Can Item Keyword Feedback Help Remediate Knowledge Gaps?

• In Event: 72.031 - Assessment of Learners in Educational Programs for the Professions

Abstract

Testing can be used not just to measure the amount of content mastered, but also to facilitate learning and identify of areas of strength and weakness. In postgraduate medical education, learning from assessment results can be important to guiding professional development when the assessment and feedback mechanisms can support a formative model. When individuals cannot directly access the test questions / responses, one way of creating a formative component to high-stakes assessment is to provide item keyword feedback. The provision of keyword feedback appears, in preliminary results, to help examinees to identify areas of weakness within the context of a training examination given to physicians completing sub-specialty training.

Authors

• Richard A. Feinberg, National Board of Medical Examiners

• Amanda Clauser, National Board of Medical Examiners