Foundations For The Practice Of EMS Education

This is a book about teaching, but even more so, about learning - both yours and your students'. Ultimately, all learning is personal. We create our knowledge through reflection on our experiences, constantly modifying or reinforcing the knowledge we already had based on earlier experiences. Just as importantly, all learning takes place in a context. Being an educator is not just something one does, but it is a way of thinking. I have endeavored to create a context of values and ideas through which to consider and apply the principles and practices of education. It is my hope that as you read this book, you will begin to think about your own thinking and learning, and about how your own experiences, assumptions, and values shape your learning. In this way, you can animate the facts, theories and principles in this book and bring them alive in your own practice as an educator. This book cannot be an inexhaustible source of information on such a vast and complex field as education. It does provide sound, broad-based foundational knowledge with which to anchor further learning. I hope you will see it as a place to begin to learn (or to learn more) about education. As such, I have provided numerous resources for additional information for avenues you may wish to explore further. I also hope you will re-visit this book from time to time after your initial reading and reconsider its contents in the context of your on-going experiences as an educator. This is an exciting time in EMS education, as we are poised to have tremendous impact on the future of EMS. Our first priority in realizing the potential of EMS is to develop a strong infrastructure of EMS educators, programs, and educational institutions. It has long been a dream of mine to put together in text form an organized collection of information and ideas to share with beginning educators and colleagues, alike. The skeleton of this text is the 2002 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Guidelines for EMS Educators. I have "fleshed out" the skeleton with pieces on educational philosophy and theory, examples, and insights. Armed with content knowledge, educational process expertise, and shared values for education, we, as educators, will play a critical role in advancing the EMS Agenda for the Future, and the EMS Education Agenda for the future. Foundations for the Practice of EMS EducationAlexander, Melissa is the author of 'Foundations For The Practice Of EMS Education ', published 2005 under ISBN 9780131194359 and ISBN 0131194356.