written / electronic forms of assessment: extended matching items (emis) trevor gibbs

Written / Electronic forms of assessment:

Extended Matching Items (EMIs)

Trevor Gibbs

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Multiple Choice Questions -- MCQs

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Extended Matching Items -- EMIs

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Multiple Choice Questions :

• are probably the most commonly used form of assessment

• are used by many organisations in many parts of the world

• despite their advantages, are probably the most wrongly used form of assessment

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Multiple Choice Questions :

• ask the student to choose the best possible answer from a series of answers

• take various forms, can confuse- what is it measuring?

• can be hard / labour-intensive to set fairly

• can be limited in their scope of questions ( knowledge domain)

• are easy to mark ( computers), hard by hand

• subject to test item analysis

• validity & reliability debate

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Extended Matching Items – EMIs. R type questions

Extended matching items/questions (EMI or EMQ) are Extended matching items/questions (EMI or EMQ) are

a written / electronic examination format similar to a written / electronic examination format similar to

multiple choice questions but with one key difference; questions but with one key difference;

they attempt to move the assessment up the hierarchy of they attempt to move the assessment up the hierarchy of

learning learning

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Acute intermittent porphyria is a result of a defect in the biosynthetic pathway for:

A. collagen B. corticosteroid C. fatty acid D. glucose E. haemF. thyroxine

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Acute intermittent porphyria is a result of a defect in the biosynthetic pathway for:

A. collagen B. corticosteroid C. fatty acid D. glucose E. haem * F. thyroxine

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An otherwise healthy 33-year-old man has mild weakness and occasional episodes of steady, severe abdominal pain, but no diarrhoea. One aunt and a cousin have had similar episodes. During an episode his abdomen is distended, and bowel sounds are decreased. Neurological examination shows a mild weakness in the upper arms. These finding suggest a defect in the biosynthetic pathway for:

A. collagen B. corticosteroid C. fatty acid D. glucose E. haem* F. thyroxine

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Name an encapsulated Gram-positive organism that usually grows in pairs

or short chains.

Streptococcus pneumoniae

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A 7-year-old girl has a high fever and a sore throat. There is pharyngeal redness, and swollen right tonsil with creamy exudate, and painful right submandibular lymphadenopathy. Throat culture on blood agar yields numerous small β-haemolytic colonies that are inhibited by bacitracin. What organism is the likely cause of the illness?

Streptococcus pyogenes

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Extended Matching Items type questions can measure both the depth and breadth of knowledge and increase contextual learning

They make you think !!

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5 components:

Theme, Focus, Options, Lead-in, Stem

• Theme

Pneumonia - appropriate to learning

• Focus

Causation - common, likely to see

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• Options

List - at least 8 choices of answer

• Lead in

“ For each of following clinical scenarios.. - specific, understandable

• Stems

Clinical scenario - common & clear

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Theme: Chest pain

Focus: Causes of chest pain

Options: List 8-10 causes of Chest pain ( myocardial, respiratory, muscular, infective etc

Lead in: “ For each of the clinical cases, described below, select the most likely cause / diagnosis ”

Stems: a) A 55 years old man with sudden onset crushing…

b) A 25 years old student…whilst playing basketball

c) A 45 years old lady…

d) …

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Theme: Pneumonia

Focus: Causes of pneumonia

Options: List 8-10 causes of pneumonia ( bacteria , virus, opportunistic, tumour, obstruction etc)

5 things that do not cause pneumonia

Lead in: “ For each of the clinical cases, described below, select the most likely causative agent ”

Stems: a) A 65 year old smoker presented with …

b) A 5 year old previously healthy child with …

c) A 55 years old lady receiving radiotherapy for carcinoma of the breast

d) A 23 years old male homosexual with Kaposi’s sarcoma..