GEP Medicine in Society Handbook 2019/20: Learning Log (50%)

6. Assessment

6.2. Learning Log (50%)

The learning log is intended to be a tool that is used to record and reflect learning and professional development through the year. (In addition to learning logs students may want to collect research in preparation for each MedSoc day, notes made in the course of the day, and any leaflets and information collected during the day. This information should be collected and held in a separate folder rather than in the Learning Log.) There are two components to the learning log: reflections on activities and self-assessment of students meeting of the learning objectives:

Reflective writing

Students should complete a reflective piece of writing after each themed day. The reflective writing should be limited to 300 words, or 30 minutes of writing and should be word-processed before being added to the learning log.
Students should reflect on an aspect of the activities of the day, tutors may suggest an issue for the group to reflect on or they may want to choose the aspect of the day on which to reflect. The issue for reflection should be discussed in the debriefing tutorial.
There are some suggested questions that students might want to answer and reflect upon but these are simply provided for guidance. They are not required to answer the questions if they have identified an area on which they want to reflect.
See Appendix for guidance on reflection
Students will be asked to submit your reflective logs to QMPlus by 5pmg on the Monday after your Medsoc Session, so that GP Tutors can give feedback before the next session.
In addition to this, students will be asked to submit their work to an assessment portal on QMPlus at 3 points across the year.
On Day 5 they will be expected to submit the previous 4 pieces of work, Day 9 the previous 4 pieces of work and Day 14 the previous 5 pieces of work
This is so that late submissions can be flagged.
Group B Submission Dates: Day 5 (28/11/19) Day 9 (6/2/20) and Day 14 (30/4/20)
Group A Submission Dates: Day 5 (5/12/19) Day 9 (13/2/20) and Day 14 (7/5/20)

Self assessment of learning objectives

At the end of each day students should write a brief summary of what they have covered in each learning objective.
If learning objectives have not been covered they should explain when and how it will be covered - this might mean a student does some work independently or that the objective is covered on another placement day.
Students should cover each objective in 50-100 words. Please be brief. You may wish to refer to notes you have made elsewhere or to material you have read but you do not need to transcribe material.

Assessment of the learning log

The learning logs should be assessed before the next Medoc Session..
Students should be given guidance and feedback on their performance to date.
When giving feedback the emphasis should be on determining whether performance is satisfactory or not, rather then on grading the work.
At the end of the year students should be awarded a numerical value out of 50 for their learning logs.
On Day 12 the numerical value for the learning log should be discussed with the student. Alternatively the log can be retained at the practice and graded later.

Guidance for grading the Learning log

	43 - 50	32 - 42	25 - 31	20 - 24	<20
Learning objectives	Each learning objective addressed, evidence of consideration of own learning needs, strategy to meet learning needs where necessary	Most/all learning objective addressed, some consideration of own learning needs, some strategy to meet learning needs where necessary	Most learning objectives addressed, limited evaluation of own learning needs, weak strategy to meet identified learning needs	Some learning objectives not addressed, no evidence of ability to assess own learning needs, inadequate strategies to meet learning needs	Some learning objectives not addressed, no evidence of ability to assess own learning needs, inadequate strategies to meet learning needs
Reflective Writing	The description is focussed on ‘key issues’, issues are explored from different perspectives, context and emotions are considered. The views and motives of others are considered.	The description is focussed on ‘key issues’, issues are explored from different perspectives, context and emotions are considered	Descriptive account with some reflection e.g. the student mentions their emotions , or identifies ‘key issues’ in the description	Descriptive writing – narrative account of what happened, no reflection	Writing of quality or quantity blow that needed to achieve a D grade

For further information see ‘A generic framework for reflective writing’ Jenny Moon (2004) – link on QM+