Predicting career sector intent and the theory of planned behaviour: survey findings from Australian veterinary science students

Background

Producing graduates for a breadth of sectors is a priority for veterinary science programs. Undergraduate career intentions represent de-facto ‘outcome’ measures of admissions policy and curricula design, as intentions are strong predictors of eventual behaviour. Informed by Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour, this study aimed to identify if contextually relevant attitudes and self-ratings affect student intentions for veterinary career sectors.

Results

Survey responses from 844 students enrolled in five Australian veterinary programs in 2014 were analysed. Intention was measured for biomedical research/academia, industry, laboratory animal medicine, public health/government/diagnostic laboratory services, mixed practice, intensive animal production, companion animal practice, not work in the veterinary profession, and business/entrepreneurship. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis enabled comparison of explanation of variance in intent by demographics, animal handling experience, species preference, and attitudes to aspects of veterinary work. Career sector intentions were highest for mixed or companion animal clinical practice, then business/entrepreneurship, then non-clinical sectors. Overall, intent was explained to a greater extent by species preferences than by animal experience, attitudes to aspects of veterinary work and demographics (with the exception of mixed practice intent) with gender having no significant effect. Several variables exerted negative effects on career intent for less popular career sectors.

Conclusion

Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) provides a framework to increase understanding of and predict career sector intentions. Incorporation of attitude and self-efficacy measures in our study revealed preference for species types contributes greatly to career sector intentions for veterinary students, particularly for the more popular practice based sectors. Importantly, specific species preferences and other attitudes can have a negative effect on intent for non-aligned veterinary sectors. Further research is required to identify additional attitudes and/or beliefs to better explain variance in intent for less popular career sectors. Veterinary admissions processes may benefit from utilising the TPB framework. Identified effects revealed by this study may stimulate innovation in marketing, recruitment, admissions and curricular design, such as timing and role modelling, to utilise positive effects and mitigate against negative effects identified for sectors requiring greater representation of career intent in the student body.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12917-018-1725-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The modified essay question: its exit from the exit examination?

BACKGROUND

Exit examinations in medicine are 'high stakes' examinations and as such must satisfy a number of criteria including psychometric robustness, fairness and reliability in the face of legal or other challenges.

AIMS

We have undertaken a critical review of the exit examination from the University of Adelaide focussing on the written components. This examination consisted of an objective structure clinical examination (OSCE), a multiple choice question (MCQ) paper and a modified essay question (MEQ) paper.

METHODS

The two written papers were assessed for item writing flaws and taxonomic level using modified Bloom's criteria. Curriculum experts independently assessed adequacy of the examination for validity and fidelity.

RESULTS

The overall examination had good fidelity and validity. The results of the MEQ and MCQ were strongly and positively correlated and there was a weak negative correlation between these papers and the OSCE. The MEQ had a higher proportion of questions focussed on recall of knowledge and the questions were more structurally flawed compared with the MCQs. The MEQ re-marking process resulted in lower scores than were awarded by the original, discipline-based expert markers. The MEQ paper failed to achieve its primary purpose of assessing higher cognitive skills.

CONCLUSION

The University of Adelaide's MBBS programme has since dropped the MEQ paper from its exit examination and is evaluating in its place the Script Concordance test.

Limitations of student-driven formative assessment in a clinical clerkship. A randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Teachers strive to motivate their students to be self-directed learners. One of the methods used is to provide online formative assessment material. The concept of formative assessment and use of these processes is heavily promoted, despite limited evidence as to their efficacy.

METHODS

Fourth year medical students, in their first year of clinical work were divided into four groups. In addition to the usual clinical material, three of the groups were provided with some form of supplementary learning material. For two groups, this was provided as online formative assessment. The amount of time students spent on the supplementary material was measured, their opinion on learning methods was surveyed, and their performance in summative exams at the end of their surgical attachments was measured.

RESULTS

The performance of students was independent of any educational intervention imposed by this study. Despite its ready availability and promotion, student use of the online formative tools was poor.

CONCLUSION

Formative learning is an ideal not necessarily embraced by students. If formative assessment is to work students need to be encouraged to participate, probably by implementing some form of summative assessment.

Assessment of higher order cognitive skills in undergraduate education: modified essay or multiple choice questions? Research paper

BACKGROUND

Reliable and valid written tests of higher cognitive function are difficult to produce, particularly for the assessment of clinical problem solving. Modified Essay Questions (MEQs) are often used to assess these higher order abilities in preference to other forms of assessment, including multiple-choice questions (MCQs). MEQs often form a vital component of end-of-course assessments in higher education. It is not clear how effectively these questions assess higher order cognitive skills. This study was designed to assess the effectiveness of the MEQ to measure higher-order cognitive skills in an undergraduate institution.

METHODS

An analysis of multiple-choice questions and modified essay questions (MEQs) used for summative assessment in a clinical undergraduate curriculum was undertaken. A total of 50 MCQs and 139 stages of MEQs were examined, which came from three exams run over two years. The effectiveness of the questions was determined by two assessors and was defined by the questions ability to measure higher cognitive skills, as determined by a modification of Bloom's taxonomy, and its quality as determined by the presence of item writing flaws.

RESULTS

Over 50% of all of the MEQs tested factual recall. This was similar to the percentage of MCQs testing factual recall. The modified essay question failed in its role of consistently assessing higher cognitive skills whereas the MCQ frequently tested more than mere recall of knowledge.

CONCLUSION

Construction of MEQs, which will assess higher order cognitive skills cannot be assumed to be a simple task. Well-constructed MCQs should be considered a satisfactory replacement for MEQs if the MEQs cannot be designed to adequately test higher order skills. Such MCQs are capable of withstanding the intellectual and statistical scrutiny imposed by a high stakes exit examination.

A method for creating interactive content for the iPod, and its potential use as a learning tool: technical advances

BACKGROUND

Podcasting is currently a popular means of delivery of information with a large number of podcasts specifically tailored for educational purposes. It can be argued that the passive nature of this teaching methodology limits the educational benefit that can be derived from podcasts. This paper describes the development and construction of interactive material for the iPod, and a survey of student attitudes towards this type of learning material.

METHODS

The development of interactive material for an iPod is described in detail. This material was developed and demonstrated to 50 medical students. These students completed a paper-based survey on the potential uses of this technology, before and after a 20 minute presentation in class of an interactive case-study on an iPod.

RESULTS

A technical description of how to develop interactive content for the iPod was created. The results of the student survey indicate a favourable shift in student attitudes after viewing the interactive case. Despite only 15% of the students owning an iPod, 57% of the students were positive about having access to interactive iPod content and 59% believed they would use it whilst travelling. The percentage of students who felt podcasting was a useful means of learning increased from 9% to 41%.

CONCLUSION

The development of interactive content for the iPod is feasible. There are indications that students view interactive iPod cases as having value as an additional learning resource.

Assessment of an electronic voting system within the tutorial setting: a randomised controlled trial [ISRCTN54535861]

BACKGROUND

Electronic voting systems have been used in various educational settings with little measurement of the educational impact on students. The goal of this study was to measure the effects of the inclusion of an electronic voting system within a small group tutorial.

METHOD

A prospective randomised controlled trial was run at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, a teaching hospital in Adelaide, Australia. 102 students in their first clinical year of medical school participated in the study where an electronic voting system was introduced as a teaching aid into a standard tutorial. Long-term retention of knowledge and understanding of the topics discussed in the tutorials was measured and student response to the introduction of the electronic voting system was assessed.

RESULTS

Students using the electronic voting system had improved long-term retention of understanding of material taught in the tutorial. Students had a positive response to the use of this teaching aid.

CONCLUSION

Electronic voting systems can provide a stimulating learning environment for students and in a small group tutorial may improve educational outcomes.

Assessing adolescent problems: an overview of the adolescent problems inventory

The Adolescent Problems Inventory (API) and the Problem Inventory for Adolescent Girls (PIAG) are commonly employed in studies of antisocial and delinquent behaviour. This paper offers a review and critique of these inventories. The development and construction of the inventories are detailed, followed by discussion of their psychometric properties. The weight of evidence suggests that the inventories are related to behavioural indices associated with antisocial and delinquent behaviour. More recent studies have considered the factor structure of the API, suggesting several dimensions of social functioning. It is concluded that the API and PIAG are robust instruments that can yield valuable clinical and research data.

Inhibition of glutathione reductase by oncomodulin

Evidence for a specific interaction between oncomodulin and glutathione reductase is presented. Glutathione reductase (EC 1.6.4.2) isolated from either the bovine intestinal mucosa or the rat liver was bound in a Ca2(+)-dependent manner to oncomodulin which was covalently attached to Sepharose. In addition, glutathione reductase was able to catalyze the reduction of the disulfide-linked dimer of oncomodulin. The interaction of these proteins could also be indirectly demonstrated by monitoring glutathione reductase activity since oncomodulin was shown to inhibit the enzyme in a dose-dependent manner with an apparent IC50 of approximately 5 microM. The kinetic analysis of the oncomodulin-dependent effects on glutathione reductase activity indicates that oncomodulin interacts at a site other than the active site as the oncomodulin-induced inhibition was of the noncompetitive type. The in vivo inhibition of glutathione reductase appears to be an oncomodulin-specific effect as closely related members of the troponin C superfamily such as rabbit (pI 5.5) or carp (pI 4.25) parvalbumins, as well as calmodulin, failed to affect the activity of this enzyme. The present in vitro study indicating that oncomodulin can regulate the activity of glutathione reductase could be very significant with respect to the elucidation of a physiological role for oncomodulin.

Disulfide-linked dimer of oncomodulin: comparison to calmodulin

Oncomodulin, an oncofetal Ca2+-binding protein, contains a single Cys residue in position 18 of its primary structure. The reactivity of the Cys-18 thiol has been probed with 5,5'-dithiobis(2-nitrobenzoate) (NbS2). The kinetics of the reaction indicate that the thiol group is approximately 10-fold more reactive in the presence of Ca2+ than in its absence. Evidence presented here shows that oncomodulin can dimerize by intermolecular disulfide formation via the Cys-18 thiol. The kinetics of dimer formation indicate that the second-order rate constant for this reaction is approximately 6-fold higher than that observed for the reaction of the Cys-18 thiol with NbS2, possibly indicating that intermolecular electrostatic interactions precede disulfide formation. The disulfide-linked dimer of oncomodulin appears to be more similar to calmodulin than oncomodulin since the dimer displayed "calmodulin-like" affinity for the amphiphilic peptide melittin. In addition, oncomodulin dimer was shown to activate two calmodulin-dependent enzymes, cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase and calcineurin phosphatase, with the activity constants of 63 and 1 nM, respectively, indicating that these enzymes have different domain contact requirements for activation.