The Experiential Class room: Leaving the Lecture Behind

Bridging theory to practice often presents a challenge to most nurse educators as does finding methods to keep the students engaged, the classroom atmosphere interesting, while being mindful that essential and prescribed curriculum material is presented. One effective method found to have met all of these needs is through the creation of an experiential class room. The experiential classroom is created by incorporating simulation, case study, student led activities, role play, evidence-based practice, and active discussion into a four hour learning session. The employment of power point slides and lecture is, at best, used at a minimum. Preparing learners to function as advanced practice nurses requires a comprehensive provision of information as well as the creation of an environment which assists in the acquisition of skill sets. This is a basic foundation of most learning. Preparing learners to thrive and excel as professional women and men requires moving them from a place where they begin to make meaning of this information in order to internalize learning and then begin to build essential and professionally specific skill sets (Merriam, Caffarella, Baumgartner, 2007; Mezirow, 1991). The experiential classroom brings the learner, the learning, and the educator together to create a collaboration where information is not only heard, but shared, translated, and incorporated into practice. Through this poster presentation each of the components of the experiential classroom will be presented and applied to specific content to demonstrate how the sum is greater than the parts. Merriam, S. B., Caffarella, R. S., & Baumgartner, L. M. (2007). Learning in adulthood, (3rd Ed.). San Francisco: -Jossey-Bass. Mezirow, Jack. TRANSFORMATIVE DIMENSIONS OF ADULT LEARNING. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1991