Alison Sturrock¹
Charlotte Hammerton¹, Carys Phillips¹, Taylor Bennie¹ and Gil Myers¹
1 University College London

Background 
In 2021 UCL medical school launched a new e-portfolio, designed in partnership with students. In-line with student feedback and published literature, the new portfolio aimed to facilitate in- person real-time feedback and encouraged student empowerment by removing reported barriers of engagement and using a simplified and clear format. 

Summary of Work
The new portfolio allowed for real-time feedback. The option to send a ‘ticket’ for delayed feedback remained. All completed forms were stored within the Academic Student Record (ASR) which displayed a summary of their progress. 

In academic years 21/22 and 22/23, we evaluated the changes using a mixed methods approach incorporating focus groups (of students and educators) and descriptive statistical analysis of questionnaire data. 

Summary of results 
In 2021/22, 54% of 43,896 assessment forms were completed in-person, in 22/23 this increased to 63% of 45,114 submissions. 

Themes across both years included: ability to review progress was valued, real-time feedback was educationally better, quality of feedback varied with assessor availability and timing of feedback having most influence. Student preference for real-time feedback continued; however the removal of a “ticket” option was unacceptable to students. 

In the anonymous feedback, students described widespread cheating. This was also seen in supervisor feedback– some had no recollection of assessing a particular student. 

Discussion
We will discuss our approach to balancing promoting engagement with deterring cheating through confirmatory emails, spot checks and communications about our future plans. We will also present future improvements including introducing a time limit on submitting forms, and formalising processes around student concerns. 

Conclusion & Take Home Messages

Students value real-time in-person feedback however further work is required to improve the quality of this feedback. The value of student empowerment and engagement needs to be balanced against discouraging student cheating. 

References (maximum three) 

[1] Subha Ramani & Sharon K. Krackov(2012)Twelve tips for giving feedback effectively in the clinical environment,Medical Teacher,34:10,787- 791,DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2012.684916 

[2] Burgess, A., van Diggele, C., Roberts, C. et al. Feedback in the clinical setting. BMC Med Educ20 (Suppl 2), 460 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-020-02280-5