Centre for Teaching and Learning, Stellenbosch University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, South Africa.
Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2012 Mar;17(1):39-53. doi: 10.1007/s10459-011-9292-5. Epub 2011 Apr 3.
It has become axiomatic that assessment impacts powerfully on student learning. However, surprisingly little research has been published emanating from authentic higher education settings about the nature and mechanism of the pre-assessment learning effects of summative assessment. Less still emanates from health sciences education settings. This study explored the pre-assessment learning effects of summative assessment in theoretical modules by exploring the variables at play in a multifaceted assessment system and the relationships between them. Using a grounded theory strategy, in-depth interviews were conducted with individual medical students and analyzed qualitatively. Respondents' learning was influenced by task demands and system design. Assessment impacted on respondents' cognitive processing activities and metacognitive regulation activities. Individually, our findings confirm findings from other studies in disparate non-medical settings and identify some new factors at play in this setting. Taken together, findings from this study provide, for the first time, some insight into how a whole assessment system influences student learning over time in a medical education setting. The findings from this authentic and complex setting paint a nuanced picture of how intricate and multifaceted interactions between various factors in an assessment system interact to influence student learning. A model linking the sources, mechanism and consequences of the pre-assessment learning effects of summative assessment is proposed that could help enhance the use of summative assessment as a tool to augment learning.
评估对学生的学习有很大的影响，这已经是不言而喻的事实。然而，令人惊讶的是，很少有真正来自高等教育环境的研究发表，探讨总结性评估对学生学习的预先评估的性质和机制。在健康科学教育环境中，更是如此。本研究通过探讨多方面评估系统中的变量及其之间的关系，探讨了理论模块中总结性评估的预先评估学习效果。采用扎根理论策略，对个别医学生进行了深入访谈，并进行了定性分析。受访者的学习受到任务需求和系统设计的影响。评估影响了受访者的认知加工活动和元认知调节活动。我们的研究结果单独确认了其他在不同非医学环境中进行的研究的结果，并确定了在此环境中发挥作用的一些新因素。总的来说，这项研究的结果首次提供了一些关于整个评估系统如何在医学教育环境中随着时间的推移影响学生学习的见解。这项来自真实而复杂环境的研究结果描绘了评估系统中各种因素之间复杂而多方面的相互作用如何影响学生学习的微妙画面。提出了一个将总结性评估预先评估学习效果的来源、机制和后果联系起来的模型，该模型可以帮助更好地利用总结性评估作为增强学习的工具。
