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Symposium F

Symposia

Symposia

4:00 pm

27 February 2024

M203

Themes

Theme 5: Organisational approaches to assessment

Session Program

4:00 pm

Driving Change in Systems of Work-Based Assessment across Australasian Medical Schools.

Rashmi Watson - Assessment Lead, Medical Education - The University of Western Australia, Bunmi Malau-Aduli, Karen D'Souza , Katie Wynne , Paul Fullerton
Rashmi Watson1
Bunmi Malau-Aduli2, Karen D'Souza3, Paul Fullerton4, Katie Wynne5 and Robyn Stevenson6
1 Medical School, University of Western Australia
2 University of New England and the University of Newcastle
3 School of Medicine Deakin University
4 Monash University
5 The University of Newcastle / University of New England
6 James Cook University



Background

  1. WBAs are increasingly being utilised but ensuring its quality in a cross-institutional manner has not yet been explored. 

  2. The ACCLAiM group developed a sub-committee in 2022 to drive and lead change in benchmarking and assuring quality in work-based assessments (WBAs) across Australasia. 

  3. In 2023, the pilot commenced with one Medical school at the start of the year and two others joining mid-year. 

Why is the topic important for research and / or for practice? 

  1. WBAs and Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are being embedded more and more across Medical Schools and postgraduate Colleges as a long-term assessment tool for ongoing development of essential, core skills and tasks. 

  2. WBAs are a resource intensive modality and provide the opportunity for real-time, observation and feedback of student performance of authentic, clinical tasks. 

  3. Assessors and students/trainees require support on how to unlock the potential of these assessment moments in achieving competence through giving and receiving feedback. 

  4. WBAs assess the highest level of competence (“does”), assisting in making authentic 

  5. progression decisions and fostering lifelong learning clinical practices. 

  6. Effective change management processes are critical to acceptable and successful 

  7. implementation and stakeholder engagement. 

  8. Collaboration and benchmarking are key factors in quality assurance of systems of 

  9. assessment. 

3. Symposium format, including participant engagement methods 

  • 20 min: Consider any small/large assessment implementation changes that have occurred at your site. What happened? What were the processes used to implement and manage the change? Small and whole group discussion. 

  • 15 min: ACCLAiM story (a multi-institutional approach). What was the need for change? WBAs are increasingly being utilised but ensuring its quality in a cross- institutional manner has not yet been explored. What was developed (ACCLAiM). Delphi process & consultation. Resources to support learning (ACCLAiM). 

  • 20 min: How was the change implemented using a change management theoretical framework? UWA Case Study: How it was implemented, resource use, early findings & change management processes. Q &A. 

  • 20 min: Group discussion on lessons learnt so far (new schools implementation) and tips on driving change: “near and far” (individual school level and multi-institutional level). (Burk-Rafel et al., 2020; Graves et al., 2023; McKimm & Jones, 2018) 

  • 15 min: Group discussion. What lessons can you take away and start to implement at your institution? Factors that bolster successful assessment change management processes. 


Take-home messages / symposium outcomes / implications for further research and / or practice: 

  1. Driving change involves energy, effort, time and strategic planning to bring others on the journey. 

  2. Evaluate and adapt as you go. 

  3. Support and resourcing are critical for all stakeholders (students & assessors) 

  4. Roadmap for successful implementation and ongoing management of change processes 

  5. in assessment systems (co-created Padlet resource for participants to take home). 



References (maximum three) 

Burk-Rafel, J., Harris, K. B., Heath, J., Milliron, A., Savage, D. J., & Skochelak, S. E. (2020). Students as catalysts for curricular innovation: A change management framework. Medical Teacher, 42(5), 572-577. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159x.2020.1718070 

Graves, L., Dalgarno, N., Van Hoorn, R., Hastings-Truelove, A., Mulder, J., Kolomitro, K., Kirby, F., & Van Wylick, R. (2023). Creating change: Kotter’s Change Management Model in action. Canadian medical education journal. https://doi.org/10.36834/cmej.76680 

McKimm, J., & Jones, P. K. (2018). Twelve tips for applying change models to curriculum design, development and delivery. Medical Teacher, 40(5), 520-526. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159x.2017.1391377