TIPS MODULE 7 ASSESSMENT

David Boud's lecture was very interesting and in line with the other areas of curriculum design and modules of ED6112.  In the way that it's much more student focused and supportive.  Seeking active engagement by the students in assessment.

I really agree with his ideas of moving assessments away from the end of semester and spreading the load.  My unit has done that, although it's still pretty hectic as nursing is an 8 week academic semester.  But the final exam is 100%.  It would be nice to spread that load across the semester (as per Assessment 3).

What I'd like to integrate from David's talk is getting students to mark their own assessments. Currently with skills, the students do their video assessment and that's it.  Its a summative assessment and there is no feedback other than receiving a pass/fail (unless they fail and review their video prior to reassessment). My issue with this is:

Some students just fall over the line (despite being on the 'fail' side of the rubric) but they get a pass and consider themselves safe.  They need feedback on this skill, they need to improve, to be truly safe.

If they do this, then I think we'll see improvement in the following skills as there's many areas that cross over between skills. 

My plan (to suggest to the powers that be) is to give every student access to their video  and the students are to submit a marking rubric with their marks for each section (of my new improved rubric for assessment 3).  Then tutors when reviewing the video assess against what standards the students believe they are.    I think this gives students clear understanding of their strengths and weakness and also complete transparency in assessment.

The end results would be student nurses on practicum having improved skills, and being more workplace ready.

Only issue will be: the turnaround times involved and potential increased workload on tutors...
I'll keep stewing on that one...

TIPS Module 6 Assessment

 

Assessment is many things.  Motivation to some, fraught with anxiety for others, but what it is to pretty much everyone in higher education is...unavoidable.

 

 

Module 6 has given me plenty to think about in the unit I teach, a practical skills unit.  And as I have mentioned previously, assessment is where I feel a major improvement can be made.  I believe the actual assessment that is done (video assessment of student doing a skill e.g. giving a subcut needle  into a foam pad) is fair and equitable, but the assessment of the skill requires improvement.  Here's why...

 

• Most students put great effort into learning the skills, and the assessment task is stressful  and the learning is time consuming.  It's all for a pass/fail mark.
• a few students excel and are flawless, most stumble somewhere but correct themselves, some just fall over the very vague 'pass' line.  All these students get the same grade "pass"
• Some students fail, but get a resit and then hopefully pass.
• Those that fail the resit fail the whole unit.

Those above points are trying to highlight that a mere 'pass' isn't enough.  If so much emphasis is placed on these skills, they should be graded and some weighting go towards the final grade.  The grade for this unit is given 100% from the final theory exam.  For a practical unit, I don't think that is fair on students who excel in the practical component but for whatever reason, don't do old fashioned exams so well, where rote learning is your friend.

 

On the flip side, if it becomes weighted then marking is 'harder.'  I think with a clear rubric regarding what is considered pass, credit, distinction and high distinction marking will be equal to what it is now. Especially given that the rubric is broad and open to interpretation and potentially marked very differently by each assessor.  This is much more reliable for each student and assessor.

 

Also the assessments are only used for formative feedback should the student fail and require a resit.  They watch the video with the assessor, are shown their errors and talked through how to correct the errors.    My issue here is, some of these students have only just fallen over the line, but they see their 'pass' and happily move onto the next assessment.  They should all be able to access their video and their rubric to see where their strengths and weakness are, to improve upon the skill, this will aid in coming assessments and also towards doing these skills in a practical setting.  It will improve the two way communication between student and teacher and be a more transparent approach to assessment.

 

So off to put my money where my mouth is a try to make an improved rubric and assessment structure!

 

 



Think….Aligning Assessment and Learning Outcomes

Race, Brown and Smith (2004)  in their book 500  Tips on Assessment raise some food for thought in the section regarding tips on designing and using learning outcomes.

 

The main one that has stood out for me personally is something that I feel I get muddled with at times, and that confusing learning outcomes and assessment criteria (tip 7).    The ILO of the unit I currently teach are well aligned (all bar one), and very general.  But it’s clear how they are assessed when you see the link from assessment pieces back to the ILO.    

Sometimes I think I try being too specific when attempting to write ILO and it starts looking like an assessment outline.

 

Which tip 6 highlights  “Don’t get hung up too much on performance, standards and conditions” when expressing ILO.  These things can be clarified in assessment pieces.  OK now I’m in the swing of things!

 

Tip 8 highlights not writing ILO that can’t be assessed.  One outcome in my unit is un-assessable in the simulated learning lab environment.  Something I’m hoping to correct for next semester. 

 

And another tip I plan on taking on board, or more specifically being more conscious of doing is No 11…getting students to self assess their achievements.   It’s one thing to give them a ‘pass’ status for skills, which means they are free to do that skill supervised by an RN when on placement in hospital.  That’s very different to them feeling confident in carrying out that skill, and feeling as though they have clear links from theory to knowledge to allow them to critical think when ‘at work.’

 

I like this book.   I’m hoping with 500 tips I should be well on may way to good assessment pieces!

 

 

Getting your MOOC on

 The initiative of Open Learning is growing rapidly, and a lot of that is thanks to the creation of courses known as MOOCs.  A MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) allows you to enrol from the comfort of your own home, into a course of your interest. 

 

The ‘massive’ part comes from the fact that most of the courses do not have restrictions on enrolment numbers.  Udacity for example, which has links with elite American Universities such as Dartmouth and Northwestern, has 28 courses and 2 million users.

 

‘Open’ refers to the limited restrictions (if any) placed on enrolment.  Some courses though may have suggested prerequisites.  Open also means the content of the course is free.  Some courses however to charge a fee for certificates of completion or for credits towards university or college courses. 

 

‘Online,’ well that one is pretty straightforward.  There’s no face to face time required (you may be able to access skype and video links) but you do not have to attend campus.  And there is limited opportunity to have one on one time with the expert taking the course.  You are competing for his/her attention with potentially 10,000 other class mates!

 

‘Course’ refers to the fact that is structure to the curriculum design.  Some providers such as Coursera run their courses in semesters, others however  allow you to enroll at any stage.

 

The quality of MOOCs is variable, as some only allow renowned field experts conduct courses, where as others allow any user to upload courses. 

 

MOOCs have opened up the world of education to millions of people that would of once found it inaccessible.  Elite universities which were once unobtainable unless you were wealthy or on scholarship are now providing education to masses of people.  

 Is there a place for MOOCs in nursing?  Sure.  It's a great chance for nurses to expand existing knowledge with courses or to learn about a new specialty.  But the practical component as the least of a Nursing degree cannot be replaced by an online course.  The learning environment of university labs, having a on-hand expert to guide you and give immediate feedback is essential.

 

Keeping stakeholders happy in curriculum design

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Through my reading it's very clear that there's a number of stakeholders in curriculum design that you want 'keep happy.' 

In a unit that I teach there's a particular module that I find difficult to combine everyone's interest.
So who's do I focus on...primarily the students.

Here's everyone's needs...

Professional Body: All students must sit a medication calculation test.  They must acheive 100% pass mark.  They cannot be registered otherwise.

Institution: Gives very limited time to teach.  Expectation as far as curriculum design given to me is at the end of a 3 hour lab, I call out a student name and they come and show their working out for questions they 'should have' prepared prior to the lab.  Week 6 they sit a 1 hour calculations test.  They are required to get 100% pass.  They can resit...and resit...and resit.

Students: Want to get 100% to pass.  But also want to learn how to do it and seek advice.

Me:  I want them to pass of course.  But I want them to realise why 100% pass mark is essential...get the calculation wrong, give the wrong dose...potentially fatal.  I want them to learn to be safe and efficient practioners.

My issue with the design of the unit is, not enough time is given to something that not only causes students a great deal of stress, but also if it's so desperately important by our governing body...should we not show that by placing more emphasis on it's importance in class?

So the tactics I've used in my class are:

• highlight in the first class of the year the assessment is 100% pass, and why it is so.  
• I give each  week, with each new calculation type that they work through, real life examples of how errors have been harmful to patients and careers.
• I review my lesson plan each week to ensure time is given to my review of   the questions and techniques for answering.
• we do them in groups, and I make it clear that assisting each other is fine, asking for help is encouraged.  I do not call names and put people on the spot.
• highlight were typical errors are usually made and why, so they can avoid it.
• This semester, a practice exam was given to students too to take aware any confusion on the format.  
• All questions delivered to students were in exam format.
• Make sure students are aware each week that if they are struggling with new calculations that they can see me or email me and we can see if there's another approach we can use to make it clearer.

This semester, we had our best ever results, which when benchmarked nationally had dramatically improved.

I think this highlights that if you want students to pass difficult assessment, you can't give minimumal time and effort and then expect maximum effort from them.  And also have a professional body saying that it's so important only 100% pass mark is acceptable yet, the minimal time is given by the institution.

But also, then allow an endless number of resits.  If students are at their 4th resit...that's saying that they have a significant learning deficit in this area, and endless resits doesn't teach them anything!  They actually need to learn how to calculate the drugs.

Article Rant Module 3

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The Trouble with learning outcomes (Hussey, T and Smith, P) was...an interesting read, I guess is how I'd describe it.  I found the language used almost agressive.  Closing the first paragraph with "there are maggots in the apple" was a bit off putting.  And to be honest I haven't come away from the article thinking about learning outcomes and their downfalls or their virtues.  I'm just wondering who's taken these guys to task over their performance at work to the point they have written this article (I'm guessing some one didn't like their LO)!

I think maybe their view of LO is too black and white.  I don't think having to be accountable for how and what you teach means you aren't trusted, I just think there is stakeholders involved that need to see that there's standards being met.  Not just managers, but the students too.

I see the point of LO potentially just telling you the minimal standard.  But I think that is where a marking rubric is linked accordingly to the LO and assessment peices.  And in the rubric, there needs to be room for those unintentional and additional outcomes of learning, which show cirtical thinking and thought construction and linking of new ideas. I guess it's all the wording of how the LO is viewed in the rubric.  That would be the difference between a HD, D and scraping through.

I've found LO useful to see what is expected of students so I know how to arrange my lesson plans to facilitate achievement.  I don't stop at the LO though.  I look to engage them with the material so that the knowledge and learning that has lead to that LO used a deep approach, they explored new ideas that may not be that exact outcome, but braodens their thoughts and enhances experience.  I have however been confused by the occasional outcome when I don't see how's it measureable.  And if I'm confused then the students would be too.  But that's just the difference between and well writtenal and aligned learning out come with a poorly done won.

MODULE TWO TEACHING INTO PRACTICE REFLECTION

 

Before I commence my review of a Nursing Skills Unit outline, I do have to tip my hat to those that have done it.  On the background of all the reading and viewing that I’ve done for Module Two…curriculum mapping for constructive alignment (CA) is so complex!  But as academics, that’s our job.  And putting in all this hard work is so graduates can take excellent skills and knowledge out into the ‘real world’ and contribute with confidence and be workforce ready.

As I mentioned in my discussion board post, I can see the work that has gone into CA this unit within the course.  An introduction with how knowledge and skills previously gained will be developed upon within this unit and they will be able to take these into their next unit (practicum).  Showing where they have come from and where they are going is grounded in constructivist the theory. 

 

The Intended Learning Outcomes (ILO), are clear and have good use of high level verbs which lead to suggest deep situational approach learning is to be used.  One thing I would say about them though it…they are labelled UNIT LEARNING OUTCOMES.  I’d like to see them more reflective of who’s learning it is.  STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES or even INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES, gives the ownership of those outcomes to the learners. 

There is 4 ILO, and the 4^th is related to how these skills/knowledge will be used in the next unit.  Therefore this is only measurable in the next unit.  I don’t believe this should be an ILO for this unit.  The introduction linking this unit to the next is enough.

 

The graduate & professional attributes are tabled and clear.  When the assessments are outlined, each displays how they are linked to the different ILO & graduate attributes.  I like that this shows the alignment of these three elements.  The only thing that concerns me is, it seems to put the focus on the assessment and how everything is linked to that.  On review of John Biggs’ CA, most articles and books have the focus on the ILO and then you look at how learning environments/tasks and assessments fit to that.  I would like to see the ILO tabled as they are, but with relationship to the graduate attributes and assessments on the side.  Showing the focus is on the learning.

 

	Student learning outcome	Related to Graduate Attribute No	Related to Assessment  No
1	Apply knowledge to skills in the clinical setting using critical thinking and problem solving skills	1,2,4,6,9	1,2,3,4
2	Demonstrate the ability to calculate, prepare and safely administer medications to clients.  Evidence an understanding of side effects and contraindications of those medicines	2,3,4,5,&7	3,4

What I do like, and actually hadn’t noted before was that there is clear reference to Nursing’s governing body and how the unit aligns with this.    It gives students the knowledge that this course if professionally recognised and in line with national standards.

Having taught other units within the same semester, I can see how they have aligned, but what concerns me, particularly after reading Curtin university’s curriculum mapping framework is repetition.  Stated in the Curtin article, was that mapping was to prevent repetition of material in units and to avoid gaps.  I do believe some of the units come within the scope of repetition.  Reading some lectures, I’ve had to check which unit it is as I was going through, because the material was the same as I’d read in a different unit.  Cross over of material is at times required, it shows the practical application between theory based units with practical ones, but the information should be presented with the focus  within the units.  So students don’t feel their time is being wasted in repeat lectures.

 

So ultimately what do I think?  I think the hard work of curriculum mapping in line with CA is evident.  But there may be room for improvement.  I am aware that at the end of each semester, tutors and students are asked for feedback regarding the units.  Also feedback from clinical placements is taken on board. And I’m pleased to see how feedback has been used to change some structure in units.    This shows that external stakeholders are also used to increase the CA of not just this unit, but the  nursing course.