Delimma!

[jmqphd]

I was given a whole set of weekly objectives for the 15, 3 hour lectures that I (and a colleague) have to give over a semester. Some of them are very, very involved. (These are 6th and last semester "seniors" in an accelerated ADN program.) The first lecture is supposed to cover the immune system, hypersensitivity reactions, cell-mediated and humoral immunity, etc. etc. A VERY hard topic.

I don't think I have done a very good job the last two times I've tried it. My dilemma is that the students are supposed to arrive in this semester with an understanding of inflammation. And, even if they got that material, it was 3 semesters ago and they've forgotten all of it. You cannot get the adaptive immune system, without understanding inflammation. So, the students arrive without knowing their basics.

What to do?

Dumb it down? Or go all in and try to lay the whole thing out there. This semester, I'm trying the latter approach. But, I still only have 3 hours. So, I made a "review" for them about the inflammatory system that they need to do before this first class. It's pretty in-depth. 78 slides with abundant notes attached with several practice quizzes.

I suspect that others on this site have had similar dilemmas. Have you simplified your material? How did that go and did the students have enough information to answer related nursing process, synthesis sorts of questions that they would find on the NCLEX? If it doesn't work this time around, I'll be looking for new approaches.