4hr lecture

I agree with the above poster to break your information/content into segments. I too have a 4-hour lecture, and I'm not a fan of lengthy PowerPoint slides. I prefer to teach 1-1.5 hr depending on the concept then incorporate games, class discussions, concept maps, case studies, group work, videos, etc. Do I include games, discussions, etc. every lecture day? No. I pick and choose which teaching strategy is most appropriate for the content. I also include time for bathroom and snack breaks.

Four hours, plan for four 15 min breaks for everyone.

I do not abuse powerpoints. Keep them short and for overview.

I plan 30 min intro and basic lecture about the days concept. Go slow and support any questions. Complex concepts take longer. Then break.

Break students into groups and have them explore the concept by working on a case study. This takes one hour or more. Break.

Each group presents on the board and orally their case study. I plan four different case studies. Takes over an hour. Break.

I then recap the concept-did they get it? Could they apply it? Again any questions.

I do end with some NCLEX style questions they do on their own at end of class and we discuss them as a group.

This planning takes a lot of time but makes the time block go smoothly.

Treat each hour as a separate class session. No more than two concepts per 50 minutes, break for 10. Fifteen-minute lecture, 10-minute class activity, repeat x 1, break.

Depending on your content, the class activities can be scaffolded. A scaffolded activity doesn't have to be complete at the end of 10 minutes--it only needs to be complete for the concept you just taught.

Try not to re-teach what they have already been taught in previous classes. If your school has a separate patho class, don't re-teach patho. Instead, include pre-class homework assignments for a small amount of points about the patho of the conditions you will be teaching that day. Have them complete med cards prior to class for a small amount of points so that you can concentrate on evaluation and nursing implications rather than teaching the pharmacology.

Maybe start out with a quick, ungraded quiz on the homework, review the answers, have them keep the quiz as a study tool. (My class LOVED that.)

For focused assessment of a condition, use the Socratic method. "What assessment techniques are we going to use and why?" "What are the most likely abnormal findings for this condition?" Guide the class through the discussion and write their correct answers/rationale/abnormal findings on the board. Provide them a pre-made template chart that they can complete as notes.

If you spend too much time dumping knowledge into their brain, they won't know what to do with it--and they get bored quickly. Homework can be the knowledge acquisition part; doing a quick review of the knowledge, then teaching them to work with the knowledge can be the focus of your class.

Those are just a few suggestions. I don't know what class you are teaching, so these may not work for you.

Thank you so much..

I am teaching OBGYN in ADN nursing program... I teach level 2 and level 4...