Mentoring the nursing student with dyslexia

Conference Contribution

Undergraduate Student perceptions of a Restorative Dentistry OSCE

Objectives: The Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE) is a widely accepted assessment method in undergraduate dental education. It aims to test higher order skills, attitudes and aspects of professionalism which other summative assessments such as MCQs and other written examinations are less able to do. The aim of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of 4th year undergraduate dental students of an OSCE undertaken in the Conservation Department.
Methods: On completion of the OSCE examination 51 fourth year undergraduate students were asked to complete an anonymised questionnaire. The questionnaire was made 22 questions, and requiring the students to provide both open and closed responses.
Results: A lot of positive aspects to the OSCE were observed in responses, students felt that the OSCE was a meaningful way for assessing their clinical skills (85%), it reflected real life conditions (79%) and that it was a fair method of assessment (75%).
A number of negative aspects were also noted. Most students felt the OSCE was stressful (72%) and they felt nervous during the examination (77%). Of the undergraduates asked 42% did not feel confident doing the OSCE.
A number of students felt it would be helpful to have additional information given to them on the OSCE prior to the assessment process.
Conclusion: In general the students found the OSCE a fair, meaningful form of assessment which reflected real life clinical situations, providing them with an opportunity to show their clinical knowledge and practical skills. A number study cohort did not feel confident during the OSCE and felt nervous and stressed by the experience. The information gained from the reflective nature of the feedback questionnaire has proved invaluable in the design of subsequent diets of the OSCE examination. 

An examination of student and provider perceptions of voluntary sector social work placements in Northern Ireland

Practice based learning in Northern Ireland is a core element of social work education and comprising 50% of the degree programme for undergraduate and postgraduate students. This article presents evidence about the perceptions of practice learning from voluntary sector/non-government organisation (NGO) placement providers and final year social work students on social work degree programmes in Northern Ireland in 2011. It draws on data from 121 respondents from189 final year students and focus group interviews with voluntary sector providers offering 16% (85) of the total placements available to students. The agencies who participated in the research study provide a total of 55 PLOs to social work students, and are therefore fairly representative in terms of voluntary sector (NGO) provision. The article locates these data in the context of practice learning pedagogy and the changes introduced by the Regional Strategy for Practice Learning Provision in Northern Ireland 2010–2015. Several themes emerged including; induction, support and guidance, practice educator/student relationship, professional identity and confidence in risk assessment and decision-making. Social work educators, placement providers and employers must be cognisant of newly qualified social workers’ needs in terms of consolidating knowledge within the formative stages of their professional development.

Learning outcomes tracking system (L.O.T.S):seeing student progress as term progresses

At QUB we have constructed a system that allows students to self-assess their capability on the fine grained learning outcomes for a module and to update their record as the term progresses. In the system each of the learning outcomes are linked to the relevant teaching session (lectures and labs) and to [online] resources that students can access at any time. Students can structure their own learning experience to their needs to attain the learning outcomes. The system keeps a history of the student’s record, allowing the lecturer to observe how the students’ abilities progress over the term and to compare it to assessment results. The system also keeps of any of the resource links that student has clicked on.

Do Cochrane summaries help student midwives understand the findings of Cochrane systematic reviews: the BRIEF randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Abstracts and plain language summaries (PLS) are often the first, and sometimes the only, point of contact between readers and systematic reviews. It is important to identify how these summaries are used and to know the impact of different elements, including the authors' conclusions. The trial aims to assess whether (a) the abstract or the PLS of a Cochrane Review is a better aid for midwifery students in assessing the evidence, (b) inclusion of authors' conclusions helps them and (c) there is an interaction between the type of summary and the presence or absence of the conclusions.

METHODS: Eight hundred thirteen midwifery students from nine universities in the UK and Ireland were recruited to this 2 × 2 factorial trial (abstract versus PLS, conclusions versus no conclusions). They were randomly allocated to one of four groups and asked to recall knowledge after reading one of four summary formats of two Cochrane Reviews, one with clear findings and one with uncertain findings. The primary outcome was the proportion of students who identified the appropriate statement to describe the main findings of the two reviews as assessed by an expert panel.

RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in correct response between the abstract and PLS groups in the clear finding example (abstract, 59.6 %; PLS, 64.2 %; risk difference 4.6 %; CI -0.2 to 11.3) or the uncertain finding example (42.7 %, 39.3 %, -3.4 %, -10.1 to 3.4). There was no significant difference between the conclusion and no conclusion groups in the example with clear findings (conclusions, 63.3 %; no conclusions, 60.5 %; 2.8 %; -3.9 to 9.5), but there was a significant difference in the example with uncertain findings (44.7 %; 37.3 %; 7.3 %; 0.6 to 14.1, p = 0.03). PLS without conclusions in the uncertain finding review had the lowest proportion of correct responses (32.5 %). Prior knowledge and belief predicted student response to the clear finding review, while years of midwifery education predicted response to the uncertain finding review.

CONCLUSIONS: Abstracts with and without conclusions generated similar student responses. PLS with conclusions gave similar results to abstracts with and without conclusions. Removing the conclusions from a PLS with uncertain findings led to more problems with interpretation.