Closing the Loop and Building Skills: Design and Evaluation of an Integrated Curriculum Feedback Procedure in Medical Education
Quentin Marsman, Robert Hauptmeijer, Michelle Jacobs, Yasmin Leenderts, Alwin Scharstuhl, Petra van Gurp, Esther TanckObjectives
Educational boards and teachers are highly interested in student feedback. However, low response rates, survey fatigue, and open feedback loops limit the amount of feedback generated. We aimed to design and evaluate a new evaluation procedure that integrates cyclical evaluation of the curriculum and adds value for students by providing feedback skill training. Our five design principles were: 1) short questionnaires; 2) closed feedback loop; 3) embedding in educational activities; 4) involving the teaching staff to strengthen their ownership; and 5) focus on the perspective of students. After the design, our novel evaluation procedure was implemented into the students’ regular training program.
Methods
We used questionnaires to study 26 evaluation cycles with a closed feedback loop, implemented in small-group meetings within the bachelor’s curricula in Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Radboudumc in Nijmegen, The Netherlands. We evaluated both the evaluation procedure and students’ perceived feedback skills. Furthermore, the completed course improvements by the teaching staff were calculated as a measure of valuable students’ feedback.
Results
The procedure was successfully implemented, achieving a mean response rate of 52.8%. Evaluations of the procedure showed high student involvement, but their perception of the improvement in their feedback skills did not improve. The procedure yielded 116 course improvements, of which the teaching staff implemented 97.
Conclusions
Students and the educational board both benefited from integrating student feedback skill training with cyclical evaluation, resulting in targeted improvements to the educational program. However, there was no improvement in students’ perceived feedback skills.