Taking a Selfie - First year Nursing students and the efficacy of online literacy self-assessment

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1 Taking a Selfie - First year Nursing students and the efficacy of online literacy self-assessment

Nuts’n’Bolts session

Taking a Selfie - First year Nursing students and the efficacy of online

literacy self-assessment

Rea Turner, Kathryn Derrington Academic Skills Advisers

Library, Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Margaret Wheeler,

Dr Naomi Malouf, Leanne Jack

Lecturers, School of Nursing, Faculty of Health (QUT)

Abstract

This nuts‘n’bolts session outlines the QUT Faculty of Health/School of Nursing’s initiative to address a recognised need for pre-emptive literacy support for at-risk students. Led by the newly formed Literacy Working Party (LWP), this initiative produced an online information literacy self-assessment tool to enable students to establish current and future skill levels and to take a proactive approach to their learning. The LWP aspired to empower confidence and independence by providing timely, targeted support for students with identified learning difficulties, information literacy and numeracy gaps, and for students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. This session outlines the definition of literacy adopted by the LWP, the goals and collaborative processes undertaken, key recommendations made and the online literacy self-assessment tool. In small group discussion, participants will explore the efficacy of self-assessment tools generally, how this specific tool improves student experiences, and its potential application in their institutions.

LWP definition of literacy

Literacy is viewed as a flexible group of skills and strategies that are closely linked to context and purpose. According to a 1991 definition by the Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET), literacy can be defined as:

… the ability to read and use written information and to write appropriately, in a range of contexts. It is used to develop knowledge and understanding, to achieve personal growth and to function effectively in our society. Literacy involves the integration of speaking, listening and critical thinking with reading and writing. Effective literacy is intrinsically purposeful, flexible and dynamic and continues to develop throughout an individual’s lifetime (Department of Employment, 1991, p. 9).

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More current views of literacy have moved beyond simple concepts of textual literacy to encompass notions of active citizenship ("FaceIt", 2014), new communications practices and information technologies (European Commission, 2014), critical thinking (Temple, 2001; Wilhelm, 2007) and linguistic and cultural diversity (Singleton, 2009). As a way of emphasising the diversity of ways that non-verbal, spoken, print, visual and multimodal communication practices are used, the plural terms such as ‘literate practices’ and ‘multiliteracies’ (Cummins, 2004) are increasingly being seen in the literature to describe literacy in its many forms.

Goals and collaborative process

Following the creation of the LWP, team members sought to identify students who struggled to meet the literacy needs of tertiary study or who were “at risk” of being challenged by the rigors of the Nursing academic programme. This included domestic, international students, as well as those with learning disabilities. It was anticipated that an integrated programme of literacy would be developed throughout the undergraduate Bachelor of Nursing (BN) degree to support student nurses in “becoming” (Holland, 1999) registered nurses and more widely as literate graduates of QUT.

Further aspirations of the LWP included providing ongoing and specific support for international students, improving academic writing (including writing and referencing) of students across the Nursing cohort, empowering students to be more confident and independent in academic literacies, embedding academic literacy skills in undergraduate units rather than having them as an adjunct skills that may or may not be integrated into learning of specific units, seeking to improve entry requirements and support for academic skills in the first year of Nursing, and encouraging mathematics literacies as a prerequisite for the programme.

The stated goal of the LWP is to develop an action plan for achieving increased awareness by staff and students of literacy requirements and increased participation in literacy support strategies to support the achievement of improved literacy. This focus on increasing awareness of literacy requirements is reflective of Kift’s (2008) notion of First Year Experience (FYE) being “everybody’s business”, as the Faculty of Health recognised that to support the literacy needs of their students adequately, it needed to be a shared responsibility.

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The LWP consists of Nursing School lecturers, two officers from Equity and Disability, an Academic Language and Learning Educator and an Academic Skills Adviser. The working party met over a four month period in 2013 and presented a number of recommendations to the Learning and Teaching Committee for implementation in Semester 1, 2014.

Key recommendations of the LWP

The recommendations included mandatory completion of the QUT ‘Study Smart’ online tutorial for commencing students, embedding literacy teaching and resources into core units, and the development of a resource repository for staff, eg: case examples and assessment rubrics.

The online information literacy self- assessment tool

The key recommendation of the LWP forms the focus of this nuts‘n’bolts session - that is: embedding an online information literacy ‘self-assessment’ tool testing information, academic and numeracy literacy skills through the QUT Blackboard. This tool, embedded on Blackboard for one large prerequisite undergraduate unit and one post-graduate unit, is designed for students to consider their academic skills, abilities and then a category that best represents their current level and understanding in areas relevant to nursing. Each question links to online academic skills resources, facilitating instantaneous access to study support for students. It also includes questions concerning language and disability with links to further assistance. The expected impact of this initiative is:

• to raise students’ awareness of the skills required to undertake and complete a nursing program and be successful in the work place;

• to showcase the support available and link to online resources and information; and • to encourage students to reflect and take responsibility for their immediate and

ongoing learning.

At this implementation stage in the process, the LWP are refining the approach and design of the methodologies by which the evidence and impact will be measured.

Conclusion

The QUT School of Nursing sought to raise their first year students’ awareness of their literacy knowledge and skills necessary to complete their degree, develop these skills, and link them to appropriate learning and study support within the University. Through a

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collaborative process, faculty and central support staff designed and developed a tool to be trialled in Semester 1 2014. In keeping with the LWP’s aspirations to improve students’ independence through increased literacy support, the anticipated impact will be monitored using a range of evaluative strategies, including an accompanying on-line survey that students complete at the end of using the self-assessment tool. This survey feedback will be received by the School of Nursing to further improve the students’ experience and effectiveness of the tool. The overall expected outcomes include improved student confidence, help-seeking behaviours and increased uptake of support services.

Session Plan

Time Content Details

0-3 mins

Discussion of rationale for establishment of working party. Definition of literacy as agreed upon and adopted by LWP and justification of decision to design online self-assessment tool.

PPt presentation

3-8 mins

Outline of goals and processes of working party. PPt presentation 8-15

mins

Presentation of key Literacy WP recommendations and focussing on online assessment tool - discussion of implementation progress to date.

Examples/demonstration of tool and evidence of implementation success/progress

15-30 mins

Facilitated small group discussion Consider and discuss key questions

Key Questions for Discussion

1) Is self-assessment a valuable/ valid instrument to raise awareness and assess need – would it work at your institution why/ why not?

What/ who are the potential barriers and how could you overcome these?

2) The evaluation of self–assessment is difficult to implement and measure. Suggest ways to measure the efficacy of this tool?

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References

Cummins, J. (2004). Mulitliteracy pedagogy and the role of identity texts. In K. Leithwood, P. McAdie, N. Bascia, & A, Rodrigue, A. (Eds.) Teaching for deep understanding: Towards the Ontario curriculum that we need. Toronto, Canada, Elementary Teacher's Federation of Ontario (ETFO).

Department of Employment, Education and Training. (1991). Australia’s Language and Literacy Policy. Canberra: AGPS.

"FaceIt". (2014). Active Citizenship. Retreived from http://www.faceitproject.org/active_citizenship.htm

Holland, K. (1999). A journey to becoming: The student nurse in transition. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 29(1), 229-236.

Kift, S. (2008). The next, great first year challenge: Sustaining, coordinating and embedding coherent institution–wide approaches to enact the FYE as "everybody’s business".

Paper presented at 11th International Pacific Rim FYHE Conference, An Apple for the Learner: Celebrating the First Year Experience. Retrieved from

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/14401/

European Commission. (2014). Media Literacy: active citizenship in today's information society [Brochure]. Brussels: MEDIA programme. Retrieved from

http://ec.europa.eu/culture/media/media-content/media-literacy/media_literacy_leaflet_en.pdf

Singleton, K. (2009). Understanding cultural and linguistic barriers to health literacy. The Online Journal of Issues in Nursing,14(3), para 3 doi:

10.3912/OJIN.Vol14No03Man04

Temple, C. 2001. Reading and writing or critical thinking in higher education: Strategies for use across the curriculum, New York: Open Society Institute, RWCT Project.

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Wilhelm, J. D. (2007). Engaging readers and writers with inquiry: Promoting deep

understandings in language arts and the content areas with guiding questions. New York, NY: Scholastic.