Scaffolding for Success in a Crash Course – Faculty Focus

As the lead professor for a clinical crash course with 50 students, 16 weeks to cover almost every bone in the body and limited machinery, it is important for my students to be self-directed learners. “Self-directed learning can be defined as the outcome of creating an experience that empowers learners to make decisions about the information they want to become proficient in” (Robinson et al, 2020). The difficulty with teaching undergraduate students, whose ages range from 18 to 47 years old is that self-directed learning may be perceived as me not wanting to put in more effort to teach the students. Still, given the volume of information covered in the course and the number of students, it is inevitable that students will need to engage in self-directed learning and learn how to effectively utilize the resources at their disposal to succeed in the course. 

So, how do I properly prepare these students to effectively utilize their resources, especially since many are first-time students? I use scaffolding and repetition while being cautious of unconscious bias.  

Scaffolding and How to Use it in Your Classroom

“Scaffolding is a classroom teaching technique in which instructors deliver lessons in distinct segments, providing less and less support as students master new concepts or material. Much like scaffolding on a building, this technique is meant to provide students with a framework for learning as they build and strengthen their understanding” (Nance, 2022). In the context of Radiologic Technology education, the foundation of learning positioning is understanding medical terminology and human anatomy.

In the first week, I provide PowerPoint slides. Using those slides, I lecture on medical terminology and important anatomical terms that will be used for the rest of the semester and during their time as working technologists. From that point, I begin teaching body part by body part each week moving forward, utilizing and emphasizing the use of medical terminology. After revising the course and teaching this class for three years, it is a fact that some students understand the material right away, some need more time, and some require significant guidance. The average time that it takes most students to begin understanding the time commitment to learn this much material and be successful is around week 7 of the 16 week course. At that point, I encourage the student’s independence in finding resources outside of the course to help them succeed, such as YouTube and radiography websites. I continue to make myself available for them, but the expectations for the course are well understood at this point, and students know what resources are available to them to help them succeed. This allows me to give less instruction and less intervention, thus successfully applying the method of scaffolding. 

First Week Steps

In the first week, I give the students a foundation of knowledge and help them become familiar with the class by setting expectations of the knowledge they need to acquire each week and the positioning and critical thinking skills they must possess. Depending on the class, between week five and seven, I begin stepping back and allowing the students to become more independent since they know the expectations of the class and the knowledge and skills they need to possess or develop. This is how I utilize scaffolding in my classroom. 

Repetition

“When stimuli are learned by repetition, they are remembered better and retained for a longer time” (Zhan et al, 2018). Repetition is not solely asking the same question over and over again. It is asking the same question or reviewing the same concept while utilizing various methods or verbiage so students not only remember the answer but understand the concept. When giving directions, it is essential to repeat the directions so students follow them. When teaching a concept, it is essential to repeat the same question in different ways to promote understanding and memorization of that concept. In my course, students learn anatomical planes. When teaching the midsagittal plane, I ask students questions about the midsagittal plane, how it may relate to the image receptor on a posteroanterior (PA) chest x-ray, how it may relate to the image receptor on a lateral chest x-ray, what the difference is between the midcoronal and midsagittal plane, and more. These are different methods of asking the same question to ensure they fully understand the concept and how it relates to the positioning.  

The Importance of Understanding Unconscious Bias

“Unconscious biases (also known as implicit biases) are involuntary stereotypes or attitudes held about certain groups of people that may influence our behaviors, understandings, and actions, often with unintended detrimental consequences” (Ogunleye, 2022). As a higher education teacher, there is a level of professionalism, etiquette, and understanding that I believe students had when I was in college and that I believe students should have. It is important to understand that not all students come from the same background or were afforded the same luxuries of education and that as instructors, it is our duty to instruct our students to the level we believe they should be at or to help them obtain the resources that will help them achieve the level that college students who are successful in this program should be at. In this case, we can provide more guidance and support at the beginning of their education journey, then slowly scale back as they reach the level, also utilizing the concept of scaffolding. 

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Dr. Ryan Gregory Garcia is a Radiologic Technology Instructor at Cypress College and a Radiologic Technologist at an orthopedic clinic. Dr. Garcia is an active member of the Association of Educators in Imaging and Radiologic Sciences (AEIRS) and is passionate about improving the quality of didactic and clinical education in the radiologic sciences field. 

References

Adam Nance. (2022). 7 scaffolding learning strategies for the classroom. University of San Diego – Professional & Continuing Education. https://pce.sandiego.edu/scaffolding-in-education-examples/ 

Ogunleye, T. A. (2022). Unconscious Bias. Dermatologic Clinics, 41(2). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.det.2022.08.003 

Robinson, J. D., & Persky, A. M. (2020). Developing self-directed learners. American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education, 84(3), 847512.  

‌Zhan, L., Guo, D., Chen, G., & Yang, J. (2018). Effects of Repetition Learning on Associative Recognition Over Time: Role of the Hippocampus and Prefrontal Cortex. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12(1).