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Assessment of the learner’s needs, readiness, and styles of learning is the first and most important step in instructional design (Passable, Garage, Jacobs, & Kopecks, 2011). This initial assessment is the basis or foundation for each student to build upon. Educators can also use the initial assessment to evaluate the performance Of the learner. A Fleet course incorporates instructions in a traditional classroom setting as well as in an asynchronous on-line environment.
In this current courser students must identify patient confidentiality issues including HAP, various types of work-related harassment, and the consequences of such actions. The students must also understand the importance of maintaining confidentiality of patient information and proprietary organizational information to work-related situations. In this Fleet course, there are five students with varying ethnic and cultural backgrounds whose healthcare work experiences range from no experience to several years of experience.
There is also a potential language barrier identified related to the diversity of the class participants. The educator in this course must decide which available evaluation methods will best assess each student’s comprehension of the course contents and their application in the healthcare environment. Analysis of Assessment Methods Diversity in the general population is on the rise. Projections are by the year 2020, the representation of minority groups (African-Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Pacific Islanders, and Native-Americans) will be as high as 35 percent (Billings & Hallstead, 2009 p. 68). As diversity in the general population increases so does diversity in student enrollment. Because of students’ diversity, educators must be aware of the base knowledge and skills of the students in the classroom. Faculty must be prepared to develop curricula to accommodate diversity, choose appropriate instructional trials, apply principles of multicultural education, and use teaching strategies to create an inclusive classroom (Billings & Hallstead, 2009).
Many assessment or evaluation strategies exist to aid educators in the evaluation of student learning. Before determining the best or most effective method of assessment for student learning, it is important to compare and contrast a variety of assessment techniques to help determine which will work best for the students in the class. An important factor to take into consideration includes matching the assessment strategy to the domain of learning (Billings Hallstead, 2009).
For example, if your attempting to assess a students cognitive domain, administering writing assessments, portfolios, or tests are good strategies to evaluate this domain of learning (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). In nursing, an important domain to assess is known as the affective domain (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). The affective domain of learning encompasses values, beliefs, and personal insight (Valid, 2014). When students are challenged to think critically about how they relate to others and what guides their actions, they are able to reflect on their values.
This assist students to aka decisions about the kind of person they want to be and guides them to be culturally sensitive (Valid, 2014). When using cognitive reasoning the student understands that people are different, but it is not the same as treating people in a manner that respects those differences, that comes from affective reasoning (Valid, 2014). Nurse educators are given the task to help develop students holistically and assist them in understanding their own beliefs and values (Valid, 2014).
Other important factors to consider when selecting the appropriate strategy includes considering the classroom setting weighing the advantages and strangeness of each strategy, and considering the time it takes to prepare, implement, and grade the assessment (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Portfolio Technique The portfolio technique is an assessment strategy used to evaluate student learning. Portfolios are also known as a collection of student work. Advantages of using this strategy include being able to review a broad sample of students work while showing evidence of accomplishment (Billings & Hallstead, 2009).
Strengths and weaknesses can also be evaluated while critical thinking and reflection occur. Disadvantages of this strategy include he time needed to provide feedback and grades. Establishing grading criteria or grading rubrics can also be time consuming (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Fair grading can be difficult. Essay Technique Essays in contrast to portfolios are another technique that can be used to assess learning. Critical thinking and organizational skills can be achieved using this method (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Both the affective domain and cognitive domain of learning can be measured.
An advantage to using this method includes being able to obtain in-depth information from writing papers (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Students are able to clarify their own thinking about topics and learn to write better. In comparison to portfolios, a shared disadvantage to this method for student and faculty is the amount of time needed to write and grade this assessment. When a student exhibits poor writing skills, faculty can become increasingly distracted (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Another challenge for faculty is being able to write clear and focused essay questions.
Service Learning Technique In comparing assessment strategies, another method that can be used is known as service learning. Service learning activities can be both individual ND or group oriented. Service learning projects are structured in ways to enhance critical thinking while better understanding course content and the role their service learning project plays as a value to the community (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Advantages of using this method include students being able to learn in a real-world situation, which provides students exposure to situations they may encounter upon graduation (Billings & Hallstead, 2009).
Students are also provided opportunities to better understand the social issues associated with meeting health needs for undeserved populations (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Disadvantages similar to essays include time. The amount of time faculty need to manage service learning projects requires a lot of out-of-class time to meet with agencies to arrange the experiences and follow-up regularly. Another disadvantage is the risk that students may not meet the expectations and place the school’s reputation in the community at jeopardy (Billings & Hallstead, 2009).
Role Play Instructors can obtain formative feedback through role play exercises. The strategy could be used in a diverse classroom setting to assess a student’s cultural values, beliefs, and experiences by assessing their communication kill and problem-solving abilities. “Active learning involves discussion, problem solving, presentations, group work such as buzz groups, brainstorming, role plays, debates – anything that gets students interacting with each other and engaging with the lecture material,” (Johnson, 2011, pig. 17-30).
Instructors would assess students for demonstration of certain behavioral skills, such as effective communication, decision-making and problem-solving abilities, and participation in a peer evaluation. The instructor must develop a comfort level and skill to facilitate this teaching technique. It is important for the instructor to educate the students on participating in role playing. This clarifies expectations and reduces student anxiety. The instructor would further evaluate application of the curriculum using several different techniques.
The students would interact in role playing and answers questions orally in order to be successful using this evaluation method. Oral Questioning Another method is oral questioning or verbal questioning. Students use their learned knowledge and skills to answer the questions presented by the instructor. The formative domain that the instructor tends to focus on is the dents ability to learn, regardless of their cultural backgrounds. Students are asked to participate in using their thinking process or asking “why’.
Instead of answering questions on paper, the student is to communicate directly to the instructor on their answers. Sloughing (1998) states “Oral assessment can be simply defined as assessment in which student’s response to the assessment task is verbal, in the sense of being expressed or conveyed by speech instead of writing’ (pig. 367-378). One advantage of oral questioning is that questions are easy to develop and allows for real-time feedback of the evaluation. This method may increase the anxiety level of the student.
Instructor bias may also be a concern if criterion for evaluation is not used (Kirkpatrick & DeWitt, 2012). Journaling Journaling for students is a critical reflection of self-awareness and clarifying thoughts about learned material. Journaling assists the student to brainstorm ideas and develop writing skills. This is advantageous for cultural students to develop language and writing skills, along with giving an opportunity to ask questions to the instructor. Faculty can guide the student by being nonjudgmental by expressing their thoughts through the learning recess.
It is instrumental to have a class discussion after the journaling activity to present the student’s writing content to confirm evidence of analysis and application of learning has taken place (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Disadvantages to journaling are a time commitment for both student and faculty. Students need ample time to complete the assignment and focus on applying theories into inductive reasoning. Journaling is very subjective and must have clear expectation criteria for fairness in grading (Billings & Hallstead, 2009). Assessment of Effective Methods
Diversity is on the rise in terms of non-English speaking students, veterans, older students, and students that are not fluent in educational vocabulary. There is a cognitive diversity that all instructors must be aware of when they are formulating their method of teaching. Instructors must be aware of the base knowledge and skill of the students in the classroom. There also needs to be an understanding of the test-taking capabilities of the students. Some common test formats are true/false, question and answer, multiple-choice, short answers, essays, and fill in the blank.
Students also require academic ND verbal fluency of the class for these tests to be meaningful. There is only one student that has limited English fluency, so this needs to be taken into consideration. Linguistic comprehension is the capability to understand the spoken or written word. Students can misinterpret or misunderstand directions if there is a language barrier influencing the outcome Of the evaluation (Shin & Foolish, 2012). The members of this flex-net class are a diverse group. It was decided the best course to follow would be to have the students write a short journal following a rubric that details the following items.
Content Possible points Points Earned Identify patient confidentiality Issues: including HAP 25 Identify work-related harassment and the consequences of such actions 25 Speak about the need to maintain the confidentiality of patient’s information and organizational information in work-related situations 25 Give an oral presentation to class with your understanding of the above issues 25 Requiring the students to identify, baseline knowledge of this subject matter in a short journal will assist the instructor in identifying the learning needs of the group.
After the oral presentation, which will be done in class, the instructor will facilitate a discussion to provide the most current evidence- based practice in regards to HAP and work related harassment. Elements used to assess a diverse classroom include: taking the student population into account is necessary. The test must be precisely designed to capture the necessary results (Shin & Foolish, 2012). Individual Evaluation Individual evaluation requires a variety of active teaching methods especially in a culturally or socially diverse classroom.
Different cultural values, socioeconomic factors, and demographic factors, such as age can require a rarity of strategies to connect with and engage the student in the learning experience. Millennial may be very sway with computerized evaluation methods but baby boomers may find evaluation based in the virtual setting a challenge. Ensuring appropriate resources to assist the student through these barriers is essential in assisting the student to be successful.
Some cultural beliefs, such as educator’s deference, can influence the student’s participation in the classroom setting. Asian cultures hold educators in high regard leading to the student’s reluctance to participate in individual assessments or leading an activity as in a case review. Mixing both traditional methods including traditional testing and written papers, with oral presentation or student lead case reviews can assist the student in overcoming their reluctance to participate because of their cue Trail influences. Sing mixed methods can also assist the student in Iran their grade, especially if they are doing poorly on specific activities assessment methods that conflict with their cultural values and bell Group Evaluation Group assessment has advantages and disadvantages in a diverse setting. Group activities or assessments can promote both active a afflictive learning and outcome measure (Rowels, 2012). Central t assessment would be discussion. This method allows students to their opinions and ideas.
It also promotes collaboration and cacao communicate expectations clearly and hold students accountable f contribution to the assignment or evaluation process. In the group students from different cultures, age groups, and genders come to complete a learning activity. In this classroom, each student has eve levels of experience which can lead students to feel more or less c taking on lead roles in the activity. Simulation or case presentation effective group evaluations. Students can work collaboratively to scenario, discuss, and critically think to problem solve a resolution problem.
Group evaluation can provide a supportive environment learning. Disadvantages of group assessment could allow less Eng students to blend in with the group if other students do not hold the accountable to participate (Rowels, 2012). This could lead to all SST getting the same grade for inequitable work. Another disadvantage to student comfort in participating in the group environment. Man prefer a reflective learning style so group activities or evaluations r hem uncomfortable.
Students in a diverse classroom setting shot diversity training that includes, developing a cultural awareness an competency when dealing with other students with diverse learning and situation in the classroom (Stokes & Flowers, 2012). Classroom Diversity among students in a classroom can provide for a unique I experience for those in the class; however, it can also provide a chi the instructor that is educating the students. One of the most been learning methods for students in a classroom setting takes place in discussions or other forms of oral discourse during lessons.