Assessment

Writing only one blog post on all aspects of assessment has proven to be impossible, so I will just try to hit some highlights of assessment that we have covered this semester. Assessment is such an important part of education. It tells us if our students can actually complete the learning objectives of a course. There are so many types of assessments: quizzes, exams, projects, skills tests, papers, voice threads, blogs, etc. The assessment opportunities are endless. The book, The Nurse Educator’s Guide to Assessing Learning Outcomes by McDonald highlights many ways to assess learning. I know we haven’t read the entire book yet, but we are starting to delve into the meat of assessment.

Instructor teaching a student in clinic

The most important thing to remember about assessment is to align it with your objectives. For example if your objective was: List every cranial nerve and describe its function; then assessing that information on a multiple choice or short answer exam would be appropriate. If your objective was: Demonstrate correct use of an ultrasonic scaler; then assessing that objective with a multiple choice exam would be inappropriate. Dental hygiene has an array of different types of objectives that must be met, so one type of assessment may not be best for all courses.

Blog Post 5: From your experiences, knowledge, and opinions what are the best types of assessment for an entry level dental hygiene program? Be sure to take into account all the factors that exist, such as National Board exams, Regional clinical exams, critical thinking, CODA accreditation standards. In your post please include your justification for the type of assessments you have chosen.