MEDEV

School of Medical Sciences Education Development

Introduction to on-line diagnostic, formative and summative assessments

Date: 1 day event - 29 Mar 2007

Aims

The aim of this workshop is to enable participants to make more effective use of on-line assessment for diagnostic, formative and summative assessments purposes.

Activities

This event is a mixture of demonstrations, group discussion, paper exercises and hands-on in a dedicated IT room.

Participants will have the opportunity experience on-line assessments as test takers and authors but detailed technical considerations or training in assessment software are not part of this session. Issues relating to question writing, the importance of writing good questions and use of performance data will be discussed.
During this event participants will have the opportunity to:
? Consider the types of assessment they currently use (group activity)
? Take on-line assessments created with commercial and open-source software (Question Mark Perception, TOIA)
? See examples of simple and complex question formats
? Write and criticise questions for on-line delivery (paper group exercise)
? Create questions for on-line delivery (IT laboratory)
? See examples of performance data obtained during assessments
? Gain an overview of creating and managing assessments
? Discuss issues surrounding running summative examinations (security, process: question creation/checking and validation)
? Consider the advantages and disadvantages of using on-line assessment
Participants are invited to bring examples from their current practice: exam questions (formative, past paper or specimen exam) as text files with graphics (jpg) to use to create questions for on-line use.

Proposed outcomes

This workshop will help participants to:
? recognise the value of on-line assessment
? identify the differences resulting from the differing requirements of diagnostic, formative and summative on-line assessment
? experience on-line assessment both as test takers and authors
? identify the criteria involved in creating and evaluating questions
? convert existing paper-based questions for on-line assessment
? use multimedia on-line assessment tools to create rich learning environments
? distinguish between good and bad question writing
? manage assessments and assessment software
? understand the concept of metadata, question banks and security

Facilitators & Speakers

• John Morris - Co-facilitator

Facilitator background

Dr Vivien Sieber has a wide range of experience in teaching and promoting e-learning in both new and traditional universities and has used e-assessment in formative and summative assessments for over 10 years. Professor John Morris is the Director of PreClinical studies at the University of Oxford and has been instrumental in running the first on-line examinations in Principles of Clinical Anatomy for the University. Dr Damion Young has experience of running on-line assessments formative and summative assessments in the Medical Sciences Division.

Target audience

This workshop may be of interest to any staff involved with the assessment of medical, dental or veterinary students.

Venue & Location

Resources

---