Online versus Conventional Paper Based Formative Assessment: Do They Predict Summative Scores?

Background: Different mechanisms and methods to conduct formative assessments may influence the learning environment and the learning outcomes. Present study aims to compare the effect of online formative assessments with conventional paper-based formative assessments on summative scores of medical students. Methods: This prospective-observational study was conducted from Oct to Dec 2018 at Shifa College of Medicine, Islamabad. A total of 93 undergraduate students were included. Students were assigned two online formative assessments before the summative assessment of one module and two paper-based formative assessments before the summative assessment of another module. ClassMarkerþ software was used for online assessments. Data were analysed on SPSS-21. Comparison of quantitative data was done using paired t-test and student’s t-test. Association between performance in online and paper-based formative assessment to their respective summative scores was performed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient and regression analysis, and p?0.05 were considered significant. Results: Mean summative score (75.17±9.18) of the module with online formative assessments was significantly higher in comparison to the mean summative score (63.66±10.12) of the module with paper-based formative assessments. Students who performed better in online formative assessments had significantly higher scores in the summative assessment in comparison to the other students. There was a significant (p<0.001) and positive (r=0.45) correlation between scores of online formative tests and summative tests. Conclusion: Online formative assessments have a positive effect on the summative scores of medical students in comparison to the conventional paper-based formative assessments. Pak J Physiol 2021;17(1):46?50