Curricular Affairs Office Assessment, URSMD

Curricular Affairs Office

Educational Assessment

Goal: To collect valid, reliable and useful data about the teaching and learning environment and to make the data available for the purpose of enhancing the learning community for students, faculty, and staff.

The University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry has a history of valuing student feedback and a record of commitment to improving the educational environment. Students' views on the educational process provide much of the data used to assess courses and faculty. Thus, it is critical to our effort to improve the quality of assessment data that ALL students take this responsibility seriously and participate in this process.

Please note that all feedback collected by the Curricular Affairs Office is kept confidential, unless otherwise specified. Any feedback provided by a medical student will not become part of their educational record. Course Assessment and Faculty Assessment data will only be provided to course directors and department chairs after grades have been registered.

Tips on Giving Effective Feedback

Course Assessment

Course assessment is conducted by the Curricular Affairs Office. Scanable and on-line forms allow the office to collect both quantitative and qualitative data on courses at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.

If you have specific concerns regarding a course, please contact the Curricular Affairs Office (Phone: 275-7202; e-mail:omecao@urmc.rochester.edu).

Faculty Assessment

Students are our best source on information regarding faculty assessment. This office uses faculty assessment data to identify learning needs of faculty that can be addressed through workshops and mentoring. In addition, student feedback on faculty will also be used by promotions committees to assess the teaching contributions of faculty seeking promotion.

Students should take the opportunity to provide feedback, on a regular basis, regarding faculty currently teaching at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. If you have questions or concerns about faculty assessment, please contact the Curricular Affairs Office (Phone: 275-7202; e-mail:omecao@urmc.rochester.edu).

Tips on Giving Feedback

A very real and demanding part of your life as a professional involves assessment and feedback. This includes, but is not limited to, assessing and giving feedback to the resident or student working on your team, assessing the performance of your office staff, and writing letters of reference for colleagues. All of these activities require thoughtful reflection on instructional practices and processes and the ability to offer succinct, concrete evidence for your perceptions.

Three important skills that are needed to give effective feedback:

Observation Skills: Observing yourself as a learner, the faculty person as a learner and teacher, and the course as the structure for the learning process.
Communication Skills: Reporting your observations and the meaning of these observations. Getting down on paper, or verbalizing, what you have observed and what your observations mean.
Critical Thinking Skills: Making constructive suggestions for improvement.

GIVING FEEDBACK

Ineffective Feedback
Effective Feedback

Vague, does not describe strengths and/or problems Specific, descriptive, constructive, tells why

No suggestions for improvement Constructive, provides ideas for improvement

Unnecessarily harsh/focuses on negative Fair, even-handed, non-judgmental (reports both strengths and weaknesses)

Makes judgments in areas where the evaluator lacks expertise Confined to areas where evaluator has expertise to judge

Focuses on personality Focuses on specific behavior/ performance

Based on rumor, hearsay Based on personal observation