A lot of ground to cover
What can i do to help my students remember a vast amount of info that is being covered in a short amount of time?
Carly,
Thank you for these comments on how to sequence instruction and check for understanding. This is how a knowledge base is formed and learning formatted.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I have found this to be a problem in my course as well. It took me a few times teaching the course to adjust my material to the time we had. I was originally throwing too much information at the students in a very short amount of time. You have to prioritize what information you really want them to walk away with. It is better to have them truly understand a few key terms rather than have them overloaded with information that they forget immediately. Unfortunately, it is impossible to give the fully fleshed out version of the material that may be possible with more time. Think about what is critical knowledge for the topic at hand.
Once you do that, think about what the most effective way to get them to remember the material will be; through demonstration? active learning? group project? etc. It depends a lot on the particular group of students.
Lastly, I find giving plenty of review opportunities helps. If you are introducing new material everyday, it is critical to incorporate review of previous terms into each new lecture/discussion. Using handouts of terms or of review questions for each topic/chapter forces the students to still do the work (listen/take notes/read to find the answers), but it keeps them focused on what is relevant in the reading material (and lectures).
Victor,
I find myself having the same problem working in an accelerated LVN to RN transition program. Traditionally, our classes run at least 18 months, but we have a program that completes the ADN degree in 9 months. Because our students are adult learners, we focus on key subject/topic, while they review their readings. As instructors, I feel the pressure of cramming too much information in such a short time.
Nathan
Victor,
Break the material down into key concepts. Develop examples around those concepts and then support the learning process with graphics and applications. This way you will move the cognitive material into their working memories and this enhances the retention of the material.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
