Evidence-Based Strategies and Best Practices NURS FPX 6105 Assessment 4 Assessment Strategies and Complete Course Plan

In the clinical setting, learner motivation can best occur when there is a high quality of clinical education and the establishment of working academic and clinical relationships among the educators and the learners. According to Saeedi and Parvizy (2019), the three best practices and strategies for enhancing learner motivation through high-quality clinical education are (a) conduction of workshops, (b) trainer uniformity, and (c) having a checklist of desired solutions. The conduction of workshops for the learners about the subject of study – in this case, work-life balance or the care for specific patient populations without getting emotionally drained – helps in equipping them with the practical knowledge and skills of how to apply the theoretical principles to practice. Saeedi and Parvizy (2019) also noted that learners are more engaged and motivated to gain new knowledge and skills when the same trainer or educator takes them through both theoretical and practical sessions. The strategy makes it easy for the learners to share ideas and ask questions to the educator, inspiring their participation in the learning process. The use of checklists, as Saeedi and Parvizy (2019) reported, helps the educator identify the areas of weakness in the learning process from the students’ perspective and develop strategies for improving the quality of the training. The process helps in keeping students engaged, improving the course of learning, and ensuring the education services meet students’ needs.

The best practices for improving the relationships among the educators and learners include conducting coordination meetings and conducting workshops on relationships. The coordination meetings are conducted with the purpose of getting the learners and the educator to be comfortable with one another, creating an academic relationship with desirable results (Saeedi & Parvizy, 2019). The conduction of workshops on relationships will be helpful in equipping the learners with the skills to establish working relationships with patients (Saeedi & Parvizy, 2019). The use of the strategy will be helpful in motivating learners who desire to understand their patients better and establish trusting relationships with patients of diverse backgrounds, ages, and preferences. The perspective that Nettasinghe and Samarasinghe (2018) exemplified, on the other hand, is to implement social activities and assign the learners to supportive supervisors. The perspective speaks of the necessity of involving supervisors in the nursing education processes.

Assessment Strategies

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning process since it plays a role in gauging the knowledge that the learners have acquired and identifying areas where learning can be improved. For the delivery of the work-life balance course, the assessment technique has to be oriented towards the improvement of the learning outcomes since the skill being imparted will be generalizable to the learners’ aspects of life. Consequently, the assessment style adopted needs to inspire learners to acquire more information and to make it more practical in their work and personal lives. This section highlights the assessment types adopted, how the outcomes will be evaluated, and the relevance of assessment types to cultural competence. 

Assessment Types

The formative assessment strategy will be used in assessing learners’ progress through the course. According to Simpson-Beck (2011), formative assessment is student-oriented and reflective in nature, allowing both the educator and the learner to correct knowledge or information acquired and taught, clarify points of ambiguity, and implement necessary adjustments. Formative assessment is preferable because it prepares students to be independent lifelong learners who take full responsibility for their learning (Simpson-Beck, 2011). The formative assessment styles that will be used include student self-assessment, self-test quizzes through an online discussion board, and a mid-course exam (MacKenzie, 2019). The performance of self-assessment will be used to give the learners a chance to gauge the lessons learned and their applicability to their professional and personal lives, revealing areas of ambiguity that the educator should clarify. The mid-course exam and self-test quizzes with no constraints on the learners will be useful in identifying areas where the learners need to adjust their application of the work-life balance knowledge in practice. Furthermore, the self-test quizzes help learners to rate their own confidence in their knowledge, especially when administered through discussion board posts. As MacKenzie (2019) noted, students respond more positively to the unconstrained formative assessments rather than the summative styles of weekly quizzes, report writing, an