THE SELF-EVALUATION EXPERIENCES OF ADULT LEARNERS IN A TWO-YEAR COLLEGE NURSING PROGRAM: AN ETHNOMETHODOLOGICAL STUDY.
Contributors: Northern Illinois University.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 142
Subjects: Education, Adult and Continuing.; Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Community College.
Description: The purpose of the study was to explore, describe, and explicate the meaning, significance, and characteristics of experiences of students in the Elgin Community College nursing program. The study was in response to two major problems. First, there was a dearth of investigations that explored the meaning and significance of experiences of learners who used self-evaluation. Second, self-evaluation was lacking a strong theoretical base to guide research.

Twenty-six student nurses and their instructors volunteered to participate in the study. Data were collected through interviews, memos, and official documents and analyzed with the constant comparative analysis technique and a process involving sorting, ordering, and integration.

The study found that (1) older students tended to under-estimate their performance because of social and psychological factors; (2) enhanced learner motivation and self-esteem appeared to be related to participation in self-evaluation; (3) there was a differential manifestation of anxiety that was based on the level at which a student was in the program; (4) there was a relationship between expressed desire for control of evaluation and the level at which a student was in the program of self-evaluation; (5) self-evaluation was perceived differently by students at different levels of the program; in addition, self-evaluation meant different things to different students; (6) self-evaluation was a useful and much appreciated exercise which provided skills that enhanced learning; and (7) successful implementation of self-evaluation was closely linked to its being an integral part of the curriculum.

A number of models and typologies were developed. They were intended to be bases for the generation of knowledge in future research.

Recommendations for future research included the following: (1) investigate whether or not the effects of self-evaluation in the nursing program could be similar to those in programs found in vocational, liberal, and adult basic education; (2) quantify amounts of anxiety experienced at different levels of the nursing program; (3) look at the extent to which attitude was affecting the ability and readiness of the learners to effectively evaluate their performance; (4) determine the most effective tools and techniques for implementing self-evaluation and the relationship between self-evaluation and learning theories to build a stronger theoretical base; and (5) determine whether or not there are differences in the way male and female adult learners experience self-evaluation.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-08, Section: A, page: 2847.

Thesis (ED.D.)--NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, 1993.

School code: 0162.