New digital evaluation process developed by IT staff at Bloomberg Nursing means more efficient grading and faster examination results for students.
Using digital technology, the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing is working to drive new improvements in its teaching processes across the Faculty. This Spring, staff member Marcus Barnes, a digital solutions specialist, worked closely with faculty in the Nurse Practitioner program, to implement a digital method of evaluation for the annual Objective Structured Clinical Examinations, also known as OCSEs.
These required intensive examinations, involve nursing students rotating between stations in the Simulation Lab to demonstrate their nursing knowledge, skill, and judgement in a simulated health care setting.
Omar Malik, Director of Information Technology, and Phyllis Lepore Babcock, CAO of Bloomberg Nursing, identified this area of teaching operations as a good opportunity to pilot a digitally enhanced process improvement. Together with Barnes they worked through the business analysis and strategic impact of this initiative.
“The Simulation Lab is the perfect starting ground to explore digital solutions that improve teaching practices, and digitizing the OCSE assessment process is a first step towards broader process improvements in this space,” says Barnes.
The new digital assessment form was developed in JotForm, after careful business analysis and solution investigations in partnership with teaching faculty. Following testing, the digital form was launched during the OCSEs for Nurse Practitioners in April. During the exam, examiners used iPads to fill out the digital assessment form, which saved their evaluation in real-time. The results of this change-over from previous manual paper assessments, were immediately apparent to many of the users involved.
For the teaching staff, Barnes says that the real-time visibility of the results on the form, meant that they were able to identify students who may need remediation of their skills sooner. The digital form also allowed them to flag grading issues or misalignment of marking expectations among examiners, while the assessment was still underway. For students, he says, the results and feedback from the exams could be distributed much more quickly, since there was no need to manually scan or upload multiple paper assessments.
“This digital process improvement has not only enhanced the efficiency and seamlessness of the exam evaluation process, but has also reduced reliance on paper-based resources and administrative workload, while allowing instructors to better support students during this high-stakes moment in their academic journey,” says Sandra Merklinger, Assistant Professor and NP Program Coordinator.
As Bloomberg Nursing continues to expand and grow across the tri-campus, Barnes see the Faculty as a leader in its intentional effort to think critically about how resources are used to deliver better services for its community of students, faculty and staff.
“I think this project has positioned the Faculty well to explore further improvements in teaching and assessment, it is a working model that can inform how digital assessment is approached at the Faculty now and in the future,” says Barnes.