While working on this LO, I worked a great deal with my mentor Pat Woodbery, who guided and chided me throughout the process. As I have learned the task of creating valid and reliable tests is no easy one and constant revision is necessary. Pat was and continues to be a guiding light as I go through the task of learning. Pat has experience as a test writer for NCLEX and has knowledge of testing principles that exceeds the status quo. She has been available for me to consult with and reviews questions for me before they go on to an instrument. I continue to refer to resources and seek counsel when evaluating test items.
One of the things that I am aware of now is that some faculty value this process more than others. It has become clear to me that continuing to strive for all faculty to aspire to improving testing is critical to the success of our program. The delivery format of questions on the NCLEX is changing and we will need to change our writing and delivery of tests to reflect that change. The test question formats will be more varied than just multiple choice, to include short answer and interactive questions. It will become very important for us to evaluate our new items as this is a big departure from standard multiple-choice. ParTest/ParScore (or some such software) could be increasingly important to our ability to evaluate tests and test items. Over the summer, Pat and I put together a handbook for other instructors on how to use the ParScore system. It has been met with a modicum of success. Instructors are using it, but because of the complexity of the program (it truly is very difficult), I do not expect all faculty to use it to its fullest capacity for some time. We are embarking on some new plans with the inclusion of online testing and I feel that this may increase our ability to gather data and create more innovative test items.
Testing is likely the most traditional method of assessment in education. In nursing it is essential, both as a tool to assess knowledge but also as a form of preparation for the NCLEX. When developing tests in nursing I have been taught to reflect the style of the NCLEX. The National Council creates a blueprint for the exam. The nursing department here at Valencia embraces this. Test blueprints aid the instructor in the development of test by providing structure. One of the elements in that structure is the learning objective. Each course in nursing has Unit Learning Objectives. When developing a test, it is helpful to the student to use these objectives.
In addition, I have been involved with item banks like ParTest/Par Score. Faculty use what is called "NCLEX criteria" to evaluate if an item should be revised. For example, if the question seems to have a good p-value but two distractor were not selected, then the distractors need to be revised. If all distractors are selected and the question has a p-value above 0.45, the item meets the criteria and remains in the item bank. Continous evaluation of test items and tests will be very important as testing methods change.