Evaluation & Assessment

Evaluation Process

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)* of Courses, Clerkships and Curricular Components

Evaluation Software

• OEA Help Ticket

Evaluation Resources

Pre-Clerkship Evaluation Resources

• Pre-Clerkship End of Course Evaluation Form
• Pre-Clerkship Lecturer Evaluation Form
• Pre-Clerkship Small Group Facilitator Evaluation Form

Evaluation FAQs

Q: What is the difference between evaluation, research, and assessment?

Q: If I want to send out a survey to students, who should I contact?
A: Submit and OEA Help Ticket

Q: What evaluations/surveys does OEA send out?
A: To Faculty: 

• Faculty evaluation of course (PreClerkship)
• Student Performance Evlaluations (Clerkship)
• Multi-Stakeholder Survey of the Learning Environment (MSSLE) (January of even years)

To Staff: Logistics logs-used to collect logistical feedback from coordinators about courses

To Students:

• Course and Clerkship Evaluations
  * At the end of the course/clerkship
  * Evaluation of course attributes and teaching
• End of Phase (EoP) Survey
  * After each phase of the curriculum (Pre-Clerkship, Clerkship, and Elective Phases)
• Preparedness Survey
  * Approximately Annually

Q: How do I access my faculty evaluations?
A: Submit an OEA Help Ticket and we will be happy to provide these to you. Please just ensure that you include your name, course(s) taught, campus, and year(s) being requested.

Q: How can I modify a course evaluation, such as ask additional questions, or ask questions about a specific course activity (workshop, small group activity, etc.)?
A: Please submit a OEA Help Ticket.  Most forms have a core set of questions that are common across courses, clerkships or teaching evaluations, and these are not as easily modified.  However, clerkships and courses can add up to five (5) additional questions (per track) on the end of course/clerkship form.

Q: Can we send additional evaluation forms?
A: OEA would suggest modifying the current evaluation form to reduce the number of evaluations received by students. To modify evaluation forms, please submit an OEA Help Ticket.

Assessment Process

Assessment Resources

Assessment FAQs

Q.Does OEA create the exams?
A.Exams are created by faculty members and reviewed by the question review committee (QRC). The exam content is provided to OEA and OEA builds the exams.

Q.Does OEA do the grading?
A.No, OEA helps with the building, delivery and scoring of the internal exams, and OEA helps with delivery of external exams (e.g., NBME) and delivery of the outcomes.

Q.What kind of analysis is being used to keep track of reliability of the exams?
A.OEA provides item and exam level analysis using psychometric theories of Classical Test Theory (CTT) to course leadership.

Q.When is question and exam data reviewed?
A.During the course, in order to make real time grading decisions, the course directors receive question and exam psychometric data within 72 hours of each exam. At the conclusion of the courses, during continuous quality improvement (CQI) meetings, course directors review exam performance.

Q.What is the QRC?
A.QRC is the Question Review Committee. The committee is comprised of faculty members who review items for formatting and content

Curriculum Mapping Process

Curriculum mapping is a process for collecting and recording curriculum-related data that identifies core skills and content taught, processes employed, and assessments used for each subject area and phase (grade level) (from www.educationworld.com)

Pre-clerkship Process

Clerkship Process

Curriculum Mapping Resources

Curriculum Mapping Module

Medbiquitous Standardized Instructional and Assessment Methods and Resource Types

USMLE Step Content

AAMC Curriculum Inventory Report (CIR)

Curriculum Mapping FAQs

What is curriculum mapping?
Curriculum mapping is the process of indexing or diagramming a curriculum to identify and address academic gaps, redundancies, and misalignments for purposes of improving the overall coherence of a course of study. ¹

Curriculum mapping is a process for collecting and recording curriculum-related data that identifies core skills and content taught, processes employed, and assessments used for each subject area and grade level ²

Curriculum mapping is the process of documenting all components of the curriculum to show the relationship between these components to help us understand what is being taught and to create opportunities for improvement by identifying redundancies and gaps.

1. https://www.etsu.edu/com
2. https://www.educationworld.com

Why do we need a curriculum map?
Curriculum mapping is the process of documenting all components of the curriculum to show the relationship between these components to help us understand what is being taught and to create opportunities for improvement by identifying redundancies and gaps.

Mapping also allows us to ensure curriculum is aligned vertical and horizontal.

It is essential that the faculty lead curriculum committee manages the curriculum as described in LCME Standards 8.1 - 8.4. Additionally, the AAMC Curriculum inventory project allows medical schools to share their mapping data to create a national “benchmarking and reporting tool on content, structure, delivery, and assessment of U.S. and Canadian medical school curricula for both M.D. and D.O. degree-granting accredited schools.”

Why do we have to submit session plan information every year?
The objectives may rarely change, but the DATA around each session DOES change year to year. For example, the length of a session, who taught the session, what order the sessions occur, or delivery method of the session (lecture vs. TBL) likely changes from year to year. Additionally, session level objectives may change from year to year or be reorganized into different sessions.

How can a curriculum map be helpful for our medical school?
(See-Why do we need a curriculum map section)

We can use the curriculum map to improve the curriculum by reviewing redundancies to ensure they are intentional and necessary and addressing gaps as science and content advances and changes over time. For example, health systems science (HSS) has become an essential element in medical education. The map can help us know what we already cover related to (HSS) and where we may want to add or change content related to these new objectives.

Moreover, the college can use resources to assist faculty and support courses with identifying better ways to teach content or ensure we are teaching and assessing the content we intended to teach and assess.

How can curriculum mapping benefit the faculty?
Course directors and faculty need to see what is taught before and after their course or their session so that curriculum is coherent between courses and across phases. The map allows faculty and the curriculum committee to ensure the curriculum is scaffolded. Scaffolding is an instructional practice where a teacher gradually removes guidance and support as students learn and become more competent.

Faculty need to ensure their individual sessions are INTEGRATED in courses taught by many different expert faculty and are appropriate in scope for the learner in that phase of the curriculum. Faculty can also connect their session content to other relevant content which aids in students creating connections between and among many different disciplines. The better the faculty understand their sessions in context the better they can instruct their students. The same is true for the curriculum committee to manage the curriculum from a global perspective.

How can curriculum mapping benefit the students?
The curriculum map very literally serves as a road map for students. They can see where they are going and where they have been. Students should be able to see what they are learning and need to learn. The map can help them manage their learning gaps.

How do faculty, staff and students have access to the map?
The COM determined this issue was our biggest issue regarding our mapping system. As of September 2021, the COM pulled our AY 20-21 map out of a commercial product and temporarily placed it in OneDrive/Teams. Access can be requested at com-oea@tamu.edu. At any time, you can also email  com-oea@tamu.edu to request a search.

A new curriculum mapping software/system is in the works. Faculty, staff, and students will be given access in Fall 2022.

Educational Research Process

Educational Research Resources

Educational Research FAQs