CHAPTER 14. Evaluating the Learning Experience
Chapter Aims
The purpose of this chapter is to explore strategies for evaluating the quality of the learning experience for students and your success as a mentor. After reading this chapter you will be able to:
• Explain why evaluation is important.
• Identify strategies for evaluating the student experience in practice.
• Identify your own strengths and weaknesses as a mentor.
Why evaluation is important
Just as it is important to evaluate the care you deliver to patients and clients it is also important to evaluate the quality of a student’s learning experience with you, not only to determine whether they had an effective learning experience themselves but also whether you were effective in your role as a mentor. You might question whether you can have one without the other, but feedback from students suggests that they can achieve their learning objectives despite having a mentor who has been unsupportive or ineffective. However, where students have a good mentor (and we’ll discuss what makes a good mentor later) there is no question that their learning will be enhanced. Evaluation therefore will enable you to improve your mentorship skills and so the learning experience for future students.
When to evaluate
Evaluation is often seen as something that takes place at the end of a programme or in this case a placement. However, evaluation should be ongoing, you certainly wouldn’t wait until the end of a patient’s stay to evaluate whether your care had been effective, nor should you with a student!
Just as you give feedback at regular intervals to your student it is also helpful to get feedback from them on the support you and other staff are providing them and whether their objectives and learning needs are being met. This gives the student an opportunity to raise any concerns which can be managed rather than waiting until the end when it is too late. Sometimes you may not be able to change what the student is unhappy about but the fact that you have asked and listened will go a long way with the student and it will have identified something that the placement can work on for the future.
What to evaluate
Before deciding how you wish to evaluate the student experience you need to decide exactly what it is you wish to evaluate. Are you looking at the overall experience or do you want to focus on something specific? For example, you may have introduced something new such as an orientation booklet for students and want to focus on that or you may have introduced new learning activities for students and want to know if they were valued by the students. Potential areas for evaluation are:
• the student’s experience of the placement
• the quality of the placement as a learning environment
• your own experience of mentoring the student
• your role as a mentor.
Each of these areas will overlap to a certain extent. A student’s experience of their placement will be heavily influenced by the quality of the mentorship they receive. Equally, a placement that is a poor environment for learning will impact on your ability to mentor effectively and the quality of a student’s learning experience.
The student’s experience of the placement
Students are required by the university to evaluate their experience in practice and this contributes to the university quality assurance processes. Student evaluation is undertaken by the university and should be fed back to the placement providers at regular intervals. There is no standard evaluation tool, so each university will have a different approach to this and the type of questions they ask. If you have never seen the evaluations of your area by students you should first check with your manager whether they have received them and failing that contact the link lecturer attached to your area who should be able to provide you with a copy or show you how to access them if available on-line. The areas that the questions are likely to cover are:
• preparation and orientation to the placement
• mentor support
• learning opportunities and experience
• assessment process
• learning climate (what the area is like overall for learning).
An example of the type of questions that may be asked by a university regarding a student’s experience of their placement can be found in Table 14.1.
| Based on the Student Evaluation form at Thames Valley University. | ||||
| Strongly agree | Agree | Disagree | Strongly disagree | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Preparation and orientation I was orientated to the placement including, fire regulations, health & safety issues, resuscitation equipment policy & routines on my first day | ||||
| Preparation and orientation The practice area was expecting me | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support I was allocated a mentor at the start of my placement | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support My mentor welcomed me, was friendly and approachable and treated me as an individual | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support My mentor was keen to support and facilitate my learning | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support My mentor was knowledgeable about my course and the assessment scheme | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support I worked with my mentor a minimum of 40% of the time | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support Planned absence of my mentor was covered with a co-mentor | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support My mentor provided a menu of learning opportunities and helped me to organize the learning experiences | ||||
| Mentor and teacher support I was made aware of the contact person from my university and how to contact them | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment I was guided in clarifying the learning objective for the placement | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment I had opportunities to observe skilled practitioners delivering care | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment I had opportunities to participate in delivery of care under guidance and supervision | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment I received regular feedback on my performance | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment The learning opportunities were structured and coordinated to help me develop competencies | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment I had opportunities to discuss and reflect on issues relating to practice and theory | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment I had opportunities to attend teaching sessions where available, undertake visits and meet other practitioners relevant to the placement area | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment Practice assessment criteria were explained to me | ||||
| Learning in practice assessment The assessment process and completion of documentation was appropriate and timely | ||||
| Learning climate Learning opportunities available were relevant to my learning outcomes | ||||
| Learning climate The staff attached great importance to the learning needs of students | ||||
| Learning climate All staff including students feel part of the health care team | ||||
| Learning climate There was a range of learning resources available in this placement | ||||
| Learning climate I was able and encouraged to ask questions | ||||
| Learning climate The provision of care reflects respect for privacy, dignity, cultural beliefs and evidence-based practice | ||||
| Learning climate The patient care needs really are given first priority | ||||
| Learning climate This was a good unit for my learning | ||||
The quality of the placement as a learning environment
Educational audits
Universities are required by the NMC to undertake an educational audit of all areas that they use for student placements. The rationale for this is to ensure that the placement has sufficient resources to support the number of students who will be placed there at any one time and that it can provide the appropriate learning opportunities to enable the students to meet specified learning outcomes (i.e. your placement may be appropriate for students at any point on a programme or only appropriate for a specific part of a programme). However, an audit also enables the university and practice to identify specific areas in a placement that the staff there may need help and support to maintain, improve or develop to ensure the quality of the learning environment for students as well as for identifying areas of good practice that can be disseminated to other placement areas.
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