I am a second semester RN student at a community college and was just wanting to compare teaching styles with other schools. Our professors do not go over ANY material. There is no lecture. On "lecture" days we do case studies that are not relevant to the unit tests or we play a game. I know case studies can be a valuable resource, but how about lecturing on what we need to know. Our last test was over 16 chapters and only 60 questions. When asked if they are going to go over the material we are told to read the book. I'm passing but not by very much. The class average is way below passing. Just wondering if any of you experience the same sort of passive teaching style.

Oh my goodness, that sounds awful. We have lectures with powerpoint and do some case studies. Sounds like there is not an awful lot of "teaching" going on there.

At my school, we are required to buy this massive box prior to the semester starting, that contains a syllabus, semester schedule, and all the power point slides used during lecture. We have one instructor who just reads the slides to us, but she does answer any questions we may have. We are also referred to the book quite often, just b/c there's simply not enough time to cover every single thing. I would have a major issue with doing case studies and playing games on lecture days, especially if they weren't related to exam material. We do case studies also, but it's in addition to lecture and they are always relevant to exam material. Have you approached anyone about this? If not the instructors, maybe the program director?

oh wow...both of the above are really bad.

What on earth are either of you paying for?

Are these schools fully accredited? What's the NCLEX pass rate? Are the schools affiliated with any hospitals?

I'd be raising a stink.

And poster number 2 has to pay for the syllabus,schedule and power point slides? That's crazy, they're making you pay for paper on top of your tuition....wow.

My school is accredited, has been since the 1960's I believe. The last quarter NCLEX pass rate was mid-90's. I'm in a transition program and, so far, everyone who graduated in the last class has passed the NCLEX. My school isn't affliated with a particular hospital per se, but it does have contracts for a certain number of students to receive scholarships in exchange for 1-2 years of work with every hospital in the county (there are 5 or 6).

As far as "buying paper"...it's about 700 pages that I gladly pay $50 for, rather than having to buy my own paper and take time to print things out. Next semester I believe we have the option of downloading and printing our own. I'm not sure how else an instructor would communicate what will be covered in lecture without some kind of guide, i.e., power points, or some other type of written outline. It was the same way for me during LPN school, although we didn't have to pay for it.