Moving students forward

I believe one of our greatest challenges in education is getting the students buy in for active participation. We are all familiar with constructivism, the theory of students learn better in an environment where they actively participate. The challenge for us as educators is convincing the students. How many times have you heard "will this be n the test?". So, I believe the buy in is to convince students of the merit of the exercise. For the last few years, I have been trying to figure out an assessment to replace nursing care plans or concept maps. This semester I am having my clinical group create a scenario for our high fidelity simulation mannequin. The students selected a client and create the scenario. I gave them a template for creation of the scenario. I also have met with them several times to guide them through the process. They have a scheduled practice time to run through their scenario. They will present the scenario to the instructor. They were provided a grading rubric. The students also have experience with the mannequin. Interestingly, even though this has required more work on the students part, they have been truly excited about the process. They will present at the end of the month. I have an evaluation for them to complete. I will post the results. I also need to give credit to the school in Indiana who was the originator of this idea