Whole Person Education
The idea of whole person healthcare is a core tenant of osteopathic practice and a guiding principle at A.T. Still University.
Aligned to this idea, the Teaching & Learning Center encourages the consideration whole person education. Like, whole person healthcare, this idea recognizes the ways in which we, and our learners, are 3-dimensional people inside and outside of the classroom and highlights the need for holistic approaches to education.
Intersecting aspects of our identities, previous work and life experiences, and current circumstances all shape how our students show up in spaces including in-person classes, online discussions, group projects, and clinical rotations. Similarly, the same aspects inform our own teaching philosophies and facilitation approaches.
In the video below, Dr. Julie Speer describes whole person education (from time marker 17:51 - 19:25). A larger version of the graphic shared on the slides can be accessed via this link.
Design Instruction For Your Learners: While it sounds obvious that we need to design our instruction for our learners, it's actually very helpful to take a step back and intentionally ask questions like:
The answers to these questions are pivotal for shaping how we design and facilitate instruction. For this reason, most instructional design models start with consideration of situational factors or by conducting a learner analysis. For example, if you know that your learners are mostly employed in busy, full-time positions during the day and taking your class at night, then you might carefully consider how much reading you assign, when you schedule office hours, and how you can build in activities that ask students to bring in example from their work experience. Additionally, for a topic where students tend to struggle, you might consider how you can use what you know about students' interests and goals to help deepen their connection and engagement with the material. For example, you might encourage students to pick a research topic for a course project that closely aligns to their goals for after graduation.
Activate Student's Prior Knowledge and Skills: Activating prior knowledge refers to the idea that we can help students think about what they already know and use that to help them make connections to what they are learning now. This can deepen their understanding and promote retention. Furthermore, we can invite students to consider what they have learned throughout their training (in related or diverse courses) or noticed in their own lived experiences. Relatedly, we can use this model to take an assets-based approach that helps students see the knowledge and skills that they have cultivated rather than focusing on what they don't know or haven't experienced.
Leverage Your Own Experiences: Just like we can empower and support our students by recognizing their prior experiences and identities, we can leverage our own in our teaching. Sharing stories and experiences from your training or work experiences can be incredibly powerful. For example, you might share about advice you learned from a mentor or what helped you learn a topic when you were a student.