Scope of informal assessments in the delivery of competency-based medical education

• Main Authors: Saurabh RamBihariLal Shrivastava, Prateek Saurabh Shrivastava
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2020-01-01
• Series: MAMC Journal of Medical Sciences
• Subjects: competency; informal assessments; medical education
• Online Access: http://www.mamcjms.in/article.asp?issn=2394-7438;year=2020;volume=6;issue=1;spage=33;epage=34;aulast=Shrivastava

The process of assessment casts a significant positive influence-cum-motivation for the learners in any field of education, and the same applies to medical education as well. The assessments in each year of the academic course can be either formal or informal. For a significant period of time, only formal assessments have been given priority, while the informal assessments have been ignored. However, in the programmatic assessment and the assessments which has been proposed as a part of the newly introduced competency based undergraduate curriculum for the 2019 academic year, a significant weightage has been given to the informal assessments. In conclusion, amidst the paradigm shift from input-based to outcome-oriented competency-based education, the need of the hour is to reform the pattern of assessment and include informal assessments in the overall system to strengthen and validate the high-stakes decision and facilitate learning among the students.