Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)
<p>This tracer study was designed to track National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) graduate nurses in their places of work with a view to ascertaining their level of professional competency and to explore employers’ expectation of graduate competencies. The study employed the descriptive su...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)
2018-07-01
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Series: | Open Praxis |
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Online Access: | https://openpraxis.org/articles/448 |
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author | Dorothy Ofoha Onyeka Iwuchukwu |
author_facet | Dorothy Ofoha Onyeka Iwuchukwu |
author_sort | Dorothy Ofoha |
collection | DOAJ |
description | <p>This tracer study was designed to track National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) graduate nurses in their places of work with a view to ascertaining their level of professional competency and to explore employers’ expectation of graduate competencies. The study employed the descriptive survey design. Participants included 222 NOUN <em>alumni</em> who graduated in nursing programme and a corresponding 222 heads/top-level managers of the organizations where the graduate nurses were employed. Multiple instruments were used to collect data including competency test, survey questionnaire, and direct observation. A number of remarkable findings emerged from this study, both expected and unexpected. Majority of sampled graduates appeared to possess high level of professional competency in all three competency dimensions measured. A significant proportion of employers seemed to hold high perception regarding the graduates. In matching the employers’ perception of ODL graduates against actual competencies of NOUN graduate nurses with the use of quadrant analysis, the resulting values showed that a significant proportion of the graduates met and exceeded employer expectation.</p> |
first_indexed | 2024-04-10T06:23:38Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-4bd6b858348342c1ab3742a192277fe6 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1369-9997 2304-070X |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-04-10T06:23:38Z |
publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
publisher | International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) |
record_format | Article |
series | Open Praxis |
spelling | doaj.art-4bd6b858348342c1ab3742a192277fe62023-03-01T21:21:15ZengInternational Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE)Open Praxis1369-99972304-070X2018-07-0110326527810.5944/openpraxis.10.3.796414Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN)Dorothy Ofoha0Onyeka Iwuchukwu1National Open University of NigeriaNational Open University of Nigeria<p>This tracer study was designed to track National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) graduate nurses in their places of work with a view to ascertaining their level of professional competency and to explore employers’ expectation of graduate competencies. The study employed the descriptive survey design. Participants included 222 NOUN <em>alumni</em> who graduated in nursing programme and a corresponding 222 heads/top-level managers of the organizations where the graduate nurses were employed. Multiple instruments were used to collect data including competency test, survey questionnaire, and direct observation. A number of remarkable findings emerged from this study, both expected and unexpected. Majority of sampled graduates appeared to possess high level of professional competency in all three competency dimensions measured. A significant proportion of employers seemed to hold high perception regarding the graduates. In matching the employers’ perception of ODL graduates against actual competencies of NOUN graduate nurses with the use of quadrant analysis, the resulting values showed that a significant proportion of the graduates met and exceeded employer expectation.</p>https://openpraxis.org/articles/448tracer studynoungraduate nursesprofessional competencyemployer expectation |
spellingShingle | Dorothy Ofoha Onyeka Iwuchukwu Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) Open Praxis tracer study noun graduate nurses professional competency employer expectation |
title | Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) |
title_full | Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) |
title_fullStr | Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) |
title_full_unstemmed | Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) |
title_short | Employers’ Perception and Expectations of Professional Competency of Distance Learning Graduates: A Tracer Study of Nursing Graduates of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) |
title_sort | employers perception and expectations of professional competency of distance learning graduates a tracer study of nursing graduates of the national open university of nigeria noun |
topic | tracer study noun graduate nurses professional competency employer expectation |
url | https://openpraxis.org/articles/448 |
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