This interactive session will explore the diverse assessment methods clinical teachers use to evaluate student performance, with a special focus on how we create and measure the magical transformations that clinical students can experience. We will examine the assessment tools that we use, taking a closer look at many interactions that we had not previously consciously embraced as assessment tools. These tools and interactions include intake memos, case rounds, case planning reports, pleadings and other documents prepared by students, student performance in court, and individual supervision. We will also look at ways in which we measure and evaluate student collaboration, teamwork, and collegiality. Additionally, the panel will struggle with some of the difficulties involved in assessing students’ interpersonal skills.
These attempts to measure the magic are complimented by our process at the University of New Mexico where we place importance on conversations with colleagues and our collaborative grading meetings where we consult and finalize the students’ formal grades for the six-credit mandatory course.
To the extent that some of our tools are documents which may be useful to other clinical teachers, we will bring copies for distribution. Those documents will include our formal written grading memo, templates for case intake memos and case closing memos, and an instructional case rounds memo.
These tools are designed to track both the students’ experiences and their reactions to these experiences. However, even as we explore each of the diverse tools, we strive as clinical teachers to find a way to quantify the magic students can experience during clinic.