Positive trend shifting to Online Assessments: A Review of using Socrative in Medical College, its Advantages and Challenges faced

Background: Information technology, web-based software and applications are being used in the modern education system in many parts of the world. This trend although new, is welcomed by many but has also many drawbacks as well as benefits. To find out what students perceive about this shift of traditional paper-based assessment system to web-based assessment system, surveys should be carriedout. These surveys will not only help us discover the point of view of direct users but would also help change and improve educational programs and policies in education.Objective: We aimed to evaluate undergraduate medical students’ perception about online assessment systems in medical education.Methods: A new online assessment system “Socrative” was introduced for Pathology assessments among undergraduate medical students of year three and four MBBS (Central park Medical College Lahore Pakistan). Students were informed about this new application and online assessments were done. Students were given a questionnaire to find out what they perceive about this new assessment system, and its advantages and disadvantages.Results: 208 students participated in the survey. Most of the students (60%) stated that it is convenient for them to read questions on screen and the diagrams given with the questions were very helpful duringassessment. 46% students stated that web based assessment is easier to attempt as compared to written one and most students were satisfied with the features of Socrative online application. Despite all the positive reviews about online assessment, only 13% of the participants agreed that they will choose online assessment over written while attempting multiple choice questions and short answer questions.Conclusion: Undergraduate Medical students were happy with this new online assessment but were not ready for a rapid shift and complete elimination of paper-based assessment system. Further studies should be done to find out teachers as well as students’ perception about introduction of new assessment systems in health education.