Certification is essential in the medical space. Physicians must maintain certifications in order to continue practicing in their fields. Recent feedback from physicians and diplomates has spurred the medical industry to find ways to adapt and modernize the current certification model.

Rather than offering diplomates one assessment every ten years, the medical industry calls for a model that leverages technology and adult learning theories to increase a diplomate’s potential for learning and knowledge retention.

At ITS, we’ve answered this call with a robust new solution: an assessment for learning system that promotes continuous certification, test preparation, and ongoing medical proficiency. Today, we’ll examine how this system provides ideal assessment and learning conditions for diplomates and ample customization options for both medical boards and diplomates.

An Introduction to Assessment for Learning

The ITS assessment for learning system addresses the need of medical boards to adequately support diplomates as they retain their certifications and stay up to date in their medical specialties.

By customizing the system configurations to meet program requirements, medical boards can provide diplomates with a dynamic, modern approach to testing and validation. This approach targets the diplomate’s preferred adult learning style in order to help them learn, retain, and comprehensively understand both foundational content and individual practice areas.

Optimized Assessment and Learning for Diplomates

Today’s busy diplomates require a certification system that is equally engaging, relevant, convenient, and effective.

The medical community tells us that diplomates, as adult learners, are more likely to successfully learn and retain content when it is delivered in short, recurring assessments given over a period of time. This is in contrast to conventional content delivery that requires extended periods of studying for a single assessment.

ITS’ assessment for learning system incorporates this research to offer diplomates the optimal content delivery style for their learning needs. Our system merges the assessment and learning processes in a format that facilitates and reinforces learning with focused, segmented, and strategic content.

Let’s take a look at how the assessment for learning system is designed to enhance diplomate engagement and success.

Format of the Assessment for Learning System

The system provides maximum functionality and convenience for diplomates by gathering assessments and their learning resources all in one place. The system also increases the likelihood of knowledge retention by testing diplomate knowledge and offering immediate feedback and explanation.

Diplomates access the easily navigable system from their phones, tablets, or desktops at any time within the assessment window. They follow a few simple steps to proceed with the assessment:

1. The diplomate enters the certification portal and views a dashboard that displays progress and performance.
2. The diplomate customizes a test blueprint to prioritize content areas that will be assessed.
3. The diplomate uses a menu to navigate to the assessment questions.
4. After answering each question, the diplomate receives feedback and access to learning content, such as key learning points and links to external references.
5. The diplomate focuses their learning efforts by reviewing the test blueprint, through which they can explore content areas and additional learning resources.

Content Delivered by the Assessment for Learning System

The system responds to the needs of individual diplomates. Content is:

• Adaptive: Content can adapt to a diplomate’s knowledge, skill level, and confidence. When a diplomate answers a question incorrectly or flags a question with a low confidence level, variations of the question will be repeated until the concept is mastered.

• Relevant: Diplomates can receive a combination of core and specialty content. Boards can make regular content updates so that diplomates have real-time, continuous access to the most current knowledge in their fields.

• Paced: Content can be disseminated in bite-size chunks and at staggered intervals. Diplomates may respond to a certain number of questions within a timespan—such as per month or per quarter—specified by the program. Diplomates focus on engaging with and mastering individual concepts.
  
  Questions may be emailed weekly or accessed directly through the program’s app or website portal.

Customizable Program Configuration for Medical Boards and Diplomates

Medical boards maintain their current, unique methods of building and delivering programs. The ITS assessment for learning system molds to the requirements of each program, adapting to distinct structures, cycles, and scoring to provide a smooth transition for boards and diplomates alike.

Diplomates also have considerable customization options. Diplomates can manually configure the system to focus on particular content areas. They also have the power to determine the amount of content they will receive and how often they will receive it on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.

ITS is ready to supplement your certification model with our assessment for learning system. If you would like to learn more about this system that supports certification and ongoing diplomate success, contact us. We’re excited to hear from you!