Evaluation of describing and grading preclinical technical exercises

A student's improvement in technical skill during preclinical technique courses is greatly aided if the student receives accurate descriptive feedback concerning the quality of his practice exercises and how his product could be corrected. A numerical or letter grade alone cannot do this. An evluation form was developed to enable the preclinical faculty to efficiently and effectively give descriptive feedback to large numbers of students. A survey was conducted to evaluate whether students could interpret the descriptive feedback accurately and whether this descriptive feedback was useful in helping them understand where improvements could be made.