Dr. Pradeep Kumar 8 – 10 October 2014 Structured oral viva Dr. Pradeep Kumar 8 – 10 October 2014

Extreme cynical view about viva “Most foolish person can ask a question which a wisest one cannot answer” J L Burton in Aids to Post Graduate Medicine

Some viva voce exams.

Evaluation - Find out if pre determined educational objectives achieved & includes theory/ Practical/ Clinical/ Int. assessment & viva exam. Viva: Tests cognitive domain, attitudes, alertness, ability to discuss/ defend ones decision & perform under stress Conventional Viva-voce examination (CVE) suffers from poor - validity, reliability and objectivity

Oral viva: “viva voce” meaning “live voice” Aim: “Permit student (answering to orally put questions) to demonstrate knowledge/ understanding of subject Purpose: It tests 1. Mainly Cognitive domain & communication skills & also 2. Memory (depth of knowledge) 3. Understanding of subject 4. Reasoning/ problem solving 5. Ability to perform under stress

Advantages: 1. Direct personal contact 2 Advantages: 1. Direct personal contact 2. Take in account mitigating circumstances 3. Flexibility – move from strong to weak areas 4. Improves communication skills 5. Helpful in deciding borderline/ distinction cases 6. Can ask to explain by suppl. Questions 7. No scope of cheating/ copying 8. Simultaneous assessment by 2 examiners

Disadvantages Lack of objectivity & reproducibility - different grading with different examiners/ at different times with same examiners Abuse of personal contact (?) Influenced by factors – luck, gender, accent, outward appearance

Disadvantages Untrained examiners (very senior/ junior) Impatient (?)/ sympathetic (?) examiners Costly in terms of time & manpower, disproportionate time & resources spent Limited scope of differentiating average students Language (fluency)/ communication skills

Some facts about viva Lack of reliability (Inter-examiner) Distinct marking trends by examining team/ hour/ day General tendency towards leniency LACK OF OBJECTIVITY - Arbitrary marking Examiners Disagreements about correct answer Not up to date with advances Expects an answer which he thinks correct – unwilling to listen alternatives Ask questions - Irrelevant/ trivial/ unclear/ variable level of difficulty

Means to improve - Strategies in planning 1 Means to improve - Strategies in planning 1. Plan with co examiners in advance - divide topics 2. Consistency in scoring possible with prior consultation with co examiners 3. Use problem scenarios/ reports/ specimens/ photos 4. Use question cards – segregated according to topics & level of competence & use through lottery/ chits

Some dos & dons for examiners - Do’s: 1 Some dos & dons for examiners - Do’s: 1. Prepare list of abilities/ tasks to be assessed – from all 3 domains 2. While asking questions, maintain eye contact, be courteous & non judgmental 3. Questions asked should be clear & unambiguous 5. Proceed from a. Easy to difficult & b. Superficial to in depth 6. Asking multiple small questions better than a single large question

Some dos & dons for examiners – Don’ts 1 Some dos & dons for examiners – Don’ts 1. Criticize student for slow pace 2. Show impatience/ aggression – counter productive & make candidate uncomfortable & tense 3. Make distracting gestures (while candidate answers), talk on mobile/ other colleagues 4. Make fun/ ridicule candidate for poor performance. 5. Ask personal questions 6. Try to explain/ teach candidate when unable to answer

Viva: On a continuum, varies from unstructured to structured. Unstructured: Unplanned questions asked haphazardly, vary with candidates & responses evaluated inconsistently, Structured includes questions segregated based on different topics & degree of hardness, All are asked similar type questions & responses assessed in standard manner. It minimizes personal bias & ensures fair & uniform assessment

Structured viva Give standard set of questions to all examiners & prepare standard marking system Question should be: Clear, short, precise & unequivocal Questions should Cover all sub tasks in proper sequence – must/ good/ & nice to know Test all levels of knowledge in different domains

Structured viva contd.. Other aspects: Prepare rating scale with agreed examples & criteria of correct answers, with a classification as Inadequate Adequate Satisfactory Afterwards take feedback from peers, students, teachers, colleagues, superiors & use it to improve it further

Perception of Conventional & structured viva examination

Thanks