Abstract:

In education, there are different types of assessment, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. In the situation of change that we have had to face during the academic year 2020-21 due to the health pandemic, university assessment has also had to adapt. Exams in the area of Anatomy at the University of Alicante have traditionally been held in person, but during the 2020-21 academic year some of them, due to capacity limitations in the classrooms, have had to be transformed to online mode. In this paper we wanted to find out whether this change in the assessment method provides advantages in the academic performance of students. To do so, we analysed and compared the grades of Anatomy students in the Bachelor's Degree in Human Nutrition and Dietetics (HND) and in the Bachelor's Degree in Optics and Optometry (OPT) after taking the face-to-face mid-term exams in the 2019-2020 academic year and the online mid-term exams in the 2020-21 academic year, carried out within the same assessment framework. In the case of NHD we also compared the grades of the final classroom-based examination in both academic years. The exams consisted of a multiple-choice multiple-choice questionnaire of similar complexity and characteristics. The online exams were conducted using the Moodle platform. After analysing the results obtained, we observed that, in both grades, the grades corresponding to the face-to-face exams in 2019-20 were significantly lower (p< 0.0001) than those obtained in the online exams in 2020-21. In the first NHD midterm, the average mark was 4.55±1.52 in the face-to-face exam compared to 7.13±1.66 in the online exam. As for the second midterm, although we did not find significant differences (p=0.23), the grades tended to be lower in the face-to-face mode as well, with 3.78±1.95 versus 4.10±1.71 in the online mode. When analysing the grades obtained in the final exam, we did not find significant differences (p=0.13) between academic years, obtaining an average grade of 4.53±1.51 in 2019-20 compared to 4.14±1.94 in 2020-21. This minimal difference between grades suggests that the profile of the student body in both academic years is similar, without having a decisive influence on the grades obtained. In the OPT degree, our results reveal an average mark of 4.14±1.81 in the first partial in the face-to-face modality compared to 6.36±1.53 in the online modality (p<0.0001). Similar results were found in the second part of the course, with 4.21±2.09 versus 6.12±1.72 in the face-to-face and online modes, respectively (p<0.0001). In order to find out the students' opinion about the two types of assessment, a survey of 7 closed questions ("Google Forms") was sent to them via email. 71.4 % of the students said that they found the assessment test carried out in class easier. Interestingly, although the majority of students (76.2%) stated that they had not changed their way of studying depending on the type of exam, 50% reported a self-perception of greater learning when studying in a face-to-face mode. The results obtained from this study suggest that studying for a face-to-face exam requires a greater effort on the part of the students and that, although it seems that a lower grade is obtained, the self-perception of learning is greater with respect to the online exam. Therefore, as long as the health conditions allow it, the teaching staff in the area of Anatomy will opt for a face-to-face assessment modality for Health Sciences students.

Keywords:

Assessment, face-to-face, online, sciences, health.