Definition of Frames

Assessment of Knowledge and Reasoning usually involves classroom testing of student learning. Often, these assessments are associated with assigning marks or course grades. Paper and computer-based testing are the method of convenience, with heavy reliance on multiple choice questions (MCQ) formats.

Assessment of Skills concerns selected aspects of clinical performance, some of which may be related to physical examination manoeuvres, therapeutic procedures, or interpersonal skills. Usually these assessments require higher-fidelity simulations associated with Objective Structured Clinical Exam (OSCE), standardized patients (SP), computer-based simulation, or mechanical devices and mannequins. Oral examinations with short or long cases may also be considered to fall within this frame as well. Checklists and ratings scales are almost always required, and administration of these assessments often occurs in special settings.

Assessment of Workplace Performance is more often invoked for issues involving graduate doctors and practitioners where naturalistic observation may be needed. Assessment instruments will more likely relate to collecting observational data, but this may be augmented with systematic data-gathering from indirect measures, such as, chart audits. It is likely that multiple assessments may be more frequent in this frame.

Assessment of Programs occurs most commonly when curriculum changes of any dimension are contemplated, or have been implemented, and there is a need to document the outcomes. The scale of the assessment is conceivably very large, involving multiple measures of different facets of the institutional environment, possibly undertaken over an extended period of time.

Participants of the 2009 course will be asked to select either Assessment of Skills or Workplace Performance as an area for more in-depth discussion.