Student participation in assessment: A strategy for improving learning

Background: It is well known that framing of questions can be a valuable learning exercise. The designing of questions requires knowledge and understanding of the subjects being taught. We designed a study to improve the student understanding of the basic human functions, in the physiology class, whereby 1^st-year medical students were asked to create multiple true-false (MTF) questions, based on their learning objectives. Aim: The present study was undertaken to find the effectiveness of question construction as a strategy for learning. Methods: The current study was conducted on 1^st-year medical students (n = 222) of Melaka Manipal Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, India. The study was conducted in one of the muscle physiology revision classes, where students were asked to prepare a set of MTF questions. Following the activity, the questions prepared by the students were collected and analyzed by the subject experts. A questionnaire with ten questions, on a 4-point Likert scale was administered to the student groups to understand perceptions of this activity. The pre- and postclass tests were conducted and scores were computed and analyzed. The comparison of scores was done using Student's t-test. Results: The MTF questions prepared by students showed that the majority of the MTF questions tested knowledge (23.5%) and comprehension (45%). However, 20% of the MTF questions were in the application level and 11.5% of the questions produced had ability of testing higher-order cognitive skills. The student feedback regarding the construction of MTF questions revealed that activity helped them in better understanding of muscle physiology (70%), increased their critical thinking skills (62.5%), and helped them to revise the muscle physiology in a short duration of time (85%). There was no statistical significance between the pre- and postclass test scores. However, 115 (52%) students scored better in posttest than pretest. Conclusion: Our current study results revealed that the interest and active participation of 1^st-year medical students in question setting was proved to be an activity which encouraged active learning. This student learning activity is adaptable to all systems in physiology and to other subject specialties.