Unexperienced students
I teach an ADN course for an accelerated program and have found that there is almost always 1-2 students who have no health care background at all. This is frustrating not only for me but also for the other students, since it tends to bog down class time with explaining things that for the most part should have been known or experienced prior to them entering the program. I try to give these students more time in tutoring, but I also think that the choice to attend an accelerated program may not have been best for them. Since I don't have input into who enters the program, I find myself searching for ways to improve the class time for all involved. Any suggestions?
Perhaps after observing this several times you could summarize the key points that these students are missing and need to know in order to move forward with the current material. You could create and post a prerequisite knowlede page. That way students could read this at the beginning of the program and brush up on items they are fuzzy on. You could include some appropriate resources or links to good resource sources.
Alternatively or in addition to that you could speak to the admissions people at your institution about what level is really required to be successful.
Your question has made me think about how I can better accommodate different levels of learners in my own classroom!
