Perception and Validity of Online Formative Oral Assessment in Surgical Trainees: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Online oral assessments have been poorly studied in medical education. This study aims to assess the perception of the online oral assessment strategy for formative purposes.Objective: To explore the perception of trainees and examiners on their experience of online oral assessment.Methods: Online oral assessments were conducted using the Zoom platform (Zoom Video Communications, Inc., San Jose, California, United States) over a period of six days. Each candidate was examined by two examiners and formative feedback was provided at the same time. At the end of the course, participants were asked to fill out an online questionnaire regarding their perception of this online platform for oral assessment. Results: A total of 192 participants were included in this study as examiners (n=48), candidates (n=53), and observers (n=91). The overall impression of the organization and accessibility of the model was found favorable with a generally lower degree of perceived anxiety in this format. Major limitations faced by participants included technical difficulties (n=84), linguistic issues (n=37), and failure to observe body language (n=38). Using the Joughin matrix, this model of online oral assessment was found as a fair and valid assessment tool with relatively low reliability.Conclusions: The online oral assessment model has been found to be a reliable and valid method of formative assessment. Further work could be done on this model to assess its potential for summative purposes.