Using a mixed methods approach, the purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions and patterns of nursing student's changing answers on multiple choice exams. The sample of 86 students enrolled in an undergraduate nursing program were surveyed after their first exam of the semester. Exam response forms were examined for erasure marks to determine the answer changes on the exam grade; additionally, the relationship between self-reported school performance and frequency of changing answers, and self-reported anxiety and frequency of changing answers was examined. A qualitative exploration of two open-ended items included examining student perceptions about changing answers on unit exams. Five themes emerged from the qualitative exploration of how students felt about changing test answers: Educated gamble, confidence, anxiety learned, gut instinct and ambivalence. Three themes emerged from the analysis of the reasons students changed answers: Uncertainty, light bulb effect, and testing errors. The study's quantitative results indicated that although the student indicated anxiety regarding changing answers, a majority did so anyway. Moreover contrary to students' negative feelings regarding answer changing, most answer changing resulted in a modest improvement in their grade.
First-time NCLEX-RN pass rates are an important indicator of nursing school success and quality. Nursing schools use different methods to anticipate NCLEX outcomes and help prevent student failure and possible threat to accreditation. This study evaluated the impact of a shift in NCLEX preparation policy at a BSN program in the southeast United States. The policy shifted from the use of predictor score thresholds to determine graduation eligibility to a more proactive remediation strategy involving adaptive quizzing. A descriptive correlational design evaluated the impact of an adaptive quizzing system designed to give students ongoing active practice and feedback and explored the relationship between predictor examinations and NCLEX success. Data from student usage of the system as well as scores on predictor tests were collected for three student cohorts. Results revealed a positive correlation between adaptive quizzing system usage and content mastery. Two of the 69 students in the sample did not pass the NCLEX. With so few students failing the NCLEX, predictability of any course variables could not be determined. The power of predictor examinations to predict NCLEX failure could also not be supported. The most consistent factor among students, however, was their content mastery level within the adaptive quizzing system. Implications of these findings are discussed.
The purpose of this research was to study the way faculty establish course social presence in an online course. The community of inquiry model by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer distinguished the area of social presence as an important component of online learning, and this study sought to understand how faculty perceive and create social presence in their online classroom. By employing a grounded theory approach, a substantive theory was developed to explain the way in which faculty create and maintain an online course climate. The sample consisted of 10 nursing faculty teaching various master's in nursing courses. Through a rigorous qualitative process using nursing faculty interviews and online course analysis, humanization was found to be the core category in setting online course climate. Faculty's efforts to humanize the climate lead each member of the community to view the other members as real, thereby enabling the establishment of online social presence.
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