*1.3. Health Sciences Education (HSE) Practical Examination for Student Nurse Educators*

HSE is a specialised area that prepares students for a variety of careers related to medicine, dentistry and nursing. Assessment in HSE has become extremely critical, and learner assessment regimes need to have the capacity to accurately evaluate competences that include attitude, skills and the knowledge acquired during the training of healthcare professionals [20]. In South Africa, as in other countries, professional nurses who are intending to specialise in nursing education must undergo additional training at an accredited university in order to be registered as nurse educators with the South African Nursing Council (SANC) [21]. HSE is part of an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts in Nursing Science degree (BA CUR) qualification that consists of 10 modules including a one-year practical module with 12 credits [22]. The module aims "to enable students to practise the didactical skills of HSE in a simulated teaching environment" [22]. The training may take one to three years, depending on whether the intention is to acquire an advanced diploma only or a degree qualification that allows the graduates to practise as Nurse Educators post completion. The programme is offered via satellite transmission with limited face-to-face interaction with educators from an Open Distance e-Learning (ODeL) institution. In their study, [10] explored the effects of the length of online nurse educator courses and stated that online distance education is an effective strategy to increase nurses' access to nursing degrees and build program capacity.

Traditionally, the HSE practical examination involved face-to-face interactions conducted either in an actual or a simulated classroom, depending on the university requirements, and which take place through physical interaction between the student nurse educator, the students and the facilitator. It is common knowledge that the nursing education practical is primarily delivered through a traditional means of instruction, including face-to-face classroom instruction and clinical experiences in various practice settings [23]. Nursing education has been in alignment with the constructivist view, which believes that learning takes place via interaction with others [24], as cited by [25]. According to Summers (2017) [26], "teaching requires a skill set of its own". It is for that reason that learning how to teach and facilitate knowledge acquisition in nursing students requires preparation and additional formal education for nurse educators to be competent in their teaching role [26]. This preparation was previously conducted in face-to-face settings. However, as the need to maintain a safe physical distance during the pandemic rapidly increased, the online provision of health professions education accelerated technology adoption in academic settings [27]. The same method was adopted for the HSE practical examination.

The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive narrative review synthesising the opportunities and challenges presented by e-assessment in the HSE practical examination for student nurse educators during the pandemic. Furthermore, we aim to make recommendations as to how to overcome identified challenges and to promote identified opportunities.
