Self and Peer Evaluation
After all the steps related to the investigation of the problem are completed, the Self and Peer Evaluation phase is carried out to evaluate the performance of both the individuals in the group and the group as a whole. This is an important professional skill that is developed as an adjunct to evaluating students’ progression in learning. Each student is asked to review him-/herself in front of the group and then receive a critique from the members of the group. These types of activities have been very rare for students prior to admission to dental school, however self and peer evaluation are crucial to professional behavior. In fact self and peer assessment will be continuous throughout the students career and developing these professional skills in the safe environment of the small group is an important advantage of the PBL pedagogy. Mentoring of this process by the facilitator helps the students build a process for future career evaluation.
How it is done:
The “Closing Packet” for a case includes both instructions for completing the Self and Peer Evaluation and the forms used by the students in completing this process. Each student is initially asked to complete a form giving him- or herself a rating in four categories, Group Skills, Learning Skills, Reasoning Skills and Feedback Skills. The form also asks each student to provide a specific example of something the student did well during this case and some area he or she would like to improve during the next case. The form also prompts the student to review how the group as a whole functioned and areas in which the group could improve in the future. The results for all the group members are collected and displayed so that the students can view the Self Assessments of their peers. Each student in turn is asked to explain his/her self-assessment and the facilitator asks the other members of the group to respond by providing a Peer Assessment of the student, including examples of things the student did well and suggestions for specific areas of improvement. Once the students have completed the individual analyses, the group completes a group analysis by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the group with respect to the PBL learning process.
The actual forms from the Self and Peer Assessment are not collected and the discussion during the Self and Peer Assessment phase does not contribute to the facilitator’s assignment of student grades. It is important that grading is not linked to the Self and Peer Assessments and that the faculty member makes it clear that this professional skill is essential to their career. This helps establish a “safe” environment in which students feel free to speak frankly, and will do so because they understand the need to provide candid assessment aimed at helping group members to improve and the group as a whole to become more effective.
Two final things happen after the self and peer assessment process. First, members of the group have the opportunity to evaluate the facilitator and do so by filling out a form. This information is returned to Academic Affairs and entered into a database. Results of the evaluation are collated into a report that is later sent to the facilitator to review. Second, the facilitator performs the formal assessment of the students’ performances in each of the four PBL Process skills and provides each student with individual feedback on his/her strengths and weaknesses and an explanation of the grades assigned. This feedback is given on a one-to-one basis sometime shortly after the case has closed.
Why it is done:
The goals of the Self and Peer Assessment activities are to develop the students’ abilities to accurately assess their own performance as well as the performance of others, and to analyze group function so that future group learning outcomes can be improved. Regular reflection on group process has been shown to be an important component of maintaining an effective cooperative learning environment. The feedback received from peers serves the essential function of either validating or correcting the students’ self-perceptions. Interestingly, peer assessment tends to be even more reliable than assessment by faculty members, due to the number of peers conducting the assessment and the fact that peers are in close, regular contact with one another.
Self and peer assessment will be integral components of all professional life and is considered a key competency to develop during dental school. It is the expectation of patients that the doctor has the best interests of the patients in mind and that the doctor is at all times working to improve the quality of life for his/her patients. This requires that the healthcare practitioner continually reflect on what is being planned, performed or completed by asking the questions, “Is this best for the patient? Is there a better way to treat this patient? Is there a means to improve the outcome for patients in the future? Would the patient be better served by a referral to a practitioner with greater expertise in treating his/her particular problem?” All of the decisions the practitioner makes regarding the quality of care and approach to care delivery will need to be assessed, and the assessment used to improve current and future treatment plans and patient referral. Learning how to perform assessment, and give and receive feedback, is not a skill ordinarily included in traditional curricula and there is limited assurance that a new clinician will effectively develop these skills after entering practice. Developing the skills of self-assessment can be built into the curriculum, as it is at the University of Southern California School of Dentistry, so that it becomes an ingrained professional expectation and an accepted part of the new practitioner’s daily practice.
Tips on giving and receiving feedback
Feedback on performance is intended to make a person aware of their strengths and weaknesses and give them suggestions on how to improve. Feedback can come from many sources, teachers, peers, patients and oneself. All of these sources can help provide insight into how one is doing and how one can improve.
Not all feedback results in improved performance. Large-scale studies on feedback have shown that there are specific attributes of feedback that make it more likely to improve performance (Kluger and DiNisi, 1996). Some practical recommendations that come from this area of research include:
As well intended and structured as feedback can be the receiver has to be willing to accept the feedback and be willing to implement change. If feedback is unappreciated and change never attempted, the feedback provider will often lose interest in offering it in the future.
Self-Assessment and Personal Development Planning
Self-monitoring of progress during graduate education is a personal responsibility and one that can help a student keep track of where he/she has been and where to go next. With respect to the PBL part of the curriculum, the student might want to consider keeping track of his/her progress not only with the subject areas addressed during the cases (along the lines of the major and minor topics) but also how he/she has done on subject-oriented examinations. If, for example, a student tends to do well on questions related to physiology and pathology but do poorly on anatomy, this information could be used to target future studies. Aside from keeping track of how his/her knowledge base is growing, the student should likewise keep track of the other components of his/her learning. Though there are many ways to reflect upon and monitor progress, one option is to develop something called a Personal Learning or Development Plan (PLP, or PDP) (Challis, 2000). This article contains examples and underlying principles behind the development of a learning plan.
The article can be obtained through Pubmed or currently at the following link: ccnmtl.columbia.edu/projects/pl3p/Personal%20learning%20plans%20in%20Medical%20Education.pdf [accessed November 2, 2007]
Student Roles and Responsibilities
