Blueprinting also ensures that the selected test items give appropriate emphasis on thinking skills and assessment of in-depth knowledge. Most of the faculty (100%) involved in the validation of blueprint felt that it acts as a guide in construction of test paper. Blueprinting helps the teachers in designing the instructional strategies as per the guidelines expected in the curriculum. In this study, feedback from the students and faculty indicated that students felt the examinations were fair (86% students and 89% faculty). It makes assessment ‘fair’ to the students as they can have a clear idea of what is being examined and can direct their learning efforts in that direction. Most of the students felt that there were no questions that were out of syllabus (87%). In our study, majority of the faculty (100%) felt that the questions were aligned to objectives. It is useful to prepare a blueprint so that the faculty who sets question paper knows which question will test which objective, which content unit and how many marks it would carry.īlueprinting helps to match various competencies with the course content and the appropriate modality of assessment. It also indicates the marks carried by each question. The term “blueprint” is derived from the domain of architecture which means “detailed plan of action.” In simple terms, blueprint links assessment to learning objectives. The feedback questionnaire were analyzed and presented as qualitative data.īlueprint is a map and a specification for an assessment program which ensures that all aspects of the curriculum and educational domains are covered by assessment programs over a specified period of time. All 11 faculty of the department who were involved in validating the blueprint provided their feedback. Informed consent was taken from students to give a feedback and a total of 139 students who voluntarily agreed to give feedback were included.
It was validated with the help of members of Department of Medical Education. The feedback questionnaire for collecting feedback from faculty and students about blueprinting was prepared with preset questions including few open ended questions. Written examination of a batch of 163 students was conducted. Two parameters were considered while calculating this weightage: (i) The perceived impact/importance of a topic in terms of its impact on health, and (ii) The frequency of the occurrence of a particular disease or health problem the total weightage and number of items to be included was decided the table of test specifications was decided and accordingly a blueprint was prepared question papers were set accordingly (paper I and II). The steps followed to prepare a blueprint were: The scope and purpose of assessment was defined the weightage to be given to content areas, domains of learning and methods of assessment was decided. Content of assessment is said to be valid when it is congruent with the objectives and learning experiences, and congruence between these pillars of education can be facilitated by using blueprinting in assessment. The validity that relates to measurements of academic achievement is content validity. Validity is a requirement of every assessment and implies that candidates for achieving the minimum performance level have acquired the level of competence set out in the learning objectives. Moreover, the examiner/teacher imparts instruction according to what “she/he thinks is appropriate or important.” The intended learning outcomes are not stated clearly and therefore overlooked. Often, the content of what to assess is left to the decision of the examiners. This happens because, in the traditional assessment system in most medical colleges in India, question paper is set by one teacher/examiner and practical examinations are conducted by some other teacher, without any co-ordination and are not aligned to objectives (most of the times). And in practical examinations we hear them complaining that – I had never seen this case before Most of the theory questions, long case, short case, and viva questions, all were from one/few systems only.
When we speak to undergraduate medical students after the examinations, not infrequently we hear them complaining in theory examinations that – Too lengthy paper, time was not enough to write All questions were from few topics only! No questions from many other topics Questions were too vague, What to write? What to cut? Long questions were bouncers! They have not taught these. “It is said that ‘assessment is the tail that wags the curriculum dog.’ While this statement amply underscores the importance of assessment in any system of education, it also cautions us about the pitfalls that can occur when assessment is improperly used.”
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