Abstract
An assessment of established nursing practices usually incorporates methods that allow the nurse to develop effective research, and interpersonal skills. This report addresses protocols that highlight the most important portions of assessment rubrics for online learning, and for developing a student’s ability to conduct problem-solving research. The following assessment methods will be assessed for effectiveness: Online Evaluation, Self-assessment, and Portfolio Use.
Introduction
In order to effectively train students to conduct effective healthcare delivery, various practices are employed to convey the importance of processes, to students. Facilitating advanced nursing can be executed in the classroom, via online interactive teaching, at home, and in the actual healthcare setting. This report will address the methods used to conduct online assessments, Self-assessment, and assessment through portfolio use. The overall goal of each assessment practice is to evaluate the level of development that occurs during a specific nursing education. Subsequently, an optimal program should ensure that key attributes of the nursing curriculum are transferred from the instructor, to the student.
These assessments will be measured based on qualitative analysis to determine if they are effective or if there is room for improvement. In advanced practice nursing, it is critical the nurse receives adequate training and that the rubric for a program is rigorous. A well-trained nurse should have all the abilities and skills required to perform their tasks, regardless of the medium that was used to learn. As the overall nursing model evolves into a field where procedures are based more on historical data/scientific rationale, evidence-based practice is now taught to aspiring students, and those in continuing education programs. The retrospective evaluation of graduate level outcomes will allow faculty to quantify how much the nursing student has learned. National board exams will suffice as a standard for the overall knowledge gained, however each course and particular method of teaching may be assessed independently in order to determine if any “weak link” lies within a program.
Online Assessment
As education transitions slowly from the in-class medium to the Internet tools must exist to measure the effectiveness of an online course. Research indicates that online learning of complex issues may not be thoroughly assessed within the scope of these teaching methods. The primary assessment used is to monitor graduate level discussions (Wright, 2011). These discussions are paramount for a student as they will demonstrate the translational application of knowledge, as it is transferred between their peers. Teachers may carefully monitor a student’s activity on the discussion boards to determine if the student is lacking in one or more skills. Due to the fact that these mediums of knowledge are stull new, the outcomes that indicate successful construction of the teaching rubric are not defined.
However, at a minimum teachers have determined that it is critical for graduate nursing students to have the ability required to interact in these settings. For an aspiring nurse practitioner that is learning via online medium, a minimum level of interactive dialogue is required (Wright, 2011). Research indicates that interactive dialogue is “critical” for nurses in graduate learning program. Assessment of previously executed online, courses indicates that these online models are beneficial for students. Interactive dialogue allows both the teachers and the students to interact with each other, therefore solving problems and determining outcomes collectively. A rubric for online teaching must build in mandatory interactive dialogue as it will nurture growth, enhance articulation skills, generate better collaboration/interpersonal skills, and yield active learning (Ryan, 2011). In addition, a rubric for online models must be crafted to deliver an outcome that is driven towards importance of concepts.
This means that while the ability to generate interpersonal skills remains of high significance the nurse must still have the ability to obtain a graduate level understanding of healthcare delivery. The platform that is utilized, as the medium of online teaching should incorporate the use of video capabilities, in which the students and professors may use to collaborate. With the onset of “Telemedicine” on the horizon, graduate students should become familiar with the use of these tools. In practice, students can conduct patient assessments, prior to the actual certification. The issue of effectiveness appears to be limited to the scope in which the model can actually be assessed. This means that due to the fact that online models are still novel in concept and application, more work needs to be done to craft assessments that may provide qualitative analysis of these mediums.
Self-assessment
An additional method of assessment is the traditional “self-assessment”. This method utilizes the actual students input to determine if the course and/or program was or was not beneficial to the development of their education. A study conducted by a group in Ontario Canada indicates that these self-assessment models should be approached with great caution (Baxter et.al, 2011). The rationale behind this is that students are unlikely to present true feelings toward a program, even under conditions of anonymity. What must then be considered is the actual validity of a self-assessment. One must ask, does this research lead to any true and un-biased conclusion?
This report does not indicate that all self-assessments are inherently flawed. In contrast, it is the belief of this group of researchers that a self-assessment can provide extremely useful information if students are trained properly to conduct these studies. With respect to nursing, the key is to evaluate the clinical competence and confidence required (Baxter, 2011). At this point in time, further training is likely to be required for student nurses and medical students if valid data is desired from these individuals.
Portfolio Use Assessment
Perhaps the most effective method for instructors to determine the level of confidence of both their program and their students is the execution of a well thought out portfolio-based assessment. This form of assessment is more scientific as it incorporates the input from various pieces of “data” such as written evidence (Ryan, 2011). Students also indicate that portfolio use allows them to promote their own self-growth and determine which areas are lacking. In this model, the student always has actual written/recorded material to turn to and will think in a more analytical fashion.
In contrast to other models, feeling was involved and therefore these models may be biased. It is important to note that a minimum level of bias is removed from both the student and the instructor using a portfolio based method of assessment. Finally, the portfolio, which may be applied, may vary in its construction, and it is this observation that may actually yield areas of improvement, through the use of one or few well accepted models.
Conclusion
In summary, a rubric for graduate level nursing students should incorporate methods that have been utilized in the past, but that consider application in today’s evolving healthcare models. The effectiveness of each rubric and the overall program can be measured using either of the following assessments: Online Assessment, Self-assessment, and Portfolio assessment. These assessments do not provide identical information and there are times in which one method may thrive over another. Either way, all assessments mentioned seem to indicate that there are minimum criteria that should be met in any nursing curriculum. These include: (1) The ability of students to interact with peers in a professional setting, and (2)
