Collaborative Assessment: Working Together to Build Knowledge and Relationships

by

Jennifer Taylor, PhD, RN, CNE
Elizabeth Stuesse, MSN, RNC-IAP, RNC-OB, RNC-MNN, C-EFM, C-ONQS, CLC, CBC,      CCE, CHBE

Dr. Jennifer Taylor is an Associate Professor of Nursing and BSN Coordinator in the Catherine McAuley School of Nursing at Maryville University in St. Louis, MO. Her research interest is in the scholarship of teaching and learning, with an emphasis on strategies to reduce attrition and increase active student learning engagement.

Elizabeth Stuesse is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Nursing in the Catherine McAuley School of Nursing at Maryville University in St. Louis, MO. Her areas of expertise include obstetrical/maternal-newborn nursing, team-based learning, and the value of nursing certification to improve patient outcomes by elevating clinical practice.

Collaborative assessment, or completing an exam in a small group, is an active learning strategy that connects assessment directly with learning and the reinforcement of student comprehension, application, and synthesis of concepts.  A quality improvement project was launched to assess the effectiveness of collaborative assessment as an active learning strategy to support student achievement of learning outcomes. End of semester surveys were deployed to measure student perceptions of collaborative assessments’ impact on collaboration, communication, learning effectiveness, assessment confidence, and achievement of student learning outcomes.  Survey results indicate positive student perceptions of collaborative assessment and the impact to learning.  This presentation will provide an overview of collaborative assessment as an active learning strategy and share student perceptions of the impact to learning and the reinforcement of student comprehension, application, and synthesis of concepts.