Kaplan: Day One

My Specifics: I am taking Kaplan's Classroom Anywhere online review course. My school integrated Kaplan into our program's curriculum, so I did not have to pay extra to take this review course. It's part of the package. I could have taken this review course in-person on my campus, but I knew I'd prefer to take the course online (I'd read some online comments at allnurses.com that persuaded me). Plus that's less time and gas traveling to campus and back.  I opted for the four day schedule with two sessions each day.

Below are some of my thoughts after Day One.

• There is a book (or two) that you need for the class...track it down! If you have access to Kaplan because your school has integrated Kaplan into the curriculum (like me), there's a good chance that your books will be shipped to your school. And if your school has not notified you, then you might be clueless that you are missing something (aka "class materials"). I got suspicious last week and tried to contact Customer Service about it and my school rep, but due to holiday weekend, I didn't get my reply until THIS MORNING. I literally picked up the "Course Book" from campus about an hour before my online course started. The only other book you'll want/need is "The Basics" book. My school gave this to me early in the school year when I signed up for Kaplan.
• There IS some stuff to do before the first day of class. I had received emails over the past couple weeks from Kaplan telling me how to log-in, test my connection, and to do a Diagnostic Test through the course site. But because I didn't have the Kaplan "Course Book" until this morning- I did not know that I should have also completed the online Question Trainers 1-3 and reviewed content areas where I was weak (based on Diagnostics and Trainers) using the Kaplan course site. They also recommend viewing the following videos: Orientation Video, Strategy Seminar, and Test Taking Workshop.
• Don't panic if you don't have the book/materials. After Day One (Sessions 1/2), I can say that I'm not lost and I'm not behind-even though I got my materials late. Reality is that it did not matter one iota that I had done/not done the Diagnostic Test or Trainers prior to today. Today was all about Orientation and the Decision Tree and beginning to answer NCLEX style questions using Kaplan's Decision Tree. In class, the instructor just encouraged those who had not yet done the Diagnostic Test to go ahead and do that tonight.
• There is homework for Day Two (Sessions 3/4). We are to read Chapters 1-2, which is basically the same stuff or a review of what they taught us today. The really great thing is that on today's classroom site (live classroom), they provided PDF's of Chapters 1-3. That way anyone who had not gotten their book yet, would still have the readings.

Tips for anyone taking the online course.

• Have a Post-It note on hand! There's a chat window for students to use.  It's basically for classroom participation. However, you can EXPECT that there will be idiots in the class who feel it's okay to chat while the instructor is talking. Despite clear instructions and repeated reminders about NOT posting questions or answers/guesses while she's talking, people still do it. There's a special, private chat box for asking questions where TA's privately answer the question. Obviously they don't *get* that their chatting in the public box is basically the same thing as talking out in class. No one would do this in a lecture hall or in a live setting, but somehow people think it's okay to post "wow, the storms are really bad here" and other stupid stuff. The worst is when these people prematurely post the answer to the question we are attempting to go step-by-step through. The instructors are trying to teach a methodology for breaking down the question to get to the correct answer... so it's really ANNOYING when people jump the gun and throw out their guesses before we've even gotten to step two (out of five). And it's unbelievably distracting to have a chat feed moving constantly while trying to focus and listen to the instructor. I found it very helpful to cover up the chat box. A Post-It note works like a charm.
• Utilize the breaks. They have a one hour break between the two daily sessions, but they also have 5-10 minute breaks every hour or so. By utilizing the breaks, I was less tempted to log onto Facebook or check email during class.
• Find something to do with your hands to help keep you awake. There were times when I got sleepy! So it helped that I had laundry to fold that didn't completely distract me from what was being said. Tomorrow if I get sleepy I may pull out some hand weights. For others, maybe knitting or a set of push-ups would work? Obviously nothing that will steal your brain too much and something that you can put down fairly quickly. During the first part of the orientation when there wasn't much for me to see on the screen, I opted for sorting and starting laundry, and emptying and refilling the dishwasher while listening to the audio.
• Take Notes! There will ALWAYS be terms, drugs or conditions that you've never heard of. Regardless of the Kaplan format (Classroom Anywhere, Live, or On Demand), having a notebook that you can write down stuff to look up later is ideal. But it's completely unnecessary to attempt to copy the online slides or questions. For the most part the text on the slides come straight from the "Course Book" and can be reviewed later. And trying to copy down the Q&A's is unnecessary because you'll never see these questions again. Just sit and absorb the information and of course actively attempt to use the Decision Tree for every question. Occasionally some trick for remembering something might be mentioned...so jot those down if you think they'll be helpful.

Until tomorrow (Kaplan Day Two)...