The process of poster presentation: a valuable learning experience

Abstract

Creating and presenting posters requires students to develop and use the vital skills of enquiry, critical analysis, and dissemination of findings. Poster presentation would appear to have potential as a learning strategy and as a method of assessment. This paper describes the formative use of poster presentation in a Diploma of Higher Education: Nursing Studies programme. The authors then discuss their experience of developing poster presentation as a summative assessment for a post-registration Bachelor of Nursing module and its evaluation by the students. At this early developmental stage poster presentation has proved to be as successful an assessment strategy as the traditional essay and students report poster creation and presentation to be a novel and engaging experience. Teacher experience shows that despite the intensity of the assessment procedure, observing the emergence of analytical debate and creative achievements of students is an exhilarating and worthwhile experience.