A guide to best practice in faculty development for health professions schools: a qualitative analysis

BACKGROUND: This is a practice guide for the evaluation tool specifically created to objectively evaluate longitudinal faculty development programs (FDP) using the “5×2 -D backward planning faculty development model”. It was necessary to create this tool as existing evaluation methods are designed to evaluate linear faculty development models with a specific endpoint. This backward planning approach is a cyclical model without an endpoint, consisting of 5 dynamic steps that are flexible and interchangeable, therefore can be a base for an evaluation tool that is objective and takes into account all the domains of the FDP in contrast to the existing, traditional, linear evaluation tools which focus on individual aspects of the program. The developed tool will target evaluation of longitudinal faculty development programs regardless of how they were planned. METHODOLOGY: Deductive qualitative grounded theory approach was used. Evaluation questions were generated and tailored based on the 5 × 2-D model followed by 2 Delphi rounds to finalize them. Based on the finalized evaluation questions from the results of the Delphi rounds, two online focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted to deduce the indicators, data sources and data collection method. RESULTS: Based on the suggested additions, the authors added 1 new question to domains B, with a total of 42 modifications, such as wording changes or discarding or merging questions. Some domains received no comments, therefore, were not included in round 2. For each evaluation question, authors generated indicators, data sources and data collection methods during the FGD. CONCLUSION: The methodology used to develop this tool takes into account expert opinions. Comprehensiveness of this tool makes it an ideal evaluation tool during self-evaluation or external quality assurance for longitudinal FDP. After its validation and testing, this practice guide can be used worldwide, along with the provided indicators which can be quantified and used to suit the local context. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-022-03208-x

Evaluation of the Portfolio’s Implementation in Clinical Clerkship: Students’ and Staff’s Perception in Egypt

Background: Over the last two decades, the focus of curricula has shifted from the acquisition of knowledge to the achievement of competence. The challenge is to improve the assessment scheme to formatively support the development of competence in an integrated, coherent, and longitudinal fashion, and assess them in a summative fashion. Objectives: To investigate the students’ and staff’s perception towards the implementation process of the portfolio in the clinical years at Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University. Methods: Two different questionnaires were used to explore the students’ and staff’s perception towards portfolio assessment process. Results: The students’ response rate was 70%. 46.8% of the students agreed on the portfolio’s complementary role to clinical teaching during rotations. They agreed that portfolio stimulated their problem solving and clinical reasoning skills by 38.5%, and 38.2% respectively. 41.1% agreed that it helped them in preparation for their future practice. However, 41% agreed that portfolio workload and time required were excessive. There was no chance to improve those aspects assessed as deficient in feedback. One of the threatening problems is copying the portfolio from others, unfortunately. 34.7% of the students agreed that this was a problem among them. Regarding the staff, they agreed that portfolio helped them to assess students’ competencies and permitted multiple episodes of teaching more effectively than single observations did (75%, and 72.2%, respectively). However, 38.9% felt that it was an exhausting and time-consuming assessment process. They thought that it would be better to have enough time for review the portfolio in detail before the oral discussion, and that was fair if two examiners evaluated it rather than one (64%, and 75%, respectively). Conclusion: The portfolio helps the faculty in assessment of students’ clinical competencies in a continuous manner but for both it was exhausting and time-consuming assessment process. Keywords: PORTFOLIO, EVALUATION, PERCEPTIO

Influence of personality traits and learning styles on undergraduate medical students’ academic achievement

PURPOSE: Learning focus has shifted from conventional teacher-centered to student-centered; therefore, methods used to support and encourage learners must be considered. Meanwhile, the individual differences between learners should be taken into consideration by medical educators. Aiming to achieve a better learning experience, the current study investigates the relationship between personality traits and learning styles and their effect on students’ academic achievement. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: An analytical, cross-sectional study, encompassing a sample of 333 undergraduate first-year medical students, at the Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University in Egypt was conducted. The Big Five personality traits test and VARK learning styles questionnaires were used to assess students’ personality traits and learning styles, respectively, in the medical education module which is a part of the Foundation II module. The former is five weeks’ duration and is followed by a summative exam at the end. Students’ academic achievement was determined from their grades in Foundation II module by the end of the semester. RESULTS: Study findings generally indicate that the highest domain of learning styles among students is the kinesthetic domain. A statistically significant difference between males and females regarding their learning style preferences was detected. Also, there was a statistically significant relationship between auditory and kinesthetic learning styles and academic achievement. Though there was a significant relationship between kinesthetic learning style with both openness traits and academic achievement, no significant statistical relationship was found between any of the personality traits and academic achievement. CONCLUSION: This study concludes that learning style could affect students’ academic achievement. It reveals that the kinesthetic learning style is the most preferred learning style among our medical students, also the agreeableness and openness traits were the most common personality traits among them. No significant relationship was detected between personality traits and academic achievement