The purpose of this procedure is to provide specific guidance to assist the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine ("WVSOM") with implementation of, and ensure institutional compliance with, WVSOM’s Institutional Policy DO-07: Collection of Student Feedback.
This procedure applies to all WVSOM students.
WVSOM reserves the right to amend this procedure at any time.
The faculty of the WVSOM believes that student feedback is one of several important sources of information about courses and teaching. Student feedback must be combined with faculty peer review, administrative review, and other interpretive information for effective evaluation of the educational program.
The Associate Dean for Assessment and Educational Development is responsible for providing leadership for the student feedback process. Student feedback is collected throughout the WVSOM curriculum. This procedure sets forth the process for collecting and reporting student feedback. Any changes to the procedure for collecting and/or distributing student feedback in Years 1 and 2 will be initiated by the Associate Dean for Assessment and Educational Development. Any changes to the procedure for collecting and/or distributing student feedback in Years 3 and 4 will be initiated by the Associate Dean for Predoctoral Clinical Education. All changes will be reviewed by the Curriculum Committee and approved by the Faculty Assembly and by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean. Updates will be placed in the Faculty and Student Handbooks.
Student feedback is collected by the Office of Assessment and Educational Development ("OAED") on each preclinical course each year, at the end of each course. Feedback may also be collected during the course, either by the course faculty or by OAED.
Student feedback will be collected for all on-campus, preclinical faculty members each time they teach in each course.
Additional feedback may be collected electronically or on paper at the end of any lecture or course instructional component by the faculty member or Course Director. Assistance may be requested from the OAED.
To reduce the number of feedback forms each student must return, each class may be systematically divided into sections of approximately 70 students. Each section is required to return feedback for an appropriate number of courses and faculty. For example, a class of approximately 200 students may be divided into three sections, with each section returning forms on approximately one-third of the courses and faculty.
To assure each section is comparable:
The first year class will be systematically divided based on gender and within each gender, on Biological Sciences MCAT.
The second year class will be systematically divided based on gender and within each gender, on their first year GPA.
For new curriculum components, the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean, Associate Dean, or Course Director may request that student feedback be collected from all students.
Students wishing to provide feedback on a course or faculty member which they otherwise would not be required to evaluate will use the same evaluation form and process fourth below in Section 4.4, Administration of Forms. Data will be reported with the required feedback.
The content on the standard evaluation forms will be used for all Year 1 and Year 2 courses and lab courses. Exception can be granted by the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean or the Curriculum Committee, or if in the judgment of both the Course Director and the Associate Dean for Assessment and Educational Development, some items are clearly not appropriate. The specific lay-out of the forms may be altered by OAED. Questions may be added to these forms by agreement of the Course Director and OAED, without Curriculum Committee approval. The Course Director may also collect and compile other information, at the Course Director's discretion, without any further Curriculum Committee approval. The standard evaluation form will be reviewed periodically by the Curriculum Committee for updates and revisions.
The Associate Dean of Assessment and Educational Development will meet with students periodically to identify other areas of the curriculum they would like to evaluate. This will be a separate student feedback survey, open to all students.
Faculty Feedback Form. All faculty who teach in a course or lab course will be assessed as part of the course or lab course. Any faculty member may request additional information for the improvement of his or her teaching. If the faculty member wishes OAED to collect and collate results from these additional questions, these additions must be approved by OAED.
Although not all students are required to complete an evaluation on a course or faculty member, all students have the option to provide feedback using the same form as those who are required to complete the evaluation. Additional instructions will be provided by OAED during an orientation for Year 1 students regarding the feedback process.
OAED will send the evaluation forms to the appropriate student group via email to open at the end of the course or lab’s final exam.
Students are required to complete their assigned evaluation form two weeks after receiving it.
Students will receive a reminder three days before the due date.
If a student does not complete the evaluation form, the student will receive an email that they missed their survey deadline and three missed surveys will result in an unprofessionalism behavior report against the student.
In addition, the OAED will have an orientation for Year 1 students regarding the student feedback process, in which the process and consequences of not completing assigned evaluation forms will be explained. All faculty members and course directors are encouraged to inform students of how student feedback has been used in course revision and of its importance in faculty development and staffing decisions. NOTE: All student requirements will be listed in the Student Handbook.
Data will be summarized and tabulated for each student evaluation form and sent to the members of the Dean’s Review for each course or lab course.
Other statistical information will be provided as feasible.
Student identity will remain confidential to the extent required by applicable law, policy, and accreditation standards.
Summary reports are distributed at the Dean’s Reviews. This includes only the portion about the course or lab course, not the individual faculty data.
Courses and Lab Courses. Summary reports, which include feedback on laboratories, special topics, etc., are not considered confidential, and will be made available to all faculty by posting to a WVSOM web page that is available to the faculty, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean, and Associate Deans.
Faculty Members. Summary Reports collected about a faculty member's teaching are confidential to the extent required by applicable law, policy, or accreditation standards, and are distributed by OAED only to the faculty member, applicable department chair, appropriate Associate Dean, and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean as soon as possible after each evaluation is closed. Visiting professors will need to ask the Course Director for their feedback.
An evaluation form for each clinical course, site and preceptor will be completed at the end of each clinical rotation. The evaluation form will be available online for completion.
Each student is required to submit a completed form electronically within two weeks of the final day of the rotation. Failure to complete and submit as required will result in an unprofessionalism behavior report against the student.
A summary report will be compiled and provided to the preceptor after five or more students have completed the evaluation for that particular rotation or preceptor.
Additional student feedback may be collected electronically or on paper for other clinical activities. These are developed by the individual overseeing the clinical activity.
Student identity will remain confidential to the extent required by applicable law, policy, or accreditation standards.