Evaluation Policies and Procedures

Moving from Paper to Web

The Office of Educational Resources (OER) is charged with designing an evaluation system and carrying out the evaluation of all courses, clerkships, and other educational programs offered by the College of Medicine.  Until quite recently, this was a paper and pencil system where students completed evaluations at the end of courses or rotations, most often at the conclusion of examinations.

Since 2004, the OER has been phasing in a new web-based evaluation system, beginning with selected third-year clerkships.  In June of 2005, all third-year clerkships went “on-line,” and we are working now to pilot the new system with the remaining rotations and with selected first- and second-year courses.

Our ultimate aim is to put all evaluations on the web.  This will allow students to complete their evaluations more thoughtfully and away from the stress of the exam room.  It also will speed the data collection and data analysis procedures for us, and will enable us to provide an even more comprehensive picture of student satisfaction with the curriculum.

Evaluations Are Anonymous

Whether students complete their evaluations on paper in a lecture hall or on the computer at home or while on rotation, there is never any way of linking an individual evaluation with any student’s identity.  The data we gather and report are aggregate data, and the policy of the OER has always been to release all course or clerkship evaluation data AFTER grades have been sent to the Office of the Registrar.  This assures that the grading of students and the evaluation of the curriculum by students are completely separate processes.

The Importance of Constructive Evaluation

While participation in the evaluation of any course or clerkship at Einstein is  -- and has always been -- entirely voluntary, we always encourage students to give us their constructive feedback on courses, clerkship, faculty, and residents.  Student feedback is shared routinely with course and clerkship leaders, heads of curriculum committees, and with individual faculty members, in the hope that meaningful improvement in the curriculum will result.  For the past several years, evaluation summaries of all first- and second-year courses have been E-mailed to students.

If you have concerns about any of these policies and procedures, we welcome your questions (see Contact Us).

Web-Based Evaluation

In January of 2005 the Office of Educational Resources began piloting a new web-based course evaluation system using WEBesprit, a product developed by Feedback Technologies.  Based on the success of that trial with third-year students in the Medicine, Ob/Gyn and Psychiatry clerkships, the Family Medicine, Pediatrics and Surgery clerkships were added to the system in June of 2005.  Clerkship students are assigned three on-line forms to complete: the Evaluation of Required Clerkship form, the Evaluation of Faculty form, and the Evaluation of House Staff form.  They are informed of their assignments by E-mail, and they are sent reminder E-mails at two-day intervals until the forms are completed.

If you have any questions or suggestions about the web-based evaluation system, please contact Dr. William Burton at (718) 430-4259 or E-mail: burton@aecom.yu.edu

A PowerPoint tutorial on the use of WEBesprit^© (see below) provides instructions on how to login to the system, how to change a password, and how to fill out the assigned evaluation forms.