Perception of medical students on real-time class evaluation using mobile phone survey system

The aim of this study is to investigate the advantage of real-time class evaluation over course evaluation in integrated courses and to explore the usefulness and availability of a mobile phone survey system as a real-time class evaluation tool.

In six integrated courses at the preclinical second year both course and class evaluations were performed. Class evaluations were carried out 206 times right after every class by a mobile phone survey system that depended on mobile phones to send information. A survey was performed to identify students' perception on real-time class evaluation and the mobile phone survey system.

The course evaluation score was found to have greater than 95% confidence interval of class evaluations at 5 of 6 courses. Class evaluations yielded more information on educational content and teaching strategy than course evaluations. A higher score was given in class evaluation regarding effectiveness on improving quality of education (3.77 vs. 2.15) and sincerity during evaluation (3.87 vs. 2.49). Of the three major evaluation tools, such as paper, web and mobile phone, majority of students preferred mobile phones especially in terms of accessibility (89%), familiarity (75.3%), and time (74%).

In integrated courses, real-time class evaluations could yield more information and better sincerity than course evaluations. Real-time class evaluations could be successfully performed through a mobile phone survey system compared with that of paper- or web-based methods.