1. State discipline mission

2. Please use this space to reflect on ways that your discipline has assessed student learning during the last year. Be as specific as possible as to your efforts to assure that you are satisfying your mission within the college. You might include: decisions to make changes to common course outlines, discussions held to reach common understanding of desired outcomes in multi-section courses, data gathering (concerning perhaps tracking of students through a sequence of courses), time devoted to learning about assessment and sharing assessment practices. We need evidence to indicate that time has been spent by your discipline trying to understand and articulate the goals we have for student learning, measure the achievement of the goals and/or devise improvements based on what has been learned. You may attach additional pages as needed.

The nursing department has made efforts to assess student learning during the last year in the following ways:

• Nursing courses are team-taught. Each team of faculty meet weekly to discuss course issues. Typical items for discussion include consistent grading of course assignments; point values assessed and deducted during lab tests; assessment of the learning activities conducted in each lab; review of theory and lab test items that have poor or negative discrimination or that large numbers of students answered incorrectly; and review and comparison of scores in clinical rotations. Documentation of these discussions can be found in the team meeting minutes.
• There seemed to be distinct differences among the mean scores of the second year students in the content specific rotations. Data was collected to verify this trend and to determine the degree of differences. This formed the basis of a discussion regarding what would be reasonable means for the rotation scores.
• Monthly, faculty received updates from our representative to the SOAC committee regarding the college wide issues related to assessment. Documentation of these reports can be found in the nursing faculty meeting minutes.
• Attrition of students was tracked throughout the program. Reasons for withdrawal from nursing courses were tracked. Trends were discussed in faculty meetings. All faculty receive the quarterly reports from the Minnesota Board of Nursing on the first time pass rates of graduates from the program. This data was considered during these discussions. An example of how this data was used is the recent change in the passing grade for the nursing courses. Recent trends have shown a decrease in the percent of students passing the NCLEX-RN exam and an increase in the number of students who received a "D" in a nursing course. The grading policy was changed. This year’s NCLEX-RN results will be compared to past years to see if the change in the grading policy reflected an increase in the first time pass rates.
• In January 2003, a new nursing lab opened that was equipped with state or the art technology to enhance the learning environment. Faculty are learning all the capabilities of the equipment but have already noticed that students are more comfortable in the environment and are more engaged in the learning activities. Lab usage by students was tracked this year for comparison with past years. More formal assessment will be considered as faculty develops more confidence with the technology.
• As part of the National League for Nursing accreditation process, assessment criteria for critical elements of nursing programs must be identified and assessed. At the conclusion of each semester, the nursing teams meet to revise and collect this data. The results can be found on the nursing share drive. It was recognized that the Nursing 1130 – Transition Course did not have these elements developed. The course is conducted each summer and the criteria and date will be collected this year for that course.
• In response to market changes and student demand, the nursing department began offering the state approved Nursing Assistant Program in Fall 2002. We are in the process of collecting information about the success of these students on the NA-R registry exam. Information is incomplete at this time. Many students have not yet taken the exam and the testing reports should be complete on all students by the end of the summer. We are collecting information about the number of students who completed the program and were successful on the NA-R exam, as well as the details regarding which sections of the exam our students failed. While the program curriculum is regulated by the state, different teaching strategies, practice and testing strategies might be altered to increase success in the areas of the exam that students from our program are failing.

3. Please fill in at least three goals for student learning (Educational Outcomes) for the year that your discipline has assessed or is assessing, together with how the goal was assessed (Assessment Criteria), Results, and appropriate Analysis/Actions for each. You may want to refer to the list of definitions and examples provided. You may make extra copies of pg3 as needed.

4. What action that your department is planning/ recommending based on your assessment results (#3) do you expect to most improve student learning in your program?

5. As a result of assessment completed by those directly providing instruction and services, actions requiring budget support will be identified. Your department and division will have to establish budget priorities for the coming year. Will the actions you recommend based on your assessment require new or reallocated funding eg) staffing, professional development, equipment etc.? If so, explain.

6. What institutional data (transfer, satisfaction, employment, graduate, placement) does your program need to assist it to assess its success.

7. What, if any, concerns/insights in relation to student learning did you identify from your assessment activities?