Electronic forms of assessment: Extended Matching Items (EMIs)

1. Electronic forms of assessment: Extended Matching Items (EMIs) Trevor Gibbs

2. 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 .

3. Multiple Choice Questions : • ask the student to choose the best possible answer from a series of answers; what is it measuring? • take various forms, can confuse • can be hard / labour-intensive to set fairly • can be limited in their scope of questions ( knowledge domain) • are easy to mark ( computers) • subject to test item analysis • validity & reliability debate .

4. Domains of Learning: Cognitive Psychomotor Affective / attitudinal Hierarchies of Learning: • imitate • manipulation • develop precision • articulate • become expert • achieve mastery • receive • respond / understand • value / evaluate • organise • adopt behaviour in • everyday actions recall understand apply analyse synthesise evaluate

5. Extended Matching Items – EMIs. R type questions Extended matching items/questions (EMI or EMQ) are a written examination format similar to multiple choice questions but with one key difference; they attempt to test domains of learning in a far more applied, in depth, and contextual sense. .

6. 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 .

7. 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 .

8. 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 is the likely cause of the illness? Streptococcus pyogenes .

9. Name an encapsulated Gram-positive organism that usually grows in pairs or short chains. Streptococcus pneumoniae .

10. Extended Matching Items type questions can measure both the depth and breadth of knowledge and increase contextual learning They make you think !! .

11. 5 components: • Theme, Focus, Options, Lead-in, Stem • Theme • Pneumonia - appropriate to learning • Focus • Causation - common, likely to see .

12. Options • List - at least twice the number of stems • Lead in • “ For each of following clinical scenarios.. - specific, understandable • Stems • Clinical scenario - common & clear .

13. Theme: Pneumonia Focus: Causes of pneumonia Options: List 8 causes of pneumonia ( bacteria , virus, others) +/- 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.. .

14. Instructions: • Clear • Concise • Informative