The design, development and evaluation of an online, interactive, formative assessment tool for medical education.

Abstract

Rapid changes in medical practices used across the world over the last twenty years have lead to significant issues in allowing medical students’ access to patients with commonly occurring conditions. Equally significant changes in medical education systems have stressed the need for more authentic, problem solving curricula. One of the methods that can be used to address this apparent disconcordance between education and clinical practice is the use of technology to give students access to pedagogically sound learning activities. Online formative assessment using case-based scenarios provides students with the ability to assess their own progress in their studies in their own time and at their own pace. Supplemented by sufficient relevant images and video, students can experience an authentic means of assessment that can be used to complement their ward-based education. This thesis discusses the need for such online formative assessment systems and details the design, development and evaluation of such a system. The conclusion from this research is that with appropriate assessment strategies, students can be motivated to use online formative assessment for learning activities. It will be shown that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that such systems can be used to improve student outcomes in their field of interest, in this case Surgery.