Technology Enabled Formative Assessment in Medical Education: A Pilot Study through Kahoot

Abstract

Technology enabled assessment is a novel pedagogical approach that has emerged into medical educational practice. The main aim of formative assessment is to drive learning through constructive feedback. Kahoot is a free, real-time, game based, Web 2.0 learning platform, which is widely accepted to conduct formative assessment. The study aimed to explore the students’ perception on using Kahoot as a formative assessment tool at Eastern University, Sri Lanka (EUSL). A total number of 61 medical students participated in this cross-sectional descriptive study following a formative assessment in pharmacology conducted via Kahoot at EUSL. The students’ perceptions on Kahoot experience was evaluated by a self-administered questionnaire, which consisted 10 perception statements. The participants were asked to rate the statements using a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Descriptive statistics were computed to present students’ perception. This study revealed that most of the students (83.6%) felt happy with Kahoot experience and 95.1% of them recommended Kahoot for formative assessment in future. Majority of the participants (>90%) agreed or strongly agreed that Kahoot increases the focus on subjects, provides fun during learning, motivates to learn, and is an effective method for active learning and providing feedback. The general outcome shown in this study derived from the students gives Kahoot a place as a tool to enhance the learning and to provide feedback. The free availability, feasibility, the technical simplicity, and the enjoyable attitude from the students towards this application make this as a practical tool in Technology Enabled Assessment.