Note: The Anglophone & Francophone Directors of Clerkship is a Faculty Member who assists with the development, implementation, and program assessment (including Accreditation) of years 3 and 4 (Clerkship) in Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME) at the University of Ottawa.  They will also assist with student assessment and academic student counselling.  The Clerkship Director is a member of the UGME Leadership Team and works collaboratively with multiple stakeholders. 

Reporting and workload

The Clerkship Director reports to the Vice Dean UGME. The time commitment is 1.5 days per week.  

Committee Membership (Includes, but is not limited to)

• Clerkship Committee (Co-Chair) 
• Undergraduate Curriculum Committee 
• Promotions Committee (Chair) 
• Student Promotions Executive Committee 
• Curriculum Content Review Committee (CCRC) 
• Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation Committee 

Responsibilities

UGME Clerkship curriculum development, implementation and assessment  

1. The Clerkship Director works closely and collaboratively with the Vice-Dean (UGME), the Preclerkship Directors (Anglophone and Francophone), the Director of Curriculum, and the Director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation.  
2. The Clerkship Director (Anglophone) works closely and collaboratively with the Clerkship Director (Francophone) as well as the entire membership of the Clerkship Committee including Rotation Directors (Anglophone and Francophone) and Hospital Coordinators (Anglophone and Francophone) 
3. The Clerkship Director is actively involved in and works collaboratively with UGME Leadership on curriculum design/implementation, evaluation and Curriculum Renewal 
4. Support Clerkship Rotation Directors in designing, implementing and assessing Clerkship Rotations 
5. Support Clerkship Rotation Directors in student evaluations 
6. Ensure Clerkship Rotation Directors carry out their roles and responsibilities to Faculty of Medicine standards 
7. Encourage Faculty Development in areas relevant to UGME 
8. Assist with Faculty recruitment into Clerkship Roles 
9. Assist with review of and action on teaching faculty evaluations 
10. Work collaboratively with the UGME Administrative team to administer, uphold, review, revise and create Clerkship Policies and Procedures 
11. Review Program Assessment Data (including but not limited to the Graduation Questionnaire, MCC data, individual rotation data) to help guide continuous curriculum improvement 
12. Create and maintain awareness of advances and innovations in medical education 

Student oversight 

1. Orient students to Clerkship policy and procedures and Clerkship requirements (including presentations, town halls etc.) 
2. Review student feedback regarding curriculum design and implementation 
3. Students in Difficulty: 
   1. Counsel Clerkship Students in difficulty 
   2. Develop remediation plans for students with difficulty in Clerkship 
   3. Manage appeals 
4. Represent MD Program leadership at ceremonies such as Convocation, White Coat Ceremony, Reaffirmation Ceremony 

Accreditation

1. Provide an annual report (according to accreditation requirement) to the Vice-Dean, UGME and UCC.
2. The Incumbent will be accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards as they relate to his/her area of responsibility and provide specific accreditation related information to the UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office upon requests received from the Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator. 

Revised: June 1, 2022

Note: The Anglophone Director of Clinical Skills will direct all aspects of the clinical skills teaching in the Anglophone stream, including interviewing skills, history taking, physician skills development, OSCEs and community preceptor program, and will report to the Vice-dean, UGME.

Compensation: 1 day per week

Responsibilities

1. Assist the Leaders of each component in executing their educational mandate.
2. Assist in the recruitment and orientation of new leaders for each component, in conjunction with Departmental Chairs.
3. Work with the Director of Clinical Skills, Francophone stream, toward the equivalence of clinical skills teaching in both language streams.  Review, with the Leaders of each component, the objectives and bring any changes to the attention of the Director of Clinical Skills, Francophone Stream. Objectives must be identical in both language streams (as per accreditation standards) and be approved by the Curriculum Content and Review Subcommittee, and then the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.
4. Attend a minimum of 50 percent of required committee meetings.
5. Co-preside the Clinical Skills Subcommittee meetings with the Director of Clinical Skills, Francophone Stream.
6. Represent Clinical Skills on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee with the Director of Clinical Skills, Francophone Stream.
7. Submit the list of Leaders for each component for approval to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.
8. Interact with the Vice-Dean, the Directors of Pre-Clerkship, the Directors of Clerkship, the Director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation and all sub committees of UCC to ensure effective integration of the various components and aspects of the curriculum as well as the use of appropriate evaluation methods.
9. Ensure formative assessments are provided.
10. Ensure the creation of 15 percent of new examination questions.
11. Encourage faculty development in areas relevant to clinical skills teaching.
12. Maintain awareness of advances and trends, and facilitate research and innovation in clinical skills teaching.
13. In conjunction with the Vice-Dean, UGME and the Preclerkship Director, Anglophone Stream, assist in the counseling of students and develop a remediation plan for students with academic performance issues where necessary.
14. Provide a year end report in collaboration with the Director of Clinical Skills, Francophone Stream to the Vice-Dean at the end of each academic year.
15. Prepare a review of all clinical skills components for Accreditation and participate in other accreditation activities as required by the Faculty of Medicine.
16. Work with the Research Director, University of Ottawa Skills and Simulation Center (uOSSC) to integrate simulation teaching into Clinical Skills.
17. The Incumbent will be accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards as they relate to his/her area of responsibility and provide specific accreditation related information to the UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office upon requests received from the Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator. 

Revised June 20, 2022

Note: A Content Expert reports directly to the Unit Leader and is responsible for a content area or group(s) of sessions within a single unit or multiple units (in the case of a Longitudinal Content Experts).

Functions

Some important tasks include but are not limited to:

1. Attending all Unit Committee meetings to ensure the proper planning, development and improvement of your content area. Keeping all teachers in your section informed of any decisions taken during the unit meetings that would be pertinent to them. A minimum of 50 percent attendance is required.
2. Ensuring the creation or modification of learning objectives and online modules are completed within the deadlines provided by the faculty and are approved by the Unit Committee, and the Curriculum Content and Review Committee (CCRC).
3. Ensuring creation and selection of required examination questions within the deadlines and as presented by the Director of Evaluations/Unit Leaders on the examination blueprint.
4. Ensuring proper recruitment of qualified professors/tutors based on the unit schedule within the deadlines provided. Ensure individual recruited do not have conflicts of interest according to the Faculty policy.
5. Reviewing all material used within your content to ensure the material properly covers required learning objectives and that it fits the appropriate format assigned to each session (i.e. lecture, unit-directed activity, TBL, etc...). Ensuring that content within your content area is kept up to date by professors to include current information, technologies and advancements in the field.
6. Reviewing evaluations of faculty who participated in teaching activities within your content area in order to address any performance/teaching issues based on feedback received.
7. Reviewing evaluations of the unit with the goal of improving the overall presentation of your content within the unit or units.
8. Creating 15 percent new summative examination questions per year.
9. Providing formative assessments.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities

As a Content Expert, you are required to attend the meetings of the Unit Committee of the unit or units in which your content is presented. The Unit Committee meetings include but are not limited to:

1. Unit Planning Meeting (mandatory meeting held approximately 1 month after the post- unit meeting)
2. Pre-Unit Meeting (optional meeting held before the unit at the discretion of the Unit Leaders)
3. Post-unit Meeting (mandatory meeting held approximately 1 month after the unit)

Prior to the Unit

1. Attend the Unit Planning meeting and collaborate in the planning and revision of the unit section objectives and content.
2. Review online modules and presentations used to ensure that they are of adequate quality and cover the assigned learning objectives.
3. Once planning of the unit is finalized:
   1. Brief teachers within your content area on any changes to the unit finalized during the meeting as needed to ensure they are aware of any updates which they may be required to apply to their presentations.
   2. Recruits new teachers and tutors as necessary and ensure professors and tutors are invited to return (assistance from UGME office can be requested for recruitment of returning professors only, if required).
4. Ensure that all teachers and tutors recruited have a Faculty Appointment or are informed that they must obtain one via their department of choice.
5. Send list of teachers and tutors to Unit Leader/UGME office which includes their assigned sessions, contact information, Department and Division at least 2 months prior to the start of the unit.
6. Facilitate the implementation and overall delivery of the content within your section of the Unit as required.
7. Submit to Unit Leaders/UGME office a new or revised list of library resources for your section of the Unit at least 2 months prior to the start of the unit.

During the Unit

1. Find replacements for teachers who cancel their participation after the initial recruitment is confirmed.
2. Write/select the required number of exam questions as required by the Unit Leaders/Director of Evaluations, whether it is for a mid-term or final examination within the provided deadlines.
3. Assist in any additional steps, as required, to facilitate the proper review and creation of the examinations.
4. Ensure timely correction of the relevant section of the mid-term examination when necessary as requested by the Unit Leader/UGME office.
5. Meet with students as necessary.

After the Unit

1. Attend the Post-unit meeting and collaborate in the feedback discussion while taking into account any peer and student feedback presented.
2. Following the Post-unit meeting discussions, develop plans for changes/improvements for the upcoming academic year as requested by the Unit Leader to be presented at the Unit Planning Meeting.
3. Ensure timely correction of the relevant section of the final examination when necessary as requested by the Unit Leader/UGME office.
4. Review all evaluations of teachers from your content area included in the evaluation reports received and provide direct feedback to teachers whose evaluations have been flagged as being below expectations or who have received any comment of concern regarding professionalism. Fill out evaluation follow-up form(s) as requested by the Evaluation Review Committee to ensure proper follow-up has been done with professors who are below expectations.

Updated June 30, 2017

Note: The Director of Electives is the faculty member that oversees all elective activities for the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Medicine.
The Director reports to the Vice-Dean, UGME. The time commitment is approximately 1 day per week.

Responsibilities

1. Oversee clinical electives for
   • University of Ottawa Student
     1. Preclerkship observerships
     2. Year 4 electives
   • Canadian Medical Students
   • International Medical Students
   • Exchange programs
2. Manage Electives Office with Electives Coordinator
3. Information Technology
   • Manage uOttawa electives database
   • Manage visiting student elective applications
4. Program Evaluation
   • Assessment of Student (by Faculty)
   • Evaluation of Faculty (by student)
   • Elective experience (by student)
5. Review the policies and documents for electives
6. Collaborate with
   • Global Health Office
     1. International Electives
     2. Partner Universities
   • COFM – Electives Network
   • AFMC – Network of Electives Coordinators
   • Student Affairs Office – career counselling and strategic elective selection
7. Scholarship
   • Facilitate Electives research for faculty and students
8. Chair, Electives Sub-Committee
   • Meetings 3 times during the academic year, or more often as required.   
9. Committee Membership - representing Electives (attend a minimum of 50 percent of required committee meetings)
   • Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC)
     1. Provide annual report
10. Represent the University of Ottawa at provincial or national meetings, at the request of the Vice-Dean, UGME.
11. Accreditation
    • Assist Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator
    • Accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards
    • Provide accreditation related documents and reports to UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office

Updated: October 2021

Note: The Executive Director Curriculum is responsible for leading and overseeing all aspects of the content and delivery of the undergraduate medical education curriculum by ensuring systematic monitoring, systematic review, revision and renewal as well as providing innovative approaches to the learning experience. 
The Executive Director Curriculum will report to the Vice-Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, of the Faculty of Medicine.

Compensation:   2 days per week

Functions and responsibilities

1. Advises, reports and facilitates the Undergraduate Medical Education Program (UGME) of the Faculty of Medicine on all aspects and matters related to the curriculum.
2. As Chair of the Curriculum Content Revision Committee (CCRC), the executive director leads an annual curriculum revision process that complies with the Committee on Accreditation of Canadian Medical Schools (CACMS) accreditation standards to ensure that the quality of the undergraduate medical education curriculum is maintained and enhanced.  
3. Analyses outcomes using the data from the Medical Council of Canada, Graduation Questionnaire, PGME, and others, to help and guide curriculum revision.
4. Ensures that Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) are included in the curriculum in order to prepare all M.D. graduates making the transition from medical school to residency.  
5. Reviews Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Exams objectives and ensures that our current objectives align with qualifying exam expectations. Ensures the curriculum content reflects current societal needs and aligns with the UGME social accountability mandate. 
6. Oversees all requests for new or revised objectives as well as the creation and revision on an ongoing and systematic basis.
7. Provides innovative approaches to various education delivery methods focussing on ensuring the best possible student experience and makes recommendations consistent with the overall academic goals and quality assurance of the existing curriculum.
8. Promotes the use of multi-faceted adult active learning techniques.
9. Works closely with Medtech and the UGME office staff to ensure that editing and improvements of CBL and SLM modules as well as creation of new CBL and SLM modules takes place according to standard guidelines.
10. Reviews all Unit evaluations and communicates with Unit Leaders on a regular basis regarding curricular content and delivery.
11. Serves as a member of the Pre-Clerkship Committee and actively participates in coordination between Units.
12. Assists students and student interest groups in adding important student identified content to the curriculum.
13. Works closely with the Vice-Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education, the Directors of Pre-Clerkship, the Directors of Clerkship, the Director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation, the Director of Social Medicine and all sub committees of UCC to ensure effective integration of the various components and aspects of the curriculum as well as the use of appropriate evaluation methods.
14. Works closely with Affaires Francophones to ensure the equivalence and quality of the student experience through the francophone stream.
15. Works closely with the Content-Experts throughout the undergraduate curriculum to improve the delivery of the different learning components.
16. Maintains awareness of advanced professional learning by actively researching curricular trends and development and making recommendations consistent with the overall academic goals of the existing curriculum.
17. Collaborates with the Faculty Development in the development of learning opportunities for teachers in areas relevant to the curriculum in Undergraduate Medical Education.
18. Serves as a voting member of the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee.
19. Assists and supports the Vice-Dean, UGME, with recruitment and orientation of new curricular leaders.
20. Assists in providing feedback to Faculty members based on evaluations and auditing. Assists the Department Chairs and Faculty Development in providing remediation plans for Faculty members with poor teaching evaluations.
21. Submits, upon request, documentation for accreditation.
22. Submits, upon request, curriculum review in response to the Coroner’s Inquest Reports and other agencies as required.
23. Represents the Vice-Dean, UGME at relevant meetings and presentations as required.
24. Provides an annual report (according to accreditation requirements) to the Vice-Dean, UGME and UCC.
25. The Incumbent will be accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards as they relate to his/her area of responsibility and provide specific accreditation related information to the UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office upon requests received from the Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator. 

Revised: June 2022

Note: The Anglophone and Francophone Directors of Pre-clerkship will work together in directing all aspects of years 1 and 2 and will report to the Vice-Dean, Undergraduate Medical Education (UGME). The time commitment is approximately 1.5 day per week (48 weeks).

Responsibilities

1. Direct all aspects of pre-clerkship such as scheduling, content material, student advising, and examinations.
2. Facilitate the work of unit leaders and leaders in achieving the goals of their unit and courses.
3. Manage students’ appeals of summative evaluation in pre-clerkship, Anglophone stream as per UGME Appeals Regulation.
4. Recruit and orient new unit leaders
5. Assist in the recruitment of new teachers.
6. Chair the Pre-Clerkship Committee meetings.
7. Chair Unit Promotions Committee meetings.
8. Serve as member of the Curriculum Content Review Committee.
9. Serve as member of the Promotions Executive Committee.
10. Serve as member of the Clerkship Subcommittee.
11. Represent pre-clerkship on the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC).
12. Prepare and present an annual report to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC).
13. Submit the list of Unit Leaders for approval to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC).
14. Attend at least 50 percent of required committee meetings otherwise the Vice-Dean will be notified.
15. Ensure that all unit leaders and content experts [LC1] provide formative assessments.
16. Ensure that students complete their mandatory evaluations.
17. Ensure that tutors and preceptors complete mandatory evaluations of the students.
18. Ensure the creation of 15 percent new examination questions every year in each unit.
19. Approve absence requests that are submitted to the Undergraduate Medical Education Office.
20. Interact with the Vice-Dean UGME, the Directors of Clerkship, the Director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation, The Curriculum Director, the Director of Social Medicine and all UCC subcommittees to ensure effective integration of the various components and aspects of the curriculum and the use of appropriate evaluation methods. 
21. Encourage faculty development in areas relevant to undergraduate medical education.
22. Maintain awareness of advances and trends, and facilitate research and innovation in medical education.
23. Assist in the counselling of students and, in conjunction with the Vice-Dean, UGME, develop a remediation plan for students with academic performance issues.
24. Assist in the preparation of the Medical Student Performance Records related to pre-clerkship.
25. Complete forms and prepare reports related to the accreditation process of the Undergraduate Medical Education Program.
26. The Incumbent will be accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards as they relate to his/her area of responsibility and provide specific accreditation related information to the UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office upon requests received from the Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator. 

Revised: June 2022

Note: The Rotation Director reports to the Vice-Dean of UGME through the Director of the Clerkship (years 3 and 4) and to their respective Departmental Chair as appropriate.

Responsibilities:

1. Coordinate the clinical placements for all students assigned to the rotation.
2. Ensure appropriate supervision of clerks.
3. Carry out orientation of preceptors, residents and others who play a role in the training process of medical clerks.
4. Review, with their counterpart from the other language stream, the objectives of the rotation and bring any changes to the attention of the Clerkship Director. Objectives must be identical in both language streams as per accreditation standards.
5. Coordinate the didactic curriculum, preferably as an academic half day per week and ensure it is available for students rotating at distant sites. 
6. Oversee content development and revision of the Web-Based Curriculum in the rotation. All administrative aspects of the rotation should be available electronically to students. 
7. Determine content and facilitate tracking of essential clinical encounters (T-clerk).
8. Meet all students at the beginning of each rotation for orientation and again for feedback and discussion approx. half way through the rotation.
9. Provide mid-rotation formative assessment.
10. The rotation director must ensure that all students receive formative written feedback at approximately the mid-point of the rotation. The rotation director must meet with any student who is not meeting expectations and provide a written report, signed by the student, that enables the student to understand and address their deficiencies.  The Director of the Clerkship should be informed of any issues regarding academic concerns, professionalism or attendance.
11. Distribute a formative exam and, towards the end of the Block, meet with all students to prepare them for the summative examination.  Non mandatory meeting at the discretion of the Rotation Director.
12. Create 15 percent new examination questions every year.
13. Summarize the student clinical evaluations, provide each student an opportunity to discuss their clinical evaluation and prepare the Rotation Director Evaluation for the Medical Student Performance Record.
14. With their counterpart from the other language stream, construct the final examination including both multiple choice and short answer /Clinical Decision Making questions. Directors must meet the Faculty calendar of operations for the exam to be edited and translated. The Francophone director is responsible to review the translation to confirm that questions are equivalent in both languages. The directors are also responsible for marking the examination. The exam of any student with a failing mark should be reviewed prior to the promotion committee meeting. The directors will review student evaluations of the examination and make improvements as needed for the next examination.
15. Attend the Clerkship Promotions Committee Meetings to bring forward the student examination marks and clinical evaluations for approval.
16. Meet with the student and set remediation as needed in preparation for re-take or supplemental examination or repetition of clinical time.
17. Identify students with the highest standing in the rotation on an annually and attend the Award of Excellence Ceremony to present award.
18. Review requests from students to complete their core rotations at DME sites according to the policy for rural rotations, and assist the DME Director in the accreditation of sites including site visits as necessary.
19. Respond to requests for absence and reports all such requests to the medical education office according to the Absence Policy.
20. Attend monthly Clerkship Committee meetings and ad hoc UGME retreats relevant to Clerkship (usually once or twice per year).
21. Attend a minimum of 50 percent of the required committee meetings.
22. Supervise the activities of the administrative co-ordinator of the rotation.
23. Solicit student evaluations of faculty members involved in delivering curriculum and clinical preceptors. Forward evaluations to the faculty members individually and provide aggregate data for year-end report to Clerkship Directors.
24. Solicit student evaluation of the rotation regarding curriculum, clinical placements and organisation. Forward aggregate data in the form of a year-end report to the Clerkship Director with suggestions on how to improve the rotation.
25. Prepare a review of the rotation for Accreditation and participate in other accreditation activities as required by the Faculty of Medicine.
26. Be aware of national trends in undergraduate education relevant to their specialty.
27. The Incumbent will be accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards as they relate to his/her area of responsibility and provide specific accreditation related information to the UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office upon requests received from the Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator. 

The Undergraduate Education Director or Clerkship Director within a department may also:

1. Identify the best resident and Staff teachers for recognition within the Department.
2. Facilitate the placement of Year 1-4 elective/selective students from University of Ottawa and Visiting Medical Students.
3. Chair the Departmental Undergraduate Education Committee.
4. Organize rotation lectures in the Back to Basic LMCC Review Course.

​​​​​​​Revised : June 2021

Note: The Director, Social Medicine reports to the Vice-Dean, UGME, through the Curriculum Director. The Director is responsible for the oversight of the delivery of the MD Program’s Social Medicine curriculum, including the Society, Individual and Medicine (SIM) course, Community Service Learning (CSL), Interprofessional Education (IPE) and Anti-racism curriculum for the anglophone and francophone streams.

The expected workload is one day per week. 

Responsibilities

1. Oversee the delivery and integration of the Social Medicine curriculum in collaboration with the Leads for SIM, CSL, IPE and anti-racism across all 4 years.
2. Represent the Social Medicine curriculum at the Curriculum Content Review Committee (CCRC) and attend a minimum of 50% of CCRC meetings.
3. Represent the Social Medicine curriculum at the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee (UCC) and attend a minimum of 50% of UCC meetings.
4. Collaborate with the Associate Dean, Social Accountability, and other relevant UGME program leads to promote social accountability intiatives inUGME.
5. In collaboration with the Curriculum Director, the Director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation, and Leads for SIM, CSL, IP and anti-racism, establish appropriate evaluation methods for the Social Medicine curriculum in concordance with the Faculty regulations. 
6. Supervise and/or cosupervise medical student projects related to the Social Medicine curriculum, including oversight of the Social Accountability Student Advisory Committee.
7. Prepare and present an annual report for the UCC.
8. Be accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards as they relate to their areas of responsibility:
9. Provide specific accreditation related information (complete accreditation templates, prepare reports where relevant) to the UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office upon requests received from the Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator. 
10. Maintain awareness of and promote curricular change related to advances and trends in innovation in medical education related to social medicine.

Revised: June 2022

Note: The Unit Leader is responsible for the overall content and overall delivery of the Unit by ensuring that each content area within the unit is properly looked after by its assigned Content Expert(s). In cooperation with the opposite stream’s counterpart, the Unit Leader is responsible to ensure that objectives and evaluations (examinations) are equivalent in French and in English (while objectives must be identical, delivery of the curriculum can vary between the language streams when necessary). In many cases, the Unit Leader will act as the liaison person between UGME office and the Content Experts/Faculty.  In the event that a Content Expert is not available for a specific content area, the Unit Leader then becomes responsible for the proper planning, recruitment and delivery of said content area.

Some important tasks include but are not limited to:

1. Attend Promotions Committee meetings for your unit
2. Attend a minimum of 50 % of required committee meetings
3. Represent the unit by attending the Pre-clerkship Committee
4. Chair Unit Committee meetings for your unit
5. Recruit and orient new Content Expert(s)
6. Ensure overall objectives, content and delivery are correctly looked after by the appropriate Content Expert(s) each academic year
7. Ensure recruitment of each section of your unit is properly looked after by the assigned Content Expert(s) and provide assistance as requested
8. Ensure all examinations for the unit are properly created within the posted deadlines
9. Ensure the creation of 15 percent new summative examination questions every year
10. Provide formative assessments
11. Ensure an overall continuous quality improvement of your unit from year to year
12. Review unit and teacher evaluations and ensure that content experts address all identified issues as required
13. Collaborate with and respond to in a timely fashion to requests submitted by the Liaison Officer
14. Ensure that all Content Experts within your unit properly fill their roles and complete the tasks required of them within the posted deadlines.  Report any issues related to Content Experts not respecting these guidelines to the Directors of Pre-clerkship and/or the Vice-dean of Undergraduate Medical Education for further follow-up.
15. The Incumbent will be accountable for and adhere to CACMS accreditation standards as they relate to his/her area of responsibility and provide specific accreditation related information to the UGME Assessment, Evaluation and Curriculum Office upon requests received from the Accreditation Director and/or Coordinator. 

​​​​​​​Specific duties and responsibilities

As a Unit Leader, you are required to attend certain meetings as well as chair others.  These meetings include but are not limited to:

As an attendee:

• Pre-clerkship Subcommittee Meeting (mandatory meeting held approximately every two to three months throughout the academic year)
• Mid-term Promotions Committee Meeting (mandatory meeting held 1-2 weeks following a mid-term examination within your unit)
• Final Promotions Committee Meeting (mandatory meeting held 2-3 weeks following a final examination within your unit)
• Curriculum Content Review Committee (CCRC) (attend this meeting only when necessary to present and request approval for any and all changes made to the content, scheduling, format and structure of your unit following the post-unit and planning meetings before they can be applied)

As meeting Chair:

• Pre-Unit Meeting (optional meeting held before the unit at the discretion of the Unit Leaders)
• Post-unit Meeting (mandatory meeting held approximately 1 month after the unit)
• Unit Planning Meeting (mandatory meeting held approximately 1 month after the Post-unit meeting)

Unit Leaders are also responsible for certain key aspects of the curriculum within their unit such as:

 Objectives

Ensuring proper implementation and maintenance of the specific learning objectives is the responsibility of the Unit Leader. Objectives should be reviewed yearly by Unit Leaders with assistance from Content Experts and formatted as per the template suggested by the faculty. The Unit Leader will discuss the objectives with students and facilitate their use by teachers during curricular delivery. Proposed changes to the objectives must be discussed with the Unit Committee and submitted prior to the prescribed deadline to the Executive Curriculum Director who will bring the request forward to the Curriculum Content and Review Committee (CCRC) for further approval.

 Curricular Delivery

Unit leaders are responsible for the content of the Unit and the delivery of the curriculum. Leaders will meet with the students on the first day of the Unit to orient students to the Unit content, objectives, to provide evaluation/examination details and to receive feedback. Unit Leaders should be available to students throughout the Unit if questions or concerns arise.

Examinations

The Unit Leaders are responsible for all components of the unit examination. The following steps should occur according to the calendar of operations set by the Undergraduate Medical Education Office:

1. Approve any new exam questions submitted by teachers and or Content Experts throughout the unit.
2. Select existing questions to be used on upcoming examinations based on a predetermined blueprint provided by the Director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation and derived from learning objectives.  Examinations should be significantly different from previous years with at least 30% new MCQs (multiple choice questions) and 50% new CDMQs (clinical decision making questions).
3. Prepare an examination breakdown for each examination which will then be provided to students prior to the exam.
4. With assistance from Content Experts, fill out the remainder of the examination with new questions.
5. Review of the examination in both languages after translation to confirm equivalency of the questions between streams.
6. Provide final approval of the version of the exam to be printed as well as the answer key which will be used for correction.
7. Coordinate correction, if necessary for any components of the examination containing written answers (as opposed to answers selected from a list, i.e. multiple choices). 
8. Attend Promotion Committee meeting after each examination to approve results as well as determine, with the Director of Student Assessment and Faculty Evaluation, the overall quality of the examination and if any adjustments are required.
9. When required, provide feedback to students regarding the examination either via a structured examination review or a written communication to the class.
10. Respond to students’ requests for examination remarking as per faculty and university regulations
11. Proceed in the same manner for the supplemental/deferral examination, if applicable.

Other specific duties and responsibilities

Prior to the Unit

1. Ensure that a Unit committee is formed and includes all necessary stakeholders (i.e. Directors, Content Experts, student representatives, faculty members, other required members) and organize periodic meetings for this committee through the UGME office/Liaison Officer.
2. Act as Chair of the Unit Planning meeting, ensure effective collaboration by Content Experts in the planning and revision of the unit section objectives and content.  Approve any request for changes in the predetermined Unit schedule to be brought to CCRC for final approval.
3. Ensure all scheduling is finalized following the Unit Planning meeting and present any changes made to the unit to the Curriculum Content Review Committee (CCRC) for approval.
4. Ensure that all Content experts have revised the list of library resources for their individual sections of the Unit to the UGME office as well as yourself at least 2 months prior to the start of the unit.
5. Once planning of the unit is finalized and approved, ensure all Content Experts are aware of their responsibilities pertaining to the unit as well as the deadlines by which each responsibility must be looked after.
6. Assist Content Experts in the recruitment of new teachers as needed and ensure completion of required recruitment by the posted deadline.
7. Ensure Content Experts are aware ahead of time of what is required for their portion of all examinations throughout the unit.
8. Oversee the complete creation process for the mid-term examination (if applicable).
9. Facilitate the implementation and overall delivery of the content within your Unit as required.
10. Receive and process any requests for scheduling and/or content changes within the unit submitted after the Unit Planning meeting and approval process have been completed.  Forward changes requiring further approval to the Curriculum.

During the Unit

1. Receive and process any requests for scheduling and/or content changes within the unit requested by Content Experts submitted during the unit.  Forward changes requiring further approval to the Executive Curriculum Director.
2. Call for unit committee members to attend an mid-unit meeting to address any unfinished planning related to the later parts of the unit (optional for longer units). 
3. Fulfill or assist with any Content Expert duties in the event that they are not available and a replacement could not be recruited.
4. Oversee the complete creation process for the mid-term 2 examination (if applicable) and FINAL examination.
5. Continue to facilitate the implementation and overall delivery of the content within your Unit as required.
6. Meet students as needed. 
7. Receive and process any requests for scheduling and/or content changes within the unit submitted after the unit has already started.  Forward changes requiring further approval to the Executive Curriculum Director.

 After the Unit

1. Review all evaluations of teachers from the entire unit included in the evaluation reports received and provide direct feedback to regarding any inappropriate/non-constructive comments to the Evaluation Review Committee for discussion.  Ensure proper follow-up is carried out by Content Experts with teachers identified by the committee and carry out this follow-up in the even that a Content Expert is the person identified as being below expectations.
2. Review all evaluations of the unit contained within the evaluation reports received and ensure the Content Experts carry out the necessary steps for improvement where needed. 
3. Act as Chair of the Post-unit meeting, ensure effective collaboration in the discussion by Content Experts while taking into account any peer and student feedback presented and ensure a clear plan is outlined and understood by each Content Expert indicating what will be brought to the Unit Planning meeting for approval.
4. Ensure timely corrections of the relevant section of the final examination are looked after by appropriate Content Experts when necessary as requested by the UGME office.

​​​​​​​Updated June 2022