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    Beyond right or wrong: More effective feedback for formative multiple-choice tests

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    Author
    Ryan, A; Judd, T; Swanson, D; Larsen, DP; Elliott, S; Tzanetos, K; Kulasegaram, K
    Date
    2020-08-12
    Source Title
    Perspectives on Medical Education
    Publisher
    SPRINGERNATURE
    University of Melbourne Author/s
    Ryan, Anna; Judd, Terry
    Affiliation
    Medical Education
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Document Type
    Journal Article
    Citations
    Ryan, A., Judd, T., Swanson, D., Larsen, D. P., Elliott, S., Tzanetos, K. & Kulasegaram, K. (2020). Beyond right or wrong: More effective feedback for formative multiple-choice tests. PERSPECTIVES ON MEDICAL EDUCATION, 9 (5), pp.307-313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40037-020-00606-z.
    Access Status
    Open Access
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/11343/251529
    DOI
    10.1007/s40037-020-00606-z
    Abstract
    INTRODUCTION: The role of feedback in test-enhanced learning is an understudied area that has the potential to improve student learning. This study investigates the influence of different forms of post-test feedback on retention and transfer of biomedical knowledge within a test-enhanced learning framework. METHODS: 64 participants from a Canadian and an Australian medical school sat two single-best-answer formative multiple choice tests one week apart. We compared the effects of conceptually focused, response-oriented, and simple right/wrong feedback on a learner's ability to correctly answer new (transfer) questions. On the first test occasion, participants received parent items with feedback, and then attempted items closely related (near transfer) to and more distant (far transfer) from parent items. In a repeat test at 1 week, participants were given different near and far transfer versions of parent items. Feedback type, and near and far transfer items were randomized within and across participants. RESULTS: Analysis demonstrated that response-oriented and conceptually focused feedback were superior to traditional right/wrong feedback for both types of transfer tasks and in both immediate and final retention test performance. However, there was no statistically significant difference between response-orientated and conceptually focused groups on near or far transfer problems, nor any differences in performance between our initial test occasion and the retention test 1 week later. As with most studies of transfer, participants' far transfer scores were lower than for near transfer. DISCUSSION: Right/wrong feedback appears to have limited potential to augment test-enhanced learning. Our work suggests that item-level feedback and feedback that identifies and elaborates on key conceptual knowledge are two important areas for future research on learning, retention and transfer.

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