ASSESSING THE LEARNER

Phoebe Jaenn A. Tan BSN, RN

 KEY TERMS
• determinants of learning
• learning needs
• readiness to learn
• learning styles
 OBJECTIVES
• Explain the nurse educator’s role in the learning process.
• Identify the three components of the determinants of learning.
• Describe the steps involved in the assessment of learning needs.
• Explain methods that can be used to assess learner needs.
• Discuss the factors that need to be assessed in each of the four types of readiness to
learn.
• Describe what is meant by learning styles.
• Discriminate between the major learning style models and instruments identified.
• Discuss ways to assess learning styles.
• Identify the evidence that supports assessment of learning needs, readiness to learn,
and learning styles.
 The three determinants of learning that require assessment
are
• (1) the needs of the learner,
• (2) the state of readiness to learn, and
• (3) the preferred learning styles for processing information.
• This chapter addresses these three determinants of learning
as they affect the effective and efficient delivery of patient,
student, and staff education.
 THE EDUCATOR’S ROLE IN
LEARNING
The role of educating others is one of the most essential
interventions that a nurse performs. To do it well, the nurse
must both identify the information learners need and
consider their readiness to learn and their styles of learning.
The learner—not the teacher—is the single most important
person in the education process. Educators can
greatly enhance learning when they serve as facilitators
helping the learner become aware of what needs to be
known, why knowing is valuable, and how to be actively
involved in acquiring information (Musinski, 1999).
 THE EDUCATOR’S ROLE IN
LEARNING
Just providing information to the learner,
however, does not ensure that learning will
occur. There is no guarantee that the learner
will learn the information given, although there
is more of an opportunity to learn if the
educator assesses the determinants of learning.
 THE EDUCATOR’S ROLE IN
LEARNING
• Assessing problems or deficits
• Providing important information and presenting it in
unique and appropriate ways
• Identifying progress being made
• Giving feedback and follow-up
• Reinforcing learning in the acquisition of new
knowledge, skills, and attitudes
• Evaluating learners’ abilities
 ASSESSMENT OF THE LEARNER
Assessment of learners’ needs, readiness, and styles of
learning is the first and most important step in instructional
design—but it is also the step most likely to be neglected. The
importance of assessment of the learner may seem self-
evident, yet often only lip service is given to this initial phase
of the educational process. Frequently, the nurse dives into
teaching before addressing all of the determinants of
learning. It is not unusual for patients with the same condition
to be taught with the same materials in the same way
(Haggard, 1989).
 ASSESSMENT OF THE LEARNER

Assessment of the learner includes attending to the

three determinants of learning (Haggard, 1989):
1. Learning needs—what the learner needs and
wants to learn
2. Readiness to learn—when the learner is receptive
to learning
3. Learning style—how the learner best learns
 ASSESSING LEARNING NEEDS

• Learning needs are defined as gaps in knowledge

that exist between a desired level of performance
and the actual level of performance (Healthcare
Education Association, 1985). In other words, a
learning need is the gap between what someone
knows and what someone needs or wants to know.
Such gaps may arise because of a lack of
knowledge, attitude, or skill.
 ASSESSING LEARNING NEEDS
According to cognitive experts in behavioral and
social sciences (Bloom, 1968; Bruner, 1966; Carroll,
1963; Kessels, 2003; Ley, 1979; Skinner, 1954), most
learners—90-95% of them—can master a subject with
a high degree of success if given sufficient time and
appropriate support. It is the educator’s task to
facilitate the determination of what exactly needs to
be learned and to identify approaches for presenting
information in a way that the learner will best
understand.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS
IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
1. Identify the learner. Who is the audience? If the
audience is one individual, is there a single need or
do many needs have to be fulfilled? Is there more
than one learner? If so, are their needs congruent or
diverse? The development of formal and informal
education programs for patients and their families,
nursing staff, or students must be based on accurate
identification of the learner.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS IN
THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
2. Choose the right setting. Establishing a
trusting environment helps learners feel a sense
of security in confiding information, believe their
concerns are taken seriously and are
considered important, and feel respected.
Ensuring privacy and confidentiality is
recognized as essential to establishing a trusting
relationship.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS IN
THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
3. Collect data about the learner. Once the learner is
identified, the educator can determine characteristic
needs of the population by exploring typical health
problems or issues of interest to that population.
Subsequently, a literature search can assist the
educator in identifying the type and extent of
content to be included in teaching sessions as well as
the educational strategies for teaching a specific
population based on the analysis of needs.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS
IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
4. Collect data from the learner. Learners are
usually the most important source of needs
assessment data about themselves. Allow
patients and/or family members to identify
what is important to them, what they perceive
their needs to be, which types of social support
systems are available, and which kind of
assistance these supports can provide
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS IN
THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
5. Involve members of the healthcare team. Other
health professionals likely have insight into patient or
family needs or the educational needs of the nursing
staff or students as a result of their frequent contacts
with both consumers and caregivers. Nurses are not
the sole teachers of these individuals; thus they must
remember to collaborate with other members of the
healthcare team for a richer assessment of learning
needs.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS
IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
6. Prioritize needs. A list of identified needs
can become endless and seemingly
impossible to accomplish. Maslow’s (1970)
hierarchy of human needs can help the
educator prioritize so that the learner’s
basic needs are attended to first and
foremost before higher needs are
addressed.
 CHOOSING TOPICS
Choosing which information to cover is
imperative, and nurse educators must make
choices deliberately. Educators should prioritize
learning needs based on the criteria in
(Healthcare Education Association, 1985, p. 23)
to foster maximum learning.
 CRITERIA FOR PRIORITIZING
LEARNING NEEDS
• Mandatory: Needs that must be learned for survival or
situations in which the learner’s life or safety is threatened.
Learning needs in this category must be met immediately.
• Desirable: Needs that are not life dependent but that are
related to well-being or the overall ability to provide quality
care in situations involving changes in institutional
procedure.
• Possible: Needs for information that is nice to know but not
essential or required or situations in which the learning need
is not directly related to daily activities.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS
IN THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
7. Determine availability of educational
resources. The educator may identify a need,
but it may be useless to proceed with
interventions if the proper educational
resources are not available, are unrealistic to
obtain, or do not match the learner’s needs. In
this case, it may be better to focus on other
identified needs.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS IN
THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
8. Assess the demands of the organization. This
assessment yields information that reflects the climate
of the organization. What are the organization’s
philosophy, mission, strategic plan, and goals? The
educator should be familiar with standards of
performance required in various employee
categories, along with job descriptions and hospital,
professional, and agency regulations.
 THE FOLLOWING ARE IMPORTANT STEPS IN
THE ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING NEEDS:
9. Take time-management issues into
account. Because time constraints are a major
impediment to the assessment process, Rankin
and Stallings (2005) suggest the educator
should emphasize the following important
points with respect to timemanagement issues:
 POINTS TO PONDER ON IN TIME
MANAGEMENT ISSUES
• Do good initial assessment
• Must give time to offer own perception of their
learning needs
• Assessment can be conducted anytime and
anywhere
• Inform a patient ahead of time about health needs
discussion so he/she can organize his/her thoughts
• Minimize interruptions and distractions during
planned assessment interviews
 METHODS IN ASSESSING
LEARNING NEEDS
The nurse in the role of educator must obtain objective data about the learner as
well as subjective data from the learner. This section describes various methods that
educators can use to assess learner needs and that should be used in combination
to yield the most reliable information (Haggard, 1989).
• Informal Conversations Often learning needs are discovered during
impromptu conversations that take place with other healthcare team
members involved in the care of the client and between the nurse and the
patient or his or her family.
• Structured Interviews The structured interview is perhaps the form of needs
assessment most commonly used to solicit the learner’s point of view. The
nurse educator asks the learner direct and often predetermined questions to
gather information about learning needs.
• Focus Groups Focus groups involve getting together a small number (4 to 12)
of potential learners (Breitrose, 1988) to determine areas of educational
need by using group discussion to identify points of view or knowledge about
a certain topic.
• Self-Administered Questionnaires Nurse educators can obtain learners’
written responses to questions about learning needs by using survey
instruments. Checklists are one of the most common forms of questionnaires.
They are easy to administer, provide more privacy compared to interviews,
and yield easy-to-tabulate data.
• Tests Giving written pretests before teaching is planned can help identify the
knowledge levels of potential learners regarding a particular subject and
assist in identifying their specific learning needs.
• Observations Observing health behaviors in several different time periods
can help the educator draw conclusions about established patterns of
behavior that cannot and should not be drawn from a single observation.
Actually watching the learner perform a skill more than once is an excellent
way of assessing a psychomotor need.
• Documentations Initial assessments, progress notes, nursing care plans, staff
notes, and discharge planning forms can provide information about the
learning needs of clients.
ASSESSING THE LEARNING
NEEDS OF NURSING STAFF
Williams (1998) specifically addresses the importance of
identifying the learning needs of staff nurses using the
methods described in this section.
• WRITTEN JOB DESCRIPTIONS A written description of what is required to
effectively carry out job responsibilities can reflect the potential learning
needs of staff.
• FORMAL AND INFORMAL REQUESTS Often staff are asked for ideas for
educational programs, and these ideas reflect what they perceive as needs.
When conducting a formal educational program, the educator must verify
that these requests are congruent with the needs of other staff members.
• QUALITY ASSURANCE REPORTS Trends found in incident reports indicating
safety violations or errors in procedures are a source of information in
establishing learning needs of staff that education can address.
• CHART AUDITS Educators can identify trends in practice through chart
auditing. Does the staff have a learning need in terms of the actual
charting? Is a new intervention being implemented? Does the record
indicate some inconsistency with implementation of an intervention?
• RULES AND REGULATIONS A thorough knowledge of hospital, professional,
and healthcare requirements helps to identify possible learning needs of
staff. The educator should monitor new rules of practice arising from
changes occurring within an institution or external to the organization that
may have implications for the delivery of care.
 FOUR-STEP APPRAISAL OF
NEEDS
Panno (1992), expanding on Knox’s (1974, 1977, 1986) interest in teaching
related to adult development and learning, describes a systematic approach
for assessing the learning needs of staff nurses and the organizations in which
they practice.
1. Define the target population
2. Analyze learner and organizational needs
3. Analyze the perceived needs of the learner and compare them to the
actual needs
4. Use data to prioritize identified learning needs
 READINESS TO LEARN
Defined as the time when the learner demonstrates an interest in
learning the information necessary to maintain optimal health or to
become more skillful in a job.
Characteristics:
occurs when the learner is receptive, willing, and able to participate in
the learning process.

It is the responsibility of the educator to discover through assessment

exactly when patients or staff are ready to learn, what they need or
want to learn, and how to adapt the content to fit each learner.
• the educator must first understand the following:
• what needs to be taught,
• collect and validate that information, and then
• apply the same methods used previously to assess learning needs,
including making observations, conducting interviews, gathering
information from the learner as well as from other healthcare team
members, and reviewing documentation.
• The educator, in conjunction with the learner, must determine what
needs to be learned and what the learning objectives should be to
establish which domain and at which level these objectives should be
classified.
 TAKE TIME TO TAKE A PEEK AT THE
FOUR TYPES OF READINESS TO LEARN
P = Physical Readiness E = Experiential Readiness
Measures of ability Level of aspiration
Complexity of task Past coping mechanisms
Environmental effects Cultural background
Health status
Locus of control
Gender
Orientation
E = Emotional Readiness K = Knowledge Readiness
Anxiety level
Present knowledge base
Support system
Cognitive ability
Motivation
Risk-taking behavior Learning disabilities
Frame of mind Learning styles
Developmental stage