Formative Evaluation of a Nursing Orientation Program: Self-Paced vs. Lecture-Discussion

Formative program evaluation is a useful process to assess the effectiveness and stability of changes in a program over time. This process documented the effectiveness of changing a medical center nursing orientation program from traditional lecture-discussion to self-learning modules (SLMs). The results of the formative program evaluation confirmed that SLMs were the method of choice for most learners. SLMs focus on adult learning principles more than traditional methods, i.e., lecture-discussion. However, the results of this program evaluation also indicate that staff development educators need to vary teaching methods along with the use of SLMs.