The use of exemplars and student discussion to improve performance in constructed-response assessments

Assessment has a significant influence on learning, and different forms of assessment may have varying degrees of influence on students. Constructed-response assessments, i.e., those requiring a human to judge the quality of responses based upon criteria,1 differ from selected-response assessments, e.g., multiple choice questions (MCQs), which can be scored by a machine. Therefore, constructed-responses require the assessee to have some insight into the rationale and reasoning of the assessor and an appreciation of assessment criteria. However, students often struggle to get a sense of what constitutes a well-constructed or a poorly-constructed response to an examination-item.2 This problem is compounded by processes that require students to draw upon both explicit and tacit knowledge.3 Tacit knowledge being knowledge gained experientially and derived from shared understandings.4,5 These processes are often evident to teachers but imperceptible to students.6 Exemplars potentially provide a means of making complex marking criteria more comprehensible to students. Exposing students to examples of “real students’ work” of different standards has been shown to assist students in recognising writing-quality for themselves.7,8 Studies have shown exemplars to have been used as interventions for improving student performance,4,7 and as general tools for training students on how to write well-constructed responses.3 They have also been used as the basis of feedforward interventions3,7,9 i.e., anticipatory academic feedback given to students ahead of examinations. Thus, exemplars may be employed to improve responses of students to constructed-response assessment items such as short-answer questions (SAQs). Here we reflect upon an attempt to convey elements of academic reasoning and aspects of the assessment processes to students using exemplars. Exemplars Tutorials were used to present a number of exemplars to first-year medical students. The exemplars were responses to SAQs from past examinations and were identified as being clearly aligned with the faculty’s grade descriptors. Tutors introduced a 5-point closed marking scheme and described the rubric. Five biochemistry and five physiology exemplar SAQs were presented with grades ranging from 0 to 4. The tutors triggered discussions on how to analyse and score these items. Emphasis was placed on the essence of the questions being aligned with that of the responses. The discussions explored the structure for a good-quality response and common misconceptions about constructing responses to SAQs. Students were also asked to assign marks to ‘ungraded’ exemplars, thus allowing familiarisation with the grading process and academic reasoning. The face-to-face tutorials were followed by online exercises that required the students to construct responses to a number of SAQs and to grade the responses of their peers, therefore providing the opportunity to receive feedback on their responses and to grade the responses of others. This exercise initiated online discussions about the whole process and underpinned the issues raised during the face-to-face tutorials. Thus, the exemplars became the initiators and influencers of several teacher-learner and learner-learner dynamic interactions. Perspectives on these interactions are presented below.