Clinical teachers need to evaluate the quality and effectiveness of their teaching.  Evaluation of teaching and learning generally occurs within quality assurance frameworks that have common features.  Understanding quality assurance systems and evaluation methods will help clinical teachers to improve the student learning experience.

This module discusses how and introduces the most common tools used in the evaluation of teaching and learning.

Higher and professional education in the western world has undergone rapid change. The expansion of student numbers, widening diversity and opening access, the impact of e-learning systems that facilitate distance learning, and increasing recognition of the importance of workplace learning have led to concerns over maintaining and enhancing educational quality across a diverse sector.

Addressing such concerns has led all establishments with educational missions, from schools to universities as well as institutions such as Royal Colleges and postgraduate deaneries, to place greater emphasis on demonstrating:

• Quality improvement
• Accountability for spending public money
• Transparency of processes involving admissions, teaching and assessment
• The specification and achievement of competencies and outcomes
• Early identification and remediation of ‘failing’ students or practitioners.

The ‘quality agenda’ in clinical education has seen movement on a number of fronts towards explicit standard-setting, evidence-based education, metrics and indicators to measure continuous improvement, and the establishment of structures and processes that enable self-governance and monitoring.  The ‘quality agenda’ therefore impacts on all aspects of education at all levels, from funding and regulatory bodies through to educational providers and ultimately to teachers and learners. 

Before you start

Before you start the module, we recommend that you spend a few minutes thinking about the following points and noting down some of your thoughts. If you are registered on the site, you can do this in the ‘reflections area’. Click on the ‘my area’ link at the top of the page to access your personal pages. Please note that you must be logged in to do this. Please also note that you will need to contribute to the ‘reflections area’ during the course of the module in order to complete and print out your certificate.