392 Evaluation of Assessment Strategy on Student Retention of Knowledge in Sequential Animal Science Courses

Abstract

Abstract As students progress through their undergraduate education, information from previous classes culminate to lay a foundation for academic success in upper-level courses. However, there is a lack of evidence and implementation for formative assessment methods in undergraduate education. Traditional summative assessments are often cited as being high stress by students and are studied for by cramming material. Both high stress and cramming can reduce long-term knowledge retention in the average student, which is problematic when students need to retrieve this knowledge for future classes. Thus, our objective was to evaluate student knowledge retention coming from a prerequisite course divergent in assessment strategy and/or environment. The prerequisite course, ANEQ 328: Foundations of Animal Genetics, used either 4-unit exams or 16 weekly quizzes with identical questions to assess learning of course material. The course was either delivered in person or online, covered the same material, and all students received the same post-test at the end of the semester. Furthermore, in the quiz-based courses students were surveyed at the end of the semester to gather perceptions of learning with varying course formats. In the subsequent course, ANEQ 330: Principles of Animal Breeding, the same post-test from ANEQ 328 was given as a pre-test. On the pre-test, students were asked to indicate in which year and semester they completed ANEQ 328 so an assessment type and environment could be identified. Scores on the pre-test were analyzed as a measurement of retention across courses, and effects of time elapsed between courses, the type of assessment strategy used, and the physical environment in which the class was delivered were considered. Time between courses impacted retention, as students who took ANEQ 330 within two semesters of ANEQ 328 had higher scores (P < 0.05) than all other timepoints. Student retention was not different between students who took the prerequisite course online or in-person (7.65 ± 0.19 and 7.61 ± 0.23, respectively). Additionally, student retention was not impacted by whether the prerequisite course used quiz or exam-based assessment strategies (7.58 ± 0.16 and 7.89 ± 0.33, respectively). These data indicate that both assessment strategies are interchangeable when considering impacts on long-term retention; however, survey data showed that formative assessments, such as quizzes, are better received than summative assessments, as they help to ease testing anxiety, better pace student learning, and provide consistent feedback. Therefore, instructors may choose to use formative assessments to improve student perceptions of learning without impacting knowledge retention.