UC preceptor evaluations, faculty conferences and the practicum journal

How UC evaluates your clinical performance

Three people shape a UC clinical grade. Your preceptor watches you work and records formative, midterm and final evaluations in eMedley, the college's clinical documentation platform. Course faculty grade the course, drawing on what the preceptor reports. You keep the whole thing moving: UC's May 2026 Preceptor Guide says students deploy the evaluations twice a semester through the online evaluation system.

The same guide sets the finish line. No grade is awarded until all evaluations and hours are in, so a missing final evaluation holds up your grade just as surely as missing hours.

UC also expects every student to identify a qualified preceptor who can approve and sign off on clinical evaluations. That's part of why the college vets preceptors before the term: what they write carries real weight in your result.

Midterm and final, step by step

1. Faculty reach out firstAt the start of the rotation, course faculty contact you and your preceptor. UC's preceptor pages say faculty send the syllabus and an introduction letter.
2. You send the midterm evaluationAround the middle of the course, deploy the midterm evaluation to your preceptor from eMedley. Your syllabus gives the exact week.
3. Your preceptor completes it in eValuateThe preceptor fills it in within eValuate, the evaluation part of eMedley, signing in at he.emedley.com.
4. You read it and respondReview the feedback, respond in eMedley as your course asks, and agree with your preceptor on what to work on before the final.
5. You send the final evaluationNear the end of term, send the final evaluation early enough that your preceptor can finish it before the semester closes.

UC links a sample eMedley evaluation from its preceptor page, which is worth showing a first-time preceptor before midterm. For how eMedley works beyond evaluations, see our eMedley page; verifying time is covered on the clinical hour logs page.

The faculty conference, at least twice a term

UC's October 2025 Clinical Planning Reference Guide asks preceptors to confer with the faculty member and the student at least twice during the semester. The May 2026 Preceptor Guide adds that these meetings take place throughout the semester and that students coordinate them.

So the scheduling is yours. Offer your preceptor and faculty member two or three time options, keep the meeting short, and confirm the day before. A preceptor who gives UC students one or two clinic days a week has little spare time, so a slot that sits next to their clinic hours is more likely to hold.

Arrive prepared. Bring your verified hours against the course requirement, the patient groups you've seen, and one or two goals for the rest of the term. If the midterm evaluation raised a concern, the conference is where the three of you agree how to deal with it.

Site visits: what UC's documents do and don't say

We found no current UC document requiring faculty to visit your clinical site in person. The sources describe faculty contact, meetings and conferring, not a site visit, and they don't say whether conferences happen face to face, by phone or by video.

That means you shouldn't promise a preceptor either way. Tell them what UC does state: faculty will be in touch, you'll arrange at least two conferences, and evaluations will arrive through eMedley. If your course syllabus sets a format for the conferences, follow it and pass it on.

The same applies when a site's onboarding team asks whether UC faculty will come on site. UC's public sources don't say, so the accurate answer is that course faculty will confirm how they stay in contact. Ask them early so the site isn't left guessing.

The practicum journal

UC's preceptor page says students submit a practicum journal to faculty at least three times per semester. It's separate from the case logs in eMedley, and it goes to faculty rather than to your preceptor. The page doesn't describe the journal's format, so your course syllabus decides the prompts, length and due dates.

Treat the three submissions as checkpoints. Spread across the term, roughly early, middle and late, they give faculty a picture of your progress that lines up with the midterm and final evaluations. Writing an entry just before each conference also gives you something concrete to bring to the call.

If your syllabus asks for a different number of entries, follow the syllabus. The three-a-semester figure comes from a page written for preceptors, and the course you're enrolled in sets the actual requirement.

When a problem comes up mid-rotation

UC's clinical documents require you to report any incident to course faculty within 24 hours. Make that report yourself, even when your preceptor is already dealing with the incident at the site.

If your preceptor raises concerns about your performance, deal with them at a faculty conference, and ask for one early rather than waiting for the final. If the preceptor leaves or the site ends the arrangement, tell your CSC and faculty the same day. Protecting your hours after a preceptor drops out has its own page. A replacement still needs UC approval before new hours count, which is where our search can help. Use the form on this page to reach a placement advisor.