Post #1- Elka

The USA is also known as “the Melting Pot.”People immigrating to the US come from so many cultural differences. There are many ways to look at this. In my opinion, a positive way to regard this is that we can learn so much from each other. And that together, we can become stronger. Nurses need to be educated about diversity because we treat patients from all different cultures. So by learning in multicultural, multi-generational classrooms, we can gain so much and use this knowledge when caring for the diverse population we treat.

So when it comes to teaching, I will ask students to share and give personal examples of the differences we all experience. When we talk about all that, what usually happens is that we realize that, as humans, we all aspire to the same things. And in that realization, we become strong.

I like the idea of non-judgmental role-play in the classroom. The classroom should be a safe place where students can freely share. When I was in nursing school, I lived in an area without diversity. In a class of 30 people, other than maybe three, all were from the same culture and race. Those three people rarely spoke up or shared. When you live in a multicultural city, classrooms will be colorful and exciting, where students feel more comfortable sharing and learning from each other.

In addition, as nurses, we already have the common goal of giving our patients the best care they deserve. That includes learning, respecting, and accommodating their cultural differences. If we can teach our nursing students to treat each other that way in the classroom, they can take that knowledge and treat their patients in kind.

Post#2- Erika

According to Penner (2018), the students’ gender, culture, generation, and race can be incorporated into the nurse educator’s teaching methods in order to enhance students’ capabilities by implementing a structured course design; clear expectations should be communicated, the learning goals and expected outcomes should be clearly stated, as well as a lot of opportunities for the students to practice. By providing a structured classroom and environment, it can encourage feelings of inclusion and belonging for the students – for example, for first-generation college students, people of color, and women; a sense of community can be fostered (Penner, 2018). In addition, promoting access and equity across the classroom creates a sense of community for the students; for example, the syllabus can include diversity statements. By increasing positive and inclusive feelings in the classrooms, it can decrease “stereotypes” that students may have. With inclusive teaching, educators are more mindful of the class environment that they create for students of varying gender, culture, race, and generation (Penner, 2018).

Furthermore, older students with multiple responsibilities may need resources like tutoring, remediation, day care, and part-time study availabilities, as well as a different learning technique (Billings & Halstead, 2015). Those with multiple responsibilities may feel that online classes can be more convenient. In addition, incorporating multiple ways of teaching strategies (such as teacher-centered lecture). An interactive web-based media can be used across generations to acknowledge the generation’s learning needs and preferences (Billings & Halstead, 2015). The educators can gain from a generational diversity of students, and obtain insight from the learners; educators can prepare for a diverse class by measuring the adequacy of the resources and support services, flexibility of the nursing program, and assessing the demographics in the class (Billings & Halstead, 2015).