The effect of access to electronic resources during examination on medical and dental students scores in summative assessment: quasi experimental study

BMC Medical Education

Research

Shatha Al-Sharbatti¹  Manda Venkatramana²  Salah Eldin Kassab³  Hossam Hamdy⁴ 

[1] Community Medicine Department, College of Medicine, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE;Consultant Surgeon, Thumbay Hospital, Ajman, UAE;Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE;Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt;Physiology and Medical Education, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE;Surgery and Medical Education, Gulf Medical University, Ajman, UAE;

关键词: E-resources;    Score;    Test;    Cognitive-level;    Students;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12909-022-03904-8

 received in 2022-03-22, accepted in 2022-11-17,  发布年份 2022

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAccess to electronic (E) resources has become an indispensable requirement in medical education and practice.ObjectiveOur objective was to assess the effect of E-resources access during examination on end-course-exam scores of medical and dental students.MethodsA quasi-experimental study which included two cohorts of medical (n = 106 & 85) and three cohorts of dental students (n = 66, 64 and 69) who took end-course- exams. Each exam was composed of two- parts (Part I and II), that encompassed equal number of questions and duration. Access to E-resources was allowed in part-II only. Items Difficulty Index (DI), Discrimination Index, (DisI), Point Biserial, (PBS) and cognitive level were determined.ResultsThe study included 390 students. The proportion of items at various levels of DI, DisI, and PBS and the average values for item DI, DisI in both parts of each exam were comparable. The average scores in part-II were significantly higher than part-I (P < 0.001, < 0.001 and 0.04) and lower-order cognitive-level items scores were higher in three exams (P < 0.0001, 0.0001, 0.0001). Higher- order cognitive level items scores were comparable between part I and II in all courses. The significant factor for change in marks were questions cognitive level and type of the course.ConclusionAccess to E-resources during examination does not make a significant difference in scores of higher-order cognitive level items. Question cognitive level and course type were the significant factors for the change in exam scores when accessing E-resources. Time-restricted E-resources accessed tests that examine higher cognitive level item had no significant academic integrity drawback.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2022