Questions to be asked
when planning A
Curriculum or A Course
DR.MOHAMMED O. AL-RUKBAN
Assistant Professor And Consultant of Family Medicine
Department of Family and Community Medicine
College of Medicine
King Saud University
Introduction
 If any body asked to plan a course, he will
depend on:
 Common sense.
 His perception of the subject which he is
teaching.
 The way in which he was educated
himself.
 Current teaching practice elsewhere.
TEN Questions to ask when
planning a course or
curriculum
BY
R.M. Harden
Medical Education 1986,
20(4): 356-365
1) What are the needs in relation to the
product of the training program?
 The need to produce doctors to serve the
public accompanies two others in any
medical school – the production of
teachers and of researchers.
 Do all doctors need to be trained in the
skills required for carrying out research in
their own area of practice?
 How should these three needs be
balanced?
 Training needs analysis is a process of
both an extensive and intensive study of
product requirements.
1) What are the needs in relation to
the product of the training
program?
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A number of approaches may be used to
identify needs as a step in curriculum
planning:
The wisemen approach.
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The Delphi technique, a method relying on the
judgment of an expert panel of 'wise men', has
been used in curriculum planning to obtain a
consensus opinion.
(Miller, 1974).
A study of errors in practice.
Critical incident studies.
1) What are the needs in relation to
the product of the training
program?
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Task analysis of established practitioners.
Analysis of morbidity and mortality
statistics.
Study of star performers.
Analysis of existing curricula including
syllabi and examinations.
Views of recent graduates.
In many countries, the answer to this
question is already specified in general
terms by government and by professional
bodies.
2) What are the aims and objectives?
 A medical school may decide that its major
aim is: “To produce doctors who are able
and motivated on qualification to meet the
community's needs while also being
capable of continuing their education”.
 The decision might be taken: “To produce
basic doctors who are unable to work in
any branch of medicine without further
formal vocational training as
postgraduates”.
2) What are the aims and objectives?
 The curriculum responds to the needs of the
community by explaining what the product will be
able to do by the time he/she has successfully
completed the programme.
 Another approach which may be an appropriate
alternative to aims and objectives is competencebased.
 Not all needs may be reflected in the aims and
objectives of the course or curriculum.
 Some needs may be more appropriately
considered in relation to other courses or other
phases of a vocational training programme.
2) What are the aims and objectives?
Objectives
Needs
2) What are the aims and objectives?
The declared
Curriculum
The taught
Curriculum
The learned
Curriculum
3) What content should be included?
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Content gains admission in a course by
satisfying any of four criteria:
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It directly contributes to the course
objectives.
It is a 'building block' which equips the
students with skill or knowledge needed
to tackle a later part of the course.
It allows students to develop intellectual
abilities such as critical thinking.
It aids the understanding of other
subjects on the course.
4) How should the content be organized?
 Should the basic sciences provide a foundation
for the study of medical disciplines followed
finally by disordered function of the body? Or is it
better to work back from disordered function,
explaining it in terms of deviation from the
normal?
 Should subjects be covered in a particular order?
For example, should psychiatry be introduced
before, during or after the study of general
medicine?
 Which teachers or departments should be
responsible for covering each subject?
4) How should the content be organized?
 Organizational frameworks:
 The system -based approach:
 Students visit each system only once in their
undergraduate education.
 Visit each system several times:
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In phase 1, students learn about normal structure
function and behaviour (basic science) in relation to
the systems.
In phase 2, they learn about abnormal structure
function and behaviour (pathological sciences) in
relation to the systems.
In phase 3, they learn about the clinical applications
of their previous learning (practice of medicine).
4) How should the content be organized?
 Spiral curriculum:

As the student
moves on through
different
experience there
is value in revisiting previous
learning to reexplore and
extend it.
5) What educational strategies should
be adopted?
 The term educational strategy implies the
approach taken to the conduct of the educational
programme.
 SPICES model for curriculum planning:
 Student-centered/ teacher-centered.

In a student-centered approach students can
choose when they will study, their pace of study,
the method of study and what they will study.
 Problem-solving/information-gathering
 Integrated (multidisciplinary)/specialty
(discipline).
 Community-based/hospital-based.
5) What educational strategies should
be adopted?

Elective/standard
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In elective programmes, students have a
small core and for the remainder of the
time choose which aspects of the
subjects, or even which subjects, they
wish to study.
Systematic (planned)/apprenticeship.
6) What teaching methods should be
used?
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To select the most appropriate teaching
method to achieve the desired student
outcomes.
Student grouping:
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Whole class teaching;
Classes divided into smaller groups of
seven or eight students; or
Individualized learning where students
work on their own.
6) What teaching methods should be
used?
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Teaching methods (the choice of tool):
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Slides,
Audiotape,
Film,
Videotape,
Overhead projector,
Printed text,
Computers,
Simulators,
Models,
Exhibitions and patients, or/and
Computer- assisted learning (CAL).
6) What teaching methods should be
used?
 The well-prepared, dynamic lecture is effective
and often the best use of available resources,
especially if the class size is large.
 The educational value of a method is dependent
as much on how the method is used as on the
choice of method.
 The choice of method should reflect:
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The course aims and objectives;
Class size;
The availability of local facilities; and
Staff experience in the various techniques.
7) How should assessment be carried
out?
 “The curriculum instructs teachers in what to teach;
the exam. Instruct students in what to learn”.
(Melnick D, 1991)
 The assessment strategy should be developed at the
planning stage.
 Both the student and the course should be assessed.
 Assessment techniques:
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Multiple choice questions
Essay questions
Short answer questions
Patient management problems
Modified essay questions
Oral examinations
Traditional clinical examinations
Objective structural clinical examinations
Reports by tutors or supervisors
8) How should details of the curriculum
be communicated?
 Details of the curriculum have to be
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communicated to staff responsible for teaching
and to the students for whom the curriculum has
been designed.
Most commonly this is done through syllabi and
timetables.
The most existing is the use of concept mapping.
Another approach is the presentation of the aims
and objectives of the courses.
Study and tutor guides provides an important
curriculum information source for students and
tutors.
9) What educational environment or
climate should be fostered?
 Educational Environment May have
profound effects on the students'
behaviour and performance and on the
outcome of the curriculum.
 Does the environment encourage
scholasticism, propriety, social awareness
and cooperation between students?
 Using available instruments, to measure
the climate of the educational environment
in an institution.
10) How should the process be
managed?
 Who is to be responsible for planning,
implementation and monitoring?
 How can change or innovation be brought
into the curriculum?
 What is the role of the head of department,
the course teachers and any curriculum or
course committee that has been
established?
 Who should be represented on the
committees?
 What is the role of the students
themselves in the management process?
Should they be represented on any course
or curriculum committees?
Conclusion
Harden’s Ten questions is an
essential tool for course
planning
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