Mentorship Module

In this essay I aim to reflect and critically analyse my completion of the learning development plan and to identify how the skills and knowledge that I have gained as a mentor will enable me to lead learning in my area of practice. I will be using the What model of reflection (Driscoll 2000) throughout this essay.

What? - As part of the mentorship module I was required to complete a Learning Development Plan (LDP). Part of the LDP involved writing a lesson plan which was then taught to a student under the supervision of my mentor. A copy of the lesson plan can be found within the LDP. An assessment plan was then used to evaluate the learning that had taken place and to assess the competency of the student. I am employed as a Paramedic Practitioner by a National Health Service (NHS) Ambulance Trust and I decided to teach the skill of Intubation to a student Paramedic. The lesson plan included assessing the level of knowledge of my student at the start in order to pitch the lesson at the right level. Gopee (2008:47) cites Ausubel et al (1978) on the view that most meaningful cognitive learning takes place as a result of interaction between the knowledge the individual already processes, and the new information that the individual encounters. Thus the most important factor influencing the learner is what the learner already knows.
In order to assess my student, I used the Airway Management assessment sheet currently in use by my Ambulance Trust (NHS Ambulance Trust (name withheld) 2010), a copy of which can be found in Appendix 1. Following the assessment, I provided the student with constructive feedback on both the session and their assessment.
So What? – Honey and Mumford (2000) have identified four main learning styles – Activist, Pragmatist, Reflector and Theorist and from previous exercises I had done during the mentorship module I