April 2, 2009
Yesterday was the day of truth, the big exam that I lectured on. I was concerned a bit for the students because they had three different faculty lecture. This is the intrapartum test and usually the one the students do the worst on due to the increased amount of critical thinking. My clinical group has lacked the clinical experience to back up what they are learning (some have not stepped foot in L&D yet due to instructor absence). I felt really bad for them because I am a visual learner and intrapartum is nearly impossible to learn from a text book. As I think back on my lecture, I am extremely grateful for the use of other teaching tactics including detailed pictures and videos. I believe this enhanced their learning experiences. I had the opportunity to proctor the exam and watch patiently as the students took the exam. The students were divided into three different rooms and the anxiety filled the rooms from beginning to the end of the exam. After completion, I had the opportunity to assist with processing the exams and posting preliminary grades. The average was slightly above 80 which was the expected mean for this exam. What a relief for all of the instructors because we all had to do a lot of trouble-shooting with these lectures. It made me feel great to know that the students had learned the content from my lecture. There were a few students that were unable to complete the exam and Dr. Arnold was unable to make it so exam review will be next week. After that the exam will be analyzed and final grades will be posted. I think the most interesting thing about the process was listening to the faculty talk about each students progress in the testing scores verses clinical. There is a tremendous amount of thought that goes behind this process. There are several students that the faculty feel are not ready to move on to the next semester so they decided to make extensive changes on the next exam. The third exam is on postpartum care and has traditionally been the easiest exam. This time they are going to make this exam a weed-out exam. I will be interested to see the changes made and the difference it makes for the students.
On a different note, I have been thinking a lot about where I want to do my practicum next semester. I really want a different learning experience so I looked into doing it at UTA but they didn't have a course I would be interested in during the summer. My second choice was Brookhaven College. I thought it would be interesting to see the difference in an ADN verses BSN program. They have welcomed me with open arms. I talked to Joyce Adair whom agreed to be my preceptor and we have made our plans for next semester. They divide their courses into summer I and summer II so I will be working with her during the summer I OB course. They do not have 45 classroom hours so I will go to the Med-surg course during summer II for my remaining 10 hours. I am exciting about the learning experiences ahead!
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Yeah, the students learned from your lecture and did great on the exam-- that has to make you feel so good. That is great and what your presentation is so fundamentaly important to intrapartum nursing- awesome job! Also, good for you for setting up for next semester and branching out.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement Louise!
ReplyDeleteCongrats, Jacquelyn. I'm so glad the students did well overall. Your lecture was a success! What a load off that you have found your next clinical site and they are so welcoming. It will be very interesting to see the differences between the two programs. It will also be nice to be part of a med surg clinical as well and see the differences there.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting to me is that instructors' feelings about some students are the genesis for altering their exams.
ReplyDeleteWhat are your feelings about this decision?
Hi Jackie,
ReplyDeleteI'm not understanding about changing an exam to "weed out" certain students. It seems that the exams should be valid and reliable and then the chips should just fall where they fall. That's interesting...Were these students weak in clinical or weak in classroom? If they are weak in clinical, then maybe that should be addressed there instead of by altering tests. I was thinking maybe this had something to do with them not stepping foot into clinical yet though, so I am a little confused. Anyway, sounds like you had a lot going on this week. Glad you got good results from your lecture!
Sue
Jackie, good job and what a relief it must be. Hope the rest of the semester is as good as the first. You will have to keep us posted on how things work with the next exam. Amy
ReplyDeleteI am interested in why they are making it a weed out exam..... what do you think about those comments?
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in knowing what they mean by "weed out exam". Are they meaning more complex/higher level questions to see who really understands or tricky questions?
ReplyDeleteOn the other topic, I think you will really appreciate a different prespective/different school. I didn't have the perspecitive of a different school, but I have had the opportunity to observe Junior I's, II's, and Senior I's this semester. It has been very educational to say the least.
Good luck with your next practium choice and get back to us with the whole "weed out" concept. Diane
The way the concept was explained to me is that the student's who are studying and doing well would continue to succeed even with more critical thinking questions. The students that are not studying or not understanding the concepts would continue to perform poorly on a more challenging exam. I do not have an absolute opinion either way. I base my opinions primarily on learned experiences, values, beliefs, and ofcourse evidence-based practice. I think this would be a great concept to research. I definitely need more understanding before I would completely make a decision to change an exam to "weed out" poorly performing students.
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