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
• All
planned educational experience
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 1984 (UNIV. •
DUNDEE)
The SPICES Model
The SPICES Model
•
S student centred
vs
teacher centred
•
P problem based
vs
information gathering
•
I integrated
vs
discipline based
•
C community based
vs
hospital based
•
E elective
vs
uniformed/standard
•
S systematic
vs
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?