The Effect of Collaborative Testing on Nursing Students

Teaching strategies in nursing education call for active student participation. Collaborative learning involve students in group learning. Collaborative learning can take the form of students working in groups on assignments, often in a structured format, but involved in a social constructive process. Involving students in these types of learning approaches relies on assumptions that learning is an active process, the teacher becomes the facilitator of learning, teaching and learning are shared experiences and small group activities contribute to the development of critical thinking skills and knowledge utilization.

As a strategy in active learning, collaborative learning has been shown to contribute positively and impact student development in many ways. The literature reports on improvement in student motivation to learn, knowledge retention of material, teamwork, problem-solving and collaboration with others as benefits of collaborative learning. Sandahl (2010) suggested using collaborative testing as a collaborative learning strategy in nursing education. The limited research studies on the topic support its effect of increasing examination scores with inconsistent report on its effect on knowledge retention.

Several strategies of conducting collaborative testing are reported in the literature. The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of two methods of conducting collaborative testing as a peer learning tool. This is a quasi-experimental design using two groups of diploma nursing students enrolled in a second level nursing course at two campuses of the school of nursing. Using a convenient sample of students enrolled in the nursing course, informed consent was obtained with a description of the study methodology.

Student exam results were recorded in Excel format and descriptive statistics were calculated. Independent t-tests were calculated to examine the effect of collaborative testing on the course exams. An evaluation questionnaire was collected to obtain student perceptions of the total experience. The study showed students increased their test scores after engaging in collaborative testing by an average of 12% using both methods of conducting collaborative testing. Students report positive perceptions about their learning experiences during collaborative testing sessions. The process of critically thinking and learning how to work together in a respectful and professional manner contributes to the professional preparation of nursing students.  Opportunities to communicate, cooperate and collaborate have the potential to translate into better prepared beginning professional nurses. Small sample size and unmatched groups in one type of nursing program limits the applicability of the results.