UC San Diego

Improvements in student learning and the retention of learned content are possibly the most important outcomes that educators strive to achieve. Exams have been widely utilized in efforts towards gauging the students’ overall understanding and performance. However, exams can also serve as a means for learning and solidifying content. While some studies suggest collaborative exams are helpful at improving retention (Gilley and Clarkston, 2014; Cooke et al., 2019) others have found no effect (Leight et al., 2012; Vojdanoska et al., 2009). Multi-stage collaborative exams provide students with interactive, rewarding, and feedback experiences. The current thesis strives to determine whether collaborative exams improve retention of course content in an upper division physiology course. Utilizing a mixed-crossover design similar to previous studies and increasing student motivation, collaborative exams do not improve retention of course content for upper division physiology students at UCSD.