Reflective Technique

Integrated Essential Competencies

• Scholarship of teaching and learning
• Assessment

What have I done?

I have worked with ParTest and ParScore to develop a large database of questions for use in Pharmacology,  and Mental Health Nursing.  I have prepared workbooks for faculty and provided one-to-one instruction for faculty needing assistance with the programs.  What I have learned is that many faculty have varying degrees of interest and skill with new technologies.  A great deal of support will need to be in place so that testing can be improved using ParTest and ParScore. 

In addition, I completed the Assessment Strategies for Nurse Educators-Test Development and Item Writing (offered by Nursing Council Learning Extension Virtual Campus). The course helped me to further understand the basics of item writing and test construction.  I am now able to review test items critically and am beginning to be able to assess tests in an organized manner.

What can I do to improve?

I will continue to work with the software.  We will be receiving the updated version once the Advanced Standing Online Grant begins.  I hope to use the software in course development for the grant.  I would like to continue to support other instructors as they learn the software.  I will avail myself of every opportunity to learn about test bank improvement through NCLEX and other resources. 

Assessment

What have I done?

Creating a reliable test question database is at the core of good assessment in nursing.  Our students are required to pass a standardized exam in order to become licensed, so it is critical that we have good questions that are reliable and valid.  What I have done over the past two years is contribute to our pool of questions.  We currently have hundreds of questions in the pool for pharmacology that have been administered to over four hundred students.  I have taught the course 4 times and each time, I have worked with my partner in improving questions based on the data that was generated for that test and that testing group.  I believe that we have a solid and reliable bank of questions for Pharmacology.

 In addition, the work that Pat and I have done with some of the other instructors has made it possible for several other courses to input their questions to the database.  While I worked with Denise Coe in Mental Health Nursing, I input all of her questions into the ParTest database.  This will give us a real solid place to begin looking critically at our questions that we are using.  I also believe that after working with the software and writing test questions that a computerized system is necessary to improve testing and develop a  large reliable test bank for each course.

What will I do to improve?

The Nursing Council Learning Extension Virtual Campus offers and advanced course in item writing and assessment and I would like to complete that at some point.  I think that while have some rudimentary skills in item writing, I certainly would benefit from more work in the area.

Currently, I have been involved in the purchase of the updated version of ParTest/ParScore.  The new upgrade are compatible with the operating systems (OS) that our instructors have.  Previously, OS incompatibility has been one of the big impediments to full implementation of the software.  Once installed, Pat and I are planning to work with the faculty to get all of the courses up and running using the software. 

In addition, as a part of my role as Program Director for the Advanced Standing Online Grant, I am working with an educational technology specialist and a design consultant.  We are working on alternative format questions to simulate the newest types of items that will be on the national exam.  We are also developing discussion boards and critical thinking exercises that will measure knowledge in different ways and encourage thinking through a process.