Assessment of Paramedic students’ knowledge, skills and professionalism against the required standards of proficiency is conducted in several ways across their education journey. Practical skills associated with the role are generally assessed in an Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) format. In response to increases in student numbers, pressures on staff time, and associated increases in cost, the approach to assessing practical skills needed to change. This presentation reviews the change of practice which included utilising video, and eportfolio technologies to support the embedding and evidencing of practical skills, engaging students in the assessment process, and introducing a more cost effective and time efficient use of resources.
The new OSCE plan was based on the premise that each of the students would be assessed via a series of video recordings of the individual performing the skill. Each student was asked to use the PebblePocket app to record three successful attempts at each skill and upload these into a templated PebblePad workbook with placeholders for the assessment items.
To further support this process and to reduce the need for staff support during the assessment, exemplar practical demonstrations of skills videos were recorded by lecturers using PebblePocket and published to the web. A Quick Response (QR) code was linked to each video and posters displaying the QR codes were attached to the equipment required for the practice of the specific skill. Students could watch the video for instruction and support prior to making their own recording.
The assessment has been successful and we are confident that we have made significant improvements in relation to our key objectives. From the student perspective the response to the post assessment survey was positive with 94% of students believing the new OSCE process was fit for purpose in assessing their skill acquisition.
