FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Rogers, LibreTexts Outreach Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
LibreTexts Project Announces Partnership with Open RN/Next Gen RN Project
Partnership utilizes a customized instance of LibreTexts open homework system, ADAPT, so faculty can create formative, openly licensed assessments for nursing students
[DAVIS, CA, March 6, 2023]
“The LibreTexts team is excited to partner with the Open RN project and the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) to provide nursing students and faculty a better means by which they can collaboratively create and utilize open formative assessments for their studies using a customized instance of our open homework and assessment platform, ADAPT,” said LibreTexts Founder and Executive Director, Dr. Delmar Larsen.
LibreTexts ADAPT project (https://ADAPT.libretexts.org) is being developed as a widely distributed OER adaptive learning homework platform that is available to students without charge (or with significantly reduced charge compared to commercial alternatives) to complement the textbooks hosted in the LibreTexts libraries.
ADAPT is built as an overlay technology upon five separate open-source assessment technologies: (1) WebWork, (2) ImathAS – used in MyOpenMath and Lumen Learning’s OHM, (3) H5P, and (4) native assessments using Question & Test Interoperability (QTI) protocols like those in Learning Management Systems (LMS) and (5) and separate non-QTI technology. ADAPT is designed as a single platform with the integrated capabilities of multiple technologies. ADAPT exceeds the limitations of any single technology and provides a powerful infrastructure to handle the assessment needs for a wide range of fields from STEM to Humanities.
LibreTexts and the Next Gen RN project, a spinoff of the Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN) project led by Chippewa Valley Technical College, have partnered to expand ADAPT to address the preparedness of pre licensure nurses entering the workforce; this effort is in response to the launching of the Next Generation National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX) in April 2023 by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN). The primary purpose of the Next Gen RN project is to improve the preparedness of prelicensure nursing graduates entering the workforce through formative assessment and adaptive learning. LibreTexts’ ADAPT software platform has been customized so faculty can create openly licensed formative assessments that mimic NGN-style questions. Rationale will be provided for correct answers, and links will be provided to review related content in the Open RN OER nursing textbooks so students can review areas of weakness. This adaptive learning model directs students to points within their learning materials where they can further study to review a concept that they may have overlooked or misunderstood as they apply it to patient care. Additionally, the customized ADAPT software platform can be integrated into a faculty member’s primary learning management system (i.e., Canvas or Blackboard), so student results will sync directly into gradebooks and faculty will receive reports on student progress.
“We are thrilled to provide nursing students free formative assessments that enhance the development of their clinical judgment as they prepare to successfully pass the Next Generation NCLEX. The customized nursing questions in the ADAPT platform allow faculty to create case studies that mirror the format of NCLEX Next Generation-style questions and also provide immediate formative feedback. Feedback can include rationale for correct answers as well as hyperlinks to related content that students can review in the Open RN OER textbooks,” said Open RN and Next Gen RN Project Director, Kimberly Ernstmeyer.
Through this partnership, nursing faculty from the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) will develop and share over 20 case studies and NCLEX Next-Gen item types based on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) clinical judgment model that assess whether nursing graduates can think critically and make the right decisions for patient care. In this manner, project partners will collaborate to create high-quality, industry-relevant learning activities and tools to help students effectively prepare for the forthcoming exam and their future nursing careers.
“What an exciting opportunity this is, to be able to offer students a whole new platform to practice NCLEX Next Generation-style questions. As a faculty member who utilizes case studies in the classroom on a weekly basis, ADAPT allows me to take those patient scenarios to a whole new level. We continually coach students to think through the “how’s” and “why’s” to best prepare for patient care, so the immediate feedback ADAPT provides, with rationale and links to relevant topics, will help to solidify a deeper level of critical thinking. Student success is a top priority, so having the ability to bring the ADAPT program into the classroom greatly enhances our ability to educate future nurses,” said Chippewa Valley Technical College nursing instructor, Carrie Abrahamson.
For further information about ADAPT and the LibreTexts project contact Prof. Delmar Larsen at [email protected]. See https://LibreTexts.org for details about the LibreTexts project.
For further information about the Open RN/Next Gen RN project contact Kimberly Ernstmeyer at [email protected]. See https://openrn.blogspot.com/ for details about the OpenRN and Next Gen RN project.
ABOUT LIBRETEXTS
LibreTexts is the largest centralized open education project and platform online. Founded in 2008 at the University of California, Davis as the ChemWiki, the LibreTexts mission is to unite students, faculty and scholars in a cooperative effort to develop an easy-to-use online platform for the construction, customization, and dissemination of open educational resources (OER) to reduce the burdens of unreasonable textbook costs to our students and society. LibreTexts also provides ancillary technologies for project management, remixing OER, and H5P creation which help faculty better control their curriculum by providing them more flexibility over their course content. LibreTexts’ ADAPT open homework and assessment platform is supported with funds from the U.S. Department of Education Open Textbook Pilot grant, and the California Education Learning Lab (CELL).
ABOUT OPEN RN/NEXT GEN RN
The Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN) project, led by Chippewa Valley Technical College through a U.S. Department of Education FIPSE Open Textbooks Pilot Program grant, has published six nursing OER textbooks that have been uploaded to the LibreTexts Nursing bookshelves collection. Open RN textbooks have received wide international usage, with over 2.6 million international visitors and 7 million page views. Additionally, 57 colleges and universities across the United States and Canada have adopted the affordable print versions of these textbooks published by XanEdu.
The Next Gen RN project is a spinoff project from the Open RN grant. The initial ADAPT customization for nursing questions was funded by a Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) Core Industry Grant and allows WTCS faculty to create and collaboratively share NCLEX Next-Generation style case studies and questions in ADAPT “Courses” that integrate into their LMS. This funding will go through June 2024. The U.S. Department of Education Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN) Open Textbook Pilot grant is funding the creation of customized anonymous users in ADAPT so that students can access “public” questions linked from Open RN OER textbooks through February 2024.
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