Outcomes: Evidence of Student Learning in a Blended Program

Gail Matthews-DeNatale, Ph.D.Interim Director, Academic Technology

2009 Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning

About Simmons

• 100+ years old

• Private college located in Boston

• 5,000 students (1/2 grad, 1/2 undergrad)

• Women’s undergrad college and five co-educational grad schools

• “Small university”

Blended Learning @ Simmons

2008-10 Sloan “Localness” grant

• Blend two programs

• School for Health SciencesDoctoral Program in Nursing Practice

• Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Mt. Holyoke

• Develop infrastructure to support blended

• Articulate model congruent with “high touch” campus culture of a private institution

• DNP = Doctoral Program in Nursing Practice(for mid career professionals)

• Heavy Blend(online + several f2f weekends per semester)

• New Program(born blended, fresh start created opportunity for integrated curriculum and assessment)

• Organized around AACN “Essentials”

About the DNP

• Scientific Underpinnings

• Organizational and Systems Leadership

• Clinical Scholarship

• Information Systems/Technology

• Health Care Policy

• Interprofessional Collaboration

• Clinical Prevention and Population Health

• Advanced Nursing Practice

Source: American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN)

Essentials of Doctoral Educationfor Advanced Nursing Practice

Learning Outcomes:Evidence Generated by Students

• Discussion posts recognized as a rich data source for program outcomes evaluation

• Posts used as research data with permission of all students

• Qualitative: coded/analyzed according to AACN Essentials

• Quantitative: analyzed posting numbers, frequency, patterns (professor-student, student-student)

Learning Outcomes:Evidence Analyzed by Faculty

AACN Essential: Organizational and Systems Leadership

• Accelerated development: after one semester, doing things that faculty predicted they wouldn’t do until capstone work or after graduation

• Evidence of concrete leadership behaviors (e.g., organized an ethics committee at work,testified at hearings, advocated for policy change)

• Dramatic increase in sophistication of thought as evidences in posting language regarding leadership

• Blended pedagogical design fostered acceleration

Source: 2009 Drexel Conference Paper (Neary, White, Sapienza)

Excerpt from Findings