An Innovative Way to Assess Learning Integration: Utilizing Poster Presentation as an Alternative to Oral Exam

Our MSN degree distance-learning Nurse Practitioner (NP) program has a long tradition of having students take an oral examination in their final semester. The oral exam meets the requirements of this university for completion of a graduate degree. However as student numbers increased, faculty observed that oral exams had become less meaningful due to wide process variations. Simultaneously, faculty recognized that NP students were not provided with learning experiences to develop skills for poster presentation.  We felt that NP students who graduated from our program should be prepared to present research findings and new clinical information at future professional meetings and we expected that many would enter post-master’s DNP programs. As a result, we introduced an innovative change in the traditional oral exam format to meet the following objectives:

 

• NP students will begin to develop skills in planning, preparation, and presentation of a poster based on a complex case study.
• NP students will visually illustrate a case where integration and synthesis of learning occurred.
• Graduate faculty will have a means to thoroughly assess that graduating NP students have mastered MSN program objectives.

Students were provided with content guidelines for their posters, a template, and online resources. They were given the opportunity to discuss any previous poster preparation or presentation experience, current plans, questions, and challenges in an online discussion with classmates and faculty. Links to several articles on successful poster preparation published in the nursing literature were provided.

Students signed up for a poster presentation/oral examination time through a faculty administrated “Doodle.”  They were directed not to upload and print the actual poster but to only send in the PowerPoint slide by email attachment 3 days in advance.  At the appointed time, two faculty members contacted the student by phone. Following a brief student case presentation, faculty asked questions to elicit theoretical foundations of practice, research principles, evidence-based guidelines and professional concepts related to the case.

This activity provided a more meaningful yet efficient assessment process. Additionally, NP students obtained feedback on their posters from seasoned faculty. Student and faculty evaluation of this innovation will be presented.