Descriptive evaluation of student-created infographics: reliability and quality in an undergraduate planetary health and sustainable healthcare online course

Abstract

Background Physicians require visual communication skills to convey complex health information effectively. This descriptive evaluation assessed infographic quality and inter-rater reliability as a Bloom’s “create”-level assessment tool within Alexandria University’s third-year Sustainable Healthcare elective, addressing a gap in visual literacy training within the medical curriculum. Methods We analyzed 20 collaborative group infographics from the Planetary Health and Sustainable Healthcare online course. Three blinded expert raters independently applied a four-point weighted rubric (total composite score 0–4.0). Reliability was quantified using a two-way mixed-effects intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) (absolute agreement and average measures) and repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) (IBM SPSS v.20.0). Results The mean composite score was 3.18 of 4.0 (SD = 0.58; 95% CI [2.95–3.41]; range: 1.50–3.77), with 15 of 20 groups (75%) achieving good-to-excellent ratings (≥3.0). Excellent inter-rater reliability was confirmed: ICC (average) = 0.909 (95% CI [0.798–0.962]). Minor rater effects ( F = 5.027, p = 0.012, η 2 = 0.21) were overshadowed by substantial between-infographic variance (mean square [MS] ratio: 12.9:1). Conclusion Scaffolded infographic assignments produced reliable Bloom’s “create”-level group products (ICC = 0.909) suitable for medical education assessment. The rubric demonstrates discriminative validity in assessing collaborative visual synthesis.