The Effects of Student-Generated MCQs on their Academic Achievement

Introduction: Involvement of students in exam questions generating is a technique that has been recently used in order to increase learning and improve academic achievement. This study aimed to investigate the effects of multiple choice questions (MCQ) generating by students on their academic achievement in Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in 2014-15 academic years. Methods: This quasi-experimental study with a two-group pretest-posttest design was conducted on nursing and midwifery students who took the immunology course with a single instructor. Midwifery students (n=40) were selected as the experimental group and nursing students (n=60) were selected as the control group. Midwifery students were asked to prepare 7 multiple choice questions from the course content of each session as homework and submit them the next session. Data collection tool was multiple choice tests prepared by the instructor based on the course content. The pre-test and post-test each consisted of 50 MCQs with the minimum and maximum scores at zero and 50 respectively. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test and covariance analysis. Results: The means and standard deviations of pre- and post-tests in the experimental group were 14.78±4.65 and 44.85±6.21 respectively; in the control group these were 15.72±3.58 and 42.33±7.05 respectively. Covariance analysis showed that the mean score of the experimental group was significantly higher than the mean score of the control group (p=0.048). Conclusion: Findings showed that involvement of students in exam questions generating increased their scores in the immunology course.