Department of Surgery, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Med Educ. 2012 Aug;46(8):757-65. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2923.2012.04289.x.
Many tests of medical knowledge, from the undergraduate level to the level of certification and licensure, contain multiple-choice items. Although these are efficient in measuring examinees' knowledge and skills across diverse content areas, multiple-choice items are time-consuming and expensive to create. Changes in student assessment brought about by new forms of computer-based testing have created the demand for large numbers of multiple-choice items. Our current approaches to item development cannot meet this demand.
We present a methodology for developing multiple-choice items based on automatic item generation (AIG) concepts and procedures. We describe a three-stage approach to AIG and we illustrate this approach by generating multiple-choice items for a medical licensure test in the content area of surgery.
To generate multiple-choice items, our method requires a three-stage process. Firstly, a cognitive model is created by content specialists. Secondly, item models are developed using the content from the cognitive model. Thirdly, items are generated from the item models using computer software. Using this methodology, we generated 1248 multiple-choice items from one item model.
Automatic item generation is a process that involves using models to generate items using computer technology. With our method, content specialists identify and structure the content for the test items, and computer technology systematically combines the content to generate new test items. By combining these outcomes, items can be generated automatically.
从本科到认证和许可考试的医学知识测试中，都包含多项选择题。尽管这些测试在不同的内容领域中高效地衡量了考生的知识和技能，但多项选择题的创建既耗时又昂贵。新形式的计算机化测试对学生评估的改变，导致了对大量多项选择题的需求。我们目前的项目开发方法无法满足这一需求。
我们提出了一种基于自动项目生成（AIG）概念和程序的多项选择题开发方法。我们描述了一种三阶段的 AIG 方法，并通过在手术内容领域的医学许可考试中生成多项选择题来说明这种方法。
为了生成多项选择题，我们的方法需要经过三个阶段。首先，由内容专家创建认知模型。其次，使用认知模型中的内容开发项目模型。最后，使用计算机软件从项目模型中生成项目。使用这种方法，我们从一个项目模型中生成了 1248 道多项选择题。
自动项目生成是一个使用模型通过计算机技术生成项目的过程。在我们的方法中，内容专家确定并构建测试项目的内容，而计算机技术则系统地组合内容以生成新的测试项目。通过结合这些结果，可以自动生成项目。
