Adam, Siti Khadijah
(2020)
Exploring medical students' assessment experience in Universiti Putra Malaysia and Maastricht University from the programmatic assessment perspectives.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Programmatic assessment differs from the traditional approach of assessment
in terms of its subjective observation and emphasis on low-stake formative
assessments, feedback, reflection and the use of feedback to guide future learning.
The assessment approach is tailored to an individual learner and involves many
assessment data points to provide a holistic judgement of the learner. Thus, this study
was carried out to explore the experience of Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) students
and Maastricht University (UM) students in relation to programmatic assessment
during medical training. The similarities and differences in their perceived experience
pertaining to the assessment approach were investigated. A mixed-method research
design was adopted in which the Assessment Experience Questionnaire (AEQ)
version 4.0 was administered to 318 UPM students and 119 UM students to gain their
perceived assessment experience. Their perceptions were further explored in
individual semi-structured interviews conducted with 27 UPM students and 16 UM
students. The comparison of AEQ score was analysed using independent t-test in
IBM SPSS Statistics software version 23. Qualitative data were analysed using
thematic analysis in ATLAS.ti 8 software to generate categories and themes emerged
from the interviews. Based on the analysis, it was found that the students were able
to cope with their assessment demands and had intrinsic motivation to learn. UPM
students were inclined to put higher learning effort and a deeper approach to learning
compared to UM students. In contrast, UM students tend to be more appreciative of
the value of formative assessments and have higher understanding, albeit
moderately, on the standards of work required than UPM students. UPM students
highlighted that they rarely received feedback, yet, they appreciated the feedback
more than UM students. This study also revealed that the students from both
assessment approaches were concerned with the subjectivity and fairness of their
assessment system. The programmatic assessment approach was appreciated by
the students for its personalised learning and relevance for professional practice. On
the other hand, the traditional approach of assessment may be lacking in terms of
feedback opportunities, reflective skills as well as a holistic and authentic judgement
on students’ performance. Additionally, excessive volume of tasks, feedback and
reflection in an assessment system may cause exhaustion to the students. The
findings from this study demonstrated that assessment can cause a significant impact
on the students’ learning and that their perceptions are important when designing and
evaluating an assessment system.
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