Assignment Workshop—Portfolio Rubric and Nursing Objectives

 

I. Assignment Design

 

Guidelines for a successful assignment:

 

·         Provide choices that spark the students' interest in and understanding of the assignment

 

·         Clarify the purpose or aim of the task

 

·         Identify the reader(s)-- not necessarily the teacher

 

·         Set a role for the student to take, vis-à-vis the topic and the readers

 

·         Outline the format and genre the student must follow (not necessarily an essay)

 

·         Indicate the criteria for doing the task successfully

 

·         Establish the due date

 

·         Offer important data or pose a few leading questions and/or suggestions to help students start

 

(from Rhetoric for Writing Teachers 3rd Ed., Lindemann, Oxford Press, 212)

 

II. Sample Assignment: Windshield Survey

 

A.      Preparation

The windshield survey is a composite of subjective and objective data that help define a community, its trends, stability and changes that will affect the health of the population.

Group members will divide the community into equal areas. Work in pairs for this assignment. Each pair is responsible for visiting and observing one area, as well as preparing a written report. If you wish, you may take pictures that are representative of the community. Keep a copy of your paper to share with the other group members for the final assignment, which is an analysis and planning paper. In an area is unfamiliar to you, check with the instructor for more information.

The windshield survey must include the following areas; however, the scope and breadth of the assessment will be important in the overall grading of this assignment. Also use this format for reporting your findings, including all headings. Please submit all information in a folder.

B. Survey

Boundaries (5 pts.) Identify the boundaries for the entire community and then specify, by street names, the section of community you assessed with your partner. Include a map, highlighting the area that you assessed.

Housing (5 pts.) How old are the houses and are they of particular style and materials? How well are the homes maintained? What kinds of multiple family dwellings exist? Are there vacant houses? Is this an established community or is there a lot of new construction? Are there for-sale signs? What does the housing indicate about the income level of the residents?

Signs of decay and/or pollution (5 pts.) Identify if there are poorly maintained homes, trash in streets, garbage-filled vacant land, etc. Describe any evidence of water, air, and/or ground pollution.

Parks, recreational areas (5 pts.) Are there parks and/or playgrounds? Are they being used? What is their condition? What recreational areas or facilities were observed?

Transportation (5 pts.) What forms of transportation do you see people using? Is public transportation available? How well are streets and highways maintained? Is there traffic congestion?

Health and social service agencies (5 pts.) What social service agencies, including health care facilities, are in the area you surveyed? What gaps in services did you observe?

Economics (5 pts.) List the location, number, and type of industries you observe. Who are the major employers?

Protective services (5 pts.) What evidence do you see of police and fire protection; sanitation services; water treatment plants?

Religion (5 pts.) List the number and types of religious facilities.

Schools (5 pts.) List the location, type (e.g., private, public, vocational education), level (grammar, junior high, high school, college) and number of schools.

General (5 pts.) Is there evidence of gangs? Describe.

How do billboards/signs reflect information about character of the community (e.g., political affiliation, adult entertainment)? Describe the downtown area. What cultural and ethnic groups are represented? What is the condition of these areas?

Subjective feeling (5 pts.) How do you feel, being in the community? Do you feel comfortable? Are people friendly? Would this area be one in which you would live and/or work? Explain.

Problem identification/ community needs (20 pts.) Based on your observations in the Windshield Survey, comprehensively identify any presenting problems (including gaps in service) in the community you surveyed. Be sure to identify problems.

Community Strengths (20 pts.) Did you observe any community resources that may address identified problems? Develop a comprehensive list of all community strengths that you observed during your survey.

 

III. Criteria for Evaluating Windshield Survey

 

·         Student team presents findings in correct format, including headings, and submits information in a folder (corresponds with Criterion 5, Portfolio Rubric; Level 4, Objective 4 of SON Level Objectives)

·         Student team provides data that satisfies all areas of analysis and provides tentative conclusions (corresponds with Criterion 1, Portfolio Rubric; Level 4, Objective 2 of SON Level Objectives)

·         Student team identifies problems & community needs, observing resources that could address them (corresponds with Criteria 2 & 4, Portfolio Rubric; Level 4, Objective 1 of SON Level Objectives)

 

IV. School of Nursing: Level Objectives

Level One:

1.        Recognize how basic systems processes are used to enhance health.

2.        Demonstrate, in a laboratory environment, competency in skills required for the care of culturally diverse individuals.

3.        Examine components of the professional role of nursing.

4.        Perform selected activities of the professional nurse in a prescribed manner.

 

Level Two:

1.        Apply systems process in clinical practice to enhance the health of culturally diverse individuals, families, and groups in a structured clinical environment.

2.        Provide nursing care addressing the needs of individuals, families, and groups in a structured clinical environment.

3.        Perform progressively complex aspects of the professional role.

4.        Function with guidance in providing the nursing care to individuals, families, and groups.

 

Level Three:

1.        Use multiple systems processes of increasing complexity to enhance the health of culturally diverse individuals, families, groups, and communities.

2.        Manage nursing care of individuals, families, and groups in diverse community settings.

3.      Integrate multiple aspects of the professional nurse role in managing care. Function independently and collaboratively with clients, peers, and colleagues as a novice professional nurse.

 

V. Program Assessment Criteria: Portfolio Rubric

1.        The student’s portfolio demonstrates an ability to gather appropriate data, analyze a situation, and formulate an appropriate diagnosis / conclusion.

2.        The student’s portfolio demonstrates an ability to transfer information or apply principles from one context to another in establishing therapeutic nursing interventions or in developing implications for professional nursing.

3.        The student’s portfolio demonstrates an ability to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic nursing interventions, conclusions drawn from professional resources, or other kinds of decision making.

4.        The student’s portfolio demonstrates an ability to present or develop logical arguments or cases.  

5.        The student’s portfolio meets professional expectations of readers in the field of nursing in terms of APA documentation, grammar and spelling, format, and professional vocabulary.

6.      The student’s portfolio demonstrates an ability to reflect upon what the student has learned and still needs to learn.

 

VI. Workshop Activities

 

Objective: Provide participants with the opportunity to analyze their own assignments, break them down into criteria, and see how they correspond with criteria in the student portfolio rubric and the School of Nursing level objectives.

In small groups, let’s first break down our assignments into criteria and identify how those criteria correspond to the ones in the student portfolio rubric.  We’ll then report back to the whole group. Then let’s sort our assignment criteria and identify how they might correspond to the School of Nursing level objectives.  Again, we’ll report back to the whole group.