Students' motives for using online formative assessments when preparing for summative assessments
Renske A M De Kleijn1, Rianne A M Bouwmeester, Magda M J Ritzen
1Utrecht University , The Netherlands.
Medical Teacher
|September 21, 2013
Summary
Students use online formative assessments (OFAs) to gather feedback for learning. Reasons for not using OFAs include time constraints and prior completion, highlighting student and course-related factors.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Physiology Education
Background:
- Formative assessments aim to enhance student learning through feedback.
- Online formative assessments (OFAs) are linked to improved student exam performance.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate student motivations for utilizing or neglecting available online formative assessments.
- Understand factors influencing student engagement with OFAs in a physiology course.
Main Methods:
- A mixed-methods approach using open and closed questionnaires was employed.
- Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on data from 147 undergraduate physiology students.
- Three online formative assessments with feedback were provided.
Main Results:
- Student reasons for using OFAs were categorized into collecting 'feed up,' 'feed forward,' and 'feed back' information.
- Primary reasons for non-usage included time limitations and prior exposure to assessment content.
- Factors influencing OFA use are multifaceted, involving student, instructor, and assessment design elements.
Conclusions:
- Student engagement with OFAs is driven by the pursuit of different types of learning information.
- Barriers to OFA use are diverse, encompassing student-related, teacher-related, and mode-related factors.
- Understanding these reasons is crucial for optimizing the effectiveness of online formative assessments in higher education.
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