MODULE TWO: Formal Evaluation
OVERVIEW: Preceptor Education >> Module Two >> Formal Evaluation
“…professional competence is the habitual and judicious use of communication, knowledge, technical skills, clinical reasoning, emotions, values, and reflection in daily practice for the benefit of the individual and the community being served.”
Epstein & Hundert, 2001, p226
The formal evaluation can be a daunting event for both student and preceptor. Yet this process often has a lasting impact on the student’s development both professionally and clinically. It is also a defining moment that will stay with students when they look back on their placement. This section will give you practical tips and strategies to turn the placement into a positive and rewarding experience all around.
The objectives of clinical evaluation are simple:
- Evaluation of student’s performance in the clinical setting.
- Observation of the student’s developing skills, knowledge, ability and best practices
- Identification of areas for improvement to ensure student meets entry to practice competence.
Program Evaluation Tools
A review of the program package by the learner and the preceptors will gain perspective to learning outcomes and requirements necessary for program completion. Review of the evaluation tool will enable the student and preceptor to understand its format and expectations. Understanding the tool and its uses creates a unified and informed approached to evaluation. Consider these two typical types of evaluation tools.
Formative Evaluations
These are typically informal assessments. They provide opportunities to strengthen and develop a skill, product and /or process through verbal or written interactions. Examples would include observation, conversation, feedback, debrief, self-assessment, written technologist assessment or shadowing. Often, these evaluate the individual skill set within an examination. They are versatile enough to assess a learner’s skills within a single case-examination encounter or over multiple encounters (global assessment).
Summative Evaluations
These are formal assessments that evaluate the sum of a learner’s knowledge and learning. It measures the integration of knowledge and technical knowledge in practice. Examples include competency assessments, presentations, or tests/exams and often contribute to their final grade. A summative evaluation is a new term for the traditional assessment called Competency Assessment (“Comps”). Competencies encompass sets of skills, knowledge and abilities that collectively reflect the profession. They are limited in number, specific to the core essentials of the profession and are flexibly utilized in any areas of practice or site.
Student Performance Evaluation Drawbacks
There are four subjective influences a preceptor/evaluator may have that contribute to the rating of a student’s assessment.
- Central Tendency Effect
Evaluator may have insufficient information prior, to accurately complete the written or verbal formal evaluation process. The overall assessment will describe the learner as “average” or “fair”. (If you’ve ever been handed a survey where the scoring is a range of 1-5, and you select 3 for each topic = central tendency effect).
- Halo/Horn Effect
Evaluator has a tendency to make a sweeping judgement to the extreme positive or extreme negative of the learner’s performance based on one or two incidents, personal background, or prior education/experience. Any future performance evaluation will also be completed in a similar manner.
- Self-Comparison Effect
Evaluator compares and evaluates the student using him/herself as the standard.
- Leniency Bias
Evaluator avoids providing critical criterion within the assessment. In other words, the evaluator may be creating false positives on critical criteria due to his/her perception that the criteria represent simple skills that eventually the learner will grasp with time and experience. Unlike the Horn/Halo Effect, leniency bias does not follow future assessments. Avoided criterion in the beginning stage become troublesome to overcome later on.