experiences? The question about tests and testing was to discover what respondents experienced and perceived of student behaviors in the testing process. The question generated answers and narratives from the respondents that were part of a vigorous discussion by the respondents. The respondents were very willing to discuss their perceptions and in some cases, speculate as to the reason that the attitude and behavior of the students was so aggressive at times. There were two clear areas for this question, teaching the test and test review. Teaching the test is a perception that many of the respondents share about the students. Test passage was a large topic and the respondents were very frustrated at the students need for test passage, but lack of understanding
the eventual application of that information: 02:“You know, but before that they want me to just give it to them, gift wrapped, this is what
you have to do to make your A to graduate, become a nurse and be successful… They think I am giving them their grade and they are not responsible for it.” 03: “It is, it is all about the score for some of them, not all of them. But there some, absolutely, it is all about the score, and it’s not even a passing score, getting an A versus a B, or getting a
higher A, and I don’t get that. 04: “They all want you to teach to the test, but once again, where we are drifting away from in
the conceptual is, you all it is on you, here is the material you read it, you absorb it in class, we are experts, you ask us what you don’t understand.” 05: Yes, they do, they want you to teach to the test. But, how will I put that, I am one of those that I realize that is it not fair to test students on something that you did not cover in class. So I don’t put those things on the test, I don’t teach to the test.
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06: “That’s it-that’s it, that the whole problem. They’re not, and a lot of students make the comment I don’t need to come to lecture, well, I don’t mind I will come to lecture, but tell me what it is you are going to tell me, I want go. Tell me what is on the test I want to go….we are testing testing, testing, it is the hardest thing I do, because they always want to try pick me on
tests, and test questions.” 07: “Yes, they wanted me to teach the test… And so for some, it is just like, okay all I need,
seventy, seventy, seventy or whatever the cutoff point is, and if they are young it is, what can little I do to get by and still be a nurse?” 09: “They would love it if you teach the test, but that is one aspect that is not going to happen. “Of course! Of course, there are ones that try to get their subtle hints in there, you know, they’ll say is this going to be on the test. I can’t tell you what is going to be on the test’”
Another area of the test and testing discussion that provided highly animated responses were the respondent perceptions of student interaction during test review. Some instructors shared their perceptions of aggressive students and the adversarial positions of some of the students. The challenge to authority and demanding attitudes were described by multiple
respondents and was viewed as an unexpected behavior from the students: 01: ‘The class tried to argue their points, but they really didn’t have the knowledge to make an
argument. They thought that information at hand had been sufficient to make an argument and they went off in completely different directions.” 02: “I think they were so concerned with trying to figure out why they put the wrong answer, it ended up being almost like a debate session and they wanted to show their side of it. Why they were right, you know there is more than one right answer. They had all ethical these things, good grief, everything has so many sides.
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02: “Why they liked their answer better than my answer, well, I’m sorry, that is just the way it is.” 07:“During that test review it is almost like they back you into a corner, and I am that type of person that if you back me into a corner I am going to come out fighting. I had to, you know”
The difficulty of some colleges to have a test review that was effective and without student conflict moved test review into formats that were different and had less opportunity for debate for confrontations with students. The responses of some the respondents on this
particular subject signal indications of heated discussions in the classrooms with authority issues
apparent in some situations: 01: “I make the students write the question they missed with their rationale for their answer. We
do not talk about the tests in class, for argument” 02: “When we did it immediately after, it turned into, this is why it is the right answer.” 04: “Yes we have test review, because when we study tests, how will I put it, yes and no, sort of. Yes, I have studied tests, and reviewed the tests with the students, it’s like, and oh you are not going to stay there and I know some students will go for it.” 09: “We have a policy that there will be no angry interactions, no negative interactions, all will remain on the professional level. So, whenever they have questions they will raise their hands, they ask their question and we will have a discussion”
Testing and test reviews comprised a significant part of the instructor’s lived experiences, and were referred to frequently through the course of the interview process. The students were discussed in terms of wanting faculty to “teach to the test” One instructor was clear that their perception of the younger students was that the instructors should provide the information for the test, and then test on it.
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The contextual relationships or critical thinking that was needed to effective use the information was not a particularly important concept until the students arrived in the clinical setting and realized merely possessing the information and passing an examination did not equate to professional skill use and ability. The connecting the classroom knowledge through contextual transformation of information though out the didactic component of training becomes the student’s grounding as a nurse.
The other narrative that was recurring through this question was the aggressive students in test reviews. Heated confrontations and argumentative students were recurring issues. Respondents reported feeling threatened and back into a corner by confrontational classroom situations. One respondent noted that they had dispensed with in class test review completely. Students that had questions or issues with examination questions had to submit their concerns in writing. One respondent said it succinctly, 01: “They don’t know that they don’t know.”
Question 17: Can you tell me about the students that attend community college; are they