Curriculum Development

Muna A M Elnemr, MD

OBJECTIVES • By the conclusion of this session each participant will be able to:      Describe the six basic steps in a curriculum design process Explain why curriculum development is a continuous process Explain why needs assessment is an essential element in curriculum development Analyze their own institution, identifying at least three stakeholders and at least three groups to focus on for a needs assessment Give an example of the relationship between needs and objectives

• what is the curriculum (Conceptualizing the curriculum)

What is curriculum • A planned educational experience • All the learning experiences available to the learner to enable him to achieve certain outcomes.

What is curriculum • Curriculum as a product • Curriculum as a process

Literally Race course

Quick question •

WHY DO YOU THINK THAT THE CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT IS AN IMPORTANT ISSUE

Quick answer • For different reasons • Need to address new health system needs.

• Need to introduce modern and effective methods of teaching.

• Need to promote certain skills in the learners such as • Clinical skills • Critical thinking skills • Self learning skills • Need to imrove the link between the school and the community health problems, or emphasizing the focus on research, or mental health consultations,..….

Approaches to develop a curriculum • There are many approaches but we will discuss here two approaches

WFME declaration 1988

The SPICES Model

AFTER HARDEN ET AL DUNDEE ) 1984 ( UNIV .

•

The SPICES Model

The SPICES Model • • • • • • • S student centred P problem based I integrated C community based E elective S systematic vs vs vs vs vs vs teacher centred information gathering discipline based hospital based uniformed/standard apprenticeship

The SPICES Model • Student centered • Learners involved in curriculum design • Teaching content based on learners’ agenda • Leaner centre methods used eg small group work • Expert outside speakers/resources little used • Encourages self directed learning • Requires hard work to organise (and can be expensive)

The SPICES Model • Teacher centered • Teaches design the curriculum • Teaching content prescribed by teachers on basis of what they feel learners should know • Largely dictatorial eg lectures • Expert resources often used (and often deliver on their own agenda!)

The SPICES Model • Problem based • Rids the irrelevance of the mounds of knowledge which learners have to acquire • involve patient problem scenarios, health care delivery problems and ethical issues • development of an integrated body of knowledge that is deeper, more effective, and has greater content relevance in the appropriate context • Core messages of a discipline might be missed with this approach

The SPICES Model • Information gathering • Rids the irrelevance of the mounds of knowledge which learners have to acquire • Superficial knowledge which soon becomes out of date • Enables each discipline to convey its core messages

The SPICES Model • Integrated • Integration between the various disciplines – ie how they relate to each other Learners have to figure out the integration by themselves • Reduces fragmentation of courses • Discipline based • key concepts of a discipline are conveyed which may otherwise be lost in an integrated approach

The SPICES Model • Community based • Direct contact with the community the learners are being taught to serve • See a wide variety of conditions at a wide variety of stages • Learners learn about the social and economic aspect of illness

The SPICES Model • Hospital based • See only a small subsection of the community • See specialised diseases usually in extremes • Social and economic aspects of illness often ignored • No consideration of the patients environment • Can provide focused instruction in specialised areas

The SPICES Model • Elective • Allows curricular flexibility • Enables learners to explore further interests in more details; matching to the learner’s needs • Can see health delivery in a state elsewhere • Promotes self directed learning

The SPICES Model • Uniform • Standard programme through which all must go through • No such opportunity. But does provide “core” experience which is prescribed

The SPICES Model • Systematic • Training is more defined and structured eg a checklist of the type of conditions that must be seen and managed (or rotating through specified specialties) • Core competencies identified and labelled • Teaching is structured and organised • Many teachers may be involved; developing a 1-1 relationship might prove difficult • Better for revalidation and accreditation purposes

The SPICES Model • Apprenticeship • Learners exposed to a fair proportion of the patients that pass through the system over a fixed period of time • Over time, learners may see a fairly representative sample of problems they are expected to deal with • What is taught depends on the deficiencies identified based on what has come through Teaching is largely opportunistic; some say it should not be left to chance.

• Helps build a close 1-1 relationship between learner and teacher and yields a sense of belonging to the learner

• Reference • Harden et al (1984) Educational Strategies in Curriculum Development : The Spices Model, ASME Medical Education Booklet No. 18, First Published in Medical Education (1984) Volume 18, No 4, 284-297

A Six- Step Approach

THE 6-STEP APPROACH • STEP1. • Identification of a health care need or other problem according to which the curriculum should be developed or changed • The problem should be clearly identified in order to focus the curriculum goals and objectives.

• How this issue is currently approached and how it should be approached in the new curriculum. • (for example the problem how to improve clinical skills in our graduates, how to improve the link between the curriculum and community health problems)another example: lack of integration of the current curriculum,..

THE 6-STEP APPROACH • Step 2: • Assessing the needs of the targeted learners

THE 6-STEP APPROACH • Step3: • Setting goals and objectives • Ask • Who? Will do?

• How much?

• of what?

• By when?

Verb wheel of Bloom's taxonomy

THE 6-STEP APPROACH • Step 4: educational strategies • Content • Methods

THE 6-STEP APPROACH • Step 5: • Implementation

Ten Questions to Ask when planning A course or A curriculum

Question 1 What are the needs in relation to the product of the program?

Question 2 What are the aims and objectives?

Question 3 What Content should be Included (Syllabus)?

Question 4 How should the content be organized?

Question 5 What educational strategies will be adopted?

Question 6 What teaching methods will be used?

Question 7 How should assessment be carried out?

Question 8 How should details of the curriculum be communicated?

Question 9 What educational environment should be maintained?

Question 10 How the curriculum be managed?