An integrative approach to building professional attributes in a first year nursing course: description and preliminary analysis of academic numeracy

This paper will describe the characteristics of an academic numeracy component of two new courses designed to build the academic attributes student nurses need to succeed at university and in the nursing profession. It will also report on a project designed to evaluate and improve these courses. This project had a collective case-study design, including quantitative and qualitative methodologies which involved students and academic staff reflecting on curriculum design and assessment. Finally the paper will report on the 2008 courses revised as a result of the evaluation.