Wilbanks Susan R, Schmitz Mikaely T
Samford University, Kinesiology, Birmingham, AL, USA.
Concordia University Wisconsin, Speech-Language Pathology, Mequon, WI, USA.
Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2025 Sep 4. doi: 10.1007/s10459-025-10472-1.
Written examinations are commonly used to assess learning. Different resources made available during testing (closed-note, open-note, and cheat-sheet) may influence student learning. The effect of resource availability on long-term knowledge application is unknown. Understanding the effects of exam resource availability on long-term knowledge application is needed, as application is essential in applied fields such as Occupational Therapy. To explore differences in short-term knowledge retention (course one overall score, midterm exam, and final exam) and long-term knowledge application (course two summative assessment) among occupational therapy students who had different types of exam resource availability during course one (closed-note, open-note, cheat-sheet). Data were extracted from four consecutive cohorts (n = 73) as they completed two sequential occupational therapy courses. Exam resource availability was the independent variable (k = 3), with course one midterm and final exams and overall course grade, and course two summative assessment grade as dependent variables. Kruskal-Wallis tests compared differences across conditions. Concerning short-term retention, no significant differences were observed between groups for course one midterm exam grade or overall course one grade. Course one final exam grades were significantly higher in the cheat sheet condition compared to closed note (3.9%, p = .009). Concerning long-term application as measured by the course two summative assessment grade, the closed note condition scored significantly higher than open note (6.25%, p = .01). No other comparisons were significantly different. In this sample we observed a small difference in short-term knowledge retention in favor of a cheat sheet condition and moderate difference in long-term application in favor of a closed note condition. While results suggest possible differences in performance across exam conditions, findings should be interpreted cautiously due to the small, convenience-based sample. This exploratory analysis offers preliminary insights and identifies directions for future research on the pedagogical impact of exam design.
书面考试常用于评估学习情况。考试期间提供的不同资源（闭卷、开卷和小抄）可能会影响学生的学习。资源可用性对长期知识应用的影响尚不清楚。由于应用在诸如职业治疗等应用领域至关重要，因此需要了解考试资源可用性对长期知识应用的影响。为了探究在课程一期间具有不同类型考试资源可用性（闭卷、开卷、小抄）的职业治疗专业学生在短期知识保留（课程一总成绩、期中考试和期末考试）和长期知识应用（课程二总结性评估）方面的差异。数据是从四个连续的队列（n = 73）中提取的，这些队列完成了两门连续的职业治疗课程。考试资源可用性是自变量（k = 3），课程一的期中考试和期末考试以及课程总成绩，以及课程二总结性评估成绩作为因变量。Kruskal-Wallis检验比较了不同条件下的差异。关于短期保留，课程一的期中考试成绩或课程一的总成绩在各组之间未观察到显著差异。与闭卷相比，小抄条件下的课程一期末考试成绩显著更高（3.9%，p = 0.009）。关于以课程二总结性评估成绩衡量的长期应用，闭卷条件的得分显著高于开卷（6.25%，p = 0.01）。没有其他比较有显著差异。在这个样本中，我们观察到短期知识保留方面存在有利于小抄条件的微小差异，以及长期应用方面存在有利于闭卷条件的中等差异。虽然结果表明不同考试条件下可能存在成绩差异，但由于样本小且基于便利性，研究结果应谨慎解释。这项探索性分析提供了初步见解，并为未来关于考试设计教学影响的研究确定了方向。
