Assessment of an online open-book examination in postgraduate dentistry

© 2023 The Authors. European Journal of Dental Education published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd..

AIM: To investigate the impact of changing from in-person written assessments to open-book online assessments and assess grade inflation, student preferences and potential cheating.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Data from the Master of Clinical Dentistry in Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics (MClinDent FRP) postgraduate programme in dentistry was analysed. A comparison was made between the results from 3 years of traditional format written examinations (2017-2019) and the same examinations in an open-book online format over 2 years (2020 and 2021).

RESULTS: A comparison of assignment grades (all in open-book online format) over the 5 years 2017-2021 showed no significant difference in mean grades, suggesting the academic ability of each cohort was similar. The examination results increased by 2.5% (2020) and 1.9% (2021) compared with the equivalent data from 2017 to 2019. This shows modest grade inflation, which was highly significant (t 4.73, df 937, p < .00001) due to the change in format but suggests that no widespread collusion was taking place to raise the grades. Student feedback strongly endorsed the open-book online format and was of the opinion that it was less stressful.

CONCLUSIONS: The move to open-book examinations was supported by student feedback, and the comparison of results, while showing an expected grade inflation, did not provide evidence that cheating was taking place through enhanced examination grades.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:28

Enthalten in:

European journal of dental education : official journal of the Association for Dental Education in Europe - 28(2024), 2 vom: 12. Apr., Seite 447-451

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Millar, Brian [VerfasserIn]
Hussain, Fariha [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Dentistry
Examinations
Grades
Journal Article
Online
Open book

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 19.04.2024

Date Revised 19.04.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1111/eje.12967

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM364563036