This may be the wrong location for this thread but I was hoping to get some input. I am finishing my first year as a new nurse educator and have had issues with students being prepared for class. For first-year fundamentals students, I provide reading guides, videos, and other preparatory materials about topics we will discuss in class. This is how I was educated not more than 10 years ago and believe it allows for better discussions and participation in class.
The problem I am having is that only a small group of students actually prep beforehand. This causes issues because most students are behind and some classes are dysfunctional due to the need to bring everyone up to speed. This hinders further learning and results in poor performance on activities and exams. I believe that this is a great concern and could help boost knowledge and performance if students were more prepared to learn.
I have gathered some informal data and believe the root cause is most students need to work and go to school and their inability to manage time effectively. I have estimated that students should spend 1 hour a week to prep for class although it should only take the average student 30 minutes or less. Most students cannot find this amount of time in their day as stated by the student's responses.
In August I will welcome a new cohort and I would like to make changes now to better benefit these students. Do you have any ideas or strategies that you have used? I would love to hear some other opinions. My faculty mentor and other instructors in the program do not have many ideas and just acknowledge that this is a problem.
Most students avoid or minimize prep for classes. If they say they don't have the time, then they don't want to. Thats the oldest excuse in the world. When my students didn't prepare, I wrote a 1 page concise summary of the lesson and handed it out. It's extra work and they were appreciative.
I do appreciate that you are meeting them halfway. One of the schools I worked in required a tremendous amount of paperwork each week...a mini Care Plan. I had one student who just didn't deal with the lab work....not noting if it was different from the norm, no correlation...week after week I would write in his notebook "what about lab?" I did talk to the Academic Dean who said "sometimes you have to meet them halfway." I learned from this and gave him a lab book ( but money was not a problem - he did fail the next semester). It's just a tough world balancing how much help to give...Sometimes I gave too much or not enough....One of the worst situations I experienced over 40 years was domestic violence...partners doing something to prevent a student from coming to school and taking away their phone so that they cannot notify the school they are not coming. Nursing students truly are a microcosm of the world as a whole.
I might be a little later to respond but I have some thoughts...
I just completed my second year teaching full time. I have encountered a similar experience in regards to not being prepared for class. Some do the readings and are engaged but most don't (especially in the beginning). Then they start to not do well on exams and wonder what they can do... they are surprised when it is suggested to read before the exams!
Some things my team and I have done to try and help this...
1. have a student from a previous semester talk with the students in the beginning on how to do well (make sure they will say come to class prepared - but most high performing students will)
2. I have made "pre class optional quizzes". I have made them on ATI and opened them for prior to class and close them the night of class. These are NCLEX questions students can do to help them on the exams. At the every least I found MOST students wanted to do the NCLEX questions and they would read the rationales. So they would have some clue before class. I also got to see who did and who didn't - which was nice.
3. I made optional pre-class assignments to hand in. For instance some open response questions on the major concepts I would be discussing. If the students did them they would get a prize (I always gave out a snack - preCOVID). Then if they completed all the pre class activities at the last class I raffled off an Amazon gift card. I had a lot of participation with this I have to say.
4. A new thing we are doing - we just approved ATI's new resource "Engage Fundamentals" to replace our existing text. This resource seems to be geared towards many learner styles instead of the read/write that traditional texts do. Also, I believe instructors have access to see which students use the resource and for how long.
5. Another option is to continue with the flipped class approach. I read an article once that after the first 2 classes (if you stick with it) students will come prepared and participate. Initially they will rebel and it is hard and awkward but they will eventually. You could even tell the class ahead of time "This class is a flipped class approach. This means if you do not complete the pre class assignments you will struggle with the concepts. It is necessary to come with knowledge of xyz in order for this class to be successful. There will be no PowerPoint."
6. Finally, one thing I plan to start doing next semester is start every class by asking "What are the major concepts you got out of the reading?". I then will make a list with the students contributions. I will ask the students to mark or note each one they hear again throughout the class. At the end we will review again. This isn't a complete flipped class approach but does require student participation.
Again, none of these will reach all the learners. But that is one them not you. As my manager says... you can lead the horse to water but you can't make him drink.
londonflo
3,002 Posts
I do appreciate that you are meeting them halfway. One of the schools I worked in required a tremendous amount of paperwork each week...a mini Care Plan. I had one student who just didn't deal with the lab work....not noting if it was different from the norm, no correlation...week after week I would write in his notebook "what about lab?" I did talk to the Academic Dean who said "sometimes you have to meet them halfway." I learned from this and gave him a lab book ( but money was not a problem - he did fail the next semester). It's just a tough world balancing how much help to give...Sometimes I gave too much or not enough....One of the worst situations I experienced over 40 years was domestic violence...partners doing something to prevent a student from coming to school and taking away their phone so that they cannot notify the school they are not coming. Nursing students truly are a microcosm of the world as a whole.