MED 6780 Community Engagement II
Phase 2 Class of 2027
Winter/Spring 2024

Assessment Plan

The assessment plan sets out the principles and key elements used to assess the learner’s performance in an accurate, consistent, and objective manner for MED 6780 Community Engagement II.

MED 6780 Community Engagement II places learners in community sites to experience a variety of aspects of the health care system with various health agencies, a family physician and other health care providers. Through a variety of sessions, learners will also explore assessing health and interventions at the population and individual level.

Attendance is required for the community placement component of MED 6780 Community Engagement II. All absences must be approved by the standard UGME process.

COURSE SUCCESS CRITERIA

To pass the course, a learner must:

• Achieve an average grade of ≥ 70% based on the weighted marks across the course assessments,
• Complete and submit all course assignments and assessments by the due date, and
• Attend all sessions as per the course requirements, including mandatory sessions.
  

Exam and assignment deferrals will only be approved by the Phase Lead under exceptional circumstances, see Exam Deferral Policy.

Promotion regulations:

• Even if a learner has passed all examinations and assignments, a learner may be required to repeat the Phase or withdraw conditionally or unconditionally from the program (see section 5.3 in the University calendar) if there are significant concerns about a learner’s performance (as communicated to the learner by the Phase Lead). Examples may include, but are not limited to, late assignments and missed mandatory sessions without proper deferral process, lapses in professionalism, recurrent reassessment exams.
• As outlined in Section 5.2 of the Regulations for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine in the University calendar, learners with a Fail grade in any course cannot be promoted to the next Phase.
• As outlined in the MD program objectives, the Faculty of Medicine at Memorial University values professionalism as a core competency and a requirement of the MD program. Recognizing that medical learners are developing their professional identity, professionalism lapses will be remediated where possible and appropriate. Unsuccessful remediation will result in failure of the Phase.  Professionalism lapses may render a learner incompatible with continuation in the MD program (as outlined in the Memorial University Calendar Regulation 10.5 Promotion).

COURSE ASSESSMENT

Learners will be assessed with both formative and summative assessments throughout the course. Learners will receive their grades from the Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) office via One45. Organization, grammar, citations and referencing should be of the quality expected of university graduates. This standard will be considered in the grading process.

Original work, completed wholly by the learner, is expected to be submitted in this course. The use of an artificial intelligence tool like chatGPT is not permitted.

Formative assessments do not count towards the final grade and are intended to help learners monitor their learning. Learners will receive formative feedback from the preceptor(s) during their community placement. Learners are also expected to review and learn from their performance on the summative assessments that occur throughout the course.

Summative Assessments include: (a) a reflection assignment on the Community Engagement sessions, (b) an essay on the Community Placement, and (c) a Community Placement Workbook with an assessment by the preceptor. Each of these summative assessments is graded and contributes to the final summative mark that the learner will receive for the course.

The course includes mandatory learning sessions, listed in the respective section below. This is in addition to the Community Placement for which attendance is required. Learners must participate in the mandatory learning sessions and complete any associated exercises. As outlined in the Protected Time and Duty Hours Policy, learners may request leave if they are unable to attend a mandatory learning session.

The contribution of marks from each summative assessment towards the final course grade is as follows:

Community Engagement Sessions Reflection Assignment	25%
Community Placement essay	60%
Community Placement Workbook/Preceptor Assessment	15%
Total	100%

The final grade and average will be compiled at the end of the Phase.

a) Community Engagement Sessions Reflection Assignment                                

The topics of Health Promotion, Disease and Injury Prevention, Global Health and Non-communicable Diseases, Health Beliefs, Arts and Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Health offer learners the opportunity to explore their own thinking, biases, experiences, and awareness.

For the Community Engagement Sessions assignment, learners will write a synthesis paper in which they reflect critically on how all the above CE sessions contributed to their knowledge about social determinants of health and challenges in achieving health equity.

A detailed description of the assignment and relevant assessment tools will be available on Brightspace. The pass mark for the reflection exercise is 70%.

Word limit: 1500-2000 words
Due Date: March 25, 2024                                                                  

b) Community Placement Essay

The Phase 2 Community Placement is an opportunity to develop and apply the concepts of population health learned in Community Engagement I and II and to gain a deeper appreciation of how the community context influences clinical practice and the health of the patient population. Community context can include social, economic, ecological, geographic (spatial), political, and cultural factors.

Learners must submit a comprehensive Community Placement Essay that analyzes and reflects on population health issues specific to the community that they visit. In this assignment learners will demonstrate an understanding of the issues and concepts explored through the Community Engagement course to date, applied to a specific community population.

A detailed description of the essay and relevant assessment tools will be available on Brightspace. The pass mark for this assessment is 70%.

Word limit: minimum 2,600 words, maximum 3,000 words. Photographs are not included in the word limit.

Due Dates:

Learners completing Community Placement from April 8 – 19, 2024: due May 24, 2024

Learners completing Community Placement from April 22 – May 3, 2024: due June 7, 2024

c)   Community Placement Workbook/Preceptor Assessment                                                                              

The preceptor will provide an assessment of the learner based on clinical exercises completed in the Community Placement Workbook. An overall score of 2 (scale of 1-4) on the assessment sheet is required to pass. This score will be converted to a score out of 100 for the purposes of determining its contribution to the overall course grade. The assessment sheet is available on One45.

The pass mark for this assessment is 70%.

Due Date: May 6, 2024

Mandatory Learning Sessions

Mandatory learning sessions are defined as sessions that require learners to attend in order to achieve the learning objectives. Sessions are designated mandatory if they meet one or more of the following criteria:

• Provide an introduction or overview of learner expectations for the MD program, phase or course;
• Involve application of clinical decision-making skills such as tutorials, case-based learning and laboratories; 
• Include an assessment component;
• Involve interactivity such as integrated learning sessions, interprofessional education sessions, guest speakers or patient volunteers; and/or
• Provide support and/or counseling to promote learner well-being and success.

Mandatory learning session	Date
Community Placement Orientation	As scheduled in Brightspace.
Field Preparation
Community Placement Debrief

REASSESSMENT

• Reassessment will be required if a learner achieves <70% on any summative assessment.
• Learners will be required to re-submit the assessment for the component they have failed addressing the inadequacies that have been identified.
• Assignments for reassessment must be submitted within two weeks after the learner is notified by the Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) office. In circumstances where a learner has multiple reassessments due in the same two-week time frame, an extension of the deadline date can be made at the discretion of the Phase Lead.
• A learner may be reassessed for any failed assessment only once.
• The maximum mark for a re-assessment is 70%.
• Learners who fail a reassessment will be required to meet with the Phase Lead or a delegate, and the Learner Well-Being Consultant if the learner so wishes, to support the learner’s academic needs.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS

If a learner is prevented from completing an assignment by the listed due date, they must follow the procedure outlined in the Undergraduate Medical Education Deferred Examination Policy and request a deferral of the assessment. Where possible, learners must make their request prior to the listed due date of the assignment. If a learner fails to submit a deferral request, any assignment submitted up to two days after the listed due date is considered late and the maximum mark the assignment can receive is 70%. Assignments which are submitted more than two days after the listed due date without a submitted deferral request, will not be accepted for grading unless extenuating circumstances exist and at the discretion of the Phase Lead. Learners are encouraged to seek support from the Learner Well-being Consultants, especially if circumstances arise which may impact a learner’s ability to complete assignments on time.

 
Version: September 27, 2023
Reviewed by SAS: October 25, 2023
UGMS Approval: November 22, 2023