New external examiners a practical survival guide

Date: 1 day event - 30 Sep 2010 from 10:00 until 16:00

Introduction

This is a repeat of a very well received workshop held in October 2008.

Rationale
With the increasing emphasis on assuring standards in undergraduate education, especially in professional courses such as medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, there is a need to demonstrate that standards are equivalent across the country, and that graduating practitioners are fit to join their profession wherever they have studied.

The only formal system which exists in the UK is the HE External Examiner system, which aims to assure standards across the same course at different Higher Education Institutions, but the role and function of externals can be vary varied, both in terms of what an institution demands and how well-prepared externals are for their roles.

The QAA has developed handbooks of guidance for the Assessment of Students and External Examining but people taking on External Examinerships are often not fully prepared for their roles.

This workshop draws together many years of external examining experience by the main facilitators and HEA research into the role of external examiners, to develop a workshop which will be of practical benefit in raising the standards of external examining in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine.

The workshop will be informative for participants in terms of raising awareness of existing national documentation from the QAA and the professional regulatory bodies, as well as HEI assessment documentation. Participants will have the opportunity to learn about best practice in assessment and to take part in experiential activities dealing with difficult situations for external examiners.

Aims

Overall, this workshop aims to raise the standards of external examining by laying the groundwork for accessing relevant documentation and assuring equivalent standards across the country in this subject centre's disciplines.

Activities

1 day workshop

0930     Coffee and registration
1000    Introductions               
1020    The UK External Examiner system
                          (presentation)   
1040    What factors enable the function of an    external examiner? (group work)       
1110    Feedback and discussion
1130     Break   
1150     What to look for in written and clinical examinations: best practice in assessment (group work)   
1220    Feedback and discussion
1250    Lunch
1350    How to deal with difficult situations (group case work/role play)
1430    Feedback and discussion   
1515    Tea
1550    Plenary
1630     Finish

Proposed outcomes

Materials
* Tutor briefing notes (to enable others to run this workshop)
* PowerPoint presentations for this workshop
* Handouts of the presentations
* Reading list
* Case studies for new external examiners

Benefits
1. For the participants
* Understanding of the UK External Examiner system
* Familiarisation with QAA guidance on external examining and assessing students, subject benchmarks and professional regulatory body documentation for undergraduate education
* Understanding of basic assessment theory underpinning examination systems
* Experience of dealing with difficult situations as an external examiner
* Networking with others involved in external examining
For the disciplinary community
* A model of formal introduction for new external examiners
* A systematic practical guide to external examining
* Raising of standards of external examiners

Facilitators & Speakers

Katharine Boursicot - Facilitator

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Facilitator background

Kathy Boursicot is Deputy Head, Centre for Medical Healthcare Education, St George's, University of London. She has been an external examiner for a seven years for a variety of institutions, including medical and veterinary undergraduate schools in the UK as well as abroad. She was one of the facilitators of the HEA's original workshop on role of the external examiner of Health Care undergraduate programmes in 2004 and has been an active member of the JISC external examiner mailing list. She was commissioned by the HEA to conduct a series of focus groups in 2006 to explore the ways in which external examiners made judgements about standards in undergraduate medicine and dentistry examinations. She has conducted workshops for external examiners at Barts and The London and Cambridge medical schools for 4 years.

Trudie is the Director, Leeds Institute of Medical Education; Director of the Medical Educaition Unitss and Professor of Medical Education. She has been an external examiner for undergraduate medical courses for ten years, acting in this capacity in eight different medical schools. She has also acted as external assessment advisor to a number of UK medical schools and as a member of the GMC's QABME visitor team. She led Leeds Medical School in reviewing their assessment system to align with best practice as described in QAA documentation. She is a council member of the GMC and sits on the Undergraduate and continued practice boards. She is a council member of the RCP and in summer 2010 takes over as chair of the the Association for the Study of Medical Education (ASME).

Target audience

New external examiners and those considering becoming external examiners.

Venue & Location

44 Wicklow Street

London

WC1X 9HL

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