Introducing an online portfolio for practice placement assessment for nurses.

Abstract

Introducing an online portfolio for practice placement assessment for nurses; Ian Donaldson principal academic; Lucy Stainer senior lecturer; Karen Cooper lecturer in adult nursing at Bournemouth University. Practice assessment in undergraduate nursing programmes is still predominantly print based. This presentation will describe the successful implementation of an Online Practice Assessment for Learning (OPAL) portfolio at Bournemouth University from 2015. The project started as a pilot for a new intake of 75 pre-registration students on the adult nursing programme, before being rolled out to approximately 1,200 pre-registration students from three fields of nursing. OPAL was found to improve accessibility to information, consistency of feedback and clarity of documentation, and has helped to support the implementation of new student supervision and assessment standards set by the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council. https://www.nursingtimes.net/roles/nurse-educators/introducing-an-online-portfolio-for-practice-placement-assessments-20-01-2020 The presentation will highlight some of the benefits of introducing online assessment. These include increased quality and quantity of feedback; increased identification of future learning for student (feed forward); all comments and reviews readable and easily verified; greater flexibility as tool available 24/7 to everyone involved with student and assessment process; all documents digitally signed; increased comments by students on interviews, reflection and future learning; access for tutors to the student’s portfolio while on placement and enhanced reporting/moderation. Moving from a paper-based system to an online practice assessment can pose several challenges but adopting a staged implementation process and using existing practice assessment documentation facilitated the process and helped ensure the project’s success. OPAL is now firmly embedded in all our undergraduate nursing programmes. It is also now being used by Midwifery and all other Allied Health Professions courses. The University now has a secure, sustainable system that has improved accessibility, engagement and documentation, as well as saving in resources and time.