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O’Neill, M., (2016) integrated the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s Essential of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing …Practice and the service-learning pedagogy to develop a capstone policy course. The article describes the integration of hands-on experience into the curriculum rather than an instructive approach to teach nursing policy courses. Students were exposed to an actual policy-based environment and took on the role of nurse consultants to address system-based problems from their clients. Service-learning projects were distributed to community partners to meet the authentic needs of the community and for the students to gain the perspective and foundation of a policy-based service-learning project. Course activities such as consultation exercises enabled students to be exposed to different policy-based environments and promoted professional networking in their field. The policy-focused service-learning engaged students in policy-level thinking, promoted social responsibility, and civic engagement to meet the challenges and changes of the healthcare system.
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Researchers use journal clubs to be up to date with the recently published literature in their field. However, a study by Good & McIntyre emphasizes … the importance of journal clubs in nutrition courses to help students learn how to read scientific literature properly. The article describes and compares the results of implementing a journal club into three different course formats: a journal club component in a capstone course, an elective journal club class, and a summer undergraduate research program. Results were analyzed by determining the significant differences between the course formats and how they perceived gain in critical thinking skills by reading, understanding, interpreting, and critiquing scientific literature and distinguishing facts from assumptions. The findings show that implementing a journal component in a capstone course had better results compared to the elective journal club class and a summer undergraduate research program.
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A study by Helms & Whitesell describes the librarian’s transition from a one-time librarian instruction model to an embedded librarian’s role in a … capstone course. The article describes textbook cases and businesses used for the team’s projects, the librarian’s role, and the problems encountered in each phase. As the phases progressed, the librarian took a more engaging role to assist students’ needs in research and provide suggestions. The course was redesigned and improved through four phases by the professor’s partnership with the librarian. Anecdotal comments, qualitative and quantitative analysis, pre-and post test student satisfaction and learning surveys were used to assess the result of students’ achievement, such as overall grades, confidence, and self-efficacy to conduct research skills and abilities to improve the senior capstone business strategy course. The professor assigned the student teams to reflect the working environment better. The embedded librarian model increased overall grades, students’ self-efficacy, and confidence to conduct research independently or with their group. However, grades declined only when there was an emphasis on the final project, and students were assessed externally. When there was an emphasis on the final project, students were more likely to report a non-participating group member, and grades fluctuate when students were assessed externally.