The value of computer based formative assessment in undergraduate biological science teaching

Pitt, Sarah J.; Gunn, Alan

doi:10.3108/beej.2004.03000002

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 12 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…A computer-based online formative assessment can be selfadministered and the student can assess himself or herself without the score being known to other students [12]. Computer-based assessment with a feedback process is beneficial for the learning process as it provides immediate feedback [13].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of quality of test items and students' perception of the online formative tests in Anatomy

Mitra¹,

Bindal²,

Koshy³

2015

J Contemp Med Edu

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Objectives: This study was planned to assess the quality of test items of online tests in Anatomy using quiz statistics indices of Moodle software and to compare the perception of the students of two consecutive cohorts towards the online formative tests in Anatomy. Methods: The study was conducted among two consecutive cohorts (n=45) of first year medical students in a medical school in Malaysia. Five online MCQ tests on different Anatomy topics were given during the 16 weeks time of semester 1. Using quiz report statistics, mean grade, facility index (FI, difficulty level) and discrimination index (DI) of the test items were computed. At the end of the semester, the students were given questionnaire to assess their perception. A descriptive cross sectional design was adopted, frequencies were calculated followed by crosstabulations and analyzed with Chi-square distribution test. Results: Except one test, mean FI of all the tests remained in the acceptable range of 30 to 80%. Mean grade in the consecutive tests changed proportional to the increase or decrease of the ease of the test items. Mean DI was found to be in acceptable range (0.3 or more) only in two tests in first cohort and three tests in second cohort. The study found 62% and 61% of students in first and second cohort agreed that online tests helped them to understand position of preparation in Anatomy. No significant difference was observed between the perceptions of students of two consecutive cohorts towards the online test helping their preparation in Anatomy (Chisquare test, P=0.092). Conclusion: Automated quiz statistics of Moodle software can be used to assess the difficulty and discrimination levels of the test items in online formative tests. The study also reflected a positive perception of the majority of year 1 medical students towards the online formative assessment in Anatomy.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of quality of test items and students' perception of the online formative tests in Anatomy

Mitra¹,

Bindal²,

Koshy³

2015

J Contemp Med Edu

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“…However, summative online CBA has not been widely adopted for a number of important reasons (Pitt & Gunn, 2004;Ward, Gordon, Field, & Lehmann, 2001;Thelwall, 2000). One factor is that the overall preparation and delivery of web-based assessments may be unfamiliar to academic staff and another is that the examination itself may require different administrative arrangements from an equivalent paper-based examination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…CBA can be delivered: (a) using stand alone machines; (b) using a local area network of machines; or (c) using an intranet or internet. For students in higher education, CBA has many advantages (Pitt & Gunn, 2004). The most obvious of these is that a computer can achieve very rapid, objective, anonymous and accurate marking.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computer-based, online summative assessment in undergraduate pharmacy teaching: The Manchester experience

Aojula¹,

Barber²,

Cullen³

et al. 2006

Pharmacy Educ.

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Computer-based assessment (CBA) has many advantages for staff and students in higher education. Although we have successfully used diagnostic and formative CBA for a number of years, the introduction of summative assessments raised additional concerns about development time, academic rigour, security and organisation. To explore these issues, a pilot study was set up to assess the running of online (summative) CBA for 240 students taking a first year course in Cell Biology and Biochemistry. We have compared the scores obtained from computer-based marking, with those obtained from: (a) optical mark readers; and (b) traditional hand-marking of scripts. Computer-based marking of text matching questions was initially compromised by spelling errors but these were reduced to an acceptable (, 1%) level by introducing an online subject-specific list of correctly-spelled options. The development and evaluation of secure online examination procedures is also discussed. We conclude that, with these improvements, online CBA can be used successfully for a range of summative assessments in undergraduate Pharmacy courses.

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Effect of online formative assessment on summative performance in integrated musculoskeletal system module

Mitra

Barua

2015

BMC Med Educ

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BackgroundThe impact of web-based formative assessment practices on performance of undergraduate medical students in summative assessments is not widely studied. This study was conducted among third-year undergraduate medical students of a designated university in Malaysia to compare the effect, on performance in summative assessment, of repeated computer-based formative assessment with automated feedback with that of single paper-based formative assessment with face-to face feedback.MethodsThis quasi-randomized trial was conducted among two groups of undergraduate medical students who were selected by stratified random technique from a cohort undertaking the Musculoskeletal module. The control group C (n = 102) was subjected to a paper-based formative MCQ test. The experimental group E (n = 65) was provided three online formative MCQ tests with automated feedback. The summative MCQ test scores for both these groups were collected after the completion of the module.ResultsIn this study, no significant difference was observed between the mean summative scores of the two groups. However, Band 1 students from group E with higher entry qualification showed higher mean score in the summative assessment. A trivial, but significant and positive correlation (r2 = +0.328) was observed between the online formative test scores and summative assessment scores of group E. The proportionate increase of performance in group E was found to be almost double than group C.ConclusionThe use of computer based formative test with automated feedback improved the performance of the students with better academic background in the summative assessment. Computer-based formative test can be explored as an optional addition to the curriculum of pre-clinical integrated medical program to improve the performance of the students with higher academic ability.

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The value of computer based formative assessment in undergraduate biological science teaching

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

Analysis of quality of test items and students' perception of the online formative tests in Anatomy

Analysis of quality of test items and students' perception of the online formative tests in Anatomy

Computer-based, online summative assessment in undergraduate pharmacy teaching: The Manchester experience

Effect of online formative assessment on summative performance in integrated musculoskeletal system module

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