Why Do Nursing Instructors Rely So Heavily On PowerPoints To Teach?

CrazierThanYou · Dec 19, 2010

I have completed 3 semesters of Nursing School and so far, every lecture instructor has used PowerPoints in the classroom to teach. This method has been used probably 99% of the time. The PowerPoints are provided ahead of time for download on a website, so students can bring them to class. Then, the instructor projects the PowerPoint on a screen and READS it at us for the lecture period (3-4 hours). Occasionally, there is a student question or the instructor may add something.
Why is this type of "teaching" popular? Why am I spending money to go to class to have somebody read to me when I am fully capable of reading the same material in the comfort of my own home? It seems lazy and insulting to my intelligence.
Any thoughts? Does anyone else have this experience? Does anyone benefit from this method of instruction?

Sounds like you go to my school, haha! Our PowerPoints are uploaded to BlackBoard. A couple of them are read to us in class but the rest of them we are expected to do on our own. There is very little in the way of "lecture" and what little there is consists of reading from the PowerPoint. :uhoh3:

CrazierThanYou · Dec 19, 2010

It's a lazy teacher's way of getting through a class without doing much. Seems like none of them understand the concept that PowerPoint is just to highlight main topics or show a diagram -- all my instructors also use them to read from, line by line, blah blah blah.
Next time you're stuck in a PowerPoint class pretend it's the teacher from Peanuts going "wah wah wah wahwah".
Be comforted you're not alone. In my nursing classes, the discussion is mainly a student asking a question and the snarky instructor saying "what, didn't you read the book? it's in your reading." A % of students stopped coming to class because we can read the powerpoints to ourselves just as well at home. The instructors got angry and banned us from sharing class recordings or notes with someone who could not attend, no matter why they weren't there. Is it right? I don't think so. But as long as there are multi-year waiting lists for the nursing school admissions, they can pretty much do whatever they darn well please.

Oh my, but doesn't THAT sound familiar! Then we get chewed out with the instructor saying "Did ANYONE do their reading assignment and look at the PowerPoint? Why should I waste my time getting up here in front of the class if no one else is going to do their part?"

Um, because that is your JOB. That's why. :rolleyes:

CrazierThanYou · Dec 19, 2010

Sorry, this is my 3rd response to this post.

At my school, we are supposed to read the PowerPoints on Blackboard. Some of them have narration and some don't. Most of them are from other schools, not even made by OUR instructors.

We arrive at 8. Sometimes the instructors show up around 8:30, sometimes they show up around 10:30. They might tell us what were going to do that day, then they disappear. Some of us sit in class trying to read while everyone else is jacking their jaws at the top of their lungs and the instructors might show back up at 2 to get started. Class is over at 3. So basically, we spend 90% of the day doing nothing. I can get this nothing better accomplished at home, either reading or looking at the almighty PowerPoints. We have a super strict attendance policy but I just don't see the point.

Basically, our instructors rely on our reading and PowerPoints THEY didn't even make so there really isn't a heck of lot that they have to actually DO.

Streamline2010 · Dec 19, 2010

Much of the nursing education literature suggests that lecture and PowerPoints are ineffective in the teaching/learning process, particularly among Millennial learners, who make up the bulk of the undergraduate population in most colleges today. Moreover, traditional lectures in which only the instructor speaks and the students are required to listen passively may not sufficiently motivate students or inspire enthusiasm or intellectual curiosity. Studies indicate that active learning through class discussion, gaming, or use of clickers to indicate whether students are clear on particular concepts are far more effective in promoting deep, authentic learning than are the more traditional pedagogical approaches.

LOL, I had to go look up "Millennial Learners" because I didn't know what that was. "may not sufficiently motivate students or inspire enthusiasm or intellectual curiosity": Oh, cry me a river. If you are not already arriving at class inspired and intellectually curious, then please drop out and leave a seat for someone who is!

"ineffective in the teaching/learning process": Well, could it be instead that these students are ineffective learners? Seriously. We're not at the movies. It's not a TV show.

"use of clickers": If anyone tries to clicker-train me, I assure you that an ambulance and the police will have to be called.

I'll take the opposite tack, and say that the students had better stop listening passively. Listening passively should not be happening. They should also stop expecting to be entertained, stop expecting to be spoon-fed, and had better learn how to read a book ahead of the lecture, re-read it as many times as it takes to sink in, and get really good at teaching themselves. If you have read and studied the course material ahead of time, you are not just listening passively while you are in that class. You are listening (and watching that PowerPoint) alertly to try to pick up anything that you missed in your self-teaching, or that you misunderstood when you read that material yourself.

I don't think it's a prof's job to inspire intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm at the post-secondary level. When students finish HS and go on to vocational training and/or college, they should be bringing their own enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity. Otherwise, why pay all that money and spend all that time in classes?

They may have been catered to in HS

One other thing that I wonder about is how do these students who are bored with Powerpoints cope with distance learning or online learning? Distance learning is even more gruntwork than taking the class in the classroom, because you have to essentially do it all yourself, usually without much contact with the prof and the "classmates."

As an older student with more than one degree, who is transitioning to nursing, here's my advice:

Get darned used to the idea that school = work, not entertainment. Get really good at teaching yourself, and taking online classes, and at reading and studying ahead of the classroom lectures. Stop expecting postsecondary educators to cater to you like the high school did, because it is not going to happen. If you want your money's worth out of college or vocational school, the rule of thumb is YOU do 3-4 hours of work outside the classroom for every credit hour of classroom, and A&P and some of the nursing courses will be even more than that. And you go to the lecture prepared. If you already understand the material that the instructor is talking about, it's more interesting to listen to him or her talk.

VioletKaliLPN, LPN · Dec 19, 2010

^^ i just want to echo what was posted above, ppt's make a great visual aide for people who need to see it and hear it at the same time. some people actually prefer hearing it, while others prefer to see it, so ppt's are a great tool to assist students who need one/both types of learning aides.

i enjoy both the auditory and visual aspect of lecturing with ppt's.

Streamline2010 · Dec 19, 2010

... So basically, we spend 90% of the day doing nothing. I can get this nothing better accomplished at home, either reading or looking at the almighty PowerPoints. We have a super strict attendance policy but I just don't see the point.
Basically, our instructors rely on our reading and PowerPoints THEY didn't even make so there really isn't a heck of lot that they have to actually DO.

If it's that bad, don't sit there and struggle. Report it to the college. Put it on ratemyprofessors.com (or whatever that site is.) Send your parents and everyone else's parents in there to that school to complain loudly about paying for education that the students aren't getting.

My A&P class, that I dropped because I thought I was just not getting it, had that prof fired. The whole class was lagging behind, behind, not just me, but I was only a part-time student and I wasn't in the loop to know that the whole class was struggling. So, that class went to the dean, and got that prof fired after mid-terms. The college brought in their most experienced instructor to finished out the semester. Plus gave that entire class free special tutoring. So, had I known that all that about to happen, I'd have stuck it out.

Streamline2010 · Dec 19, 2010

Powerpoints are used all the time in the business world, and I do mean ALL the time, and are usually very effective screen shows. Maybe it depends on who designs them. As for schools using them, I don't see how the school could standardize the course materials in many different sections (of same course), and with various instructors, many of whom are only part-time now (saves the schools $$$), without the Powerpoint (and textbook and departmental exams package) as the unifying factors.

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Dec 19, 2010

Then we get chewed out with the instructor saying "Did ANYONE do their reading assignment and look at the PowerPoint? Why should I waste my time getting up here in front of the class if no one else is going to do their part?"
Um, because that is your JOB. That's why.

So all you have to do is show up? No preparation, and expect your professors to spoon feed it all to you?

Ummm.... not cool :rolleyes:

CrazierThanYou · Dec 19, 2010

So all you have to do is show up? No preparation, and expect your professors to spoon feed it all to you?
Ummm.... not cool

Uh, no. I do my reading and all that but my point is, they get all ticked if we haven't already looked at the PowerPoint that they're getting ready to show us all over AGAIN and read to us word for word. And really, she doesn't do any "lecturing" so I'm not sure what she's worried about.

BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN · Dec 19, 2010

Uh, no. I do my reading and all that but my point is, they get all ticked if we haven't already looked at the PowerPoint that they're getting ready to show us all over AGAIN and read to us word for word. And really, she doesn't do any "lecturing" so I'm not sure what she's worried about.

Gotcha. yeah, that doesn't make sense, reading the PP before to only have it reread to you in class.

SarahMaria, MSN, RN · Dec 19, 2010

Yet every semester, I get a few complaints. One was "Why can't we just use PowerPoint? I shouldn't have to write so much in class!" and another wrote "I just want the teacher to tell me what's on the test. I shouldn't have to read on my own time."

Seriously?? What is the point of going to school and getting an education if you don't want to think or do anything? Just having an instructor provide the relevant material so students can pass an exam is NOT learning, it's regurgitating. What do these students think they will have to do when they are on their own as RNs and there is nobody there to give them the answer or tell them what to do? At some point real soon, they need to start taking responsibility for themselves. I find it shocking and lazy that students just want to be told what is on an exam. Wake up call!!!! When you are in college/university, you have to do extensive reading outside of class (i.e. on your own time). Why anyone would think otherwise and complain about it, is somewhat delusional.

In my opinion, the kinds of activities you are doing in class sound great. Keep up the good work!! :up: :up: :up:

SarahMaria, MSN, RN · Dec 19, 2010

LOL, I had to go look up "Millennial Learners" because I didn't know what that was. "may not sufficiently motivate students or inspire enthusiasm or intellectual curiosity": Oh, cry me a river. If you are not already arriving at class inspired and intellectually curious, then please drop out and leave a seat for someone who is!
"ineffective in the teaching/learning process": Well, could it be instead that these students are ineffective learners? Seriously. We're not at the movies. It's not a TV show.
"use of clickers": If anyone tries to clicker-train me, I assure you that an ambulance and the police will have to be called.
I'll take the opposite tack, and say that the students had better stop listening passively. Listening passively should not be happening. They should also stop expecting to be entertained, stop expecting to be spoon-fed, and had better learn how to read a book ahead of the lecture, re-read it as many times as it takes to sink in, and get really good at teaching themselves. If you have read and studied the course material ahead of time, you are not just listening passively while you are in that class. You are listening (and watching that PowerPoint) alertly to try to pick up anything that you missed in your self-teaching, or that you misunderstood when you read that material yourself.
I don't think it's a prof's job to inspire intellectual curiosity and enthusiasm at the post-secondary level. When students finish HS and go on to vocational training and/or college, they should be bringing their own enthusiasm and intellectual curiosity. Otherwise, why pay all that money and spend all that time in classes?
They may have been catered to in HS
One other thing that I wonder about is how do these students who are bored with Powerpoints cope with distance learning or online learning? Distance learning is even more gruntwork than taking the class in the classroom, because you have to essentially do it all yourself, usually without much contact with the prof and the "classmates."
As an older student with more than one degree, who is transitioning to nursing, here's my advice:
Get darned used to the idea that school = work, not entertainment. Get really good at teaching yourself, and taking online classes, and at reading and studying ahead of the classroom lectures. Stop expecting postsecondary educators to cater to you like the high school did, because it is not going to happen. If you want your money's worth out of college or vocational school, the rule of thumb is YOU do 3-4 hours of work outside the classroom for every credit hour of classroom, and A&P and some of the nursing courses will be even more than that. And you go to the lecture prepared. If you already understand the material that the instructor is talking about, it's more interesting to listen to him or her talk.

I am well aware of the fact that school is hard work. I have a bachelors and a doctorate and am adding nursing into the mix. After 11-12 years of college, I know how to study and prepare for class. Never would I expect to be entertained by an instructor or have one cater to me. I have spent many years teaching myself. Even when I am prepared for lecture, having an instructor read at me is not inspiring, it's a waste of time.