Fostering Student–Faculty Partnerships for Continuous Curricular Improvement in Undergraduate Medical Education

Abstract

Problem A number of medical schools have used curricular reform as an opportunity to formalize student involvement in medical education, but there are few published assessments of these programs. Formal evaluation of a program’s acceptability and use is essential for determining its potential for sustainability and generalizability. Approach Harvard Medical School’s Education Representatives (Ed Reps) program was created in 2015 to launch alongside a new curriculum. The program aimed to foster partnerships between faculty and students for continuous and real-time curricular improvement. Ed Reps, course directors, and core faculty met regularly to convey bidirectional feedback to optimize the learning environment in real time. Outcomes A survey to assess the program’s impact was sent to students and faculty. The majority of students (202/222; 91.0%) reported Ed Reps had a positive impact on the curriculum. Among faculty, 35/37 (94.6%) reported making changes to their courses as a result of Ed Reps feedback, and 34/37 (91.9%) agreed the program had a positive impact on the learning environment. Qualitative feedback from students and faculty demonstrated a change in school culture, reflecting the primary goals of partnership and continuous quality improvement (CQI). Next Steps This student–faculty partnership demonstrated high rates of awareness, use, and satisfaction among faculty and students, suggesting its potential for local sustainability and implementation at other schools seeking to formalize student engagement in CQI. Next steps include ensuring the feedback provided is representative of the student body and identifying new areas for student CQI input as the curriculum becomes more established.

Learner involvement in the co-creation of teaching and learning: AMEE Guide No. 138

“…Scientific literature on co-creation of learning in medical education is scarce. Reports from recent innovative initiatives describe successful learner-teacher partnership for curricular improvement in undergraduate medical education (Scott et al 2019), learner involvement in the development of interprofessional education courses (Behrend et al 2019), innovative curricular changes through learner-driven initiatives (Zdravkovic et al 2018), and assignment of module co-director roles to medical learners in curriculum development (Milles et al 2019). While these initiatives are encouraging, they do not provide a good overview of potential challenges or facilitators in the co-creation process.…”

“…Skills for giving useful feedback to teachers can potentially be trained in a joint session with teachers (Dudek et al 2016;Myers and Chou 2016). Extra support can be provided during the process by a coordinator/mentor, providing ad hoc individual support and organizing regular meetings with other learners involved in co-creation to discuss experiences and best practices in contributing to the co-creation (Cook-Sather and Luz 2015; Scott et al 2019).…”

“…Learners should move away from a complaints culture and think about solutions to educational challenges (Carey 2013). Learners could take responsibilities to act as consultants who are mainly in charge of collecting learner feedback and discussing this with the teachers (Cook-Sather 2009;Milles et al 2019;Scott et al 2019;Geraghty et al 2020). By positioning themselves as contact persons to other learners, who are not directly involved in the co-creation, they collect information about issues experienced by others (K€ onings et al 2010b;Geraghty et al 2020), which is an effective as well as personally rewarding role.…”

“…Key individuals in the organization supporting new initiatives in co-creation initiatives (Freeman et al 2014). Institutionalizing a structure for frequent and efficient bidirectional feedback and collaboration on revising course content and pedagogy (Meeuwissen et al 2019;Milles et al 2019;Scott et al 2019;Geraghty et al 2020). Different formats for formalizing learner involvement can be considered, like learner representatives or learners as module co-directors (Meeuwissen et al 2019;Milles et al 2019).…”

“…They offer training sessions for developing the necessary skills (Bovill 2013b;Dudek et al 2016;Myers and Chou 2016). They serve as mentors for both learners and teachers (Myers and Chou 2016;Scott et al 2019).…”