LPN educator - homework assignments?

[daisylouhoo]

I teach psych nursing and have recently been told that I need to assign homework for every chapter. Our text does not come with a workbook. Any ideas on homework assignments? There are 22 chapters - I would like to have a variety of assignments so that they don't become monotonous and routine. I think that would just add more work and take away from true learning opportunities. Although I love teaching this is a part time job so the amount of time I have in between jobs and motherhood to explore all the resources I am sure are out there is limited. I would appreciate any feedback.

Daisy

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Check with the publisher to see what other resources are available than you already have. They often have lots online, as well as books for instructors.

I found that if I didn't assign something to turn in, students didn't necessarily do the reading. Something I used was weekly papers for points toward the grade. The total of all the points added up to one exam grade. The topic was, "What I Learned" from this week's readings. They had to be at least a half page long, handwritten (unless penmanship was bad) or typed, reasonable-sized handwriting or font, and neatly done. They were due at the beginning of class or no points were given. I told them I would look at all of them to make sure they were done as expected, and randomly pick at least 10% of them to read, and would email comments to those people whose papers I picked. I also told them if they wanted to be sure I read theirs, to let me know, and I'd be sure to read them.

I enjoyed reading them and usually read all of them, but they didn't know that. By saying I'd pick 10% randomly, I didn't overload myself with my own homework each week, to read all of them. Some wrote much longer papers. Some (but few) put in minimal effort, which I confronted when I saw it.

[daisylouhoo]

Thanks for the feedback. I like your "what I learned " assignment. Many times I am pretty sure 0% of the students did the assigned readings by the responses they give in class. I just graduated in May so I am fairly new to nursing education. This response helped a lot. Because of the shortage of staff I feel like I was given a book and told class starts next week. I'm flying solo with the exception of one other educator who has been helpful in helping me get oriented to the place.

[Whispera, MSN, RN]

Most publishers will give instructors free desk copies of any books related to the textbook that is being used. I used to get on the internet and find a phone number and call the publishers and ask for their help. You might have to submit a request in writing on school letterhead, but that's not difficult.

[delawaremalenurse]

Thanks for the feedback. I like your "what I learned " assignment. Many times I am pretty sure 0% of the students did the assigned readings by the responses they give in class. I just graduated in May so I am fairly new to nursing education. This response helped a lot. Because of the shortage of staff I feel like I was given a book and told class starts next week. I'm flying solo with the exception of one other educator who has been helpful in helping me get oriented to the place.

not to be too negative but you might be getting ready to find out why there's a shortage of staff...try and stay positive and good luck with your new position!

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

You think they wouldn't learn anything by doing homework????

Jeez

[elkpark]

It's not "homework," but I have used a v. quick quiz on the basics of the assigned reading at the beginning of each class. Five questions, no deep thinking or analysis/application, just "did you do the reading" basic knowledge questions. Started promptly at the beginning of class, if you were late you missed the quiz, two minutes, that's it. Each question was worth some ridiculously tiny percentage of a point for extra credit, enough that, over the course of the semester, you could earn a max of three points on your final grade. That was enough incentive to get students to show up on time and have done the reading (double benefit!), and the students really liked the idea of being able to earn extra credit.

I did each quiz as a PowerPoint slide, so we didn't have to kill extra trees or waste a lot of time passing out papers (and they got to be pretty efficient at passing the papers in after they were done).

I can't take credit for the original idea; the colleague from whom I took over the course turned me on to the idea.

[daisylouhoo]

Thanks for the passing on the idea!

[daisylouhoo]

You should make sure you read things correctly before you make rude comments.