Web-based application for online self testing and knowledge evaluation in the field of Microbiology

Our Web application has been developed as a Web-based education tool and is addressed to the students and residents in medicine, helping them in understanding and refining the concepts and in easily evaluate their knowledge and needed improvement areas. The described methodology was experimentally tested in the domain of bacteriology, virusology and parasitology. Many studies conducted in the domain of Web-based education tools have showed students and teachers interest in using this kind of applications and its benefits in the professional knowledge development of the students. When using the new instructional technology like online learning and online examination, institutions and teachers have to consider also the professional code and ethical obligations associated with this use like diversity, objectivity, web accessibility, security and copyright. The aim of our study is to implement a modem solution that will address this issue with a low cost and in the same time to make it available and easy accessible to teachers, students and medical residents. The implementation of this web-based application offers all the advantages provided by the Web technology (interoperability, multiple users, reusability, and extendibility) and will also support the categories mentioned above in evaluating and extending their knowledge in the field of Medical Microbiology. The design and concept of the application allows its extension in any educational field with minimum effort needed. The innovative aspect consists in a module that will preserve the same set of questions in the examination form for all the tested users, realized by creating an examination template that will arrange the questions in randomized manner, the options for each response being presented to each user in a different order. Our application offers great potential for improving the assessment and self-testing of students and residents in medicine and many advantages over traditional assessment methods.