A Narrative Inquiry into Learning Experiences that Shape Becoming a Paramedic
Date
2014-09-05
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Abstract
In this narrative inquiry, I explored 5 paramedics’ experiences of learning within a technical
education program grounded in a behaviourist paradigm. I focused on understanding the learning experiences that shaped participants’ knowledge constructs in readiness for the complexities of practice. This research puzzle began with my first experiences as a novice paramedic learning to do practice. My interest in this study evolved through reflection upon my experiences as a student, practitioner, and educator. Story is an important way paramedics can interpret how their experiences shape them. The meanings embedded in paramedic learning experiences can be understood and shared through stories, which can provide insight for future paramedics. I negotiated a relational inquiry space called the field with each of the participants where we shared our stories. Individual audiotaped conversations were guided by the research puzzle. Conversations occurred over a 6-month period. I developed field texts from the recorded conversations and my session notes. Research texts were co-constructed iteratively over time with participants while attending to a 3-dimensional narrative inquiry space (temporality, sociality, and place). As a narrative inquirer coming into relation with participants in order to conduct this inquiry, I brought Dewey’s (1938) experiential theory based on continuity and transaction as central to my understanding of teaching and learning experiences. I interpreted the stories through my postmodernist lens, which shapes my telling as well as my thinking with others’ stories. In this way, I framed this inquiry within the theoretical framework of a humanist, constructivist lens. Participants’ stories form the basis for learning to practice narratives. I honoured participants’ voices as the authority of their particular experiences. The narratives that emerged from the stories revealed what participants found meaningful during their student experiences and how this shaped their knowledge constructs. The narratives illuminated the
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iii complexities, tensions, and possibilities embedded within experiences of learning to become a paramedic. Narratives that arose from thinking with the stories that shape learning for practice
feature (a) relational ethics, (b) developing identity, and (c) tacit knowledge. I discuss the personal, practical, and social implications of this inquiry make recommendations for further research and practice.
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Education--Health
Citation
Donelon, B. (2014). A Narrative Inquiry into Learning Experiences that Shape Becoming a Paramedic (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/24836