“Davis Edge quizzing in conjunction with the textbook enables students to get deeper into the material. Students perform better on exams when they use Davis Edge.”
Ken Thompson, PharmD, RPh Professor of Nursing Liberty University Lynchburg, Virginia
Dr. Thompson is the Professor of Pharmacology in the School of Nursing at Liberty University, teaching pharmacology to BSN students, advanced pharmacology in the MSN program, advanced pharmacology in the DNP/FNP program, and clinical psychopharmacology in the PMHNP program. The challenge: Finding an effective way to prepare students for exams Dr. Thompson has been teaching at Liberty for nine years. In his Advanced Pharmacology course, he found that students were struggling with the multiple-choice exams that he gave as part of their grade. At the time, students did not have a resource for testing their knowledge of content prior to taking the tests. Dr. Thompson decided to look for a solution that would improve students’ exam scores. The solution: Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Practice Nurse Prescribers text, online case studies, and Davis Edge online quizzing Dr. Thompson discovered a solution with F.A. Davis. “After I adopted the Pharmacotherapeutics textbook, I started to incorporate online Davis Edge quizzes.” Each week, Dr. Thompson assigns a specific module, such as Alcohol and Drug Addiction. Students are given textbook chapters to read along, with the Davis Edge quizzes that align with the content. The quizzes are due at the end of each week and students must get at least an 80% on the quiz. “I want students to use the Davis Edge quiz as a learning exercise, so I allow them to use an open textbook. I feel that drives them to engage in the textbook more fully.” When there are case studies available with Davis Edge, Dr. Thompson has the students write a response to the case studies. “I feel like I’m providing the students with a good mix of textbook reading and application to help them develop critical-thinking skills.” Dr. Thompson appreciates how the content in the book is presented, providing an overview of pharmacologic principles for a specific disease and then covering the application of those principles to clinical practice with a focus on what’s important for Primary Care Nurse Practitioners. “The book is very up to date in terms of guidelines reflecting current medical practice.” The results for students: Exam scores improved “After I started using Davis Edge quizzing, student test scores improved.” Dr. Thompson typically gives back points if there are ‘high miss’ questions on his exams. “Since the students have been using Davis Edge for practice, I haven’t had nearly as many ‘high miss’ questions and I’m giving back many fewer points.” Dr. Thompson says many students will create their own quizzes within Davis Edge for additional practice before taking the exams.
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