New external examiners a practical survival guide: resource development

Introduction

This is a repeat of the workshop held in on the 30th September but please note that it will be video/audio recorded in order to generate a set of reusable learning resources.  

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.

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

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
• Edited video and audio recordings of the sessions together with associated paper resources as above
• Guidelines for utilising the materials

Benefits

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

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.

Target audience

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.

Venue & Location

44 Wicklow Street

London

WC1X 9HL