Epstein and Brosvic Win Two
Regional APA Awards
Drs. Michael Epstein and Gary Brosvic,
professors of psychology at Rider University, have the distinction
of winning two of the six awards for best papers that the Society
for the Teaching of Psychology, a division of the American Psychological
Association, hands out each year at regional conferences across the
nation.
Epstein, a resident of Princeton Junction,
and Brosvic, a resident of Monroeville, won at the Eastern Psychological
Association Conference (EPA) for their poster, “The Immediate
Feedback Assessment Technique (IF AT): A Test that Assesses while
it Teaches.”
They also won at the New England Psychological
Association (NEPA) for “Effects of Immediate versus Delayed
Feedback on Retention of Test Materials.” A third author of
this winning work was Dr. Roberta Dihoff, associate professor of psychology
at Rowan University.
In their research for the EPA presentation,
they report on the continued development of the IF AT, a scratch-off
multiple choice testing procedure that provides immediate feedback
and, when an incorrect response is made, enables the test taker to
discover the correct and gain partial credit. Their findings show
that use of the IF AT, when compared to results on identical measures
collected with Scantron forms, promotes retention and the correction
of initially-inaccurate first responses.
For the NEPA poster presentation, their
abstract states that students completed five quizzes during the semester
using response formats that provided no feedback such as word-processed
answer sheets or Scantron forms. The final examination consisted of
50 items, with 10 items randomly selected from each quiz, and it was
administered two weeks after completing the fifth quiz. Scores on
each quiz, time to complete each quiz, and average study time per
quiz did not differ as a function of response format. Students demonstrated
the highest recall, the most accurate identification of initial responses,
the most confidence in their answers, and the least amount of incorrect
responses on those final examination items that were originally responded
when immediate feedback was provided.
Epstein has been a member of the Rider
psychology department since 1971. Before coming to Rider, he taught
one year at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he earned
his Ph.D. He is the author of numerous papers concerning memory and
mnemonics. In recent years, he has developed the IF AT testing procedure,
has patented a scratch-off test form, and drawn national media attention.
With this immediate feedback system, student can even score their
own exams and know their grades before leaving the exam.
Brosvic has been a member of the Rider
psychology faculty for 13 years and holds his Ph.D. from American
University in Washington, D.C., in biological psychology. His research
interests focus on developmental disorders and behavioral analysis.
He is the author of more than 245 papers and has made numerous professional
presentations.
