gms | German Medical Science

Question: This is the first study about the introduction of a dental progress test in a German-speaking country. Progress testing was developed during the 1970ies as an assessment tool to verify students' growth of knowledge during an educational programme and consequently to evaluate the programme's quality. Nowadays it is an established instrument in human medicine curricula throughout Europe and beyond. This useful tool is not, however, well established in dental education. A pub med search revealed only one result concerning a dental progress test, in the Peninsula schools of medicine and dentistry in Plymouth. The aim of the study is the prospective development and implementation of a progress test for the undergraduate dental curriculum at the Dental School of Medical University of Graz (Austria).

Method: A pool of 375 single best-answer and K-type multiple-choice items at graduation-level from the specialist fields of Oral Surgery, Oral Medicine and Oral Radiology were compiled by a single author at the Division or Oral surgery and Orthodontics, Medical University of Graz. Each question underwent a group and individual review by senior academics before final inclusion in the question pool, managed by IMS Item-Managementsystem (Umbrella Consortium for Assessment Networks, Heidelberg). Participation in progress testing is compulsory for all dental students in terms 7 to 12, with 72 persons at most taking part, as approved by the local advisory committee of dental study affairs. In the course of this study, progress tests take place three times (June 2016, January 2017, June 2017).

For each test, 100 items are randomly selected based on a predesigned blueprint. Tests are carried out computer based with a maximum time of 3 hours. Detailed feedback is given after each test. Descriptive and explorative statistical analysis is done by a biomedical analyst with the SPSS software.

Conclusion: This is the first report on the introduction of a dental progress test in a German speaking country. It is expected that progress testing will be a valid and reliable tool for the assessment of level of knowledge at the Dental School of Medical University of Graz. Although labour intensive, it is thought to be a desirable assessment tool in dental education, from which both students and educators can profit.