DoME NEWS
December 2009
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
Welcome to DoME News, the termly newsletter from the Division of Medical Education
(DoME) that aims to keep Medical School
staff updated about developments in the
Med ica l
Sch ool
and
t he
MB BS
(undergraduate) curriculum, and to enable
sharing of good practice between medical
educators.
In this edition we have taken the opportunity
to provide an update on a number of curriculum developments and examples of innovation and good practice in education across
the two Faculties in the School of Life & Medical Sciences (SLMS). Curricula are dynamic
processes and, although it may seem to
some that we have only just embedded the
‘New’ Curriculum, it is now nine years since
the new curriculum was introduced and so
much has happened in healthcare education
and healthcare delivery arenas, it is again
time to take stock and reconsider our planned
outcomes, our delivery methods and indeed
our expected end product.
We also welcome the Research Department
of Open Learning to our Division. We have
been working closely (geographically at least)
with Professor Greenhalgh and her team for
some years and I am sure there will be much
fruitful joint working in the future.
January will see the arrival of our new Head
of Medical School and Vice Provost for
Health: Sir John Tooke. Sir John will be joining us from Penninsula Medical School,
where he has helped to develop an entirely
new School from scratch. I am sure there will
be much we can learn from his experiences,
even if our Institution is somewhat older! We
hope Sir John will be able to provide us with
an idea of his vision for UCL Medical School
in the next edition.
Deborah Gill
RESEARCH
LEARNING
DEPARTMENT
OF
OPEN
Geoff Wong, Jill Russell, Deborah Swinglehurst and Petra
Boynton.
First of all we would like to start off by saying
a collective thank you for all the positive responses we have received since the Research Department of Open Learning (RDOL)
transferred into the Division of Medical Education. The last few months have been very
busy with much work going on behind the
scenes to ensure that the transfer of RDOL
into DoME was as smooth as possible, so
another big thank you to all those involved!
We are a very busy academic team and overleaf is a brief outline summary of who we are
and what we do but, if you would like further
information, then we hope you will find time to
take a look at our website, or come and have
a coffee – we have a great coffee machine!
This is an exciting time for us in RDOL and
we look forward to working and collaborating
with our colleagues in DoME
 continued on page 2
PAGE 1
UCL Division of Medical Education
Director: Professor Jane Dacre (j.dacre@medsch.ucl.ac.uk)
Deputy Directors: Dr Deborah Gill (d.gill@medsch.ucl.ac.uk); Dr Peter Raven (p.raven@medsch.ucl.ac.uk)
Address: 4th floor, Holborn Union Building, Whittington Campus, 2-10 Highgate Hill, London. N19 5LW
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome/
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
DOME NEWS
DOME NEWS

 continued from page 1
The Research Department of Open Learning was initially established in 1997 as the
Open Learning Unit. Led by Professor
Trisha Greenhalgh the unit experienced
rapid growth in recent years and the newly
created research department was launched
in August 2009. Our diverse teaching programme has always been informed by our
research activities. With an innovative team
we have broken new ground in online learning - our MSc in Primary Health Care was
UCL's first web-based degree course and
the first fully web-based course in primary
health care in the world - and our research
excellence has been recognised in our increasing rate of success in obtaining external funding which continues to grow year
on year. We were instrumental in leading
the development of web-based learning environments for modular postgraduate education at UCL and with the University of
London’s External Programme.





Organisation and delivery of health
services – particularly in relation to provision for the disadvantaged;
Complex innovation in healthcare,
especially technology-based innovations such as the electronic patient record;
Narrative techniques in health services and policy research;
Global health and the impact of modernity and urbanisation on illness and
health;
Widening participation in education;
New methods of systematic literature
review.
Engaging in a wide range of academic research we offer particular expertise in outcome
studies, mixed methods approaches, action
based research, ethnography and systematic
review of complex interventions, amongst others. We have been very successful in obtaining funds from multiple sources for research
and fellowships, including DoH, research
councils, charities, pharmaceuticals, European
Commission, PCTs, who continue to fund our
The common thread running through all our research and to whom we continue to provide
expertise and support. In the past five years
work is primary health care.
we have attracted almost £3M in external research grants, a further £609K in Fellowships
The RDOL has four main strategic aims:
and £110K in teaching grants, plus £300K to
 Support life-long learning, professional provide scholarships for MSc students from
development and networking amongst pro- developing countries.
fessionals in primary health care;
We are innovative and sometimes unconven Research the process of learning and
tional (so we’ve heard) and we have been forchange in health professionals and healthtunate to receive a number of awards and accare organisations;
knowledgements for our research and teach Support the development of primary
ing.
healthcare in diverse settings and contexts Our MSc in International Primary Health Care
throughout the world;
was recognised by the UK Higher Education

Promote critical, scholarly enquiry into Funding Council in 2005 when we won the
the theory and practice of primary
HEFCE e-Tutor of the Year Award and a Finalhealth care.
ist in the 2009 BMJ Group Awards for ExcelOur research and teaching programme is
organised within a number of broad
themes:
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Fax: 020 7288 3322
lence in Learning & Education.
If you would like to find out about more of what we do, or
read any of our published material then please visit our
website on http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome/openlearning
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
2
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
DOME NEWS
DOME NEWS
Case of the Month
to use our knowledge in a realistic situation.”
In the last issue we introduced the Case of
the Month a multimedia interactive resource
based around real cases that highlight important learning areas on the journey to starting
practice. Students (and a rather exhausted
Faculty) have now completed 3 cases. The
feedback from students and clinicians has
been very positive. This is a pilot year and its
success so far has depended on some hard
work by Faculty, some extreme tolerance by
administrators especially Tara-Lynn Poole
from the (Professional Development Spine
(PDS) team and our superb feedback tutors
who have volunteered to read submissions
and provide personalised feedback, to supervise chat rooms and provide ideas and guidance around the cases as they are developed. We will be running some focus groups
with phase 3 students in January to explore
the benefits of the cases, the role of the personalised feedback and other aspects of the
student experience.
“Highlighted that we have not had much undergraduate teaching with regards to writing
death certificates and confirming death before this point
And the not so good…
“Can we please stop with the relentless reflective practice? It is a complete waste of
time and it encourages people to lie and falsify an emotional response to the case,
which then makes the people who set the
question think that everyone is benefiting
from the whole exercise.”
“It took too long to do. At my hospital I don't
have regular computer access late and the
computers are very slow. I had to come
home to complete it”
“Though I enjoy self-directed learning, I feel
this is being used more and more as an excuse not to teach (for economic reasons?).”
Here is some of our student feedback so far: As we move into the years beyond the pilot
there are of course integration and manThe good (the majority)
power issues to be considered but, if the students really find it useful, it is here to stay!
“FANTASTIC! I loved how it appealed to a
variety of students and their different skills, Being a tutor for this or other aspects of the
whether IT, ethics & law, clinical, patient portfolio is a rewarding and not too demandcommunication, everything!”
ing activity for all sorts of teachers. We would
be delighted to hear from any teacher who
"I really enjoyed this! It really made me feel wants to be involved, and to receive any
like I was a real doctor and doing the jobs feedback, good and bad, throughout the pilot
that an FY1 would have to do. It has also year.
motivated me to go away and read up on the
things that I am still unsure about.”
Deborah Gill, Academic lead for Portfolio;
Will Coppola, Sub-dean for e-learning, Steve
“I think the case was very relevant to work as Rowett, SLMS Learning Technology Advisor
an FY1 next year, especially the parts about
communicating with carers & relatives and
death certification.”
“It was a surprisingly good exercise.”
“The audio and visual media were very good,
and life-like. The simple and common sense
questions were useful in thinking about how
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
3
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
CURRICULUM NEWS
I am thinking of starting a page in DoME News
entitled ‘Things That Make Me Proud of Our
Students’! There are so many things that our
students do every day that make me stop and
reflect just how remarkable they are. Below
are two new developments that I think stand
out and that we here in DoME have been supporting
Deborah Gill
PASS
The PASS scheme (Peer Assisted Supervision) is the formalisation of a much smaller
scheme run in past years by senior students
for phase 1 students. Capably led by two year
4 students; Hong Gao and Umar Ahmad, over
50 students in phase 2 and 3 have attended
training to support phase 2 students by providing twighlight tutorials for phase 1 students at
the end of each phase 1 module. These tutorials aim to help students organise and revise
their learning but, more importantly, it helps
them to gain a clinical relevance to what they
are learning. Every phase 1 student has had
the opportunity to attend this supplementary
instruction and student feedback has been excellent; even the peer teachers have enjoyed it
once they have got over their nerves about
getting some obscure piece of biochemistry
right.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Open Minds
Building on the success of other student-led
teaching outreach projects, two of our senior students; Kelly Clarke and Emily Titherington have been working with us in DoME
to develop an SSC that aims to help students to learn about areas of Mental Health
including eating disorders, depression, substance misuse, etc., through clinical and
personal accounts and then to develop their
teaching skills and understanding of learning, and finally to take this out to sessions
with school-aged children in local schools
to help schools and young people tackle
sensitive issues within mental health.
The project has the support of a large number of Faculty within DoME and across the
School and it has the potential to improve
the understanding of mental health by both
our students and young people in schools.
If you are interested in being involved,
please contact Jane Richardson at
j.richardson@medsch.ac.uk
CHARITY NEWS
Cancer Research — Race for Life
DoME Staff members, Deborah LucasGeorgiou, Heather Mitchell, Marcia
Rigby and Joanne Turner, all took part
in the Cancer Research Race for Life,
and managed to raise £1000. Well
done!
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
4
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
CURRICULUM NEWS
MBBS Review Implementation: Stage 2

The MBBS Review took place in the Winter of
2007 and Spring of 2008. It involved extensive
consultation with over 600 stakeholders and
made a series of wide-ranging recommendations regarding the MBBS programme at UCL.
The first phase of the implementation following
this review began in the Spring of 2008. Overseen by the MBBS Review Steering Group
and coordinated by Dr Peter Raven and Tim
Cook, it mainly concerned itself with the structural changes recommended within the review
and other organisational changes that would
be necessary to allow other recommendations
to be implemented.
There have been significant achievements
during this first phase of implementation including: the creation of a single management
structure for the MBBS programme; increased
transparency of funding for teaching; an improved and coordinated welfare and careers
system; the introduction of an e-portfolio; increased recognition and staff development for
teachers and mechanisms for the appropriate
structures for introduction of new technologies
into the learning environment.
Now that the necessary structural changes
have been implemented, the second phase of
implementation can begin: concentrating in a
more detailed way on the content and organisation of the programme, mindful of the student experience from beginning to end of the
course. This has been timed to coincide with
the new version of Tomorrow’s Doctors to allow any changes to be mindful of the GMC
recommendations within this guidance.
During the Summer of 2009 a Steering Group
was set up under the guidance of Professor
Irving Taylor and a series of working parties
were established to discuss key areas of the
initial recommendations for the second stage
of implementation, including:
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Integration of the programme both
horizontally and vertically

Learning objectives and curriculum
map for the programme

Exploring creative teaching and learning strategies
These working parties met to discuss the
issues in these domains and prepared a
series of recommendations to the Steering
Group. Each of these recommendations
considered the pedagogical, institutional,
external and financial implications of any
change.
The Steering Group met to consider these
recommendations and charged Dr Deborah
Gill and Tim Cook with coordinating the implementation of these recommendations.
Objectives for stage 2 of the implementation of the MBBS Review
Many of the recommendations of the working parties overlapped considerably and
suggested changes were closely aligned
with those proposed by Tomorrow’s Doctors. These main recommendations can be
summarised as:
- Having clear overall aims and objectives
for the MBBS course; - mapping the curriculum against Tomorrows’ Doctors key
recommendations; - improving integration
across the course, including better integration between the vertical components and
the rest of the course; - ensuring the programme takes a patient-centred approach;
- ensuring preparation for practice is a key
feature of the course; - developing a wider
range of settings for education delivery,
mindful of the changing provider landscape;
- developing longer attachments with more
generic objectives in phase 2 to allow identity formation and professionalisation and to
maintain flexibility of where and by whom
teaching is delivered.
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
5
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
CURRICULUM NEWS
representative structure as well as that of the
The leads for implementation together with RUMS executive. RUMS executive has
Dr Peter Raven will further develop the rec- sometimes suffered from a lack of engageommendations exploring areas of overlap ment, with positions either being uncontested
and identifying priorities. These will be devel- or unfilled. This year we took the brave step
oped into a series of desired and achievable of increasing the executive by one, to include
outcomes, how progress towards the objec- a campaigns officer, as well as changing the
tives can be measured and a timetable for positions from site reps to VPs for Welfare,
achieving each objective. They will also iden- Events and Education, in the hope of improvtify resource implications (both financial and ing the management of services that RUMS
manpower issues) and identify those who provides for students. This means that, for the
can assist with implementation of each ob- first time in a number of years, we will have
structured welfare and events committees,
jective.
This data, together with any early progress which will work more efficiently and effectoward achieving the objectives, will be rati- tively. In the recent by-election, the positions
fied by the Steering Group in December were fiercely contested and we now have 2
2009 with the aim of beginning implementa- fantastic new members of exec; both freshtion of agreed priorities from January 2010. ers, which we hope will bring a whole new
perspective to the team.
Deborah Gill
Next steps:
Tim Cook
Irving Taylor
Peter Raven
December 2009
We also have almost 40 students involved as
academic reps which, for the first time this
year, were recruited through an application
process and selected based on enthusiasm
and understanding of what their role would be
Student Involvement in the Curriculum
and its importance. This year they were all
Amanda Smith—Clinical President
trained in their roles by the QA unit and myI wrote my last article for DoME as a bright- self, as well as a number of them being
eyed, not at all sleep deprived Clinical Presi- trained as Bullying and Harassment Student
dent-elect. I write this one at my desk, half a Advisors by Q-T associates. This will hopecoffee on one side, a pile of what are now fully increase the number of students aware
coffee-stained paediatrics notes on the other of the problem and stimulate discussion
and a laptop with a full inbox in front of me! amongst their peers, as well as us being able
This term has been extremely busy but very to advertise them as student advisors and a
productive and I extend huge thanks to the point of contact for students should someone
staff and students that have supported wish to seek support or help reporting it to the
School. It is through these advisors that stuRUMS and the executive
Educationally, a lot is happening in the dents can more clearly see the impact RUMS
School this year in response to the publica- and the representative and support structures
tion of the new Tomorrows Doctors. As well it offers has on their experience.
as a curriculum review, the Medical School is
also looking to produce a clear curriculum Looking forward, we are currently planning a
map, as well as define clear aims and objec- ‘We Heart RUMS Week’ for January 2010.
tives of the course. With regards to student The union offer up 4 weeks a year for differinvolvement, new emphasis has been placed ent campaigns and events, etc. and the winon the importance of student feedback in ners are selected by an online vote, which
quality assurance of the course so, with that RUMS came top of by 100%. Events we hope
in mind, we set about reviewing the student to include in our week include a screening
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
6
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
CURRICULUM NEWS
with the help of ACME aimed to begin a
process of improving development and
support in leadership roles for clinical
teachers.
This was a pilot study designed to encourage the participants to embrace change
and recognise what forms it might take, as
well as recognising their own potential role
in its successful management. The course
had three components. The first involved
participation in preparative work which was
accessed through Moodle, the UCL elearning platform. In order to actively encourage the participants, all received an
iPod Touch (unless they already had an
iPhone) to promote use of new learning
media. They used the iPod Touch along
with their personal computers for the
preparative work. The portability, downloadable files and WiFi access for other material was
proposed to permit participation in short periods of
free time, in otherwise very
busy lives. The topics covered in the preparatory material included a series of
15 minute pod casts, made
from voice-over powerpoint presentations (see
box 1), pod cast interviews (Medical Leaders Remember the People and Experiences That Shaped Them) and pod casts
from other institutions like the Harvard
Business School. A series of news articles
and papers covering both serious topics
and lighter moments (in the form of film
clips and advertisements) encouraged reflection on important topics, ranging from
the effects of generational change on medical education and the changing gender balance in the medical profession, to climate
change and global health.
 continued from page 6
night of old MD reels which have been recently discovered, one dating back to 1964.
There will also be an Alumni night, RUMS
Olympics and a series of talks on areas relevant to the school’s history. We also hope to
incorporate both fundraising aspects and
welfare awareness. We hope the week will
engage as many medical students as possible and make them aware of the School’s
history, as well as what is going on now and
what we plan to do in the future.
Finally, a key part of the next 6 months for us
ties in with the recruitment of a new RUMS
admin assistant and project worker in the
next few weeks. We will be working with this
individual to carry out some research on the
RUMS ‘membership’ to find out who they are
and what they want from us in order to inform our strategic plan. It marks a shift from
the question we are always asking students,
which is ‘How do you think we are doing?’ to
‘What do you want us to do for you?’. We
hope this will better direct what we are able
to offer to students to improve as much as
we can their experience at Medical School.
Thanks again. Take Care. Mandy
Dr Jean Mc Ewan
LEADERSHIP IN CLINICAL TEACHING AND
TRAINING COURSE
13th November 2009
Leadership requires
the management of
change. Medical education
constantly
evolves in response to
the changing practice
of medicine, the changing role of the doctor
and external influences. Never has a requirement for leadership been greater. A
recent course organised by the UCLH Division of Education
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
The Study Day itself comprised of a series
of lectures, seminars and workshop activities. The topics addressed covered a comparison
 continued on page 8
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
7
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
CURRICULUM NEWS
new communication systems and we plan to
incorporate these suggestions in future
of leadership and manage- courses.
ment roles, how to manage
change, the NHS in 2029, Spotlight on Community Orientated Medithe learning organisation. cine in Phase 1
The Keynote Lecture was
from Professor Jane Dacre I am fortunate in having a role in a popular
on the topic of “Where Are part of the curriculum, the Community OrienWe Leading To?”.
tated Medicine (COM) component of the
Professional Development Spine (PDS).
This addressed multiple ways in which medi- This programme aims to give students early
cal education is required to embrace change, patient contact and an understanding of the
related to funding, service reconfigurations communities and peoples they will go on to
and the development of “fit for purpose doc- serve as doctors. It is well-liked by students
tors”. There were 22 participants, of which because it is experiential learning: we send
approximately half were NHS Consultants students to the community and the commuand the rest were made up of clinical aca- nity comes to them. The people they meet
demic staff from UCL with responsibilities for gain a satisfying sense of telling their stories
undergraduate teaching, senior trainees with and having some positive influence on our
an interest in medical education, including future doctors.
one Darzi Fellow and an SpR who is a member of the Chief Medical Officer’s clinical ad- COM Activities 2008/9
visory group, and two non-medical partici- Last year there was a new intake of 339 stupants, who have influential leadership and dents in Year 1 and 316 students prom a n a g e m e n t gressed from Year 1 to Year 2. Four comroles in the uni- munity orientated experiences were organversity
and ised for each student, hence we succeeded
NHS. Evalua- in organising 2620 student experiences in
tion
of
the total in a range of community placements,
course
was workshops and visitor sessions.
through struc- These activities involved:
tured feedback  492 placements, provided by 46 general
questionnaires: practices (down by 4 from previous year), 23
one
immedi- community services (up by 3 from previous
ately after the year) and 1 hospital department.
Study Day, and
 102 visitor sessions, attended by a total
a second quesof 25 professional visitors and 60 personal
tionnaire will be administered three months
visitors.
after the course to examine whether delegates have identified any long-lasting bene-  18 disability workshops, provided by disability trainers and attended by 235 stufits from their participation.
dents.
This was an innovative pilot study. The im- This was achieved at a total cost of £72 per
mediate feedback is positive and the time student.
was felt to be a worthwhile investment. From Community placements were organised in a
the feedback we have identified ways to im- range of health and social care settings: eiprove the easing of our current generation of ther general practices or outpatient and
teachers into the use of electronic media and community services e.g. occupational
 continued on page 9
 continued from page 7
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
8
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
CURRICULUM NEWS
CURRICULUM NEWS
 continued from page 8
you have any ideas that you would like to discuss with one of the community orientation
therapy, day centres, supported housing ser- team, please do email me on
vices. In each placement students had oppor- s.cupit@ucl.ac.uk
tunities to meet members of the public to explore their experiences of health and healthBroadening the learning experience
care.
Visitors were also invited to participate in for staff and students
sessions in the Medical School. They talked Health Informatics is the academic discipline
with PDS groups about either personal or of using information to improve patient outprofessional experiences relating to horizon- comes and the patient experience. CHIME –
tal module topics e.g. living with HIV, special- the UCL Centre for Health Informatics and
ising in diabetes care, the impact of disability. Multi-professional Education – offers a range
of 15-credit taught modules drawn from its
Our key goals for next year are:

To continue increasing diversity Postgraduate Programme in Health Informatamongst visitors and placement ics to staff looking for continuing professional
development or students on other taught
providers.

To increase the visibility of people with postgraduate programmes looking to
learning difficulties in our teaching via broaden their experience.
collaboration with Camden Learning
Disability Services.
Options Include;

To explore patient contact with the view Principles of Health Informatics - explores
to orientation beyond phase 1.
how the delivery of healthcare is changing to
harness the potential of new technology.
What the placement contacts and Evaluation Methods - enables students to
critically appraise and use evaluation and
visitors said
research evidence in healthcare.
I personally get a lot from the sessions as not Clinical Information Systems - provides an
only do I get to impart information, I get to introduction to the role and architecture of
interact with our future doctors and the ses- information systems in modern health care
sions are in some way a form of therapy for environments.
Patient Safety and Clinical Risk - examines
me.”
the relationship between patient safety and
“Both students arrived early, were very keen informatics and explores the function and apto learn about the sheltered housing unit and plication of the risk management process.
services for the elderly. They were really Creating Online Educational Resources lovely - warm, animated and interested in looks at educational and technological
evaluation of electronic educational retenants and the service.”
sources.
We are delighted that this course has such Clinical Knowledge and Decision Making an impact on the students and their learning explores how improved knowledge manageas doctors to be. We hope an understanding ment can improve decision-making in both
of the communities, peoples and services the clinical and policy contexts.
that are ‘out there’ will make them better, eHealth: Healthcare in the Internet Age more patient-oriented doctors. We are always the use of information and communication
looking for opportunities to increase commu- technology to improve or enable personal
nity orientation in the rest of the course. If and public healthcare.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
9
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
SLMS NEWS
SLMS NEWS
Continued from page 9
Information Law and Governance in Clinical Practice - considers ethico-legal issues
pertaining to healthcare information in contemporary clinical practice
Coming soon: Shared Care and Electronic
Health Records, and Healthcare Quality and
Evidence Based Practice.
For more details on modules taught in
CHIME and all other teaching visit:
www.chime.ucl.ac.uk/study/modules/ or contact the Programme Administrator on (0)20
7288 3487 or courses@chime.ucl.ac.uk
Education Deanery Strategy Day
The Education Deanery for the School of Life
and Medical Sciences was established in
May 2009. Professor Jane Dacre, as Director, has carried out a significant number of
informal meetings since then with colleagues
to establish how best to take things forward,
both in 1:1 settings and with a half day workshop in June 2009. The workshop generated
a small number of working groups who began to identify priority areas for development
and sharing of good practice amongst educators from both Faculties. This was also the
beginning of defining a shared goal and ensuring that the organisation had the right
people and the right structures pursuing a
common purpose.
much debate and discussion and evolving
plans for collaborations and sharing of good
practice.
In the morning the working groups, each representing a different aspect of the SLMS
education endeavour, outlined their work so
far and their initial priorities. A series of special interest groups then further developed
these emerging ideas. In the afternoon the
groups looked at change in general, and
education change in particular, and considered strategies to move these ideas forward
and to identify potential barriers and their
possible solutions. By the end of the day after much lively debate, the group was closer
to defining a common vision and identifying
key priorities. They were also mindful of the
challenges ahead and their potential solutions. There was a feeling amongst many
educators present that the SLMS Deanery
could become a functioning and productive
organisation.
A SLMS education strategy is now being developed following the strategy day using an
inclusive approach and is currently out to
consultation.
Some ‘highlights’ of this draft are outlined
below:
Our mission is:
To provide world class education in the Life
and Biomedical Sciences which is innovative, inspirational, applied and integrated with
research, whilst maintaining the individuality
A much wider audience took part in an Edu- of our courses.
cation Strategy Away Day, in September
2009 at Goodenough College. The idea of Our vision:
the strategy day was to share information To be recognised globally for excellence and
with a larger audience of educators and to innovation in teaching and research by valubuild on the work already established: devel- ing education. We will provide an integrated
oping a shared vision and moving towards and cohesive culture and environment that
operationalising Deanery priorities.
fosters mutual respect of researchers, teachers and students. We will work closely with
Over 50 academics from the two Faculties partners in business, NHS, public sector and
attended the day, highlighting the number of schools.
staff who see education as a somewhat
overlooked priority in SLMS and there was
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
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DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
SLMS NEWS
 continued from page 10
SLMS NEWS

Some of Our Unique Selling Points are
(USP)

The UCL Brand.

Breadth and interdisciplinary nature of
SLMS.

Close contact between researchers
and students.

Relationship with Partners: NHS, business and others.

Diversity of students, experts, researchers: a global University

A reputation for education at the high
end of the bioscience and biomedical
science market.

A reputation for cutting edge research
where the knowledge base is translated into education.
(the Education Deanery),
and enhances collaboration with NHS clinical
academic training programmes.
Specific Objectives related to 4 key areas of
Education in SLMS:
MBBS & Undergraduate Education

To rationalise applications and admissions processes for iBScs, including a
review of the marketing arrangements.

To enhance Cross-Faculty teaching –
issues would be: who is asked to perform this, what are the incentives and
transparency of funding.

To share best practice by identifying
and communicating excellent activity
and developments in education.
Our overall objectives:








To achieve transparency of funding for
education in both Faculties by the end
of session 2010.
To rewrite promotions criteria for teaching for the School and negotiate a
change in the criteria with College so
that education is recognised and rewarded.
To develop robust performance management criteria for educational activity.
To share good practise in education
between the two Faculties by regular
meetings and clear collaboration.
To make a clear case for an education
top slice to support education leadership and delivery, innovation and development.
To complete a business case to support the development of educational
resources.
To provide mentorship and support for
those involved in education.
To create a structure which enables
excellence in Education, but fits within
the UCL overall governance framework
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Taught Masters Programmes

To achieve Modularisation – there are
many programmes so a ‘pick and mix’
method is preferable.

To create caps on student numbers upper and lower limits, so we have better control of our activity and income.

To work towards a system where funding follows students through individual
MSc modules, rather than programmes.

To develop a full economic costing tool
for masters courses.
Continued onto page 12
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
11
DIVISION of MEDICAL EDUCATION
SLMS NEWS
Postgraduate Research

To share best practice, information
management and dissemination and
common practice (including recruitment).

To work with Registry to improve the
accuracy of information.

To increase PhD studentships and improved submission rates by working
across the two Faculties.

CPD and Taught Doctorates.

To rationalise our response to Professional bodies (GMC, MRC, etc.) –
demands and relationships with UCL

Deanery and concept of SLMS.

To work towards resolving the conflict
with peoples’ teaching, research and
professional roles.

To integrate Professional Development
teaching with the vision of the Education.
The approach of the Education Deanery to
future developments will be ’bottom up’.
Therefore feedback and comment from those
involved in educating our SLMS students is
most welcome.
Professor Jane Dacre – Director SLMS Education Deanery
Dr Deborah Gill – Senior Lecturer in Medical
Education and Away Day Facilitator.
Tel: 020 7288 5964
Fax: 020 7288 3322
Email: l.standen@medsch.ucl.ac.uk website: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dome
12