Student Preferences of Educational Interventions for Radiologic Technology Comprehensive Review: A Quantitative, Descriptive Study

Educators in the health professions educational areas are concerned that the intensive teaching and testing given to their respective healthcare students over the lifetime of the educational programs, is not enough to assure that program graduates can successfully pass their field-specific certification examination. Passing a healthcare specific certification examination is the entry-level benchmark that qualifies program graduates to apply and get jobs in the healthcare industry in the United States. Certification examinations' pass rates varying from profession to profession, but one thing is certain, graduates who cannot pass their field-specific certification examinations cannot fill the over 12 million jobs shortage predicted in the healthcare industry by 2035. Healthcare students are presented with traditional lecturing and testing throughout their educational programs, but most students are not given the opportunities to assess their ability to consolidate and process cumulative knowledge until the student is almost ready to graduate. In an effort to assist students for the readiness of comprehensive testing similar to the styles of testing on certification examinations, many healthcare programs include a comprehensive review course toward the end of the academic program. Many program graduates who have completed their academic programs, including a review course, think they are ready to take and pass the national certification examination; however, in 2015, almost 100,000 students in the fields of registered nursing, licensed practical nursing, medical laboratory technology, and radiologic technology failed the first-attempt on their respective certification examinations. With the advent of blended learning technology and various mechanisms available for students to adapt their leaning focus on identified content weaknesses, students could assist themselves with improving their chances to correctly answer comprehensive test questions prior to taking the national certification examination, and perhaps increase their chances for first-time success. The purpose of this quantitative case study was to investigate how students who were enrolled in a comprehensive review course in radiologic technology, perceived the use of blended technology and various testing strategies on the consolidation and recall of radiologic information which could be helpful to answer comprehensive test questions similar to test questions on the national certification examination. Data collection included numerical responses from a student completed questionnaire employed to evaluate the usefulness of blended learning technology on students' levels of comprehensive knowledge. The findings of the research indicated that students in a radiologic technology review course appreciated the use of blended learning technology in the course. The participants reported that employing blended learning in conjunction with instructor lectures and presentations was especially helpful in deepening their levels of knowledge and their individual content strengths and weaknesses. In addition the participants preferred classroom activities that involved active student participation and when the instructor provided digitally assessable learning materials to accompany the lectures/presentations. Future research is recommended to include (a) quantitative comparative study of RN and LPN students which would compare pre-graduation comprehensive test scores utilized by both of the programs for comparison of student readiness before the students take their certification examination, and (b) a qualitative case study using purposive sampling to select research participants by means of age, gender, and number of years in college to determine how the participants performed on comprehensive tests prior to graduating their healthcare educational program.