How long should you prepare?
How much time should you put into, say a six week, with 100 credit hrs. Is ther any knid of equation? Like you need to put in no less than 10% the amount of total hrs in planning the class?
Hi Donald,
The key for course preparation is to spend the needed and an instructor can quickly tell if they have invested the needed time or not. Your point is a good one in relation to how to prepare for a course.
Gary
I basically do whatever it takes to prepare. This may be any amount from 1/2 hr to a whole day. Preparation times may be sporadic and sometimes very intense when you are teaching a new course. Prep time tends to decrease after teaching a course more than once.
Hi Joseph,
Thank you for sharing your prep efforts. This is a good example of the how even though one knows the field it still takes a lot of work to get ready to share that knowledge.
Gary
Funny, I'm teaching a course I know a lot about, but have never taught before. In spite of having at hand a ton of support material from my supervisor and other instructors, I still find myself prepping almost 200% of the class time (8-9 hours of prep) for each 5 hour class.
This is atypical of prep time for a class I've taught a lot - maybe 10% prep time.
Clearly, you must spend as much time as needed to prepare for each course, class, workshop or presentation. Often times, more time is spent on preparation than actual time spent for instruction. Recently, I was one of three presenters of a three day, 12 hour total workshop. We spent 20 hours preparing for that workshop. But the audience loved it and we were praised for our preparedness/delivery. We have been invited to do it again for the entire school district! :-D
Hi David,
This is so important. It is our obligation to be prepared to the maximum extent possible. The future of our students is based upon our knowledge base so we have to be prepared each and every class meeting.
Gary
I'm inclined to agree with Jon. I believe that you should prepare until you know the subject matter backwards and forwards. As new information becomes available you need to absorb it into your preparation process. Ultimately our goal as Instructors is to prepare our students for the workforce, the better we are, the better they will become.
Yes, I've been teaching the same course for 3+ years. It doesn't take me nearly as long to prepare as it once did. And, the course is evolving and I am making improvements on its content as well. Thanks.
I have to agree that there is no set percentage of time it will take. Whatever it takes to get an effective result is the best answer.
The more knowledge and experience in a given area should make things easier but you also have to impart this information in an efficient and effective manner. Often you may also need to revisit and tweak things after the initial run.
Hi Stephen,
That is correct. There is no formula for preparation. You do what you have to do to get ready and then you are ready what ever time that is.
Gary
Why does there need to be a total amount of time tied to preparation? Should it not be based on however long it takes an individual to be ready whether it be 1 hour or 100 hours. Prepare as long as it takes to become the best that you can possibly be at the subject that you are teaching. Maybe preparation never stops as learning and subjects are continually evolving.
Hi Marcus,
There really isn't a formula to use on planning time. The reason is that there are so many variables that come into play in planning. Things like preparation of PowerPoints, handouts, case studies, etc. take a lot of time. Once developed then that time is greatly reduced and you can move to developing additional handouts or selecting new content. You need to review the content, instructional delivery methods and demonstrations before each class just to be sure you are comfortable with them. Some classes I know exactly what I am going to do and how and others I spend a lot of time preparing because I am introducing new material or methods.
Gary
