Use of iPad and ExamSoft&[trade] in administering morphological sciences practical examination in an integrated curriculum

Abstract

At Cooper Medical School of Rowan University, morphological sciences are taught in an integrated organ system based curriculum. In the first year students in the last 8 weeks completed the skin, muscle and skeleton module. In the second year, the remainder of the organ systems is studied. Each practical exam includes cadaver, histology, pathology, radiology and embryology questions. As the class size has increased and with a limited number of faculty, manual grading of the practical exam had become onerous. Furthermore, manual grading challenged the validity and reliability of the assessment instrument. Therefore migration to an automated testing system was made. This move has proven to increase the validity, made the grading process more efficient and students are able to receive their practical exam scores faster with greater qualitative feedback than previous years. Recognizing the deficiency, the authors of the abstract met and operationalized the innovative system and purchased the required number of iPads through the Office of Medical Education. Student and faculty development using a mock exam was conducted. On the day of the practical exam, unique exam specific password was distributed to each student prior to the start of the practical. In addition, instructions were given on how to navigate, submit answers, and close out of the exam. IT personnel were on‐hand to solve technical problems. This poster will describe the step‐by‐step process of the approach, as well as present student and faculty perceptions.Support or Funding InformationThis study was supported by the Office of Medical Education.