Implementing Innovative Teaching Strategies in the N372 Undergraduate Nurse Therapies II Course

Implementing Innovative Teaching Strategies in the N372 Undergraduate Nurse Therapies II Course

Grant:
Instructional Development Fund (IDF)
Academic Year:
2023 - 2024 (June 1, 2023 through May 31, 2024)
Funding Requested:
$1,000.00
Project Dates:
-
Applicant(s):
gracekan
Overview of the Project:
Nurse Therapies II is a foundational didactic course that undergraduate nursing students take in their third year of the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. The course teaches students to apply previously acquired anatomy, pathophysiology, and introductory nursing knowledge and develop clinical decision making to care for individuals with or at risk for various ailments. Historically, the course was taught using a uniform format consisting of weekly quizzes and group case study work for the full duration of class; however, students have reported significant stress associated with the quizzes and shown declining engagement with the uniform weekly class format.
Therefore, the purpose of this project is to pilot (a) use of innovative tools (e.g., iClicker Cloud) to provide students with multiple opportunities to demonstrate their learning through low-stake formative assessments with repeated attempts and (b) invitation of guest nurse speakers who can role model and provide feedback to students while bringing the lectures and case studies to life. Outcomes will be measured based on class metrics and a student post-course survey measuring the acceptability and feasibility of the learning tools. Additionally, findings from this project may be published and will be presented to the School of Nursing leadership to determine if payment for an iClicker subscription should be incorporated into the school budget or projected expenses presented to students.
Final Report Fields
Project Objectives:

The objectives of this project were to pilot (a) innovative tools (e.g., iClicker Cloud) to provide students with opportunities to demonstrate their learning through low-stake formative assessments with repeated attempts and (b) invite guest nurse speakers who can role model and provide feedback to students. The project was carried out in the Nurse Therapies II (N372) foundational didactic course that undergraduate nursing students take in their third year of the BSN program to develop clinical decision making and learn how to apply previously acquired anatomy, pathophysiology, and introductory nursing knowledge to care for individuals with various ailments

Project Achievements:
  • The class successfully piloted iClicker cloud technology in both the Fall 2023 and Winter 2024 semesters
    • The pilot confirmed that iClicker is a reliable and user-friendly polling technology, recorder of attendance (which consistently exceeded 90%), and tool to engage students and provide them with exam-style practice questions and allow instructors to gauge students' understanding of the content.
    • The instructors gained valuable post-semester feedback to inform adjustments in how polling technology will be used in future semesters. Based on our survey results, we have changed from grading based on answer correctness last year to grading based on participation. Grading based on correctness led to increased student stress and hyper-focus on listening just for the answers to the questions, rather than absorbing the holistic content of the lecture. We also decided to change from a repeated attempts model (i.e., administering the same questions before and after covering a topic) to administering the questions once after covering the topic, because students found it less valuable to attempt the question when they had little to no background to inform their responses to the questions. Additionally, we learned that administering the questions twice may have contributed toward students' sense of overwhelmment with the various activities conducted in class.
    • We will combine the obtained data from this pilot with future semester data to demonstrate to the School of Nursing that iClicker Cloud is a far more reliable platform for graded classroom engagement than Poll Everywhere (with whom the school currently contracts). 
  • The class hosted three guest lecturers who were experts in critical care, medical-surgical, and oncology nursing
    • The pilot helped us understand the importance of providing more guidance and structure to the guest lecturers to ensure enough consistency between their and the main instructors' lectures and worksheets. We will continue working with CRLT through a FCI grant to test and improve the utilization of guest lecturers in the course. 
Continuation:
No, the project is complete.
Dissemination:
The project results may be disseminated in a team meeting, one-on-one meetings with leadership (e.g., director of nursing IT and Director of Undergraduate Program Nursing Sciences & Medical Surgical Education), and potentially at a local conference such as HPE Day
Advice to your Colleagues:
- iClicker is far more reliable and user-friendly than Poll Everywhere for classrooms that intend to grade students on participation. iClicker also integrates better with Canvas and carries a lower risk of grading errors than Poll Everywhere.
- It is best to grade iClicker questions based on participation instead of correctness.
- It is important to ensure consistency among the guest lecturers presentation formats and iClicker questions; otherwise, students experience confusion, frustration, and anxiety with unclear expectations particularly surrounding exams on the topics on which guests lectured.
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