Development of a shared item repository for progress testing in veterinary education

Elisabeth Schaper; Theo van Haeften; Jakob Wandall; Antti Iivanainen; Johanna Penell; Charles McLean Press; Pierre Lekeux; Peter Holm

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1296514

Development of a shared item repository for progress testing in veterinary education

Front Vet Sci. 2023 Nov 2:10:1296514. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2023.1296514. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Elisabeth Schaper^#¹, Theo van Haeften^#², Jakob Wandall^{3

4}, Antti Iivanainen⁵, Johanna Penell⁶, Charles McLean Press⁷, Pierre Lekeux⁸, Peter Holm^#⁴

Affiliations

¹ Centre for E-learning, Didactics and Educational Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany.
² Department of Biomolecular Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine & Centre for Academic Teaching and Learning, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands.
³ NordicMetrics Aps, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁴ Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
⁵ Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
⁶ Department of Clinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
⁷ Department of Preclinical Sciences and Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Aas, Norway.
⁸ European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE), Vienna, Austria.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Progress testing in education is an assessment principle for the measurement of students' progress over time, e.g., from start to graduation. Progress testing offers valid longitudinal formative measurement of the growth in the cognitive skills of the individual students within the subjects of the test as well as a tool for educators to monitor potential educational gaps and mismatches within the curriculum in relation to the basic veterinary learning outcomes.

Methods: Six veterinary educational establishments in Denmark, Finland, Germany (Hannover), the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden established in cooperation with the European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) a common veterinary item repository that can be used for progress testing in European Veterinary Education Establishments (VEEs), linear as well as computer adaptive, covering the EAEVE veterinary subjects and theoretical "Day One Competencies." First, a blueprint was created, suitable item formats were identified, and a quality assurance process for reviewing and approving items was established. The items were trialed to create a database of validated and calibrated items, and the responses were subsequently psychometrically analyzed according to Modern Test Theory.

Results: In total, 1,836 items were submitted of which 1,342 were approved by the reviewers for trial testing. 1,119 students from all study years and all partners VEEs participated in one or more of six item trials, and 1,948 responses were collected. Responses were analyzed using Rasch Modeling (analysis of item-fit, differential item function, item-response characteristics). A total of 821 calibrated items of various difficulty levels matching the veterinary students' abilities and covering the veterinary knowledge domains have been banked.

Discussion: The item bank is now ready to be used for formative progress testing in European veterinary education. This paper presents and discusses possible pitfalls, problems, and solutions when establishing an international veterinary progress test.

Keywords: European veterinary education; Progress testing; adaptive testing; day one competencies; item writing; linear testing; quality assurance; veterinary item repository.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The VetRepos project, titled “A shared item repository for progress testing in European veterinary schools” was funded by the EU Erasmus+ program with Euro 418,374 for a 3-year period starting September 2020 (EU grant 2020-1-DK01-KA203-075135). This Open Access publication was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) – 491094227 “Open Access Publication Funding” and the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation.