Pre/post-testing in evaluation of students’ gain of content knowledge from a blood and lymph course

Abstract

Background: There is an increased interest in programme evaluation, especially the definition of goals and the measurement of educational outcomes.
Objective: To evaluate the student gain of content knowledge in one of phase II modules (blood and lymph) as an institutional self evaluation process.
Method: This descriptive study assessed the students’ gain of content knowledge of the blood and lymph course via pre- and post-testing. A sample of 214 second-year pre-clinical medical students comprising 114 males and 110 females of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Omdurman Islamic University, Omdurman, Sudan participated in the study. Data were analysed using SPPS, version 15. The t-test (unpaired) was used for the difference of means. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used and P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: The mean post-test score (7.99/12, SD = 2.17) was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) than the mean pre-test score (4.64/12, SD = 1.69). The average normalized gain (gain score) is 0.83. There is no statistically significant difference in the pre- and post-test scores between male and
female students (P-values: 0.838 and 0.328).
Conclusion: The curriculum content of the blood and lymph course is effective in increasing students’ knowledge about the haemopoietic system. Gender difference of students or instructors does not affect students’ gain. We believe that other institutions should consider the use of pre- and post-tests as a useful direct method of programme evaluation.

Key words: Educational outcomes, the average normalized gain, hybrid curriculum.