Evaluation of a Flipped Examination Model Implemented in a Final-Year Undergraduate Pharmacotherapeutics Course

Abstract

Objective. To assess final-year pharmacy students' performance and evaluate their experience in a "flipped exam" versus a "traditional exam" for an advanced clinical pharmacy course.Methods. The students devised the multiple choice questions that comprised the flipped exam. Biggs revised 2-factor Study Process Questionnaire was administered before and after the exam to assess any possible changes in the students' perceptions of their level of engagement in the learning process. Focus groups discussions were also conducted to further gauge the students' feedback and insights into the flipped examination experience.Results. Changes in mean total study process scores, at the deep and surface levels of learning, were statistically significant. The flipped exam experience was enjoyable, facilitated a less-stressful learning environment, and improved the students' learning satisfaction, knowledge, and assessment marks. Conclusion. The flipped exam model represents an innovative instructional approach that, ifpedagogically designed and implemented, could potentially bring about significant educational gains.

An Integrative Review of Approaches Used to Assess Course Interventions

“…20,26,27,33,34 In a few cases where the course intervention was limited to a certain part of the course the metric used to assess academic performance was not the entire assessment but the score on a group of questions that were related to the intervention. 19,23,30 Final course letter grades 20,21,25 and the number or percentage of students who passed or failed examinations 21,22,31 were also used as metrics for academic performance. Examples of other, less common metrics that were used are overall first attempt passing rate on quizzes, 23 and quality of reflection activities.…”

“…Some of the studies in Table 3 that included survey administration collected basic demographic information such as the respondents' age and/or gender. 27,28,30,31,38,41,42,46 Several studies asked about past experiences related to the intervention, 27,30,32,33,41,42 such as prior participation in a course that may have provided background information to the students. 46,47 An advantage of a report regarding demographics 3 is that it enables a better understanding regarding the generalizability of the study, 5 in particular when studies regarding a course intervention by nature almost always describe a course in one institution, with only one exception in the articles that we analyzed.…”

“…7 Student evaluations may also play a role in the assessment of course interventions. The three major approaches in the description of student evaluations were to generally describe the evaluations as a whole or in part; 15,22,24,30,36 to present evaluation scores; and/or to delineate the students' written comments. In the presentation of evaluation scores, various studies provided different metrics, such as one score that averaged all items regarding the instructor 20,21 or the course; 20,26,32 average scores for different items regarding the course 24,28,29,32 or both the course and the instructor; 25,36,49 or average scores for one item regarding the course.…”

“…In the presentation of evaluation scores, various studies provided different metrics, such as one score that averaged all items regarding the instructor 20,21 or the course; 20,26,32 average scores for different items regarding the course 24,28,29,32 or both the course and the instructor; 25,36,49 or average scores for one item regarding the course. 15,30 In the presentation of student comments the main approaches were to provide a summary of the comments, 20-22, 24, 26, 30 excerpts from the comments, 25,26,28,29,44 or both. 49 One study, which collected student evaluations from seven years, conducted a qualitative thematic analysis to excerpts from student evaluations 29 as mentioned above for responses to free-text items in surveys.…”

“…Qualitative methods utilized can generally be divided into those that rely on written documentation, which was more commonly used, and those where the information was collected through interaction with students, such as interviews 39,42 or focus groups. 30,48 Documents used for qualitative analysis were student reflections, 43,48 student responses to free-text items in surveys, 12,15,16 and student evaluations as mentioned above. 29 In one study, student responses to free-text items in their evaluations were compared to results obtained from focus groups.…”