Research paper and presentation of “Assessing the Clinical Competencies: Taking on the Attitudes”
 

REFLECTIVE STATEMENT
Describe: This research paper and presentation demonstrates the research and development of assessment methods for the purpose of assessing the attitude component of clinical competencies of students in a chiropractic college. The research was conducted in response to the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) standards regarding assessing attitudes. This research touches on not just one, but many of the standards found in theCCE standards document.

The paper was presented in poster sessions at the Association of Chiropractic Colleges and Research Agenda Conference in March 2004 in Las Vegas, NV by colleague Leslie M. Wise, D.C., and me. During the poster presentations, mini-CDs containing aflash presentation of the abstract were handed out. The CD also contained the various forms and documents used in the research so that interested parties could use, share and adapt them for use at their institutions. Rather than hand out a paper-based abstract, I chose to create the flash abstract with accompanying documents and burn it onto CDs because I believe the nature of the subject warranted easy access to the forms and I wanted to hand out a tangible way for those who might be interested to access the material.

The research findings and subsequent online forms were used heavily in the clinic setting at Sherman College of Straight Chiropractic. Several colleagues drafted the specific assessment topics and questions and I was charged with creating the online assessment forms to be used in instructional settings. Initially, the forms were used by the Health Center instructors and mounted on their website. Later, the forms were duplicated and mounted on an assessment web site for general faculty usage. Due to our new online course management system, faculty now have the ability to have each self-assessment form on their individual course sites, so the two previous web sites mentioned are now defunct.

The self-assessments are most commonly used by health center faculty for the upper level students who are interns in the campus health center clinic. In several clinic courses, taking the assessments is now a requirement, not an option. Since the self-assessments have been mounted and used, more faculty in the didactic setting are adapting and using them as a tool for assessing specific competency requirements in their courses.

Analyze: This research paper flash presentation demonstrates how I designed the multimedia version of the abstract, as well as the online self-assessment forms. It illustrates my framework of developing and implementing appropriate technology by showing how I designed media and online assessment tools for a learning environment. Furthermore, it demonstrates compliance with the Council on Chiropractic Education’s standards for assessing student attitudes by providing required assessment where previously there was none.

Appraise: The online self-assessment forms were initially effective in that they served the purpose of providing an easily accessible way for students to self evaluate. Furthermore, they provided the instructor with an electronic copy for documentation purposes. Health center faculty indicated that their clinic students responded favorably to the online assessment forms and noted a high rate of completion of required assessments.

As noted in the body of the paper, there are inherent weaknesses in the process of evaluating the attitudes of others. There is a built-in element of subjectivity in any observation of attitudes. A second best method of attitudinal assessment involves self evaluation, and these tools provide active engagement of students and allow for self reflection on their parts.

I can measure my success by the great number of people who were interested in the flash presentation of the abstract on mini-CD at the poster presentation sessions. I learned though my colleague, who received many emails in response to the mini-CD, that the abstract presentation and forms contained therein were useful to many faculty at other chiropractic colleges who were also struggling with assessing student clinical attitudes. I believe the greatest value of presenting the abstract on CDs was that it allowed for the inclusion of forms and other documentation in a very concise and portable format.

Transform: The online self-assessment forms have taken several different metamorphoses since their debut. This is largely due to the changing landscape of Sherman College’s advancements in instructional tools as well as faculty usage of the forms.

Initially, the forms were located on one web site and used by health center faculty only, so all results were funneled to health center faculty. When other instructors in the didactic courses expressed interest in the forms, I replicated them on a site specifically for general faculty usage. However, the forms were not easily adaptable for specific faculty requirements.

One work-around that I suggested, which was meant to be a short-term solution until our content management system was rolled out, was for faculty that wanted to personalize the forms to do so in a word document, email it to their students in a given course, let the students complete it, and return it to the instructor via email.

Part of my job as instructional designer was to lobby for our content management system (provide link to Edufolio artifact), knowing that this would provide a workable solution to offering the convenience of online, personalized, self-assessments for those instructors who wished to use that tool. Edufolio, today, provides the vehicle for use of these assessment tools.

In retrospect, I was under-prepared for the number of faculty that wanted to use the online forms immediately. In doing something of this nature again, I would fully assess the situation and potential users before launching an online version of something that would require multiple formats.