2026 Unitek Learning Cares Annual Academic Conference

Repetition, Recall, Retention
A Deployable Teaching Cycle for Nursing and Allied Health Programs

September 11, 2026 · Virtual session recap and resources

If you arrived here after completing the session feedback survey, thank you. This page is the session’s home: every figure, framework, and source lives here, and it is open to everyone.

“Faculty capacity is finite. Coverage is not a plan.” The session opens there because the model has to survive real conditions: fewer faculty, more content, and students who process less when everything is covered live.

The Session Question

Name one course and one unit where a five-minute pre-class audio could fit.

Everything on this page works toward answering it.

Disclosures and boundaries

Developed through the faculty development work of Martija Institute for Health Professions Education LLC and doctoral study.
NotebookLM was the tool. No endorsement is implied; the model is tool agnostic.
Faculty review every AI-generated file before learners see it.
No licensure, ranking, or outcome guarantees.
The cycle operates inside your institutional AI policy, not around it.
Martija Institute for Health Professions Education LLC offers paid course-development services. Everything here works without them.
Section images on this page are AI generated and depict no real students, patients, or attendees.

Presented by Christopher Martija-Flores, MS, RDH, founder and director of Martija Institute for Health Professions Education LLC, with Marc Long, BSN, RN, SCRN, clinical care nurse and nursing subject matter expert, who presents the worked example.

01 · The problem

Faculty capacity is finite. Coverage is not a plan.

7.2%

National nurse faculty vacancy rate, October 2025

1,588

Vacant faculty positions across 863 nursing schools

80.9%

Of the vacancies require or prefer a doctorate

American Association of Colleges of Nursing, Special Survey on Vacant Faculty Positions, October 2025.

The pressure on programs has three faces.

Pressure	What it means for a course
Readiness	Durable learning and clinical readiness, not coverage.
Student load	First-year stress is primarily academic.
Capacity	Little room for heavy redesigns.

Behind the vacancy rate sits a program that still has to teach every course, update every resource, and meet every student. The expectation holds while the bandwidth shrinks. The model in this session was built for that condition: it has to fit inside the preparation time a faculty member actually has.

Lavoie-Tremblay et al., 2022, Canadian Journal of Nursing Research.

Overteaching has a cost.

When everything is covered live, students do not learn more. They process less. Content saturation is documented in nursing education. Working memory is small, and overload produces surface learning. The fix is not teaching more. It is structuring when and how content returns.

Giddens and Brady, 2007, Journal of Nursing Education. Sweller, 1988, Cognitive Science.

Where the evidence stops. The vacancy figures are documented. Nothing in this session claims the cycle resolves the faculty shortage; it is built to run inside it.

02 · The foundations

Two foundations hold the cycle up. The first is about what working memory can carry into a class period. The second is about what happens to content after class, and how often it comes back.

Foundation 01: Cognitive load and access.

Working memory is small. Spend it on reasoning, not first exposure.

Without the cycle

First exposure happens in class
Working memory fills with vocabulary
Reasoning gets what is left

With the cycle

First exposure happens before class, in five minutes
Class time goes to application and reasoning
A transcript ships with every file

Accessibility is a design requirement, not an afterthought. Narration in short segments, multiple means of representation, and a transcript with every file. A five-minute episode is also less intimidating than fifty pages of assigned reading, which is the same argument seen from the learner’s side. Not every student has the time, or the reading stamina, to arrive prepared from a textbook alone.

Sweller, 1988. Sweller, van Merriënboer, and Paas, 2019. Mayer, 2021. CAST, Universal Design for Learning Guidelines 3.0, 2024.

Foundation 02: Retrieval and spacing.

Recalling beats rereading. Pulling content back out of memory strengthens it more than looking at it again.
Spacing beats massing. Distributed practice is one of the highest-utility learning techniques known.
It holds in our fields, nursing included. Systematic and scoping reviews in health professions education point the same direction.

Commutes are where this lives. A walk from the parking lot or a long drive home is a chance to hear the content again rather than memorize it once. The goal is for students to meet the content several times, recall it, apply it, and keep it.

Mechanism, stated carefully. Spaced schedules are consistent with the timing of synaptic consolidation described in neuroscience research. Consistent with, not proven by. That discipline is what keeps the neuroscience defensible.

Roediger and Karpicke, 2006. Cepeda et al., 2006. Dunlosky et al., 2013. Trumble et al., 2024. Van Hoof et al., 2023. Versteeg et al., 2020. Smolen, Zhang, and Byrne, 2016.

03 · The cycle

Two bookends, and the classroom between them. Whatever is already structured into your course, spaced review, retrieval practice, or case and application work, the cycle attaches to it.

One week. Three touchpoints.

Before class. Audio episode under five minutes, faculty reviewed.

In class. Applies it, never re-lectures it. Cases, simulation: your call.

After class. Chaptered recap, about 20 minutes, from the actual class.

The thread: the same content returns in new forms, before, during, and after class. Then the next topic begins the loop again.

Before class: the five-minute episode.

Faculty select the source content and paste the learning objectives into the generation prompt
AI generates the short summary
Faculty review accuracy and scope
Transcript attached
Released in the learning management system, 48 to 72 hours out

Generation is fast. Review is the real work. Budget for the review pass, not the button press. Subject matter experts fact-check faster than students can build resources, which is why faculty review scales. Where digital literacy varies, the review pass doubles as faculty upskilling. A short quiz at the start of class checks that the episode was heard and gives you a first read on whether it helped.

After class: the chaptered recap.

Built from the actual class session
Chaptered into short segments
Faculty reviewed before release
Released within 48 hours
Supports spaced retrieval

Why 20 minutes works. Nobody plays it straight through. Chapters invite selective review: one decision point on the drive, another before clinic. The five minutes are the foundation and the twenty minutes are the structure. By week 8 students hold a growing chaptered library for exams and clinicals, with transcripts. Design intent, not an outcome claim.

Mayer, 2021. Roediger and Karpicke, 2006. Trumble et al., 2024.

In practice: stroke, one week in a nursing course

Worked example presented by Marc Long, BSN, RN, SCRN. The episode does not teach stroke care. It front-loads the vocabulary so class time can be spent on judgment.

Touchpoint	What it carries
Before class, the five-minute episode	Rapid recognition of signs and symptoms, and who gets called. Last known well, and why time matters. Ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, and why imaging comes first.
In class, the unfolding case	New onset one-sided weakness and slurred speech. A family member establishes last known well. What do you assess first? What does the clock change? Who do you call?
After class, the recap chapters	Last known well. Recognizing symptoms. The communication. Clinical teaching. Chapters named for the same decision points, so review retraces the reasoning.

Students arrive with the concept. Class spends its time on the details. Case-based learning carries an established evidence base in nursing and allied health for clinical reasoning and engagement, and the unfolding case is where the cycle puts it.

Same structure, any discipline. The skeleton is a snapshot, one decision point, and three prompts, and it moves into medical assisting, physical therapist assistant, surgical technology, and EMT programs the same way. The cycle is not a substitute for psychomotor or clinical skills instruction.

Kaylor and Strickland, 2015. Thistlethwaite et al., 2012. Hew and Lo, 2018. Zou et al., 2026.

04 · Evidence and limits

Where this came from, honestly. First run in dental hygiene. Built to travel to any health professions program.

What it was

Optional activity, first-year dental hygiene cohort
Pre and post episodes per unit, faculty reviewed before release
Not a controlled pilot. Not outcome evidence.

What the feedback showed

8 students completed feedback
8 of 8 listened pre and post
6 of 8: helped understanding and preparation
Engagement drew the most criticism; students wanted more natural voices

On the faculty side the observations were descriptive too: class questions increased and became detail-focused rather than general, some lectures ran shorter, and generating episodes from pasted objectives forced the content to narrow instead of sprawl.

Where the evidence stops. Direct outcome evidence for AI-generated audio does not yet exist. Podcast reviews in medical and allied health education find engagement positive and effectiveness inconsistent.

Kelly et al., 2022, Academic Medicine. Gardiakos et al., 2025, Radiography.

Guardrails that make it safe.

Faculty review, always

Reviewed for accuracy and scope before release.

Accessibility verified

A transcript with every file. Playback and chapter control.

Learners are told

Students know which materials are AI-assisted.

Where it does not belong.

Not the sole preparation for high-stakes assessment
Not a substitute for skills instruction
Not where policy requires approval you lack
No protected content in an AI tool

The syllabus line. Some pre-class and post-class audio materials in this course are generated with AI assistance and are reviewed by your instructor for accuracy before release, and transcripts accompany every audio file.

05 · Run it in one semester

The minimum viable version is one course, one unit, one case, one cycle a week.

When	What happens
Before term	One course, one unit. Confirm the AI policy. Add the disclosure line.
Weeks 1 and 2	First cycle on a low-stakes unit. Access counts plus a two-question pulse.
Every week	Episode 48 to 72 hours out. Class applies. Recap within 48 hours.
Week 7	Midpoint: workload, access data, feedback. Adjust length and chapters.
End of term	Descriptive evaluation, one-page summary. Scale, adjust, or stop.

A short anonymous survey after lectures, a QR code works, keeps the feedback loop running with near zero friction. The two-question learner pulse is the same habit, formalized.

All measures are descriptive. Comparative claims need a designed study. The full map is in the attendee resource guide.

Draft your first cycle

One course and one unit where a five-minute episode fits
One low-stakes topic for the first cycle
Who reviews each file before release
One access measure and a two-question pulse

Then answer the question the session opened with.

Resources

Attendee resource guide. Two pages: the three-touchpoint cycle, the one-semester pilot map, the syllabus disclosure line, and the full reference list. Download coming soon.

Session slide deck. Coming soon.

References ▾

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2025, October). Nursing faculty shortage fact sheet. https://www.aacnnursing.org/news-data/fact-sheets/nursing-faculty-shortage

CAST. (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/

Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354

Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100612453266

Gardiakos, N., Chau, M., & Arruzza, E. (2025). The role of podcasts in allied health education: A scoping review on engagement and learning outcomes. Radiography, 31(5), Article 103022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radi.2025.103022

Giddens, J. F., & Brady, D. P. (2007). Rescuing nursing education from content saturation: The case for a concept-based curriculum. Journal of Nursing Education, 46(2), 65–69. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20070201-05

Hew, K. F., & Lo, C. K. (2018). Flipped classroom improves student learning in health professions education: A meta-analysis. BMC Medical Education, 18, Article 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-018-1144-z

Kaylor, S. K., & Strickland, H. P. (2015). Unfolding case studies as a formative teaching methodology for novice nursing students. Journal of Nursing Education, 54(2), 106–110. https://doi.org/10.3928/01484834-20150120-06

Kelly, J. M., Perseghin, A., Dow, A. W., Trivedi, S. P., Rodman, A., & Berk, J. (2022). Learning through listening: A scoping review of podcast use in medical education. Academic Medicine, 97(7), 1079–1085. https://doi.org/10.1097/ACM.0000000000004565

Lavoie-Tremblay, M., Sanzone, L., Aubé, T., & Paquet, M. (2022). Sources of stress and coping strategies among undergraduate nursing students across all years. Canadian Journal of Nursing Research, 54(3), 261–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/08445621211028076

Mayer, R. E. (2021). Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer & L. Fiorella (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (3rd ed., pp. 57–72). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108894333.008

Roediger, H. L., III, & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x

Smolen, P., Zhang, Y., & Byrne, J. H. (2016). The right time to learn: Mechanisms and optimization of spaced learning. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 17(2), 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn.2015.18

Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive load during problem solving: Effects on learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15516709cog1202_4

Sweller, J., van Merriënboer, J. J. G., & Paas, F. (2019). Cognitive architecture and instructional design: 20 years later. Educational Psychology Review, 31(2), 261–292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-019-09465-5

Thistlethwaite, J. E., Davies, D., Ekeocha, S., Kidd, J. M., MacDougall, C., Matthews, P., Purkis, J., & Clay, D. (2012). The effectiveness of case-based learning in health professional education. A BEME systematic review: BEME Guide No. 23. Medical Teacher, 34(6), e421–e444. https://doi.org/10.3109/0142159X.2012.680939

Trumble, E., Lodge, J., Mandrusiak, A., & Forbes, R. (2024). Systematic review of distributed practice and retrieval practice in health professions education. Advances in Health Sciences Education, 29(2), 689–714. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-023-10274-3

Van Hoof, T. J., Leary, C. M., Banfi, V., & Polifroni, E. C. (2023). A scoping review of retrieval practice (test-enhanced learning) in nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 44(6), 341–346. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000001115

Versteeg, M., Hendriks, R. A., Thomas, A., Ommering, B. W. C., & Steendijk, P. (2020). Conceptualising spaced learning in health professions education: A scoping review. Medical Education, 54(3), 205–216. https://doi.org/10.1111/medu.14025

Zou, Y., Xie, W., Huang, H., Liu, D., Zhou, Q., Yi, Q., Tong, X., & Mao, P. (2026). The effects of case-based, problem-based, and team-based learning on nursing students’ problem-solving, self-directed learning, and communication skills: A systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Medical Education, 26(1), Article 270. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-026-08602-3

Verified against live source records September 11, 2026; independent QC pending.

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