Adaptation to Open-Book Online Examination During the COVID-19 Pandemic

J Surg Educ. 2021 May-Jun;78(3):737-739. doi: 10.1016/j.jsurg.2020.08.046. Epub 2020 Sep 2.

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 altered medical education systems worldwide as many medical schools quickly changed to online assessment systems. However, the feasibility of online assessment and how it compares to traditional examinations is unclear.

Methods: We compared 4th year medical students' online surgery clerkship assessment scores to the traditional written examinations. The percent of correct scores using online open-book examination was compared to the results of the traditional closed-book examination in the previous three rotations. Additional correlation between grade point average(GPA) and examination performance were reviewed.

Results: Compared with the traditional groups, medical students who took the online, open-book examination had a significantly higher mean score in both MCQ(85.21 vs. 77.36, 72.43, 83.00, p<0.001) and essay examinations (187.36 vs. 158.77, 152.17, 152.29, p<0.001), but a significantly lower mean score in short answer examination (60.09 vs. 66.79, 67.73, 64.82, p<0.001). The online open-book examination group had a significantly lower correlation between the essay score and their GPA than the previous traditional groups (z=2.81 p=0.005, z=2.23 p=0.026, z=2.19 p=0.029).

Conclusion: Although an online, open-book examination was feasible during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study indicates that mean scores are significantly different which has important implications regarding grading and standard setting. More research is required to assess other effects of this new assessment on long-term knowledge retention and application.

Keywords: COVID-19; Medical education; Online examination; Open-book examination; Surgery clerkship education.

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19*
  • Clinical Clerkship*
  • Education, Medical, Undergraduate*
  • Educational Measurement
  • Humans
  • Pandemics
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Students, Medical*