Danny Sidwell, School of Nursing, CoHM
Koorine Searle, School of Nursing, CoHM
Michelle Talbot, School of Nursing, CoHM
Student-centeredness sits as a core teaching principle within the University of Tasmania: specifically the support and engagement of students within their own learning. As such, encouraging students to actively contribute to their learning is a focus area of the School of Nursing (SoN), resulting in the development of student-led initiatives within the school.
A SoN student representative group based in Hobart conducted an informal opinion poll with undergraduate nursing students during a recent orientation day, to ascertain what they felt would best assist and support them in their studies. The three themes that emerged were: peer support, building community and student engagement on campus.
With these themes in mind, the SoN student representative group set about developing a range of student-led initiatives specifically for the newly enrolled cohort. Initiatives included:
1. Anatomy and physiology trivia nights run prior to the exam period to help students with content revision.
2. Mock clinical assessments which allowed first year students the opportunity to practice for their first clinical assessment, whilst also allowing senior students to develop their skills in assessing and feedback.
3. A weekly open invitation study group run throughout the study period.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive: with the vast majority of students agreeing that the initiatives were very helpful and assisted with preparation and confidence for future assessments. Qualitative comments have been equally positive and include:
“…Having an opportunity to run through the whole process, in exam conditions, has been highly motivating.”
“I feel lucky to be at Hobart campus and have the opportunities we have.”
View the exemplar on the Teaching Matters 2023 intranet page.