Medical education has changed significantly in the last several years. Emphasis used to be placed on content, where exams would test on minutiae, which would be forgotten as quickly as it was memorized. Medical education today aims to teach communication, collaboration, self-directed learning, compassion, patient-centred care, leadership, health advocacy, and professionalism. Even in terms of content, the aim is to learn the “big-picture”, be able to take a situation and critically analyze it, develop a plan and execute. Given this change assessment methods must also change.
Traditionally, multiple choice examinations were the assessment method of choice. It can be administered to a large group of students at once and scoring can be performed electronically. Unfortunately, this method may not accurately test the student’s level of understanding, does not provide effective feedback and it would be difficult to assess attributes such as communication, collaboration, leadership etc. Herein lies the challenge. How do you assess all of these attributes, in over 100 students, and provide formative feedback that will inspire and motivate medical students to further their education? Can technology assist in this endeavor?
I think that some of these challenges can be addressed through technology. Testing higher level cognitive processes can be done by changing multiple choice questions to ones that are context rich. Making them short answer questions that can be marked electronically is also feasible. Feedback for these questions can also be provided through the use of technology. I understand that there are some programs that are able to score essays, which would not only assess knowledge and higher order thinking skills but also communication. Discussion forums are another way to assess communication and analytical skills. Online simulations would also be useful in these domains, but these would have to created, which requires more skills than I possess. And I’m sure there’s a lot of applications out there that I’m not aware of that could useful in assessment of medical students. I look forward to learning more about these as I progress in my career/education.