Co-Designing a Justice-Oriented Assessment System in a Pediatric Residency Program: Report from the Designing for...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Assessment Systems
• Equity in Education

Background:

• Existing medical education assessment systems often exhibit inequity for diverse learner groups.
• Traditional approaches to improve equity rely on organizational strategies, which may not fully address systemic issues.
• Emerging justice-oriented assessment frameworks advocate for co-design with users to rebuild equitable systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To address the knowledge gap in co-designing equitable, justice-oriented, workplace-based assessment systems.
• To develop a more equitable assessment system within pediatric post-graduate medical education.
• To explore the application of Design Justice principles in medical education assessment.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Design Justice framework and Design Thinking methodology.
• Completed four of the five phases of Design Thinking for co-design.
• Involved learners, assessors, and other key users in the co-design process for a pediatric residency program's workplace-based assessment system.

Main Results:

• Design Justice principles were evident through participants feeling heard, affirmed, and empowered.
• The design teams demonstrated iterative, critical reflection on accessibility, accountability, sustainability, and collaboration.
• The co-design process yielded a justice-oriented assessment system for workplace-based learning.

Conclusions:

• This project provides a practical model for co-designing justice-oriented assessment systems in medical education.
• The process and principles demonstrated can inform efforts to advance equity in assessment.
• Empowering users through co-design is crucial for creating more equitable educational environments.