An online discussion between students and teachers: a way forward for meaningful teacher feedback?

Background: Student evaluation is an essential component in feedback processes in faculty and learner development. Ease of use and low cost have made paper evaluation forms a popular method within teaching programmes, but they are often seen as a formality, offering variable value towards the improvement of teaching. Students report poor motivation to engage with existing feedback tools whilst teachers describe receiving vague, contradicting, or irrelevant information.

Outpatient learning perspectives at a UK hospital.

Background: Undergraduate students spend much of their training in the clinical workplace, increasingly in hospital outpatient settings; however, they report that this does not always yield the educational value that they expect. This study investigates ways in which outpatient learning can be enhanced from the perspectives of students and teachers, exploring which approaches may be most appropriate in different circumstances.

Methods: We conducted 14 semi-structured interviews with medical students from one UK medical school and consultants (specialists) at a single teaching hospital.