The degree of participation in the teaching-learning process is influenced by learner and educator views of how people learn at any given moment. Regardless of the formal or informal signature pedagogies (Shulman, 2005) chosen by educators to guide their practices, there is an on-going quest to achieve harmony in balancing what and how much the learner and educator each do in the learning process. A research-based theory of protective empowering developed by the author in hospital settings (Chiovitti, 2008; 2011) was expanded to teaching and learning in higher education using grounded theory methodology (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) and a modified integrative review methodology (Cooper, 1984; Whittemore & Knalf, 2005). At this roundtable, protective empowering framework is shared. Participants are invited to imagine, tune-in, self-reflect, and dialogue about two questions: 1. Are protective dimensions (stepping-in) and empowering dimensions (stepping-back) important to you in teaching and learning? 2. How well does the process of protective empowering and its six main actions and sub- actions resonate with your own experiences with learners? As will be shown, protective and empowering dimensions of teaching-learning co-exist harmoniously as a deliberate process accomplished through six main actions of: 1. ‘Respecting learners’ 2. ‘Not taking the learner’s behaviour personally’, 3. ‘Keeping learners safe (well-being)’, 4. ‘Encouraging learners’, 5. ‘Authentic relating’, and, 6. ‘Interactive teaching’. One or more of these six main actions can come to the forefront depending upon the learners’ immediate needs. The goal of protective empowering is to invite learner(s) views and participation at every opportunity.
References
Chiovitti, R.F. (2011). Theory of protective empowering for balancing patient safety and choices. Nursing Ethics, 18(1), 88-101.doi:10.1177/0969733010386169
Chiovitti, R.F. (2008). Nurses’ meaning of caring with patients in acute psychiatric hospital settings: A grounded theory study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45 (2), 203-23.doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2006.08.018.
Cooper, H.M. (1984). Integrating research: A guide for literature reviews, 2nd edition. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA
Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. L. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine Pub. Co.
Shulman, L.S. (2005). Signature pedagogies in the professions. Daedalus, 134 (3), 52-59.
Whittemore, J.E. & Knalf, K. (2005). The integrative review: Updated methodology. Journal of Advanced Nursing 52, (5), 546-553.doi:10.111/J.1365-2648.2005.03621.
