A computer-assisted examination resource

A computer program (MICHELE) has been written to facilitate preparation by medical faculty of reference examination questions based on a 'core curriculum'. Questions may be used by faculty to test student command of coursework and by students at their initiative to assess their progress. Students may also use the program to direct their future studies according to computer-generated suggestions. MICHELE is a medical-instructional, computer-handled evaluation and learning enhancement system which consists of access, executive, author-instruction, student and statistics subsystems. These subsystems guarantee security of the data base, generate examinations according to category, difficulty and format (true--false, multiple choice, case history), generate practice sessions for students and student self-tests, and analyze the individual and cumulative results of examination and self-test sessions. The program is directed primarily toward evaluation of performance and instruction in the clinical disciplines; in this setting it is desirable to develop a sequence of unique, equally weighted examinations throughout the academic year and, at the same time, encourage mastery of core material encompassed in the data base. MICHELE is written in CDC FORTRAN IV and utilizes an indexed sequential file organization for the data.