The Use of Case Based Multiple Choice Questions for Assessing Large Group Teaching: Implications on Student's Learning

The practice of assessments in third level education is extremely important and a rarely part of the university curriculum as a method to demonstrate a student’s learning. , assessments to test a student’s knowledge and level of understanding are to apply given recent trends which are showing that student numbers are , student demographics are wide ranging and resources are being stretched. As a of these emerging challenges, lecturers are required to develop a comprehensive to effectively demonstrate student learning, whilst efficiently managing large sizes. One form of assessment which has been used for efficient assessment is multiple questions (MCQs); however this method has been criticised for encouraging surface , in comparison to other methods such as essays or case studies. This research explores the impact of blended assessment methods on student learning. This adopts a rigorous three-staged qualitative methodology to capture third level lecturers’ students’ perception to (1) the level of learning when using MCQs; (2) the level of when blended assessment in the form of case based MCQs are used. The findings the positive impact of cased based MCQs as students and lecturers suggest that it to a higher level of learning and deeper information processing over that of MCQs case studies. The implications of this research is that this type of assessment contributes to the current within literature on the use of assessments methods, as well as the blending of methods to reach a higher level of learning. It further serves to reinforce the belief assessments are the greatest influence on students’ learning, and the requirement for both and lecturers to reflect on the best form of assessment to test students’ level of , whilst also balancing the real challenges of large class size teaching.