Assessment in the context of problem-based learning.

Arguably, constructive alignment has been the major challenge for assessment in the context of problem-based learning (PBL). PBL focuses on promoting abilities such as clinical reasoning, team skills and metacognition. PBL also aims to foster self-directed learning and deep learning as opposed to rote learning.

Progress test utopia.

This paper discusses the advantages of progress testing. A utopia is described where medical schools would work together to develop and administer progress testing. This would lead to a significant reduction of cost, an increase in the quality of measurement and phenomenal feedback to learner and school.

On the issue of costs in programmatic assessment.

Programmatic assessment requires labour and cost intensive activities such as feedback in a quantitative and qualitative form, a system of learner support in guiding feedback uptake and self-directed learning, and a decision-making arrangement that includes committees of experts making a holistic professional judgment while using due process measures to achieve trustworthy decisions. This can only be afforded if we redistribute the resources of assessment in a curriculum. Several strategies are suggested.

Critical features of peer assessment of clinical performance to enhance adherence to a low back pain guideline for physical therapists: a mixed methods design.

Background: Clinical practice guidelines are intended to improve the process and outcomes of patient care. However, their implementation remains a challenge. We designed an implementation strategy, based on peer assessment (PA) focusing on barriers to change in physical therapy care.

Enhancing students' learning in problem based learning: validation of a self-assessment scale for active learning and critical thinking.

Background: Problem based learning (PBL) is a powerful learning activity but fidelity to intended models may slip and student engagement wane, negatively impacting learning processes, and outcomes. One potential solution to solve this degradation is by encouraging self-assessment in the PBL tutorial. Self-assessment is a central component of the self-regulation of student learning behaviours.

Effects of learning content in context on knowledge acquisition and recall: a pretest-posttest control group design.

Background: It is generally assumed that learning in context increases performance. This study investigates the relationship between the characteristics of a paper-patient context (relevance and familiarity), the mechanisms through which the cognitive dimension of context could improve learning (activation of prior knowledge, elaboration and increasing retrieval cues), and test performance.

Methods: A total of 145 medical students completed a pretest of 40 questions, of which half were with a patient vignette.

What would happen to education if we take education evidence seriously?

Educational practice and educational research are not aligned with each other. Current educational practice heavily relies on information transmission or content delivery to learners. Yet evidence shows that delivery is only a minor part of learning.

A model for programmatic assessment fit for purpose.

We propose a model for programmatic assessment in action, which simultaneously optimises assessment for learning and assessment for decision making about learner progress. This model is based on a set of assessment principles that are interpreted from empirical research. It specifies cycles of training, assessment and learner support activities that are complemented by intermediate and final moments of evaluation on aggregated assessment data points.