KARACHI: In light of the Pakistan Medical Commission's requirements, the Department of Health Professions Education (DHPE), Liaquat College of Medicine and Dentistry (LCMD), recently conducted a workshop on 'Understanding Item Analysis'.
This workshop is a part of a series of workshops, 'Training of Trainers', conducted by the Clinical Curriculum Committee of LCMD and DHPE.
Item analysis is a formal process that becomes a scientific method through which institutes can improve tests and rectify the lacking areas.
The session aimed to educate and motivate the faculty to make valid, reliable, and fair assessment decisions. Faculty training is an effective strategy to ensure the best schooling and assessment methods.
Prof. Dr Navid Rashid Qureshi, Principal Dental College, LCMD, presided over the workshop. Prof. Dr Tahera Ayub, Chairperson Clinical Curriculum Committee, LCMD, Dr Juzer Shabbir, Assistant Professor, Operative Dentistry, LCMD and Dr Azfar, an orthopaedic surgeon, facilitated the session.
The participants were given a pretest to convey to them an idea about the respective theme. Dr Juzer then presented and explained the concept behind and the methodology of Item Analysis in complete detail. He discussed different methods of evaluating and assessing students' knowledge, such as BCQ, MCQ, EMQ, KFA, etc. He also paid explicit attention to the 3 Ds (Difficulty index, Discrimination index, and Distractor Efficacy) that play a significant role in formulating error-free scenario-based questions.
Dr Tahera gave an overview of the theme, listened thoroughly to the participants' queries, and cleared their misconceptions.
Dr Azfar provided the hands-on exercise at the end of the workshop. Each participant has to assess the question in this exercise, considering its difficulty, discrimination indices, and distraction efficacy (if any). They also have to assess whether that BCQ needed to be reevaluated by the subject specialist, reformed or discarded.
In the end, participants gave feedback and facilitators received the appraisal certificates. Moreover, Dr Navid Rashid Qureshi gave a culminating speech on the importance and impact of faculty development exercises and programs in today's ever-changing health education era.