TY - JOUR T1 - Do students achieve the desired learning goals using open-book formative assessments? AU - Minder, S.P. AU - Weibel, D. AU - Wissmath, B. AU - Schmitz, F.M. KW - formative assessment KW - course preparation KW - blended learning KW - medical curriculum KW - practical course KW - PY - 2018/11/19 Y1 - 2018/10/17 VL - 9 N1 - doi: 10.5116/ijme.5bc6.fead DO - 10.5116/ijme.5bc6.fead M3 - doi: 10.5116/ijme.5bc6.fead JO - Int J Med Educ SP - 293 EP - 301 PB - IJME SN - 2042-6372 UR - http://www.ijme.net/archive/9/open-book-online-formative-assessment/ L1 - http://www.ijme.net/archive/9/open-book-online-formative-assessment.pdf N2 - Objectives: The present study aimed to examine whether medical students benefit from an open-book online formative assessment as a preparation for a practical course.Methods: A between-subjects experimental design was used: participants – a whole cohort of second-year medical students (N=232) – were randomly assigned to either a formative assessment that covered the topic of a subsequent practical course (treatment condition) or a formative assessment that did not cover the topic of the subsequent course (control condition). Course-script-knowledge, as well as additional in-depth-knowledge, was assessed.Results: Students in the treatment condition had better course-script knowledge, both at the beginning, t = 4.96, p < .01, d = 0.72., and in the end of the practical course , t = 4.80, p < .01, d = 0.68. Analyses of covariance show that this effect is stronger for those students who understood the feedback that was presented within the formative assessment, F=10.17, p<.01. Additionally, the gain of in-depth-knowledge was significantly higher for students in the treatment condition compared to students in the control condition, t = 3.68., p < .05, d = 0.72 (0.51).Conclusions: Students benefit from a formative assessment that is related to and takes place before a subsequent practical course. They have a better understanding of the topic and gain more in-depth-knowledge that goes beyond the content of the script. Moreover, the study points out the importance of feedback pages in formative assessments. ER -