Faculty Q&A

Abstract

<table align="center" border="1" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" width="550"> <tbody><tr> <td><p></p><h3>Send in your questions for Faculty Q&A!</h3> <p>We want your questions not only about issues related to how to teach and instructional strategies, but also about other issues faced by faculty (both new and established). Here’s an example: </p> <p>“I was shocked to have a student accuse me of sexism. The student is male and says there is an inherent bias against male students, as I have answered questions posed to me by female students when we were in the change room preparing for a clinical shift. How can I guard against this type of unintentional problem in the future?” </p> <p><b>Here’s what you need to know: </b></p> <ol> <li> Questions need to be short and, preferably, include a specific scenario or examples.</li> <li>Submit questions that address practical issues faced by faculty and can be answered in a few paragraphs (see example above).</li><li>E-mail your questions, along with your full name and credentials, to Karen G. Stanwood, ELS, Executive Editor, at <a href="mailto:kstanwood@slackinc.com">kstanwood@slackinc.com</a>.</li></ol></br></td> </tr> </tbody></table> <H4>EXCERPT</H4><P>As a senior faculty member, I have been assigned a new junior faculty member to mentor; however, the mentee is not engaged in the process. Any suggestions to ameliorate this situation would be appreciated. </P><P>We use a combination of pencil-and-paper and computerized examinations in the third and fourth year of our undergraduate nursing program. With each examination, regardless of method, we use a test blueprint, have other faculty read the examination questions prior to administering them to the students, and complete an item analysis to try to establish some level of test validity and reliability. Currently, the third-year students are allowed to write on the paper examination, a practice based on the belief that this method helps them learn how to process questions. The option to write on the paper copy of the examination is removed in the fourth year, based on the thought that students need to prepare for the NCLEX<sup>®</sup>-RN, during which they obviously will not have a paper copy of the examination. Because of this, some faculty members are beginning to question the wisdom of writing on the examinations. Are we providing a crutch that does not really help students, or are we allowing students to progress in the development of test-taking skills?</P><P>What is considered meritorious in academia?</P>