Assessment Tools in Medical Education

Assessment Tools

• A roadmap for assessment in medical education includes: an overview of assessment principles, assessment methods/tools, and assessment within the college.
• Assessment tools prioritize student learning outcomes.
• Educational impact of assessment must be considered.
• Assessment methods should be valid, reliable, practical, and cost-effective.
• Assessment must be acceptable and feasible in practice.
• Assessment should be comprehensive and use a variety of methods. It's not enough to depend on only a few methods.

Educational Triangle

• The educational triangle model shows the interrelationship between needs, curriculum, strategies, and assessment, highlighting the importance of aligning these components to achieve desired learning outcomes.

Overview of Assessment

• The curriculum guides teachers on what to teach, while exams guide students on what to learn.
• Assessment drives learning, encouraging students to learn what is assessed rather than what is expected. Learn what teachers inspect.
• Formative assessments are ongoing evaluations used to improve learning and understanding, while summative assessments evaluate learning at the end of a course.

Formative vs Summative Assessment

• Formative assessment: continuous evaluation, feedback essential, typically no grades, no pass/fail decisions
• Summative assessment: end of course evaluation, usually no feedback sessions, grades essential, pass/fail decision needed

Miller's Pyramid of Assessment

• Assesses clinical skills and competencies.
• Knowledge, knowing how, showing how, doing. This model demonstrates a progression from simply knowing facts, to understanding and applying skills, to complete competence.

Assessment Methods

• One method can not cover complete testing, a mixture of methods is needed to measure the entire learning pyramid.
• Different assessment tools (written exams, progress tests, OSCE, clinical simulations, oral exams, assignments, portfolios, etc.) are suitable for different learning outcomes and skills/competencies

End of Course Assessment

• Assessment (End-of-Course) includes multiple-choice questions, open-ended questions, MCQs, modified essays, and computer-based assessments.

Clinical Assessment

• Includes short cases, long cases, OSCEs, simulated clinics, video consultations, slides interpretation, lab data interpretation, portfolios, and simulated oral exams (SOEs).

Computerized Case-Based Testing

• Computers enhance assessment effectiveness in cost-efficiency, efficient test administration, better scoring, and authentic test environments.

Other Assessment Considerations

• "Long case" and "Short case" assessments haven't always met standards for reliability and validity.
• Observations of candidates' interactions with patients(Mini-CEX).
• Criteria for selecting assessment methods include validity, reliability, educational impact, cost-effectiveness, and acceptability.
• Written exams measure knowledge and reasoning but not skills as effectively.
• Importance and weighting of topics in tests should reflect course goals.
• Test samples should accurately reflect the subject matter being tested.
• The teacher needs to give regular feedback to the student in regards to their performance.
• Professional behavior consists of three aspects : dealing with work, dealing with others and dealing with oneself.
• Portfolios assess students' skills and competencies by collecting and evaluating different assignments and achievements throughout the course,
• Portfolio assessment entails a discussion between the student and mentor about the student's competency and reflection

Other Topics

• Continuous assessment method and the breakdown of weightings.