Reflective Teaching Journals as an Effective Embedded Formative Assessment Process of Teaching Skill Development Confidence in a Longitudinal Medical Student-as-Teacher Elective.

BACKGROUND

This study focuses on the use of reflective teaching journals by fourth year US allopathic medical school students (MS4) during a longitudinal medical student-as-teacher (SaT) elective, and how MS4s self-assess their perceptions around teacher skill development and individual transitions into resident educators who teach junior learners.

METHOD

Between September 2020 and December 2020, twelve MS4s in a longitudinal SaT elective completed 21 hours in a clinical bedside student teaching placement with embedded structured reflective teaching journals. Sixty-nine individual reflective teaching journal entries were collected in two distinct stages and analyzed using a phenomenographical lens.

CONCLUSION

From these data, the author established three thematic categories where reflective teaching journals reveal (a) a framework for pedagogical skill building, (b) provided a sense-making tool to navigate the psychosocial environment, and (c) a framework for educator identity formation. Structured reflective teaching journals with educator feedback support self-reflection and awareness of growth through the SaT elective. Health professions educators can leverage the reflective teaching journal as a formative assessment process to help learners identify transitions and grapple with educator identity confidence and the formation of new teacher skill development to further advance the field of future health professions education.