Assessment and Evaluation in Nursing Education

Reflection Paper

Introduction

As I reflect on my learning from this course a key concept that stands out is the concept of knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) as defined by Quality, Safety, and Education for Nurses (QSEN). Additionally, having knowledge of the National League of Nursing’s (NLN) Core Competencies will guide my practice and teaching (National League for Nursing, n.d.). The learning objective identified align with the NLN Competencies: I Facilitate Learning, III Use Assessment and Evaluation Strategies, IV Participate in Curriculum Design and Evaluation of Program Outcomes. Overall, Competency VI Pursue Continuous Quality Improvements in the Nurse Educator Role, is considered as it ties in with the QSEN KSA goal.

Self-Evaluation of Learning Objectives and Wellness Goal

The first learning objective that I set was to demonstrate concepts of assessment and evaluation in course content development. Overall, the expectations of the course exceeded all of my learning objectives. Facilitating learning (NLN Competency I) includes supporting students to develop critical thinking skills by considering all domains of learning and aligning learning objectives with assessments that progress during the course. Formative assessments are valuable to create the opportunity to check-in with learners and provide opportunity to improve prior to the summative evaluations. It also contributes to academic due process and quality improvement measures for teaching. Congruency between didactic and clinical content should also be considered with the assessments. With practice and guidance, I hope to gain a better understanding of improving validity and reliability.

The second learning objective was to select appropriate strategies and tools for evaluation of learning in course content development. Validity and reliability may also be considered to select appropriate assessment and evaluation strategies (NLN Competency III). Multiple-choice questions can be used to evaluate the student’s cognitive knowledge, which includes item distractors, discrimination, and item difficulty. Having this understanding provides a framework to create the questions with greater intent and format compelling alternatives.

Competency in selecting strategies and tools for evaluation of learning provides a foundation to create assignments to meet a variety of learning preferences and domains of learning. I found the concept map to be an effective learning tool because it challenges students to formulate concepts into a tangible form by internally processing the content.

Creating analytical rubrics are especially useful to connect learning outcomes with the assessment of the learning because you can specify criteria and clearly distinguish the levels of accomplishment, clarifying expectations. It will require practice as it is challenging and takes time to create a comprehensive rubric.

The last learning objective was to apply the roles of assessment and evaluation as quality improvement measures for my own teaching and course content development (NLN Competency IV and VI). I was surprised to learn that with nursing practice focusing on competence in practice, that the goal is for all students in nursing programs to pass (King, 2021a). The student evaluation may be the greatest challenge for a nurse educator as there are many considerations with regards to assessments, communication, and due process. I was astonished with the findings of failing to fail in nursing schools (Docherty & Dieckmann, 2015).

Evaluating the systematic program evaluation (SPE) was the most difficult assignment. Learning how a program aligns with mission, goals, and outcomes helped me to understand the accreditation process and consequences that may result from a not meet standards or involving stakeholders. I found it challenging to identify opportunities for improvement, determine if outcomes aligned, and comprehend if there was adequate evidence.

Finally, my wellness goal was to take time out at least three times a week to participate in an activity (sketching, yoga, writing) for 15 minutes to improve my mindfulness and focus. I established a regular yoga practice every morning. I realized that by starting my day this way, I pay myself first. It is beneficial in that as I build strength, I feel better and have improved focus.

Self-Development Plan

The article that relates to my self-development plan is by Poorman and Mastorovich (2017), as having a mentor is essential to becoming a competent nurse educator. The first goal I have to improve teaching would be to gain knowledge about the educational environment and how different factors impact the teaching role (NLN Competency VIII). Having a network of support is critical to a nurse educator, as learned during the SPE, there are many stakeholders and legal considerations in a nursing program. A mentor can be supportive to navigating the educational environment and be a resource to expand those connections. For example, instructional design support can assist to create an engaging classroom experience.

The second goal I have is to gain competency in the evaluation of students (NLN Competency III). According to the article, mentoring was shown to be effective with student evaluations as it was helpful for novice educators to gain feedback from a mentor. The mentor can help bridge the gap of the role of a clinical nurse and a nurse educator. Additionally, working with a mentor can help develop communication skills to deal with these stressful situations.

The final goal is to gain competency in analyzing evaluation results for the purpose of quality improvement to make revisions to the content (NLN Competency I). Creating well-constructed exams is helpful to assess student learning and effectiveness of instruction, which may be revealed with test result analysis. Working with a peer expert clinician can be helpful in the development of the evaluation and making revisions to improve outcomes.

References

Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2016). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty (5th ed.). Elsevier.

Docherty, A., & Dieckmann, N. (2015). Is there evidence of failing to fail in our schools of nursing? Nursing Education Perspectives, 36(4), 226–231. https://doi.org/10.5480/14-1485

King, T. (2021a). Reading: Week 5—Interpreting data, academic and clinical performance, curriculum, national standards. https://osu.instructure.com/courses/96644/pages/reading-week-5-interpreting-data-academic-and-clinical-performance-curriculum-national-standards?module_item_id=5522366

National League for Nursing. (n.d.). Nurse educator core competency. http://www.nln.org/professional-development-programs/competencies-for-nursing-education/nurse-educator-core-competency

Poorman, S. G., & Mastorovich, M. L. (2017). Promoting faculty competence, satisfaction and retention: Faculty stories supporting the crucial need for mentoring when evaluating nursing students. Teaching and Learning in Nursing, 12, 183–190. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.teln.2017.01.006

QSEN Institute. (n.d.). QSEN competencies. https://qsen.org/competencies/pre-licensure-ksas/