Traditionally, paper-based examinations have been used for student evaluation at the CWRU School of Medicine. Over the past three years, we have developed a Computer-based Examination System to complete our Integrated Electronic Medical Curriculum. The system that will be demonstrated has the following features:

a. Secure test questions and statistical data of student performance on each question from old examinations were entered into an SQL database that is available to faculty and staff (password protected) on a secure Website;

b. Faculty responsible for creating a particular examination are given access to this web-based database from which they can select old questions and which allows them to create new questions;

c. Various multimedia features can be included in each question including color illustrations, virtual microscope slides, sound files, video clips, animations, etc.

d. Students (145/class) take examinations on their notebook computers while connected to the campus network. The system menu bar allows the students to easily navigate from question to question, mark questions that need revisiting before ending the exam, mark answers that are determined to be incorrect, and attach notes to questions for further consideration. The system contains a calculator and clock.

e. Immediately after ending the examination, student answers are transmitted through the campus network to the SQL server for compilation and statistical analysis. Within 30 minutes after the end of the exam, this information is available to the faculty for review. Problematic questions can be immediately deleted, multiple correct answers accepted, and re-grading accomplished instantaneously. Student scores can be ready for distribution within hours after the end of the examination.

f. Student scores are automatically made available to students by the examination system at a secure Website (password protected) when the faculty has decided to release the scores. Exam scores on all past examinations are available at this site.

g. The questions from the current year's examinations (including their statistical analysis) are automatically added to the databank of questions that will be used to construct the next year's examinations.

h. Reports regarding the performance of specific groups of students (e.g. students enrolled in the MD/Ph.D. program) are automatically generated by the system and made available to the appropriate faculty and administrators.

The 2001/2002 academic year was the first in which this system was instituted. Clear benefits of the system are the ease with which new examinations can be created, administered, analyzed, and student performance reported to faculty and students. Students have quickly adapted to the new way to take examinations. Faculty have begun to use the system to create and administer take-home quizzes and assignments. They appreciate the speed with which student performance is reported to them so that they can adjust material that is presented in lecture and small group settings. The ease with which these quizzes and assignments can be created and administered by the faculty has increased their number. Faculty report that as a result, students are coming to class better prepared to discuss the subject matter.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:  

The Computer-based Examination System created by the CWRU School of Medicine is transportable to other institutions that would like to reduce the effort required to create, administer, score, analyze, and disseminate student performance data. Creative faculty will find ways to use this system to improve the quality of examinations (adding multimedia features, etc.) and make them into formative as well as evaluative educational resources.

Thomas M. Nosek, Ph.D.
Associate Dean for Biomedical Information Technologies
Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
10900 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44106-4963
Phone: 216-368-3443
Fax: 216-368-3863
Email: tmnosek@aol.com