Evaluation
The main aims of evaluation are continuous quality improvement in teaching and student learning, as well as delivery of the program and measurement of significant program effects. Evaluation covers the areas of admission, process (program) and outcomes.
Admission evaluation
To assist in the evaluation of the USydMP admissions process at the University of Sydney, the Faculty of Medicine has undertaken an annual survey of all applicants who place Sydney as their first preference, collecting information about a range of sociodemographic aspects.
The annual Applicant Information Form measures a range of standard sociodemographic variables including sex, age, ethnicity, languages spoken at home, languages spoken proficiently, socio-economic status, educational background of the applicant and parents, urban/rural origin, paid work experience, timing of decision to enter medicine, influences on the selection of medicine as a career and career aspirations.
Process evaluation
Process evaluation is student-centred, comprising website feedback mechanisms (see our showcase of evaluation tools), regular feedback meetings with student representatives and traditional rating-type questionnaires, as well as evaluation of teaching on campus and at clinical schools.
Only students experience the entire curriculum and their views are potentially more valuable than those of individual staff. The process evaluation system has been designed to support self regulated learning by encouraging students' reflection on the quality of their learning experiences. Student feedback provides an impetus for change.
Website feedback mechanisms include problem evaluations in which problem-based learning (PBL) groups are encouraged to comment openly on what was most useful for their learning during the week and to make suggestions about improving the problem and/or other teaching sessions (see form for student evaluation of the week's learning activities - demontration copy).
Feedback meetings provide an opportunity for representatives from PBL groups to speak openly to certain members of staff about what concerns their group the most and what suggestions group members may have for improvements to the course. A report listing major issues together with a response from Faculty is posted as a "bulletin" on the medical program website for access by all students and staff.
Program evaluation
Well-designed program evaluation at all stages from application to graduation is recognised as crucial for ensuring equity of access, achievement of program goals and the quality of graduates. The long period between commencement of the selection process and the final outcome (i.e., a competent doctor succeeding in his or her area of medicine) requires careful planning and a commitment to the establishment and maintenance of longitudinal databases with regular data collections.
The purpose of program evaluation is to provide evidence on which to make judgements and statements about the program's value.
Some current projects include:
- Preparation for Hospital Practice Project - to measure how well the medical program has prepared graduates for hospital practice. (completed; see published results).
- Intern Assessment Project - to obtain objective measures of graduates' performance in interns.
- Extended Course Quality Project - to continue to measure the students' perception of the educational quality of the medical program after they have graduated.
- NHMRC funded research project on USyd Medical graduates - to study the relationship between personal characteristics, environmental factors and performance during the first postgraduate (intern) year, for the first cohort of graduates from the USydMP.
- Career destinations - using existing data collected annually by the New South Wales Medical Board Workforce Survey division. Data on registered NSW doctors' location of residence, location of practice, employment setting of practice, hours worked, specialty training in, specialty qualified in, is available.