Students as Assessors: A Novel Idea on Formative Assessment

Background & Aims of the Study: Formative assessment of a student’s academic achievements is the basic step in any educational project. The aims of this research were: 1)To determine the feasibility of conducting a formative assessment for medical students with their participation and 2) To determine which methods are applicable for students'' self-assessment. Sixteen 5th-year medical students participated in this semi-experimental study. In each session, one of the students assessed the others about the last subject in the way he or she wanted. In the next session, the students received feedback by the assessor. Students used various methods to assess their classmates, including multiple-choice questions (MCQs), short open questions, random short-answer matching questions, or other methods and instruments such as using short message service (SMS), objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), broadcasting a voice clip containing the lesson abstract, or presenting questions with power point. This research showed the feasibility of conducting a formative assessment for medical students with their participation.