The department began using Questionmark Perception in 2006. Today, all assessments for most courses in the basic medical sciences are conducted online. There are 10 assessments scheduled for first-year students in the fall semester of 2008, and 13 for second-year students. Assessments can be anywhere from 50 to 150 questions long.

Most test questions are multiple-choice. "We recommend that to faculty, because that's how board exams are written," says Dr. Joyce Guest, Ph.D., an instructional design specialist in the Educational Technologies and Services Department.

The departmental secretary or Dr. Guest sends the Item Analysis and the Question Statistics report to faculty after each test, so that they can tell which questions performed well, which were more difficult, and whether each question was viable.

They also get the Assessment Overview Report and the Report for Excel, which shows how each student answered each question. If students have questions about their test results, faculty can get a coaching report for individual students.

Dr. Guest says that for both practical and educational concerns, one important benefit of Perception is that students can look at the images in tests at their own pace. But the ability to give immediate feedback on exam results is another, almost more significant benefit. "The more immediate the feedback, the better the learning outcome," she says. "Immediate feedback on assessments helps students identify study needs in specific content areas, and faculty to see whether revision of questions is necessary."