Providing training and consulting services for nursing programs
The business was started shortly after Dr. Schroeder finished her PhD where she majored in Adult Education and minored in Higher Education Administration. Her work with testing and student success began while finishing her dissertation entitled “A Study of Improving Critical Thinking Skills with Multiple Choice Tests and First Semester Associate Degree Nursing Students”. During data collection she created two workshops for nursing students to attend 1) Test Taking Skills where students were provided with skills to manage higher level learning test questions on course exams and NCLEX in nursing school and 2) Skills to be successful in Nursing School which helped students with time management skills, study skills specific to nursing school, and critical thinking skills. She also helped faculty with writing tests questions and analyzing the data collected from course exams and standardized testing to improve NCLEX scores as the Retention Coordinator. In order to organize testing, a Testing Policy Manual was created for current and new faculty to understand the program’s testing processes.
After starting the business, she went throughout the nation to help other nursing schools to create the Testing Policy Manual, write test questions and to understand the data collected from test analysis. After working in her consulting business and teaching about testing, Jean decided to go back to the classroom and work with a small nursing college - Platt College School of Nursing where she helped them develop Testing guidelines for their combined curriculum with general education courses along with nursing courses and taught High Acuity, Medical Surgical Nursing, Aging Process, and Student Success to students working on a BSN.
She decided to leave the small nursing school to go to a large nursing school in the metro Denver area at Regis University. During her time there she helped faculty create a Testing Guidelines Manual as well as helped to implement course exams using ExamSoft and helped faculty develop Guidelines for Testing using this type of testing. She used her PhD to sit on the Post-graduate Curriculum Committee and then moved to the Quality Assessment and Evaluation Committee which collected data for the college accreditation and program improvement, she chaired this committee before leaving. She also sat on the University Assessment Committee during their accreditation process, and the College Assessment Committee which she chaired before leaving. She has served as a board member for Pickens Technical college for over ten years and was a consultant for their testing guidelines and faculty training as well as writing their Self-Study Report for accreditation.
After leaving Regis University in 2021, she decided it was time to promote the business actively while continuing to teach .pre-nursing courses online at Colorado Community College Online (CCCOnline), where she has taught for over 15 years. She has taught and developed courses for this group which includes Pathophysiology, Nutrition, Medical terminology and Basic Anatomy & Physiology. Her years of teaching online has also provided her the expertise to teach online which through her business she can also share.
Check out information on this website to see what services are available to nursing schools to help with testing and student success for classroom teaching as well as online.
Contact
➤ LOCATION
Highlands Ranch, CO 80129
☎ CONTACT
Nursingstrategies@gmail.com
(303) 960-7463
CONCEPTS ASSOCIATED WITH A SUCCESSFUL NURSING PROGRAM
Test Development
There are principles to follow when writing tests for nursing courses. Nursing faculty also have to consider how many tests per course as well as how many test questions per tests. Having written many tests for all levels of courses along with helping faculty develop and write tests,
Curriculum development
Theoretical bases provide the foundation to help schools of nursing with curriculum development in preparation for accreditation. Curriculum needs to be consistent no matter what method utilized by the nursing program - Concept based, system based, or any other curriculum based on a theory.
Writing Test items
Once tests are developed each test item needs to be evaluated for reliability and validity. Item writing employs several principles and processes. Identifying resources available also play a role in writing test items.
Teaching online
Teaching online became a necessity for some schools of nursing and nursing faculty during COVID. Faculty quickly had to learn the process. There are several principles involved on developing online courses, teaching online courses, and assessing the effectiveness of the material through online testing and other assessment methods. Another aspect of online assessment is security.
Analyzing Test Data
Then order to improve course exams, nursing faculty need to be able to obtain, understand and make necessary changes based on the data. Data obtained from standardized testing also can provide insight in to where courses can be improved. Course exams and standardized testing provide the tools to help students pass NCLEX.
creating evaluation methods
Testing is the primary source of identifying if nursing students have learned the material required to provide safe care for patients. But nursing courses also require the use of other methods to evaluate learning. Evaluation methods to teach critical thinking, clinical reasoning. and clinical judgment are critical for nursing programs to be successful. These evaluation methods can also assist nursing programs in identifying at-risk students that need help with test taking skills to be successful in the program as well as on the NCLEX.