School Assignment: To do it or not to do it?

Nursing Students General Students

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QUESTION TO ALL STUDENTS: Your teacher offers you an assignment that is not required for the class and is not graded or counted towards your class grade in anyway. It is offered to help you with your understanding of the material.

a) Do you do it? Please explain.

b) If you already understand the material, will you still do it? Please explain.

Another nursing student and I discussed this scenario, which turned into her getting a bit agitated & frustrated at me. I wanted to see what others perceived after presenting the topic objectively.

Specializes in Pediatrics, OB/GYN, ER, Geriatrics.

I would do the assignment...this happened to us too and I was the only one who took the time to do the assignment and turn it in...I was given extra credit points for my effort and a lot of the material included in the assignment showed up on a test...even if you think you know the topic, and the assignment would seem "useless" to do, you never want to pass up an opportuntity to learn more even if it is not graded...your instructor might just be testing you all to see how serious you all are about becoming a nurse...

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I'd also do it as you never know when they may throw out a bonus point or two :) Not to mention it's always good to have an extra review over materials. Information is power!

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

It's pretty interesting to see all this different replies, especially considering they are based on the different grading scales and criteria that our respective schools use. For example, at my school for lecture, there are no extra credit points. Just the several computerized exams, the final, your attendance, and the HESI/Evolve case studies. For clinical, all of our paperwork is mandatory, so there isn't an option if you want to pass. I mention that since the idea of extra points is foreign to my school's mantra. The only way that is happening is if a test question gets thrown out.

I do agree with Daytonite about the teachers being our clinical and academic references, however, I would prefer to demonstrate my competency through the already required paperwork, post-conference at clinical, the exams, and extracurriculars involving NSNA chapter activities. This belief may also be based on how our school is set up.

If my school was set up how you all are describing, I don't think the theoretical question would have came to my mind at all. That's why I love you all! So many varying experiences and perspectives all in one place!!

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Our professors give us plenty of extra material that is not graded to work on. I usually work though the extra study guides and assignments as I study and make notes on anything I find interesting or that I have a question on but I don't always fill out every question and type everything up as if I were going to turn it in.

To me, any extra material that would help me understand a concept is always greatly appreciated and if my professors took their time to create it, then I should use it to my advantage.

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Specializes in Peri-op/Sub-Acute ANP.

There are benefits to doing this assignment (hypothetical or not) that go beyond whether or not it will impact your grade, or even whether it will enhance your knowledge of a particular subject. Your instructors are not just people who grade your work. They are people who will be responsible for providing references for you once you graduate. Now even though you might find a particular assignment to be worthless to your learning objectives or incompatible with your style of learning, completing the assignment could distinguish you as being someone who is willing to "go the extra mile" when it comes to reference time. That might be worthwhile to some students, not to others, but in this job market I would be concerned with ingriating myself in any way possible. Even if you think you don't need them to provide a reference (and many employers for new grads will insist on your providing your instructors as one or more references) you never know when you will need their goodwill if you decide to go back to school to get an additional degree.

It really is short-sighted to see this assignment as a means to an end (or not) regarding just your grade. It is an opportunity to distinguish yourself in a sea of other students, all of whom are looking for an edge.

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If I was confident of the material, no way would I waste my time doing the assignment. My time is limited, I need to concentrate on my weaknesses, not do unnecessary work on something I understand.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I don't think of the other learning assignments as worthless; they just don't allow me to work efficiently. Doing more work doesn't necessarily make you a better student if come test day or in clinical, it still doesn't click for you. When I complete a required assignment, I make it so the assignment meets the required criteria, yet still applies to my preferred method of learning.

For example, when I had to give a group presentation on PTSD during my mental health clinical rotation, instead of using the science board to post paragraphs and pictures of information, I created a slideshow that utilized flowcharts and bullet points to foster logical thinking. When we had to pick NCLEX questions to give to the group, instead of using handouts with lower level questions, we put it in the slideshow with application and analysis type questions and handed out lettered cards for the clinical group and instructor to hold up. Instead of them just giving the answer, they had to justify the rationale. I chose to do the powerpoint presentation because I am familiar with the program although it was above what the clinical instructor suggested. It cut down on the project cost for the group since two of us were financially-challenged and bytes were cost-effective. It saved study/personal time because we didn't have to meet up to create the presentation on a board; they just did the research on their own time and I incorporated it into the slideshow along with my own info. I mention this example because it is a way to stand out from a crowd of students while still completing the course requirements in an effective manner that facilitated my learning, yet impressed the instructor (she said "we knocked it out of the park").

I don't believe I gave the impression of seeing the hypothetical assignment as a short-sighted means to an end. If so, I apologize because that was not my intent. I disagree with adding on another assignment in the hopes of gaining more understanding and getting "brownie points." I'd rather alter a required assignment in a way that meets the designated guidelines yet effectively allows me to become secure about a topic while dazzling the teacher at the same time. If you want to impress instructors to improve your standing with them, become involved with the local NSA chapters or committees within the nursing school that have faculty/instructors on board... all while performing successfully on the required materials. For example, in my final semester, I have stepped in to become the student chair of a committee to plan our pinning ceremony, which has three of my current instructors and one from last semester ... all while using the "Studying Backwards" method described in Imprint to perform successfully on our exams thus far. I think this is better approach to displaying abilities to potential instructor references since it demonstrates more sides of a student than just by exams/assignments alone.

At my school, some of the full-time faculty mention in lecture repeatedly how they want us to study smarter instead of harder, but I came to this conclusion through my own learning experiences (AKA mistakes) throughout the previous year ago.

Thanks for the replies and I appreciate our ongoing discussions!

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