Retention following Two-Stage Collaborative Exams Depends on Timing and Student Performance

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Multistage collaborative exams aim to improve learning and retention.
• Existing research on collaborative exams and content retention shows varied results.
• Previous studies primarily used selected-response questions, not generated responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of collaborative exams with open-ended questions on course content retention.
• To assess retention at short (9 days) and long (23 days) intervals.
• To examine retention differences among low-, mid-, and high-performing students.

Main Methods:

• Implemented multistage collaborative exams featuring only open-ended questions.
• Measured content retention at 9 and 23 days post-exam.
• Analyzed retention data based on student performance categories.

Main Results:

• Collaborative exams demonstrated retention benefits over longer intervals (23 days), but not shorter ones (9 days).
• Content retention varied significantly across different student performance levels (low, mid, high).
• The study, using solely open-ended questions, found smaller effects than studies with multiple-choice formats.

Conclusions:

• Collaborative exams with open-ended questions can support long-term content retention.
• The timing of retention measurement and student performance are critical factors.
• While effects may be modest, collaborative exams remain a valuable tool for aiding content retention.