Evaluation and assessment
Health risk appraisals (HRM)
Evaluation will be done through a number of assessment tools and instruments. Health risk appraisals are a common way of evaluating quality of life and health risk of individuals. The students will be required to administer the health care appraisal tools on individuals and develop a feedback to reduce the risk. The assessment tool is prepared in the form of a questionnaire and administered to the target audience. The tool has three main elements: questionnaire, risk score, and feedback. The feedback can be manually provided through face to face interaction with target audience or automatically retrieved through online generated report. Health risk appraisals provide an effective way of evaluating the risk of health in people because it recommends intervention measures after the risk evaluation. The intervention measures can either be aimed at disease prevention or health promotion depending on the outcome of the risk evaluation. The main objectives of health risk assessment is to evaluate the health status in individuals, estimate risk levels, and provide feedback or recommend intervention measures to reduce the risks.
Testing
Testing is also a common evaluation tool used that will be used in the curriculum. Testing is a cutting edge tool of evaluation that helps students to assess their level of learning. There are various forms of testing; however only two will be used in this curriculum: true false tests and multiple choices test.
True or false test
They are simple as they entail a written statement and the students indicate whether the statement is true or false. The tests can also be referred to as forced choice because the student is forced to identify one of two possible options or choices. The tests are recommended as an assessment tool in this health care curriculum because they help students to recall information. Throughout the entire curriculum, there is a lot of information that students will be required to remember. The health industry needs sharp students who cannot fumble with knowledge. It requires professionals to be sure of what they are doing during practice. True or false tests therefore are suitable for the enhancement of memory among learners.
The outcomes of true or false tests are not only aimed evaluating the ability of students to recall information but also the ability to identify, select, or recognize concepts in healthcare. The tests are quite easy to prepare and administer. The teacher will only be required to write objective questions. Scoring also makes it easy for both students and instructors. There is a fifty percent chance of getting an answer right or wrong. Therefore, implementers of the curriculum are expected to factor in this nature of the tests and ensure that the scores are made high. For a student to be considered to have passed a true and false test, he or she has to score highly because there are high chances of getting the answers correct.
The process of constructing a true and false test will take the following criteria. The first step is to make the statement relatively short, simple and cover just one thought. The tests will be made meaningful and be matched with the objectives of curriculum or course content.
The second step is to make the truth statement same level as the false statements. Most commonly, instructors would always want to add more information on true statements in order to make them more precise. Thirdly, the answers to the tests are not supposed to be obvious to students who do not know the material. This implies that as teachers construct the tests, they are expected to ensure the tests can only be answered with ease by students who know the content material. The tests are not supposed to be made too easy to guess. Fourthly, statements that contain certain words such as always, never, can and generally are not recommended because they considered to be false. One only needs to provide a single example against the statement to make it false. Therefore, teachers should avoid these words when constructing true or false tests.
Example of a question based on objective 1: Smoking is a symptom of urinary truck infections. True or False
The tests will constitute 20 questions items. Two marks will be awarded for each correct answer. Therefore the following grading guide will apply.
Multiple choices
Multiple choices tests have been proven statistically to provide objective, measurable and concrete verification that learning has either occurred or not. The tests are used to provide meaningful feedback of students’ progress. They are easily administered because they are highly specific. The only problem with multiple choices tests is that students are not challenged to think and come up with their own answers. Sometimes, the test items can be biased against certain crucial characteristics of the test takers.
The challenge teachers have in constructing multiple choices question is avoiding biasness. However, they are used because of their simplicity in grading. Students are also used to this form of assessment and evaluation. They understand the structure. Teachers only need to write the test in such a way that will evaluate high level thinking suggested in the blooms taxonomy.
Example: Identify a factor that least contributes to diseases
- Emission of carbon dioxide gas
- Unhealthy environment
- Poor sanitation
- Pollution
- Washing hands with soap before eating
Scoring guide
Giving assignment and participation
References
Gerald, B. (2009). Curriculum development: a text book for students. London: McMillian Publishers.
Worthen, B., Sanders, J., & Fitzpatrick, J. (2006). Program evaluation: alternative approaches and practical guidelines. New York: Longman Inc.
