How to Take a Gunderwood Sim: A Tutorial

The Dashboard

• Print these instructions and use them as you work on your clinical sims.


• Log in to gunderWoodSims.com. (Please see the tutorial entitled "Login to gunderWoodSims.com" here). The main "Dashboard" page appears.


• The "main" dashboard page contains all schedules that were assigned to you by your supervisor. You can scroll down to find the one you need.


• Click on an assigned schedule. Wait until the dashboard for the selected schedule appears.


• To replace the currently displayed schedule with another, select it from the schedule selector, located atop the left margin menu.


• There are actually two schedule selectors, one for the active and one for the expired schedules. Click on the "Show Non-Active Schedules" button to display expired schedules. The button label changes to "Show Active Schedules" and a list of expired schedules appears in the selection box.


• Go back to the main dashboard page by clicking the "Home" link in the main menu.



• The dashboard for the selected schedule contains these items:


• The histogram: is a vertical bar graph of gunderwood sims you have taken already.


• Below each set of bars is the name of the sim and your score for the DM (posted first) and IG divisions.


• The "pie" chart: shows one "slice" for each gunderwood sim in this assignment.


• The pie chart gives you an idea of how far you've come and how far you've got to go before your assignment is complete.


• Statistics: Beneath the pie chart are the following statistics:


• "Done:" The number of completed gunderwood sims and that number's percentage of the total number of sims included in the given assignment


• "To Go:" The number of un-completed sims and that number's percentage of the total number of sims in the assignment


• "Total:" The total number of sims in the schedule


• "1st set: n = " The number of sims that are completed the first time around; should equal "Done" above.


• "Avg IG Score:" The sum of scores achieved in the IG group divided by the 1st set Total


• "Avg DM Score:" The sum of scores achieved in the DM group divided by the 1st set Total


• "Composite Score:" The average IG and average DM scores in the first set divided by 2


• "2nd set, etc.:" Compiled for the second set similar to those compiled for the 1st set.


• Perform/Review Table: The table to the right of the pie chart contains the "Perform/Review" Table. It contains the following features:


• A list of titles of Gunderwood sims in this assignment


• A button labeled "Review": Pressing the button will cause the "Summary" and "Review" pages to display;


• A button labeled "Perform": Pressing this button will cause the application to run a gunderwood simulation.


• A button labeled "Incomplete": This button appears ONLY if the student's administrator set the respective "Test Option" to allow students to complete clinical sims over the course of more than one test session. Pressing this button will cause the application to run a gunderwood simulation from the item where the student pressed the "Quit" button in an earlier session.


• If the sim was taken once, then two rows will contain the same sim title. The top-most row will be associated with a "Review" button. Click the button to review your performance. The lower row will be associated with a "Perform" button. Press it to repeat the sim.


• If the sim was taken twice, then two rows will contain the same sim title; both rows will be associated with a "Review" button. Press either one to review your performance.


• If you want to take the sim more than twice, then contact your administrator or the staff at gunderwoodsims.com.


• Let's say you pressed a "Perform" button. What happens next?


• The answer is "A page with a button labeled with the name of the selected clinical sim and 'Begin Test' appears". For example, "Carl Decker: Begin Test".


• Press the "Begin Test" button to move on and perform the clinical sim.


• Next, perform the following steps:


• Observe that the first question of the simulation appears.


• Observe that a multiple-choice list of responses that correspond one-to-one to a column of check-boxes appears beneath the test question.


• Read the test question and the multiple-choice response list entirely. Next, use your knowledge and skill to select the best choices.


• Left click the check-box next to a desired multiple-choice response to the test question. A custom dialog box will appear.


• Take a moment and read the dialog box. If you click the browser "Back" button at any point in this process, then unpredictable effects may occur.




• The response dialog contains these three items:


• The response:, i.e., the text that appears in the multiple-choice list


• The response scenario: i.e., information about the case, task or problem presented in the question...


• ...which may be considered later in the same simulation, especially with respect to subsequent DM questions.


• You should read the response scenario at least once before you clear the dialog.


• The "Select" button: Press this button to remove (clear) the dialog.


• Please note that there is no "Cancel" button.


• This means that at this point the student response is already scored and recorded.



Information-Gathering (IG) and Decision-Making (DM) Items



• Multiple-choice lists in IG questions contain one or more correct responses.


• DM questions, require one and only one correct response.



Important

• An IG item requires one or more responses, therefore, all IG items require the student to click on the "Proceed to the next question." button in order to move on to the next question.


• DM items do NOT contain a "Proceed to the next question." button. The application launches the next test question automatically ONLY when the correct answer is chosen.



The History Pane



• When the response dialog is OK'd, the history pane is updated.


• The student's selection and response scenario is placed on the screen to the right of the test pane.


• Initially, the history pane is clear.


• The test question is copied to the history pane when the first multiple-choice response is selected.


• All subsequent multiple-choice selections are copied to the history pane as response dialogs are cleared.


• When you have exhausted all correct answers to the problem, click on the "Proceed to the next question." button or


• Recall that DM questions will launch the next question when the correct response is chosen.


• Repeat the above steps until the last question is completed.


• How will you know when you are finished?


• The answer is: "When the response buttons become disabled and the "Review" page appears.


• Each clinical sim contains between 3 and 15 questions.


• IG items present 4 to 15 multiple-choice responses, AT LEAST ONE OF WHICH MAY BE CORRECT.


• DM items present 4 - 6 multiple-choice responses, ONLY ONE OF WHICH IS CORRECT.


• When the final item is completed, all buttons on the page become inactive.


• The application computes the student's scores. The Review Page appears (see below).


• If the student selects the "Quit" button at any point prior to the end of the test, then a confirmation dialog appears. Press "OK" or "Cancel" to continue.


• If "Ok" was clicked, then what happens next depends on various "Test Options" selected by your administrator. The following options are possible:


• All un-answered test items are scored as though they were left blank. (This is the default option.)
• You may re-take this sim from the beginning.
• You may re-start this clinical sim from where you left off by selecting the "Incomplete" button for this clinical sim from the dashboard.




The Review Page



• The Review Page appears under two conditions.


• The student completes the final question of a gunderwood sim;


• A "Review" button is pressed from the dashboard.


• To view the Review page from the dashboard table, press a "Done / Review" button on the dashboard


• The "Summary" page appears. This contains the student's scores and a check-box.


• Click the check-box and the Review page appears. The Review page contains the following sections.


• The student's user-name
• The name of the clinical sim
• The date and time of the session
• The score on information-gathering (IG) items
• The score on decision-making (DM) items
• A composite score that equals the mean of the IG score and the DM score
• Links to questions, i.e., "Q1 Q2 Q3 etc."
• For example, click a "Q5" link and the screen will scroll to the fifth question.
• Each clinical simulation test question
• Each multiple-choice response
• A check-box that indicates selected responses
• A score value for each response



Scores



• The set of "Potential Scores" for each multiple choice selection is: {-2, -1, 1, 2}.


• The set of "Potential Scores" for each multiple choice selection in any DM item is {-2, 2}.


• The set of "Potential Scores" for IG items is {-1, 1}.


• Score values less than zero are associated with incorrect answers; score values greater than zero are associated with correct answers.


• There are four possible scenarios with regard to the student's score. They are:


• The "Potential Score" is a positive number. This means that the response is correct and this multiple-choice selection is known as a "key".


• a. the student selects the key and a check appears in the check-box associated with the key, (the student's score is INCREASED by the potential score value), or


• b. the student does not select the key and the associated check-box is clear. The student's score decreases by the potential value. The font color of the text is YELLOW in order to highlight an incorrect response, (an error of omission).


• The "Potential Score" is a negative number. This means that the response is incorrect and is known as a "distractor".


• c. The student selects the distractor and clicks the check-box so that a check appears in the check-box, the student's score decreases by the potiential score value, the font color of the text is YELLOW in order to highlight an incorrect response, or


• d. the student avoids the distractor so that no check appears in the check-box. This is a correct response. In this case, the student's score increases by the potential score value.


• Thus, the score policy reduces to the following statements:
  • The score INCREASES if a key is selected, (a).
  • The score DECREASES if a key is omitted, (b)
  • The score DECREASES if a distractor is selected, (c)
  • The score INCREASES if a distractor is omitted, (d)


• When the final item is completed, scores are calculated according to the following formula:


• Student scores for IG and DM items are added separately and algebraically (negative and positive numbers are summed). Let us call them "sIG" and "sDM".


• "Potential Scores" for IG and DM items are also added separately and algebraically. Let us call them "pIG" and "pDM".


• Student scores are divided by Potential Scores to yield "raw" scores for IG and DM items. Thus, sIG / pIG = rawIG; sDM / pDM = rawDM.


• The final scores equal the "raw" scores times 100. Thus, finalIG = 100(rawIG); finalDM = 100(rawDM).


• The "Composite" score is the average of final IG and DM scores. Thus, Composite score = (finalIG + finalDM) / 2.



• Please note that the score policy has changed as of this version of the application (version 2559).