Help I have an Instructor that doesn't teach!

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I have a unique problem with my Fundamentals course, our instructor doesn't teach! I know there are a lot of bad nursing instructors out there but most of the time they aren't the chair of the nursing department!

Sigh, our instructor has already said that she is not going to "regurgitate material from our textbooks." She expects the class to read the books on our own, do presentations (in groups) and that is how we will learn the material.

OK, that's fine but the problem is that we have been assigned hundreds of pages of reading and have no idea on what to focus on. Next, the presentations have sucked because there is no focus so we can't even get good notes from them. She refuses to give any useful feedback on the presentations. All she will say is that it was fine or it sucked, nothing more.

She does not return our papers or quizzes she just tells we all failed and screams at us and tells us how useless and brain-dead we all are.

Yet, based on all of this we have a quiz every single class. It's usually 10 questions that she chooses randomly from all of the hundreds of pages of reading. A few of the questions are general knowledge that you can garner from the theme of the chapters but some are really specific, a certain name, or situation etc.

Every single person is FAILING fundamental. No one, not a single soul is managing to make a 75 (passing) or better mark. So whose fault is that?

Her response? We are all idiots and she doesn't care if there is only one person left in the class she is not changing.

*** are we supposed to do? Who should we as a group go to for resolution when she is the chair of the department and basically autonomous?

I am ready to take it to the president of the college (it's a really small school) but I am not sure if I want to get our cohort behind me because of much back stabbing and gossiping.

I am thinking an anonymous letter will do the trick.

What say you? I am pretty pissed off because I am spending a ridiculous amount of money on this program and the thought of failing for the reasons listed above burns me up. I don't think I am just a whiner with a grand sense of entitlement, I know that nursing school is super hard. I am studying my a** off and getting really good marks in all of my other classes B+ and A but her class? I am failing...and so is everyone else as stated by her.

It just burns me up! :angryfire

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Specializes in Med/Surg <1; Epic Certified <1.

Wow....no words of wisdom from me, but that does sound like it sucks...we had an instructor that basically read her PowerPoint outlines to us during lecture, the a lot of self-teaching was necessary, but it was doable....lots of luck with this....it is hard to imagine a place of education not realizing there is a problem when the majority of students in a class are flunking...

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.

usually, I'd say suck it up and teach yourself if the instructor doesn't teach, but if EVERYONE is failing, then that IS ridiculous.

I really don't know what to tell you, but that I'm sorry you are going through this.

I have to say though, what will she say if ALL of you DO fail?

Good Luck.

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Exactly, what will she do if we ALL fail her class? I am doing my best to pass and I am trying to learn the material on my own. It's not that the concepts are difficult to understand because they are not. It's just that it's virtually impossible to figure out what obscure question she will ask from the 200+ pages of reading she assigns us every week. I would have to have a photographic memory as well be psychic to figure out what she will focus on for the week.

Also, how the heck can I correct my mistakes if she will not give me back my quizzes so that I can know what I got right and wrong? I can't even figure out if I truly know what I think I know.

usually, I'd say suck it up and teach yourself if the instructor doesn't teach, but if EVERYONE is failing, then that IS ridiculous.

I really don't know what to tell you, but that I'm sorry you are going through this.

I have to say though, what will she say if ALL of you DO fail?Good Luck.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Didn't your class receive a list of objectives for the class with the syllabus? They should be your guideline for studying. If you don't have them, ask for them. These guidelines, at a minimum, are submitted to your state board of nursing as part of the school becoming approved to teach nursing in your state. I went through a nursing school that had no lectures at all! What we got were these lists of objectives, lists of references books, magazines, audio-visual materials that we had access to and a "good luck". If we had trouble finding things and asked, what we got were questions like "did you look here?" or "where have you looked for the information?" We had no drop outs, 100% passage on our state board exams and a whole class of nurses who knew how to study and find information on their own.

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I have read my syllabus more than one time and it hasn't helped.

I will type it out for you all to read and then you can tell me if I am missing something.

Course Objectives

Idenfity Knowledge from A&PI, English, Pharmaceutical computations, Psychology and Nursing Arts & Skills and how these relate to health needs.

List stages of nurse patient relationship.

Describe and use written and verbal communication skills in simulated patient situations.

Identify the levels of health care

List components of care appropriate for unlicensed caregivers

Describe the roles of the various memebers of the healthcare team

Explain the LPN scope of practice and identify legal and ethical concerns

Identify different cultural values and steps in the teaching process

Teaching Method

Lecture/Discussion (haven't had any of those)

Assigned study groups

Group presentations

It has the break down of the grading process which I will skip.

OK, so we are going into week 5 and this is what is on the syllabus for the upcoming week.

Week V Topic: Critical Thinking Skills

Required Reading Chapter 14,15, 16 Potter & Perry Chitty, Kay Kitrell Chap 15

Recommend Reading Student Research

Collaborative Study

Exercises as assigned.

What am I missing here? It just doesn't seem that clear to me and I never had to play these kinds of guessing games when I went to college. Maybe I don't understand nursing education and it's some sort of crime to be clear and concise about expectations.

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get a tape recorder and tape her rantings and then go to the dean. students (or patients) should not be abused. verbal abuse is not accpetable

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Specializes in Rehab, Med Surg, Home Care.

Can you make contact with anyone who took this class from her previously? Was there such a low pass rate with other classes? If not, how did others get through the class? NS is tough enough without this kind of crap-will she be expecting you to do clinicals without supervision next? If this situation is as dire as you are saying you really have no choice but to go over her head, and soon. All the best to you guys.

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.
I have a unique problem with my Fundamentals course, our instructor doesn't teach!

I would not call that unique. I was about to ask you if you went to my school:chuckle . All last semester I said, "If I wanted to teach myself how to be a nurse I would buy a book and follow a nurse around for a lot cheaper!" They say they are not going to "spoon feed us", I did not realize that meant I had to assemble the gun, shoot the cow, and cook it myself! :roll

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I'm annoyed on your behalf!

I had a non-teaching teacher for Chemistry. We got our quizzes and tests back, but they always had a big, "A" and "GOOD" written on them...nevermind that we all had different answers and no one knew what was going on. All the man talked about was colonizing space!

At least my non-teaching teacher was nice, but GEEZ!

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

i've been thinking about this thread. bad behavior of the instructor aside (there's no excuse for abusive behavior--period!) there are some educators, and the people running this school's nursing program may subscribe to this, who believe that sometimes a drastic "shakeup" is called for with students just coming on board. so, they sort of dump them into a learning situation where they are left to sink or swim. they do this deliberately to test their devotion to the subject and mold their attitude. this is one way of breaking down old beliefs and behaviors and bending the will. i had a friend who went through something similar to this in medical school. all were flunking terribly in one of the medical classes and the students were panicking as they weren't used to getting anything other than a's and b's were very rare. in the end, the grades were curved and everybody was passed. they learned that this was done to all incoming freshman to strip them of their attitudes that they might think they were superior to others.

i was just wondering if something like that might be going on here. an instructor can't possibly fail every single student. that looks extremely bad for the instructor and for the school. the instructor, in the end, has a supervisor to answer to herself. if this is really as bad as you are saying, then you should have a sit down with the person who is in the chain of command above this instructor. take some other students with you if you need some support. what do you have to lose if you are all failing anyway? the verbal abuse is very concerning to me and should be reported. that shouldn't be going on at all. everyone has the right to be treated with respect. i thought the idea of taping the rantings was a good one. it's quite possible that the reason this occurs is because no one has stood up and complained about her before. if you need some support on this, look through the school catalog. there should be something in there that addresses behavior and ethics in the way both students and faculty treat each other. have it in hand when you address your complaints. also, it helps to get witnesses (other students) who are willing to document (write) factual accounts of this teacher's behavior. i would also ask that her classroom teaching be physically monitored and evaluated by other program instructors. you might be able to get students from a campus student organization or the dean of students office to sit in on some of her classes as a visitor. she wouldn't dare pull disrespectful crap in front of visitors, you think?

good luck.

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Blow off class and spend the three useless hours of lecture reading the material. I had this sort of class and this sort of instructor. I don't need anyone to read my power point notes to me. I had the highest grade in the class and barely showed up. Most of the class failed.

You would think that the goal was to teach the material and get a high percentage of passing students. Some instructors, particularly in the beginning think their job is to criticize and weed out. Suck it up and read the entire book. But I would also complain, and don't be surprised when nothing happens. Perry and Potter, read the boxes, as they summerize well. Good Luck and look at it as challenge, like climbing Everest. In fact thay might be easier than nursing school.

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