PR responds to reports of Nursing Testing woes

It has been nearly a month since the Lens has first reported on the reports that there was troubles in the testing procedures within the Nursing department. At the time the article was printed, 16 November, the Lens had not yet heard from the members of the Nursing faculty that were queried regarding the reports.

Dr Maureen McGarry, the Dean of Health and Rehab Sciences, and the Nursing Chairs, Dr Hilary Jansson and Prof Margaret Clifton were provided with a summary of the reports the Lens had received and asked for comment. To be fair, there was a short amount of time between that email and the printing of the article, so they were not able to respond in time for print.

The Lens received on 9 December, through Richard Coren, Director of Marketing and Communications, a response to the questions.  Also since obtained by the Lens is a copy of the 20 October 2011 Nursing Program Faculty Meeting, the minutes that the Lens was earlier unable to obtain. These minutes were incorrectly referred to as "Chair's meeting minutes" in the 16 November article.

Unfiltered Lens Article- Reports have been coming in to The Unfiltered Lens that all is not well in the Nursing program of CCRI, specifically with regard to the computerized testing implemented in the recent past for the unit exams. The reports claim that the computerized testing is not secure, in fact that the exams have crashed, with the student's losing all progress toward completing the testing.

Public Response of Nursing via Marketing- The computerized exams in Nursing are secure.  All exams are given in room 4080 and are proctored.  All students bring picture identification which is checked while checking attendance.

UFL- Not only have exams crashed, but also the answers within the exams are not secure. If a student unintentionally points to a response with their mouse, the test will change the answer they have already selected to this new, unintended one. There have been reports of students being able to access the tests outside of the proscribed testing time and location, possibly giving them an unfair advantage over their peers.

PR- The computers did not crash.  Some computers were found to be updating procedure during the examination and as soon as this was discovered, replacement laptops were issued. This has now been safeguarded against as the laptops are not set to automatically update.

UFL- Rumblings of discontent are nothing new when it comes to this testing policy. A number of students have complained, on the CCRI Nursing group page on Facebook, about the computerized testing. It seems that, during the exams for Nursing IV and Nursing V in late September, the exams crashed multiple times, for multiple students, forcing some to restart the exam.

PR- In September, the computer speed during the exams was slow. A corrective action was put in place by IT and this is no longer an issue.

UFL- Some students have felt that, due to the fickle nature of the answer selection process, that their exams should be reviewed to ensure no errors on the part of the system have occurred. This, unfortunately cannot occur, as it has been explained to me that the exams themselves are not stored within the computers used, nor anywhere else, for retrieval, and therefore cannot be called back for review.

PR- Examination reviews are provided following the examinations for a prescribed time period. The examinations can, in fact, be retrieved to review the responses students have provided.

UFL- If nothing else, this inability to review past exams has caused heartache for some. It may not be widely known, but the grading qualifications as much more stringent than other programs, as these students will someday have people's lives in their hands, literally. A passing grade for the Nursing program, and most of the Allied Health programs, is 75%. That means that a 74.4% is a failure, and the student is dropped from the program, oft times with little chance for re-admittance. This is exactly one of the complaints made on the Facebook group, that a student failed out of the program by 0.3%, and they believe it is directly due to the faulty testing system.

PR- Standards are in place for each of the 25 programs in Health sciences (Nursing, Dental Health, Rehabilitative Health, and Emergency Management). These standards are in place, including admission and progression requirements, so as to provide the students with the academic background to be highly regarded professionals in health care practice settings. Students who fail a nursing course have an opportunity to remediate. The remediation is based on individual needs.

UFL- The new centralized testing procedure causes problems not only through hardware and software, but in location as well. Previously, students took their exams on their respective campus. This testing is now conducted in room 4080 (the Media Presentation Room) on Knight Campus. This means that students from Flanagan, Liston, and Newport County campuses, who may not otherwise attend Knight, need to have transportation, childcare, and other necessities looked after to insure they can participate in these exam sessions.