Assessment in Health Professions MED5386

  • Academic Session: 2024-25
  • School: School of Medicine Dentistry and Nursing
  • Credits: 20
  • Level: Level 5 (SCQF level 11)
  • Typically Offered: Summer
  • Available to Visiting Students: No
  • Taught Wholly by Distance Learning: Yes
  • Collaborative Online International Learning: No

Short Description

In this course, students will learn about various forms of assessment and will be able to select the most appropriate form(s) of assessment to measure acquisition or application of knowledge, skills and/or attitudes relevant to a health professions context. Students will also learn about governance issues in relation to assessment, including standard-setting, grading and quality assurance measures.

Timetable

This course is made up of lectures and tutorials taking place over summer semester.

Requirements of Entry

none 

Excluded Courses

MED5170

Co-requisites

none

Assessment

50%: Set exercise: Group creation of online resource, typically a Wiki. 1500 words, 5 minutes maximum integrated audio/visual component (ILO1)

 

50%: Reflective Point Forum (RPF): 2 referenced weekly written posts relating to theoretical aspects of the course material, each up to 200 words (up to 4000 words total). (ILOs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5)

Course Aims

This course aims to give students the opportunity to:

1. Develop their knowledge and understanding of various strategies and methods of assessment;

2. Select the most appropriate tools to assess acquisition and application of knowledge, skills and/or attitudes relevant to the health professions context;

3. Apply procedures used for standard-setting;

4. Develop their knowledge and understanding of governance issues within assessment, including grading, the use of marking criteria, and the external examiner system.

Intended Learning Outcomes of Course

By the end of this course students will be able to:

1. Critically evaluate a range of assessment strategies used to assess the knowledge, skills and attitudes required of health professionals, detailing purpose, advantages & disadvantages.

2. Identify relevant regulatory bodies for health professions curricula and critically evaluate their interest in and influence on the assessment of students undertaking such curricula.

3. Critically evaluate the impact of educational and institutional assessment policies on design and delivery of health professions education.

4. Critically evaluate assessment-related governance mechanisms in health professions education.

5. Critically evaluate their own assessment practice and identify areas for enhancement.

Minimum Requirement for Award of Credits

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.