Suzanne Fergus and Lynne Gordon

Shared Experiences from Pharmacy and Radiotherapy with using Peerwise to support student

engagement

Suzanne Fergus and Lynne Gordon

Students create multiple choice questions and share them with peers

Students view, answer, and give feedback to their peers

Free to use

A 1st year chemistry module (Molecular Structure and Reactivity) co-taught to undergraduate students from Dept of Pharmacy (n= 223) and Dept Health and Environmental Science (n=180).

The amount of content per lecture

can be a challenge.

….remembering all the material.

The amount of material that needs to be learned. The

huge difference between material learned at A-level compared to now.

..being able to remember all the names, properties

and reactions involving different

molecules.

Lectures sometimes feel like information

overload…. Chemistry has many details that are often difficult to

remember.

BLOOM’S TAXONOMY OF COGNITIVE SKILLS

MSR9 AssignmentPeerwise Question DevelopmentDue in Week 10, Friday 30th Nov at 18:30

You are assigned two chemistry theory topics (which are also covered in Semester A lectures). You are required to create an MCQ on each topic, answer 5 questions, comment on 3 questions and rate other students’ questions for quality and difficulty.

Student Engagement

3 students out of 237 did not create any questions 52 students just answered the required 5 questions 75% of cohort answered more than the required

number (2 students answered 95 questions!)

13th Oct 2012 to 30th Nov 2012

The MSR workshop 1 helped me to develop writing good quality Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Strongly AgreeAgreeNeither Agree nor DisagreeDisagreeStrongly Disagree

The MSR workshop 1 helped me to develop writing good quality Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs)

Answer Options Response Percent

Response Count

Strongly Agree 23.3% 14Agree 66.7% 40Neither Agree nor Disagree 8.3% 5Disagree 1.7% 1Strongly Disagree 0.0% 0

Which aspect of using Peerwise did you find the most challenging?

Answer Options Response Percent

Response Count

Creating MCQ Questions 62.1% 36

Answering MCQ Questions 17.2% 10

Commenting on Questions 10.3% 6

Registering on Peerwise 5.2% 3

Posting on Peerwise 1.7% 1

Other (please specify) 3.4% 2

Which aspect of using Peerwise did you find the most challenging?

Creating MCQ QuestionsAnswering MCQ Ques-tionsCommenting on Ques-tionsRegistering on PeerwisePosting on PeerwiseOther (please specify)

“Although it was tough making some of the

questions …. you learn from this experience”

“It wasn’t that easy to be honest, it took me 4 or 5 hours, I thought it was easy to write MCQs but it isn’t because the alternative answer shouldn’t be too easy and that’s what took the time”

Use of Peerwise in BSc(Hons) Radiotherapy & Oncology – Lynne

Gordon

Overview of SRRP2 module• Timetable:

– 15 credit module delivered over 7 consecutive weeks, 6 hr contact per week all on the same day.

– 8 week gap for placement/vacation– Then 2 assessment prep sessions the week before the in class

test.• Content:

– legislative, ethical and research frameworks that underpin, inform and influence the practice of radiotherapy. • . Medico-legal and ethical issues

– Research principles, processes and methods • Including critical appraisal and philosophy of evidence based practice

Deadlines for the SRRP2 module

• 25th October – one MCQ on a medicolegal issues topic

• 4th November - one MCQ on a research methods topic

• Contribution of two questions was allocated 3% towards the coursework mark.

Engagement with Peerwise

Cohort size = 33

0 1 2 3 40

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

20

No. of questions per student

no. of questions

No.

of s

tude

nts

Number of questions commented on by students

• One student commented on one question.• A second student commented on 4 questions.• No other questions received comments.

Potential Issues highlighted by the data

• Lack of engagement with module during practice placement weeks

• Assessment focussed nature of engagement• Good that students rated questions even

though this was not part of the task they were given.– May be related to the ‘badge earning’ function

within the Peerwise system.

Further work

• HHSECDA approval gained to conduct survey and focus groups to find out student perception of Peerwise

• Will use again next year with changes– Year plan change (beyond control of team) means delivery

will be after placement– Will include commenting and rating as part of the task– Consider structuring topics more overtly, but difficult given

concentrated timetable.• Monitor cohort as they move to level 6 research

exercise to identify gaps in learning that could be focussed on in subsequent module content.

Acknowledgements

• Stewart Kirton (Pharmacy)• Jogoth Ali (Pharmacy)• Sarah Flynn (LTI)