Assessment tools - Modified essays

Modified Essay Question (MEQ) papers provide a valid and reliable means of assessing problem-based learning. However, the invigilation requirements are onerous, because students may not turn forward to discover what happens in the case, nor may they turn back to amend previous answers on receipt of further information. The marking requirements are also substantial, particularly for a large cohort of students. To address these challenges the Medical School has developed an electronic MEQ examination (eMEQ).

Students are able to sit their MEQ paper online and Medical School assessors are able to mark student answers online. Online marking improves the marking process by enabling markers to have electronic access to the students’ answers, while simultaneously facilitating central coordination and monitoring of the marking. Two markers can share the marking load, and inter-rater reliability can be checked though duplicate marking of a sample of scripts. In addition, electronically generated answers overcome legibility problems - both those generated by the students and comments made by the markers. Recording of results electronically during the marking process reduces the possibility of error from manual entry.