A Common Misbelief Students Have About Lecture (And what students should really know!)
As a nursing faculty, when I meet with students I ask a lot of the same questions. One question I always ask is “what are you doing before lecture to prepare?” From these meetings, I have paid close attention to the patterns in the student’s behavior and I have noticed a common misbelief about what the purpose of lecture time really is.
Most of the students I have worked with have the same opinion and approach to what lecture time is really for. Students show up to lecture thinking that the professor is going to teach them what they need to know about a subject. They view lecture as an opportunity for the faculty member to identify what a student needs to know about content and what a student should know to pass the course. If you are reading this and nodding your head in agreement, PLEASE read on!
When you look at most syllabi, faculty assign readings from the course book or other reading sources as preparation for the upcoming lecture. The truth here, that we cannot ignore, is that students may or not actually do this assigned reading before class. Sometimes students “review” any posted lecture slides that the faculty member will use during lecture or a student will “look over” the assigned reading. Very rarely is there a purposeful effort in the study time that a student completes PRIOR to lecture.
Instead, students show up to lecture with the intention of learning the new concept or material from the instructor. A student usually feels prepared if they have uploaded the slides and are prepared to make notes or edits to the slides during the class time. The student listens attentively during lecture, perhaps asks a question or two, and maybe they even feel like it all makes sense as the teacher is lecturing. Then the week before the exam approaches and students are cramming the knowledge they need to know into their brains in hopes that they can accurately spit back the information.
Maybe you have caught on to where I was going with this, but let me make it clear.
This is NOT the purpose of lecture time.
Instead, the time that a professor has in a classroom is for clarifying concepts and providing a time to practice or provide guidance for the application of knowledge.
If this is surprising information to you, then you might be asking yourself, “well then where do I learn the content?”. The answer is in the pre-work that is completed before lecture.
What is Pre-Work?
I often tell my students that by the time they hear me discuss a topic, it should be at least the 3rd time they are reviewing the material. This is a realistic goal for most students given their course work load. Students should have a very firm grasp on the content so that when they attend lecture the faculty member is simply adding small amounts of detail or clarification.
How does a student obtain a “firm grasp” on the content? By being very purposeful in their methods to prepare for lecture.
First, students need to designate time for pre-work. Once that is scheduled, the student needs to implement the correct study material BEFORE class so that the content is familiar. Of course I will tell you that this includes completing the assigned readings, but it also includes a student completing notes on the content. If you are struggling to find a note taking strategy that makes sense for you, look into some pre-designed note taking worksheets (there are a million different ones online to choose from). Find something that makes sense to you and go with it. This step often times feels very overwhelming and confusing. If you need more help in sorting through pre-work strategies, sign up for my 1:1 Feedback Sessions and I would love to help get you on the right track!
The next step is reaching out to your nursing faculty. Bring this study material along with you so the instructor can review it and give feedback specific to their course. Not sure what else to ask your faculty? I cover this in my Successful Study Strategies Mini Course in detail so students are prepared!
Next, when you attend lecture, students will find that the lecture time is not half as stressful as usual because all that is required is filling in small gaps or highlighting something the faculty member brings further attention to.
If you are unsure about implementing these steps, take a look at my Successful Study Strategies Mini Course that breaks down the essential steps that I have seen students implement and improve their performance.
Now as I wrote in the title, this is not true JUST for nursing students but for students in lots of different fields of study. So if you have friends in college courses, please share this with them too!