CLINED 716 : Assessing Clinical Performance

Medical and Health Sciences

2025 Semester Two (1255) (30 POINTS)

Course Prescription

Examines the purpose, criteria, methods, scoring methods and examiner training for a range of assessments of health professionals, with a focus on ensuring competence to practice. This will include concepts of reliability and validity, standard setting as well as advanced techniques to compare and effectively implement different types of clinical assessments.

Course Overview

CLINED 716 is a core course for the MClinEd, PGDipClinEd and PGCertClinEd. The course introduces several key concepts around the assessment of clinical performance.  It will examine the purposes, criteria, methods, scoring methods and examiner training for a range of assessments of health professionals, with a focus on ensuring competence to practice.  This will include concepts of reliability and validity as well as standard setting. 
 
It is a 30-point course, conducted in the second semester and consists of a one day workshop, 3 assignments, and six online modules. 
 
Nearly all course materials are available electronically. The course text is available as a hard copy:

Course Requirements

No pre-requisites or restrictions

Course Contacts

Course Director: Associate Professor Marcus Henning, email: m.henning@auckland.ac.nz, phone: 09 923 7392 -Course Administrator: Nikita Bansal, email: nikita.bansal@auckland.ac.nz

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: People and Place
Capability 2: Sustainability
Capability 3: Knowledge and Practice
Capability 4: Critical Thinking
Capability 5: Solution Seeking
Capability 6: Communication
Capability 7: Collaboration
Capability 8: Ethics and Professionalism

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Identify, describe and analyse literature in the area of assessment as it relates to clinical teaching. (Capability 3, 4, 6 and 8)
  2. Identify and evaluate the various purposes of assessment and the impact of assessment on student learning. (Capability 1, 2, 4, 6 and 8)
  3. Examine and apply relevant theoretical discourse and psychometric evaluation relevant to the assessment process. (Capability 3, 4, 5 and 6)
  4. Critically evaluate and reflect on culturally responsive ways to assess clinical competency. (Capability 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Assignment 1 30% Individual Coursework
Assignment 2 30% Individual Coursework
Assignment 3 40% Individual Coursework
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3 4
Assignment 1
Assignment 2
Assignment 3

Workload Expectations

This course is a 30-point course and students are expected to spend 20 hours per week involved in each 30-point course that they are enrolled in.  

As an online course, you can expect zero hours of formal lectures, a 8-hour workshop via Zoom, attendance at two catch-up meetings via Zoom, 160 hours (approx.) of reading and thinking about the content, and 124 hours (approx.) of work on assignment preparation. 

Delivery Mode

Online

Attendance is expected at scheduled online activities including assignment briefing.

The course will include a one-day Zoom workshop at the beginning of the semester. It is highly recommended that students attend, but if they are unable to attend an online individualized session can be arranged. There are also two catch-up meetings during the semester, which require attendance via Zoom.

Study material will be available at course commencement.

This course runs to the University semester timetable and all the associated completion dates and deadlines will apply.

Learning Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Recommended Text
Holmboe, E. S., Durning, S. J., & Hawkins, R. E. (2018). Practical guide to the evaluation of clinical competence e-book. Elsevier Health Sciences.

Other resources are found via the Readings lists cited on CANVAS

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Student feedback was sought for CLINED 716 in semester 2 , 2019 and the following levels of agreement were obtained:
1. The course content was well-organised (6 students agreed and none disagreed)
2. The aims of this course were clear to me (5 students agreed, 1 was neutral and none disagreed)
3. The resources (including digital resources) in this course helped me to learn (6 students agreed and none disagreed)
4. I was clearly informed how my learning would be assessed (6 students agreed and none disagreed)
5. Assessments supported the aims of this course (5 students agreed and 1 disagreed)
6. I received helpful feedback on my learning progress (6 students agreed and none disagreed)
7. I found this course intellectually stimulating (6 students agreed and none disagreed)
8. This course helped me to develop my thinking skills (eg, framing an enquiry, critical thinking) (5 students agreed, 1 was neutral and none disagreed)
9. - I was satisfied with the quality of the small-group teaching (eg, tutorial, laboratory) (5 students agreed, 1 was not applicable, and none disagreed)
10. - Overall, I was satisfied with the quality of this course (6 students agreed and none disagreed)





Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework, tests and examinations as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against electronic source material using computerised detection mechanisms. Upon reasonable request, students may be required to provide an electronic version of their work for computerised review.

Further information can be obtained from:  
  
https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/learning-and-teaching/policies-guidelines-and-procedures/academic-integrity-info-for-students.htmlLinks to an external site.   
  
To ensure the maintenance of the standard of all University of Auckland qualifications, all students and staff have a responsibility to prevent, discourage and report cheating in coursework.   
  
The general principle for determining whether cheating has occurred is whether work that is submitted for grading is the student's own work, reflecting his or her learning. Submitted work in which 20 words or more are from other sources but not attributed as such (i.e. enclosing them in quotation marks and providing the reference of the source) is regarded as plagiarism.

Class Representatives

Class representatives are students tasked with representing student issues to departments, faculties, and the wider university. If you have a complaint about this course, please contact your class rep who will know how to raise it in the right channels. See your departmental noticeboard for contact details for your class reps.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Learning Continuity

In the event of an unexpected disruption we undertake to maintain the continuity and standard of teaching and learning in all your courses throughout the year. If there are unexpected disruptions the University has contingency plans to ensure that access to your course continues and your assessment is fair, and not compromised. Some adjustments may need to be made in emergencies. You will be kept fully informed by your course co-ordinator, and if disruption occurs you should refer to the University Website for information about how to proceed.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html.

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.