AMEE Berlin 2002 Programme

Session 7D Curriculum evaluation/staff development
7D1 Students’ feedback: a public health
course in medical education
Eva Rasky*, Wolfgang Freidl; Willibald-Julius Stronegger
Institute of Social Medicine and Epidemiology, Karl-Franzens-
University Graz, Universitaetsstrasse 6/I, A-8010 Graz,
AUSTRIA
Since 1999 Austrian universities have been required
by law to evaluate the teaching competence of their
faculty. The Institute of Social Medicine and
Epidemiology, Karl-Franzens-University Graz, started
evaluating its courses in 1998. Public health is a
required one-week course within the medical school
curriculum. We used a standardized questionnaire
developed by an expert committee of this university
including five sections with ratings on 5-point scales.
The students answered the questionnaire at the end of
the module, therefore the response rate was nearly
100%. The performance of three teachers in the time
period from 1998 to 2000 was analysed by descriptive
analysis of 240 questionnaires. Around 60% of the
students were female and 40% were male. The results
and the relevance of evaluating public health courses
will be discussed.
7D2 Action Research Methodology: a
possible framework for course
evaluations
Alison Rushton* and Gill James
Coventry University, School of Health & Social Sciences, Priory
Street, Coventry CV1 5FB, UK
The process of curriculum design incorporates
evaluation of existing courses. This paper describes a
possible methodology for such evaluations. A
conceptual framework, based upon action research
methodology, was developed; combining diagnosis
with reflection. This framework was used in the
evaluation of a physiotherapy undergraduate course in
the UK. The course was structured around a thematic
approach, whereby the core areas of physiotherapy
practice informed the course design. The diagnostic
phase identified all aspects impinging upon the success
of the programme. All stakeholders (including students,
tutors and funding bodies) were targeted for the data
collection phase. Reflection is seen as an important
component of the action research cycle, facilitating
prescription of data collection methods (which included
focus groups, questionnaires, module evaluations and
analysis of existing documentation). These data were
analysed and triangulated and the results provided a
reasoned justification for maintaining and
strengthening the thematic approach of this course.
Wednesday 5 September
- 4.63 -
7D3 The opinion of graduates of the
Faculty of Medicine of the
University of Barcelona on the new
medical curriculum
J Palés*, A Gual, A Vallés, Ma T Estrach, F Climent,
X Gasull, R Gilabert, A Llobet, Y Compta, L Peri and
J A Bombi
Universitat de Barcelona, Facultat de Medicina, Departmento
de Ciencias Fisiologicas I., Casanova 143, 08036 Barcelona,
SPAIN
Our Faculty introduced in 1994 a new curriculum that
has represented a significant change from the old one.
To evaluate the results of this curriculum in order to
facilitate appropriate future development, a
questionnaire was administered to the graduates, asking
about their opinion on the following aspects:
accomplishment of the curriculum objectives, the
quality of medical education offered by the Faculty,
the influence of the national board examination on the
development of the curriculum, the effort that the new
curriculum requires of the students and the strong and
weak points of the program. 120 students (80% of total
students) answered the questionnaire. In general, the
acceptance of the new curriculum by the students was
high although some deficiencies have been detected.
The information furnished by the graduates will be
useful in introducing the necessary modifications to
improve our educational program in the coming years.
7D4 Comenius University Quality
Assurance System (CUQAS) and
students’ participation in graduate
medical education evaluation
L Plank*, J Danko, E Rozborilova, P Galajda and K Dokus
Jessenius Faculty of Medicine, Dean’s Office, Comenius
University, Zaborskeho 2, SVK 036 45 MARTIN, SLOVAK
REPUBLIC
We believe that students should take an active part in
the process of education evaluation applied at the
Jessenius Medical Faculty. Students in the 11th and 12th
semester were asked to answer an anonymous
questionnaire on education quality in four basic clinical
subjects (four-grade-quality-system). Questions related
to the structure and content of lectures, teachers´
approach towards students, contacts with patients and
others. In contrast to prevailing positive evaluations
within the scale of “fully”, “partially satisfied” and
“more satisfied than unsatisfied”, less than 1/5 of
students were “not satisfied” with at least one of the
evaluated education components. The education quality
evaluation system helps the faculty management to
improve educational standards and to identify its weak
and strong components. In the future, this is planned
to be applied annually for the whole graduate education
within the uniform CUQAS system and database.