Influence of Online Formative Assessment Upon Student Learning in Biomedical Science Courses

Abstract

Research suggests that high-quality formative assessment has a strongly positive effect upon student learning. Unfortunately, formative assessment does not appear to be frequently used in didactic dental curricula. Our hypothesis was that providing students with practice online exam questions would enable those who voluntarily took the exam to perform better on subsequent summative exams than did students who did not utilize this opportunity. A test bank of exam questions was written for dental students enrolled in two different biomedical science courses. Half the questions were arbitrarily assigned to an electronic test site; the other half were used as a written summative classroom exam taken later. Students who took the online formative exam in the first semester course scored 8.8 percent higher on the summative exam than did those who did not take the practice exam. This represents almost a full letter grade higher for the formative exam-takers. Students who took the formative online exam in the second semester course scored 5.2 percent higher on the summative exam than did the non-takers. Both of these differences were statistically significant. Under these experimental circumstances, providing formative online exams appeared to promote student performance as reflected by higher scores on the summative exams.

Can formative quizzes predict or improve summative exam performance?*

“…8 Students must view formative assessments as relatively ''low-stake'' or ''nonthreatening'' for them to be effective. 8,11,12 Therefore, formative assessments usually are voluntary, with little or no impact on course credit. 8,12 It is recommended that instructors should follow formative assessments with specific guidance and remedial instruction for students who demonstrate serious deficiencies in understanding, knowledge, or competence.…”

“…Despite their wide use, the value of formative exams remains unclear. Haberyan, 7 and Brothen and Wambach 13 reported that formative assessments did not enhance overall learning outcomes, while Kibble, 11 Olson and McDonald, 12 and Buchanan 14 reported significant improvements. Although this issue has been examined in dental 12 and medical 15 curricula, we did not find similar studies in chiropractic education programs.…”

The Effect of Online Formative Self-Assessment on Academic Performance of Chiropractic Students

“…First of all, students must be present together at one specific place and time. Secondly, providing students with individualized feedback can be virtually impossible, considering students' and instructors' busy schedules (Olson & McDonald, 2004). Other limitations include a cumbersome process of item analysis of question reliability and validity, lack of interactiveness, and loss of quality of image quality when printed on paper (Velan, Kumar, Dziegielewski, & Wakefield, 2002).…”

A progressive assessment strategy improves student learning and perceived course quality in undergraduate physiology

“…They also noted that it was not possible to infer a causal relationship, but we speculate that perhaps participation in the formative assessment is indicative of a greater commitment to learning on the part of the student, which contributes to their better final outcome. This "self-selection" of students electing to take the formative assessment was also suggested to underlie a similar effect in an earlier study in dentistry students (25). To obviate this possible confounding factor, we made the formative assessment have a summative component and participation compulsory.…”