Programmatic Assessment Prototype Design Using Integrated System Thinking And Design Thinking Framework.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Assessment Design
• Systems Thinking
• Design Thinking

Background:

• Current medical education assessment systems often lack narrative feedback, hindering student understanding of failure.
• Formative assessments are sometimes undervalued due to low weightage, impacting student engagement with continuous improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a prototype programmatic assessment model integrating systems and design thinking frameworks.
• To explore potential barriers to implementing this model in medical education.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative case study was conducted at Bahria University Medical and Dental College.
• Systems thinking and design thinking approaches were employed, with data collected via semi-structured interviews.
• A low-fidelity prototype was developed and feedback was gathered from faculty and students.

Main Results:

• Students desired narrative feedback for academic improvement but found portfolio development time-consuming.
• Faculty expressed concerns regarding necessary training, resource limitations, and legal aspects of implementation.
• Initial interviews highlighted student difficulties in understanding failure causes due to a lack of detailed feedback.

Conclusions:

• Programmatic assessment requires faculty development and is resource-intensive.
• Despite implementation challenges, students showed significant interest in programmatic assessment for their academic growth.