Davis Advantage helps Linfield University School of Nursing improve student test scores by 10%
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Davis Advantage helps Linfield University School of Nursing improve student test scores by 10%
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“With Davis Advantage, students are coming to class prepared which increases engagement, discussion, and application of the material.”
Heidi Johnston, RN, MSN, DNP Associate Professor of Nursing Linfield University School of Nursing
Linfield University School of Nursing, in Portland, Oregon, offers a traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) program, as well as two second-degree programs—a 12-month Accelerated BSN program and a 15-month Master’s Entry into Professional Nursing program (MEPN). The traditional BSN program admits 86 students twice a year; the Accelerated BSN admits 56 students one time per year; and the MEPN, which was started in January 2023, can admit 24 students annually. While students in the BSN program are mostly traditional students right out of high school, the Accelerated BSN and MEPN attract non-traditional students who have worked in another career and range in age from their 20s to 50s. All prelicensure programs are on campus with clinical rotations in the Portland metropolitan area. As Associate Professor of Nursing, Heidi Johnston is Director of the Accelerated programs and teaches Fundamentals in all three programs. The Fundamentals course is the first course that students take as part of their nursing program. The challenge: Students were not coming to class prepared Heidi started at Linfield one and a half years ago. “When I joined the faculty, the students were already using the Davis textbook. But what I noticed was that students were not coming into class prepared,” says Heidi. “Our goal in the Fundamentals course is to make it an active learning classroom. And you can’t do that if students haven’t prepared prior to coming in.” She emphasizes that she wanted students to do more than just complete the lecture PowerPoint, she wanted students to be ready to apply their knowledge in the classroom setting. The solution: Davis Advantage for Fundamentals After reviewing the Davis Advantage materials, Heidi decided to adopt it for the Fundamentals course. She requires students to complete the online activities prior to coming to class. That includes the pre-quiz, which is their grade for the class that day. “Because the pre-quiz counts as a grade, the students really have to take their time and get into the textbook material to do well on the quiz,” she says. Heidi also assigns the Personalized Learning Activities which count as a participation grade. “Students don’t have to complete these, but participation in these activities is 10% of their total grade for the course. It’s a significant enough part of their grade that they really need to do them.” The students are required to complete the learning activities prior to class; they do not get points if they are completed after class. “We also start incorporating the Clinical Judgment Activities right away in the first semester. We know with the Next Gen NCELX® that we have to prepare our students to start thinking differently from the very beginning of the nursing program.” Heidi acknowledges that these activities are difficult for new students. “It’s hard to get first semester students to figure out nursing school, understand the material, and realize it’s not just memorizing but applying what they are learning. But the Clinical Judgment Activities really help with that, and the pre-quizzes incorporate all of the different question types that students will encounter on the NGN, so students can start practicing right from the start.”
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“Our goal in the Fundamentals course is to make it an active learning classroom. And you can’t do that if students haven’t prepared prior to coming in.”
The Clinical Judgment Activities aren’t part of their grade during the first semester. “We tell students that these activities are difficult, but that it’s a great way for them to start ‘thinking about how they are thinking,’” says Heidi. The result: Continued high NCLEX ® pass rates plus a better experience for faculty and students After the first semester using Davis Advantage, Heidi says they saw an increase in test scores. “At that point, we did a deeper analysis and discovered that average scores increased by 10% after we started requiring the Davis Advantage activities,” she says. Heidi shares this statistic with her students. “Some of them complain that it’s a lot of prework, but we tell them how this will improve their test scores and prepare them for the different question types they will see on the NCLEX.” Some students develop their own quizzes for additional studying. “While not all students utilize this, a handful actually do and they benefit from the extra practice,” says Heidi. “In fact, students who create their own quizzing are scoring higher on exams than students who don’t do this.” Conversely, Heidi notes that when students are struggling on exams, it’s generally because they have not completed the learning activities and other prep work. Heidi has also noticed an increase in participation, discussion, and application of the material when students come to class. “We don’t have to go through the lecture again because students come to class with knowledge of the material. This makes a huge difference in truly preparing them for clinical practice.” During class, they focus on case studies, group activities, and gaming, which Heidi says makes the students so much more engaged. “Sometimes when we’re covering complex topics, we have to incorporate some lectures in class. And I can see the students zoning out after just a few minutes. Requiring them to be active in the classroom makes them pay attention and increases learning.” The F.A. Davis experience: Heidi appreciates that the Davis Advantage platform is easy to implement and use. “We can easily go in and copy it for each semester, so that’s really useful for us. It’s user friendly for the faculty and the students.” She also utilizes the numerous instructor resources including the test bank, the ideas for classroom activities, and the ebook which she describes as “super helpful.” Heidi also praises the analytics that allow her to see how students are doing in the class. “We can download a spreadsheet that shows individual student participation and quiz scores, and also see strengths and weaknesses as an entire cohort,” she says. “This helps us determine if there are areas where we may need to spend additional time.” Working with F.A. Davis has been a positive experience for Heidi. “The response time is fast, which I really appreciate. Working with them has been great.”
F.A. Davis products in use by the Linfield University Fundamentals program for BSN, Accelerated, and MEPN students: § Davis Advantage for Wilkinson’s Fundamentals of Nursing, by Leslie S. Treas, Karen L. Barnett, and Mable H. Smith § Davis’s Nursing Skills Videos by Judith M. Wilkinson and Leslie S. Treas § Davis’s Drug Guide for Nurses, by April Hazard Vallerand and Cynthia A. Sanoski About Linfield University School of Nursing: Linfield is an independent, nonprofit university, nationally recognized for its strong teaching faculty, outstanding science programs, collaborative learning environment, and distinctive international emphasis. On July 1, 2020, Linfield officially became Linfield University with a College of Arts & Sciences and School of Business, both on the McMinnville campus and the School of Nursing on Portland’s campus. Building on a legacy from 30 years ago, Linfield is expanding its graduate offerings in nursing, business, education, and sports science. About F.A. Davis: F. A. Davis is an independent, family-owned publisher of educational solutions for the Nursing and Health Science professions. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the city of its founding in 1879, the company is dedicated to developing teaching and learning products that meet the needs of nursing and health science students, educators, and practitioners. The breadth and depth of our digital, print, and online resources across disciplines and specialties reflect our commitment to listening to our customers and to developing innovative products empowered by the technology that is changing how students are learning, instructors are teaching, and professionals are practicing. F.A. Davis Named Top Workplace 2021, 2022 & 2023: For the third year, F.A. Davis has been recognized as one of the Top Workplaces in the greater Philadelphia area by The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Delaware Valley’s most prominent newspaper and news website. These awards celebrate the organizations that prioritize a people-centered culture and give employees a voice that enables them to meet today’s ever-evolving technological, social, and economic challenges. In 2023, F.A. Davis was one of the 52 mid-size companies with 150-499 employees selected in the region.
For more information about Davis Advantage, visit FADavis.com/DavisAdvantage or contact us at Hello@FADavis.com
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