Assessment of Effectiveness of Formative Assessment on Academic Excellence among Paramedical Students

 

Prof. N. Meenakumari

Principal, JIET College of Nursing, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.

 

ABSTRACT:

Introduction: Evaluation is the process of examining a program or process to determine what's working, what's not, and why. It determines the value of learning and training programs and acts as blueprints for judgment and improvement. The goal of formative assessment is to gather feedback that can be used by the students to guide improvements in learning context. Objectives: (1) to analyze the effectiveness of formative assessment on academic excellence of paramedical Students. Materials and Methods: Observational Retrospective study was done. Cohort of 38 paramedical students studying Bachelor of Nursing course was selected and their baseline data was obtained. Mark register was scrutinized to extract weekly Exam and university exam marks. Grading of 5 kept as optimum level both marks were graded in 10 point scale. Results: The computed result shows that there is a positive correlation between formative and university exam results in all subjects namely Anatomy Physiology, Nutrition Biochemistry, Psychology, and Microbiology , Secondly there is a significant positive association between weekly and university Examination  marks in all subjects, but contradictory Psychology subject has no association Conclusions: The result shown that there is a positive correlation between formative and university exam results which indicates that a student scored high in weekly exams has a possibility of getting High marks in their university exams. The study findings explored that ongoing formative assessment and proving feedback serve as bench mark for students to improve their learning context, which promotes deeper understanding of subjects and shine with excellence in academics. Recommendations: (1)Encourage the students to identify their strength and weakness in learning to achieve optimum level academic performance. (2)Teachers also can improve their teaching by getting feedback in ongoing assessment. (3)Formative examination reduces the burden to students in preparing their university exams. (4)Formative assessment enhances “learning is a Joy”.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Evaluation is the process of examining a program or process to determine what's working, what's not, and why. It determines the value of learning and training programs and acts as blueprints for judgment and improvement. (Rossett, Sheldon, 2001) A formative assessment (sometimes referred to as internal) is a method for judging the worth of a program while the program activities are forming (in progress). The goal of formative assessment is to gather feedback that can be used by the instructor and the students to guide improvements in the ongoing teaching and learning context. Academic excellence was assessed in India usually by a summative examination conducted in end of each academic year. Students were placed in distinction class, I division, II division, and III division/Pass class based upon their obtained marks.

 

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

Harrison Cj (2016) done a study on Factors influencing students’ receptivity to formative feedback suggested that Students should be enabled to have greater control over assessment and feedback processes, which should be as authentic as possible and Effective long-term mentoring facilitates this process. Formative assessment with a genuine impact on learning is complex and quite a challenge to both students and Teachers. Increased acceptability along with the effective implementation of Formative Assessment structure, individual perspectives on feedback, a supportive learning environment and credibility of feedback are all important in this process. Sharma s (2016) Smartphone-based application of formative testing is an effective and attractive intervention to stimulate study behavior and improve study performance in (bio) medical students (ameris, Anke) A study among 1 year Medical students explored that More frequent participation in formative tests was correlated to higher scores in the summative exam with no difference between daily and weekly quizzes. This effect was found for thorax-abdomen and ‘control’ trunk wall questions. Participation in weekly quizzes was higher (p < 0.001). All survey responses showed a significant difference in favor of the weekly quiz (p < 0.001) further study concluded that Participation in formative quizzes was correlated to summative exam scores. (Palmen, Leonieke N) online formative assessment on summative performance in integrated musculoskeletal system module concluded that the use of computer based formative test with automated feedback improved the performance of the students with better academic background in the summative assessment.( Mitra, Nilesh Kumar),thus the formative assessment played a significant role in their academic performance

OBJECTIVES:

Aim: to analyze the effectiveness of formative assessment on academic excellence of Students.

The study was intended

1.    to assess the marks obtained by students in formative assessment.

2.    to assess the marks obtained by students in university exam

3.    To associate marks obtained in both formative assessment and university exams by students.

 

 

MATERIALS AND METHOD:

An observational Retrospective cohort study was done to analyze the effectiveness of formative assessment on academic excellence among students.

 

SAMPLE:

Cohort consists of 38 paramedical students completed I year Bachelor of Nursing course successfully.

Inclusion Criteria

1.    Students completed 18 years of age.

2.    Student’s attendance above 75% in I year.

3.    Students completed I year of university examination successfully in first attempt.

 

Exclusion Criteria:

1.    Students suffered with any of Serious Medical Illness in assessed academic Year

2.    Course discontinued students

3.    Students not appeared their university exam for any reason.

 

INSTRUMENT:

Instrument consists of 2 sections:

Section 1: Baseline Data

 

Section 2: 10 point Grading scale .

 

(a)Formative assessment -Weekly exam marks obtained by students in each considered subjects.

(b)Academic excellence was assessed by considering the marks obtained by students in university exam excluding their internal marks.

 

Marks obtained in both weekly and university exams were converted to 10 point grading scale for comparison by keeping ≥5 as optimum level.

 

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE:

The study was carried out after obtaining Institutional Ethics committee clearance, informed consent from I year students and formal permission also obtained from the Director General of Institutions to scrutinize their Record from Oct 2015 to Sep-2016. Brief introduction about study was given and informed consent had obtained. base line date were obtained from students.3 High Scored weekly Test Marks of each considered subject of I year were aggregated and graded in 10 point Scale. Annual Exam Marks also aggregated and graded in 10 scales. Grading of 5 kept as optimum level and student’s marks were analyzed.

 

RESULTS:

Section- A: - Base line data of students

Table-1 Shows most of the students studied in their mother Tongue (71%),coming as Days scholar (74%)and less students only staying in Hostel run by Institution.

Table-1 Baseline Data of Students N-38

 

Section: B Effectiveness of formative assessment on academic excellence among students

Table-2 comparison of formative assessment and university exam  N=38

Table:2 shows that there is a positive correlation between formative and university exam marks obtained by students

 

Table-3 Association of formative and university exam

Table: 3 shows there is positive association between results of weekly and Annual Examination in Nutrition and Biochemistry and Microbiology subjects, but Psychology has no association.

 

DISCUSSION:

This chapter discusses the findings of the study derived from the statistical analysis and its pertinence to the objectives of the study. This study was conducted to estimate an effectiveness of formative assessment on academic excellence.

 

1.    Comparison between marks obtained in formative assessment and university exams.:

The computed result in table 2 shows that there is a positive correlation between marks obtained in weekly and university exams in all subjects namely Anatomy Physiology, Nutrition Biochemistry, Psychology, and Microbiology, explored that there is a positive correlation between formative and university exam marks.

2.    Association of formative and university exam results.:

The computed result  in table -3 shows that there is a positive association between results of weekly and university Examination in Nutrition and Biochemistry and Microbiology subjects, but a contradictory Psychology subject has no association.

 

3.    Effectiveness of formative assessment on academic excellence :

The computed result in table 2,3 shows that there is a positive correlation between formative and university exam results in all subjects namely Anatomy and Physiology, Nutrition and Biochemistry, Psychology, and Microbiology , Secondly there is a significant positive association between weekly and university Examination  marks in all subjects, but contradictory Psychology subject has no association

 

CONCLUSION:

The result shown that there is a positive correlation between formative and university exam results which indicates that a student scored high in weekly exams has a possibility of getting High marks in their Annual exams The study findings explored that ongoing formative assessment and proving feedback serve as bench mark for students to improve their learning context, which promotes deeper understanding of subjects and shine with excellence in academics.

 

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.    Encourage the students to identify their strength and weakness to achieve optimum level academic performance.

2.    Teachers also can improve their teaching by getting feedback in ongoing assessment of students.

3.    Formative examination reduces the burden to students in preparing their annual exams.

4.    Formative assessment enhances “learning is a Joy”

 

REFERENCES:

1.     Anke l Lameris, Joost Gj Hoenderop, ReneJ. M Bindels, Thijis MH Eijsvogels The impact of formative testing on study behavior and study performance of medical students: a Smartphone application intervention study ,BMC Med Educ.2015;15:72

2.     Christopher J. Harrison, Karen D. Könings, Elaine F. Dannefer, Lambert W. T. Schuwirth, Valerie Wass, Cees P. M. van der Vleuten factors influencing students receptivity to formative feedback emerging from different assessment cultures , Perspect Med Educ.2016 Oct;5(5);276-284

3.     Leonieke N. Palmen, Marc A.T.M. Vorstenbosch, Esther Tanck, Jan G.M. Kooloos what is more effective: a daily or a weekly formative test? Perspect Med Educ.2015 Apr; 4(2):73-78

4.     Nilesh Kumar Mitra, Ankur Barua Effect of online formative assessment on summative performance in integrated musculoskeletal system module , BMC Med Educ.2015;15:29

5.     Niu Zhang, Charles N.R. Henderson can formative quizzes predict or improve summative exam performance Chiropr Educ.2015 Mar; 29(1):16-21

6.     Seema Sharma, Vipin Sharma, Milap Sharma, Bhanu Awasthi, Sanjeev Chaudhary, Formative assessment in postgraduate medical education –perceptions of students and teachers , Int JAppl Basic Med Res.2o15Aug;5(Suppl 1):S66-S70.

7.     Vanesa Bijol, Cathryn J. Byrne-Dugan, Melanie P. Hoenig Medical student web-based formative assessment tool for renal pathology Med Educ Online.2015; 20:10.3402

 

 

 

Received on 06.12.2016           Modified on 18.12.2016

Accepted on 13.01.2017         © A&V Publications all right reserved