ABSTRACT: Fun, collaboration and formative assessment: Skinquizition, a class wide gaming competition in a medical school with a large class.
Background: Formative assessments are tools for assessing content retention, providing valuable feedback to students and teachers. In medical education, information technology-supported games can accommodate large classes divided into student teams while fostering active engagement. Aim: To establish an innovative stimulating approach to formative assessments for large classes furthering collaborative skills that promotes learning and student engagement linked to improvement of academic performance. Methods and results: Using audience response technology, a fast-paced, competitive, interactive quiz game involving dermatology was developed. This stimulating setting, provided on the last day of class, prepares students for high-stakes exams to continue their medical education while training collaborative skills as supported by survey outcomes and average class scores. Summary and conclusions: Educational game competitions provide formative assessments and feedback for students and faculty alike, enhancing learning and teaching processes. In this study, we show an innovative approach to accommodate a large class divided into competing teams furthering collaborative skills reflected by academic performance.
via Fun, collaboration and formative assessment: Skinq… [Med Teach. 2014] – PubMed – NCBI.
Written by Brian S McGowan, PhD
Brian is a research scientist and educational technologist. He helped transform Pfizer’s Medical Education Group and previously served in educational leadership roles at HealthAnswers, Inc.; Acumentis, LLC.; Cephalon; and Wyeth. He taught graduate medical education programs at Arcadia University for 10 years. Dr. McGowan recently authored the book "#socialQI: Simple Solutions for Improving Your Healthcare" and has been invited to speak internationally on the subject of information flow, technology, and learning in healthcare.
