School of Pharmacy, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, 9054, New Zealand.
College of Pharmacy, Qatar University, PO Box 2713, Doha, Qatar.
Res Social Adm Pharm. 2021 Sep;17(9):1645-1649. doi: 10.1016/j.sapharm.2020.12.009. Epub 2020 Dec 22.
The concept of mental workload is well studied from a learner's perspective but has yet to be better understood from the perspective of an assessor. Mental workload is largely associated with cognitive load theory, which describes three different types of load. Intrinsic load deals with the complexity of the task, extraneous load describes distractors to the task at hand, and germane load focuses on the development of schemas in working memory for future recall. Studies from medical education show that all three types of load are relevant when considering rater -based assessment (e.g. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs), or experiential training). Assessments with high intrinsic and extraneous load may interfere with assessors' attention and working memory and result in poorer quality assessment. Reducing these loads within assessment tasks should therefore be a priority for pharmacy educators. This commentary aims to provide a theoretical overview of mental workload in assessment, outline research findings from the medical education context, and propose strategies to be considered for reducing mental workload in rater-based assessments relevant to pharmacy education. Suggestions for future research are also addressed.
从学习者的角度来看，心理工作量的概念已经得到了很好的研究，但从评估者的角度来看，还需要更好地理解。心理工作量与认知负荷理论密切相关，该理论描述了三种不同类型的负荷。内在负荷涉及任务的复杂性，附加负荷描述了手头任务的干扰因素，相关负荷则专注于工作记忆中模式的发展，以便将来回忆。医学教育的研究表明，在考虑基于评分者的评估（例如客观结构化临床考试（OSCEs）或经验性培训）时，这三种负荷都很重要。内在负荷和外在负荷高的评估可能会干扰评分者的注意力和工作记忆，并导致评估质量下降。因此，在评估任务中减轻这些负荷应该是药学教育者的首要任务。本评论旨在提供评估中心理工作量的理论概述，概述医学教育背景下的研究结果，并提出在与药学教育相关的基于评分者的评估中减轻心理工作量应考虑的策略。还讨论了未来研究的建议。
