eMed Teamwork: a self-moderating system to gather peer feedback for developing and assessing teamwork skills

Abstract

Students in the six-year undergraduate medicine program at UNSW must submit a portfolio which demonstrates inter alia their development in teamwork skills. Much of the feedback they need to develop these skills, as well as the evidence they require to document their achievements, can only come from their peers. The eMed Teamwork system, developed for this purpose, is a computer-based system which gathers feedback from peers in project groups. The feedback submitted to the system is available to the recipient for formative purposes, and becomes part of both the author's and the recipient's portfolios for later summative assessment. This dual use ensures that the feedback is thoughtful and constructive and the system operates without significant moderation by teachers.

Clinical capabilities of graduates of an outcomes-based integrated medical program

“…These findings provide evidence that graduates from an outcomes-based integrated program have well-developed capability in social aspects of health (prevention subscale), and clinical communication (interpersonal skills subscale), and superior capability in teamwork (collaboration subscale) and reflective practice (confidence subscale). The significant improvements in these latter two areas provide support for the view that capabilities such as ‘reflective practice’, and ‘teamwork’, can indeed be learned if explicitly incorporated into teaching and learning activities, and in particular if they are appropriately assessed [19,25]. …”

“…Communication skills and motivational interviewing are taught in tandem with clinical skills in the new UNSW program, a strategy which has been shown to positively enhance clinical performance [29]. Teamwork, group projects, peer-feedback and an emphasis on team dynamics are all integral to the learning and assessment process, so it was expected that this cohort’s collaborative skills would be stronger [25]. …”

Does a summative portfolio foster the development of capabilities such as reflective practice and understanding ethics? An evaluation from two medical schools

“…However, students at University 2 rated the impact of the portfolio on their development in the capability of teamwork relatively higher than students at University 1 possibly related to differences in teaching structure. The process of developing the evidence for the portfolio at University 1 requires students to do a considerable amount of group work, and the results of this group work along with evidence of the students' contributions to the group process, have a significant influence on the grading of this capability (Hughes et al 2008). At University 2, students prepare their portfolios by responding to a specific focused question, which may highlight teamwork as an issue.…”

Peer learning in the UNSW Medicine program

“…More than a decade ago, UNSW Australia introduced an innovative educational program to graduate medical doctors with the capabilities needed for 21st century professional practice [ 1 ]. The 6-year undergraduate entry, fully integrated, outcomes-based UNSW Medicine program contains many innovative features, including a process aimed at selecting students with the appropriate attributes and motivation to study medicine [ 2 ], the development of generic capabilities as a core for the learning and practice of medical expertise [ 3 , 4 ], a graded learning process to progressively develop student autonomy, an in-depth research experience for all students [ 5 ], a comprehensive assessment system designed to ensure strong alignment between teaching, learning and outcomes [ 6 – 8 ], and an emphasis on experiential learning and a collaborative learning environment. All these measures were designed to prepare graduating doctors for the demands of the ever evolving complex health system.…”