Increasing the return on investment of an ExamSoft database through the creation of a data entry interface.

Philadelphia

One of the several ExamSoft databases at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine is shared by three academic programs - DO, Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences, and Forensic Medicine. At it’s launch in early 2013, the database was set up with the sole intent of creating and administering exams. Data entry and management was left in the hands of individual courses. The result was a database that became difficult to manage due to the lack of standards and overall vision.In December 2015, the Graduate Program in Biomedical Sciences identified the problem and decided to act. We recognized that better control of data entry would allow us to provide better student student feedback, identify areas for faculty development, address issues related to pedagogy, and better prepare us for accreditation evaluations. A data entry interface was chosen as a means of better controlling data entry.In this poster, I will describe what we expect to get out of this interface, the approach to its development, and our current status.