounds. Getting acquainted with students’ experiences enables the instructor to identify their various needs, and whether some of them need special attention or not. Thus, a lesson plan should be specific and sensitive towards existence of a pool of students representing various ethnic communities, and racial disparities, which affect their learning outcomes. Hence, it is important to address these needs or issues.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
The lesson plan in question involves visual literacy addressing a number of critical lenses in nursing. These are, class, gender/feminism, race/ethnicity, and history. Based on the lesson plan, images are described as being instruments that communicate information and ideas. That being the case, visual literacy, which is applied to image analysis, helps individuals to examine an image identify the influence of context, audience, purpose, as well as time period during which it was created. Thus, visual literacy allows one to decode underlying the historical as well as social factors that have defined both explicit and implicit messages embedded in images. In the nursing context, visual literacy plays a fundamental role when it comes to communication skills in nurses. Moorman (2015) explained that visual thinking strategies have the capacity to teach observation skills to healthcare providers, such as nurses. For instance, referencing a study by Reilly et al., Moorman (2015) explained that the authors noticed that hearing varied perspectives enhanced group dynamics in a pool of medical students. Thus, this demonstrates the significance of being open-minded and identifying the importance of visual thinking strategies in nursing.
The lesson plan in question involves various worksheets containing questions such as “ What is the image’s main message? Who is its creator/producer? What is its purpose? Who is the audience?” or “What are the symbols in the image? What do they convey to whom?”. Such questions are provocative and demand that the nursing students find a deeper meaning in the images they are exposed to. The idea is to induce in them, the desire to want to understand the contextual factors, among others, which influenced the creation of certain images in nursing. For instance, a creator might have used certain distinguishing features demonstrate appeal to a particular ethnic community. That being the case, one could assume that the creator was simply exploring the role of nursing across different ethnic groupings or that he or she was acknowledging the input of a particular group of individuals in the field of nursing. Moorman (2015) noted that facilitators in visual thinking strategies (VTS) expose students to a museum whereby they discuss selected works of art. After viewing the pictures, the instructors ask questions such as “What is going on in the picture? What do you see that makes you say that? What more can you find?” (Moorman, 2015, p. 750). Thus, in such a case, the facilitators seek to understand how students interpret the pictures, which could explain further about the influence of their diverse backgrounds.
The various vocabulary, which nurse students are expected to come across are such as critical lens, visual literacy, legacy, intellectual trends, explicit, as well as ideology. The lesson plan also contains various handouts which comprise of postcard images, an image analysis worksheet for students, as well as a teacher’s image analysis worksheet. Understandably, having a plan for assessing students’ performance is important is a major factor when it comes to determining student achievements. In support Melguizo and Coates (2017) noted that “… assessment plays a pivotal role in creating learning and insights into what has been achieved. This in turn spurs the need for assessment research and innovation. Assessment is increasingly the lynchpin for higher education and broader success” (p. 1). Thus, from this understanding, it becomes clear that assessments play a vital role in helping teachers identify the success of students. Kitano (1997) corroborated such a standing stating that effective courses contain avenues through which students demonstrate their mastery of course content.
Kitano (1997) noted various components critical to promoting multicultural learning, which are content, instructional strategies and activities, assessment of student knowledge, and classroom dynamics. The lesson plan in question appeals all of these components. For instance, in line with Kitano’s (1997) description of content, the lesson plan on visual literacy addresses the traditional and historical presentations of nurses. Apart from that, it also advances the need to uncover the social, historical, economic, as well as political elements, which influenced the image creators. Thus, the content is both exclusive and inclusive and allows participation of students from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds. To provide support for the plan’s multicultural approach, one could consider Kitano’s (1997) description of content. She wrote that in order to promote inclusivity, instructors can choose content that appeals to the students’ cultural characteristics as well as experiences. They also promote an examination of social realities. The lesson contains images of nursing over time, which emphasizes on an exploration of how history has shaped the nursing practice into what it is today. Through such a retrospective exercise, students get a chance to interact with images that are representative of their cultural beliefs, values, as well as traditions.
Part of the objectives of the lesson plan involves the instructor asking students asking students to share their observations as well as inferences of images and ask any questions. The instructor is expected to record whatever responses students give while modelling how each response is supported by visual or textual references or prior knowledge. Such an objective and requirement demonstrate the lesson’s appeal to multicultural learning experiences among students. Through having students express their views about the images shows that there is consideration for diverse experiences among students. Lile and Bran (2014) noted that students exhibit their understanding of course content relative to their individual experiences. This means that a student will evaluate an image based on his or her cultural perspective, which they have familiarity with. Thus, the lesson plan can be said to promote a dynamic learning environment based on multicultural principles. While that is the case, the lesson plan does not appear to address the classroom dynamics, which is a fundamental component in establishing a multicultural learning environment as Kitano (1997) indicated.
As noted earlier, visual literary has not been explored fully in the context of learning. However, there are a few studies, which have identified its impact on nursing students’ ability to provide quality medical services. For instance, Bentiwich and Gilbey (2017) found that visual literacy lessons enhanced nurses’ tolerance of ambiguity and promote empathy. This particular understanding demonstrates that visual literacy is a potentially effective topic, which ought to be adopted in medical schools as well as health institutions looking to train their staff. A review of the lesson plan in question, alongside application of Kitano’s (1997) components, one can notice the inclusion of multicultural elements, such as culture, ethnicity, gender, as well as history. These are important in determining students’ experiences.
Conclusion
The lesson plan on visual literacy addresses components, which demonstrate its inclination towards a multicultural approach in learning. However, there is no clear description of the classroom dynamics, which is one of the components that Kitano discussed. Despite this particular limitation, the lesson plan contains a feasible assessment procedure, which can help identify students’ strengths and weaknesses relative to their individual cultural and social experiences. Thus, it provides an avenue for students to express their cultural experiences through their interpretation of images.
References
Bentwich, M. E., & Gilbey, P. (2017). More than visual literacy: Art and the enhancement of tolerance for ambiguity and empathy. BMC Medical Education,17 (1). doi:10.1186/s12909-017-1028-7
Kitano. M. (1997). What a Course Will Look Like After Multicultural Change. In Morey, A. I. & M. Kitano Multicultural course transformation in higher education: A broader truth . Pearson.
Lile, R., & Bran, C. (2014). The Assessment of Learning Outcomes. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences,163 , 125-131. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.12.297
Moorman, M. (2015). The Meaning of Visual Thinking Strategies for Nursing Students. Humanities,4 (4), 748-759. doi:10.3390/h4040748
Melguizo, T., & Coates, H. (2017). The Value of Assessing Higher Education Student Learning Outcomes. AERA Open,3 (3), 233285841771541. doi:10.1177/2332858417715417
