Check out your active learning roadblock results!
You're riding in a
Comfy, Cozy Car
You are an expert clinician and have a true passion for teaching. You love working with students (especially in the clinical setting where you see the ahh moments!). But you have a hard time generating creative ideas or coming up with engaging classroom activities. You have used the tried-and-true lecture with success but are ready to add some pizzazz to your teaching toolbox!
🚧 Your roadblock is creative hesitation.
You know active learning could elevate your classroom, but generating new ideas, and risking something that might flop, feels overwhelming and uncomfortable.
đźš— The best way to protect your energy is to experiment safely. Instead of reinventing everything, lean into small, low-risk changes and proven strategies that help you grow without abandoning what already works.
You are traveling down the road at a comfortable pace. Your lessons have an outline, and you feel at ease leading your students. But there is also a pull to add a bit of excitement, a few engaging activities, or a dash of engaging discussion to your content. The lecture is working, but you know you could do more to connect theory to practice.
Your greatest opportunity for success is seeking inspiration from others and safe experimentation in the classroom.
Inspiration can come from unexpected sources and creativity is often nurtured in pursuits outside of the typical workday. Once you have found the inspiration fire, you can learn to embrace experimentation in a way that feels safe and controlled to you.
Key Characteristics of a Comy, Cozy Car:
Does this sound like you?
You love to help students and connect their learning to clinical practice through stories and your own experiences.
The idea of building an activity from scratch, from generating the idea, developing the resources, and testing it out, makes you a bit queasy. You would rather use something already created and tested.
You are comfortable with your teaching style but know you could do just a bit more to create a truly stellar student experience.
p.s. If you are like, “No way, not me!” no problem. Just head over to this page of all the results and choose one that fits better. We are all unique individuals!
Three strategies to maintain a clear path as the Comfy, Cozy Car:
Engage in productive rest
Creativity doesn’t always come from working harder. It often comes from stepping away and letting new ideas find you in unexpected places. Think a cooking class, letting your mind wander while you do a puzzle, or the calm you feel while out taking a walk in nature.Â
⚡️Action step: Choose an activity that you enjoy (reading, building Legos, cooking) and see if there are lessons that relate to nursing education. Or just enjoy the time as rest!
Embrace experiments
You sometimes avoid new strategies because trying something new feels vulnerable. The key is to lower the emotional stakes so experimentation feels safe, manageable, and even exciting.
⚡️ Action step: Choose one short, low-pressure activity to test this month  and tell students upfront you’re piloting something new. This shared transparency reduces pressure on you and invites them into the process.
Borrow before you build
If experimentation makes you uneasy, begin with activities that others have tried with success. Borrowing and adapting proven strategies is a smart, efficient way to elevate your classroom without the overwhelm.
⚡️ Action step: Choose an activity from the Idea Bank or check out a worksheet from the Learning Lab RN to help you get started with something that is known to have success.
What's next ...
Want to know EXACTLY how to implement these strategies?
There is an short email series about how to find calm on the cozy, comfy car headed to your way now!
The first step is arriving in your inbox shortly so watch for an email with the [đźš—] in the subject line.
See you there!