Discussion
ocular diseases
DISEASES
This study’s goal was to study the impact of the oral presentation assessment, Scholars180, on optometry students’ knowledge of ocular diseases and their confidence regarding how to identify and manage these diseases. Oral assessments are defined as an assessment of student learning that incorporates spoken words either entirely or partially [From the results as indicated in Moreover, the results shown in Moving forward, assessments can be summative or formative [There are also some limitations to the design of the study. The participants conducted the pre-questionnaire at the beginning of the course whilst the post-questionnaire was conducted 12 weeks later. As there is a time gap between the questionnaires, it is unsure if the increase in student knowledge and confidence is due to the Scholars180 assessment itself, or through other teaching activities such as lectures, tutorials, and tests. Moreover, the sample size for this study was relatively small and there was no comparator group given a standard oral presentation assessment task. Thus, it is not known whether the improvements that students felt from Scholars180 would fare better than a standard oral assessment. In the future, a large sample should be used to permit more generalisability of the outcomes. The differences in outcomes for first-year students may be due to their different educational backgrounds and exposure to presentation assessments. Hence, this study could be conducted on second or third-year optometry students once they have all been exposed to this assessment type, which enables a more standardised comparison of results.Lastly, the students were surveyed using a 5-point Likert scale regarding their confidence and self-reported knowledge of subjects. However, the rating is quite subjective and there is no way of knowing if their reported increase in confidence on the subject translated to an actual increase in knowledge. Another detail to note is that during the development of the project, a gap in knowledge around the establishment of clear and comprehensive rubrics for oral presentations was identified. To fill this knowledge gap, various journals on rubric development and consultations with established academics were used to improve the development of new assessment tools and associated rubrics. However, more research in the future concerning rubric design could help refine Scholars180.Given that Scholars180 is an effective assessment, students may benefit directly from participation by gaining better knowledge in the areas of optometry, ophthalmology, and vision sciences. There is also a chance that some of the students may not directly benefit from this assignment. However, the results of their tests will help guide future research into this area as well as provide direction for improvements in how we teach and assess optometry students. Doing so could help improve the health of the wider community by improving the competence of the optometry workforce.