Why Evaluate?

Why do I have to complete my course/clerkship evaluations?

We ask that all students complete all course and clerkship evaluations as part of their professional responsibility for improving the medical school. The information from the evaluations is a critical component in reviewing and revising the courses and clerkships each year. The data provided is used to make recommendations both by and to the Course Directors.

What do you do with the aggregated course/clerkship evaluation data?

We expect students to comply with their professional responsibility by completing all course and clerkship evaluations. Faculty rely on course evaluation data to make ongoing improvements to their courses, and each course is reviewed and improved every year based on student feedback. Below are some examples of improvements that came directly from student feedback:

  • Courses are incorporating more self-assessment tools, such as formative quizzes, practice question banks, etc.
  • Faculty have improved course content, delivery, and formatting based on students' recommendations.
  • Faculty have implemented increasingly more active learning and evidence-based pedagogical approaches.
  • Course evaluation data is helping identify opportunities for better integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion content in the curriculum.

How does the Medical School use my evaluations to improve educational quality?

The Medical School conducts ongoing evaluations of courses and clerkships via CoursEval for years one and two, and MedHub for clinical clerkships and electives. We also use session-specific feedback cards in Canvas to make on-the-fly adjustments to specific course sessions or activities. In addition, LEAD representatives provide information systematically and in real-time on each of the courses. Information gathered from all these and other sources are provided to course directors in a series of debrief meetings, are used to inform recommendations and commendations in each of the courses, are used in the course summaries that are presented to the appropriate committees, and are used to inform the Offices of Curriculum and Assessment and Evaluation (Twin Cities campus) and Assessment, Curriculum and Evaluation (Duluth campus) for continuous quality improvement.

If you have concerns about the organization of, or expectations in, a course or clerkship, the first person to contact is the course or clerkship director.