core competency 5: assessing student learning
This competency involves a mentored teaching project.
Teaching and Learning Goal: What skill or ability do you want students to acquire? What behavior do you want to change? What knowledge do you want to test? What assumptions (either students’ or the instructor’s) do you want to test? Focus on only one such goal
There are five patterns of ordering knowledge within curriculum: building blocks design, branching design, spiral design, tasks/skills design, and process design. Nursing programs typically use all five methods to order knowledge. Inherent in several of these designs is that knowledge is built upon and revisited. Within a spiral design ordering, the same knowledge areas are revisited at higher levels of complexity. Within the MSU College of Nursing, evidence-based practice is introduced in spiral design ordering. First, students learn basics in NUR 375: Research and Evidence-Based Practice and then build upon this knowledge in NUR 481: Scholarship for Nursing Practice. An example of this design can be seen in the course objectives:
NUR 375: Participate in the process of retrieval and appraisal of evidence to improve patient outcomes (3.5)
NUR 481: Participate in the process of retrieval, appraisal, synthesis, and dissemination of evidence for collaboration with the health care team to improve patient outcomes (3.5; 3.7)
By building upon previous material, students are able to connect new knowledge to previous knowledge (constructivism theory). As students engage in the material, the teacher provides appropriate assistance (known as scaffolding). One goal of constructivism theory is for students to develop meaning and be able to apply the concepts in their professional careers (reducing the scaffolding and producing independent learners). Therefore, the teaching and learning goal is to examine how students use content obtained in courses (such as NUR 481 and NUR 375) and apply it to authentic clinical environments.
Teaching Question: Adapt the teaching and learning goal to a specific course. Make this question narrow and focused so that it can be measured.
Assessment Technique: What instrument are you going to use to collect information? Is it simple enough that you know how to analyze the results? Will the information it provides answer the teaching question?
1.Are students able to transfer theoretical knowledge of designing an evidence-based practice improvement proposal incorporating elements of best practice design from a didactic classroom to an authentic clinical environment?Assessment: Student evidence-based practice improvement proposal posters. A rubric will be created to evaluate posters: EBP poster contains the elements of the EBP process (ask, acquire, appraise, apply, assess), application addresses the organization (organizational values, resources, and priorities), and research question is informed by clinical situations/clinical practice.
2.How confident are students in their ability to perform an evidence-based practice project?
Assessment: Survey of student confidence of current abilities and confidence in conducting an EBP project in a future job. Brief (1 paragraph) written reflection on poster presentation.
Classroom Practice: What assignment or activity are you going to use in the class to try to test the question? When are you going to do it? Who will conduct it? Will it be graded? Will it be anonymous or will students sign their names? How long will it take? How will students know what to do with it? Who will explain it? How will the relationship between this assignment and activity and the course be explained?
The assignment used to answer the question will be an evidence-based practice improvement proposal poster. The students will work on the poster as part of their group activity work during the semester. Creating the poster will be based on knowledge learned throughout the course. To guide students to application to real word, constructivism learning theory will be used to inform classroom practices such that students are able to actively create meaning within the course. A variety of active learning techniques will be integrated into the classroom (I will assist in teaching weeks 5 and 14) to enable students to assess their knowledge and gain EBP skills prior to creating the poster. The instructors will provide appropriate assistance to each of the groups with the goal that throughout the semester students will be able to function more independently (scaffolding). Activities will be used to guide students to actively construct meaning. These activities will include: inquiry-based learning, group activities, and review questions. These learning activities will not be graded but will be used as a formative evaluation.
Summary of Results: What does the information you collected through the assessment instrument tell you about your teaching question?
1.Are students able to transfer theoretical knowledge of designing an evidence-based practice improvement proposal incorporating elements of best practice design from a didactic classroom to an authentic clinical environment?
Students developed an evidence-based practice improvement poster. The poster incorporated the components of evidence-based practice: best available research, clinical expertise, and patient preferences. Students were evaluated using this rubric. I was responsible for evaluating three groups. Each group received all possible points. Students were able to identify clinical problems at their clinical setting and create a relevant PICO question. After searching and appraising the literature, students identified barriers and facilitators to change that were specific to their authentic clinical environment. Informal discussions with the students indicated that the majority of students were planning on applying their findings into their practice setting after graduation.
2.How confident are students in their ability to perform an evidence-based practice project?
The majority of students were confident or somewhat confident in their ability to conduct the different elements of the evidence-based project. Areas were students were the least confident include: appraising the evidence, apply the evidence while incorporating patient preferences, clinical expertise, and resources and disseminating the findings.
See results from student confidence survey
Students indicated that the poster project was helpful for their understanding and increased their confidence in EBP:
Students also identified areas of uncertainty:
Conclusion: What have you learned? What surprised you? What would you do differently? What implications does this have for your future classroom practice?
Constructivism theory involves develop meaning and apply concepts into professional careers. In the classroom setting, it takes time and energy to create an environment that leads to applying in clinical environments. The project was designed so that students were focused on their clinical placement. The poster involved discovering the evidence-based practice model used by the institution, describing a clinical situation that lead to a PICO questions, and identifying barriers and facilitators to implementation. Each of these items were based on an actual clinical setting. Yet, this also led to students feeling “boxed into focusing just on hospital priorities”. Students also requested additional real-world examples of successes and failures. In addition, a student recommended being able to bring their project to the hospital setting and get feedback from the hospital staff. In the future, I would like to incorporate stories from nurses who have completed evidence-based practice projects. This could involve a presentation from a nurse or the use of videos explaining previous projects. In addition, students could work with preceptors. The preceptors could assist in identifying problems on the unit and students could use skills learned in the course to find answers. Then both the students, preceptors, and clinical settings could benefit from the evidence-based practice project.
I was surprised that students were the least confident in appraising the evidence. The surprised me because the students spent the majority of a course (NUR 375) learning to appraise the evidence. Next time, I would first evaluate their current knowledge to determine if there is a knowledge deficit from the previous course or if students need a refresher on the content. In future classrooms, I will not assume a knowledge level. Instead, I will incorporate a formative assessment to allow me to gain a better understanding of the current knowledge level.
I think that applying constructivism theory can be most successful in environments where faculty not only within courses but also between courses work together to design course activities that build upon each other. Understanding the prerequisites and objectives of previous and future courses is necessary to create effective scaffolding.
Ideally, it would be helpful for students to work with hospital systems during the development of the project. This would further assist in the transition from the didactic classroom to an authentic clinical environment. But, as in EBP, there are facilitators and barriers that would influence the ability to design a project in this way. Perhaps an easier option would be to have the poster session at a hospital where nurses could come and look at the posters. While I was very pleased with the students poster presentations, there is room to improve the transition to clinical practice.
Teaching and Learning Goal: What skill or ability do you want students to acquire? What behavior do you want to change? What knowledge do you want to test? What assumptions (either students’ or the instructor’s) do you want to test? Focus on only one such goal
There are five patterns of ordering knowledge within curriculum: building blocks design, branching design, spiral design, tasks/skills design, and process design. Nursing programs typically use all five methods to order knowledge. Inherent in several of these designs is that knowledge is built upon and revisited. Within a spiral design ordering, the same knowledge areas are revisited at higher levels of complexity. Within the MSU College of Nursing, evidence-based practice is introduced in spiral design ordering. First, students learn basics in NUR 375: Research and Evidence-Based Practice and then build upon this knowledge in NUR 481: Scholarship for Nursing Practice. An example of this design can be seen in the course objectives:
NUR 375: Participate in the process of retrieval and appraisal of evidence to improve patient outcomes (3.5)
NUR 481: Participate in the process of retrieval, appraisal, synthesis, and dissemination of evidence for collaboration with the health care team to improve patient outcomes (3.5; 3.7)
By building upon previous material, students are able to connect new knowledge to previous knowledge (constructivism theory). As students engage in the material, the teacher provides appropriate assistance (known as scaffolding). One goal of constructivism theory is for students to develop meaning and be able to apply the concepts in their professional careers (reducing the scaffolding and producing independent learners). Therefore, the teaching and learning goal is to examine how students use content obtained in courses (such as NUR 481 and NUR 375) and apply it to authentic clinical environments.
Teaching Question: Adapt the teaching and learning goal to a specific course. Make this question narrow and focused so that it can be measured.
- Are students able to transfer theoretical knowledge of designing an evidence-based practice improvement proposal incorporating elements of best practice design from a didactic classroom to an authentic clinical environment?
- How confident are students in their ability to perform an evidence-based practice project?
Assessment Technique: What instrument are you going to use to collect information? Is it simple enough that you know how to analyze the results? Will the information it provides answer the teaching question?
1.Are students able to transfer theoretical knowledge of designing an evidence-based practice improvement proposal incorporating elements of best practice design from a didactic classroom to an authentic clinical environment?Assessment: Student evidence-based practice improvement proposal posters. A rubric will be created to evaluate posters: EBP poster contains the elements of the EBP process (ask, acquire, appraise, apply, assess), application addresses the organization (organizational values, resources, and priorities), and research question is informed by clinical situations/clinical practice.
2.How confident are students in their ability to perform an evidence-based practice project?
Assessment: Survey of student confidence of current abilities and confidence in conducting an EBP project in a future job. Brief (1 paragraph) written reflection on poster presentation.
Classroom Practice: What assignment or activity are you going to use in the class to try to test the question? When are you going to do it? Who will conduct it? Will it be graded? Will it be anonymous or will students sign their names? How long will it take? How will students know what to do with it? Who will explain it? How will the relationship between this assignment and activity and the course be explained?
The assignment used to answer the question will be an evidence-based practice improvement proposal poster. The students will work on the poster as part of their group activity work during the semester. Creating the poster will be based on knowledge learned throughout the course. To guide students to application to real word, constructivism learning theory will be used to inform classroom practices such that students are able to actively create meaning within the course. A variety of active learning techniques will be integrated into the classroom (I will assist in teaching weeks 5 and 14) to enable students to assess their knowledge and gain EBP skills prior to creating the poster. The instructors will provide appropriate assistance to each of the groups with the goal that throughout the semester students will be able to function more independently (scaffolding). Activities will be used to guide students to actively construct meaning. These activities will include: inquiry-based learning, group activities, and review questions. These learning activities will not be graded but will be used as a formative evaluation.
Summary of Results: What does the information you collected through the assessment instrument tell you about your teaching question?
1.Are students able to transfer theoretical knowledge of designing an evidence-based practice improvement proposal incorporating elements of best practice design from a didactic classroom to an authentic clinical environment?
Students developed an evidence-based practice improvement poster. The poster incorporated the components of evidence-based practice: best available research, clinical expertise, and patient preferences. Students were evaluated using this rubric. I was responsible for evaluating three groups. Each group received all possible points. Students were able to identify clinical problems at their clinical setting and create a relevant PICO question. After searching and appraising the literature, students identified barriers and facilitators to change that were specific to their authentic clinical environment. Informal discussions with the students indicated that the majority of students were planning on applying their findings into their practice setting after graduation.
2.How confident are students in their ability to perform an evidence-based practice project?
The majority of students were confident or somewhat confident in their ability to conduct the different elements of the evidence-based project. Areas were students were the least confident include: appraising the evidence, apply the evidence while incorporating patient preferences, clinical expertise, and resources and disseminating the findings.
See results from student confidence survey
Students indicated that the poster project was helpful for their understanding and increased their confidence in EBP:
- I believe it [EBP poster project] was helpful to my understanding about EBP.
- I learned a lot and found it interesting
- I feel more confident in my poster now that we have had multiple weeks to tweak it and fix the mistakes. I feel more confident in researching this semester than I did in our previous semester.
- The way the information was taught made it easier for me to understand and go through the process.
- It has been a great learning experience working as a team on our poster presentation.
- This poster presentation has given us the opportunity to work together in groups, which will assist us in our team skills in the hospital. The project allowed us to see how pilot programs and research work within hospitals.
- I feel that the poster presentation is a good way to get students involved in EBP
- I think it forced us to look at clinical problems from a different perspective. I feel more confident addressing clinical problems and incorporating EBP into the workplace because if this class.
Students also identified areas of uncertainty:
- I was a little confused and had a hard time appraising evidence
- I still don't really think I know what I am doing.
- It was difficult, we werent able to research interesting topics because they didnt fit the mold we were being graded on
- I still struggle with appraising different articles.
- I was confused at first while thinking of a PICO question, but we ended up finding a very insightful PICO question with sufficient evidence.
Conclusion: What have you learned? What surprised you? What would you do differently? What implications does this have for your future classroom practice?
Constructivism theory involves develop meaning and apply concepts into professional careers. In the classroom setting, it takes time and energy to create an environment that leads to applying in clinical environments. The project was designed so that students were focused on their clinical placement. The poster involved discovering the evidence-based practice model used by the institution, describing a clinical situation that lead to a PICO questions, and identifying barriers and facilitators to implementation. Each of these items were based on an actual clinical setting. Yet, this also led to students feeling “boxed into focusing just on hospital priorities”. Students also requested additional real-world examples of successes and failures. In addition, a student recommended being able to bring their project to the hospital setting and get feedback from the hospital staff. In the future, I would like to incorporate stories from nurses who have completed evidence-based practice projects. This could involve a presentation from a nurse or the use of videos explaining previous projects. In addition, students could work with preceptors. The preceptors could assist in identifying problems on the unit and students could use skills learned in the course to find answers. Then both the students, preceptors, and clinical settings could benefit from the evidence-based practice project.
I was surprised that students were the least confident in appraising the evidence. The surprised me because the students spent the majority of a course (NUR 375) learning to appraise the evidence. Next time, I would first evaluate their current knowledge to determine if there is a knowledge deficit from the previous course or if students need a refresher on the content. In future classrooms, I will not assume a knowledge level. Instead, I will incorporate a formative assessment to allow me to gain a better understanding of the current knowledge level.
I think that applying constructivism theory can be most successful in environments where faculty not only within courses but also between courses work together to design course activities that build upon each other. Understanding the prerequisites and objectives of previous and future courses is necessary to create effective scaffolding.
Ideally, it would be helpful for students to work with hospital systems during the development of the project. This would further assist in the transition from the didactic classroom to an authentic clinical environment. But, as in EBP, there are facilitators and barriers that would influence the ability to design a project in this way. Perhaps an easier option would be to have the poster session at a hospital where nurses could come and look at the posters. While I was very pleased with the students poster presentations, there is room to improve the transition to clinical practice.