An approach to medical curriculum evaluation

Abstract

The advent of new trends in medical education makes it necessary for new and established medical schools to evaluate their curricula. The changing needs of society emphasize that this process should be continuous. There are, however, many difficulties which impede the initiation of curriculum evaluation. The College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences at King Abdulaziz University initiated and carried out a plan for programme evaluation in 1984-85. The pathway selected for this experience was based on existing models which were modified to suit the local needs. The formulation of the plan was guided by general principles aiming at participation, communication, data-gathering from numerous sources and utilization of appropriate resources. The main direction of the evaluation was formative in nature and was carried out internally. The results were analysed and revealed major problems in the existing design and the teaching/learning environment. The recommendations for change were guided by educational criteria concerned with promotion of learning, problem-solving and community orientation. The main emphasis in the presentation of this report is on the process more than the content of curriculum evaluation.

The current status of medical education in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries

“… 17 – 19 Periodic reviews of medical school curricula were carried out in each medical school, independently, and these efforts have generated useful reforms through the years. 20 , 21…”

Assessing the Effectiveness of a New Curriculum: Part I

“…Responses take the form of "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree," "very well prepared" to "very poorly prepared," "extremely useful" to "extremely useless," and "unsatisfactory" to "excellent." 2,11,[63][64][65][66][67][68][69] A significant question in the design of curriculum surveys is: Should a Likert response scale that goes from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree" be used, or should the responses go in the opposite direction? Authors report conflicting results on the effect of the direction of the question on responses.…”

“…82 Surveys have been used to collect instructors' opinion on student characteristics, methods of instruction, and methods of student evaluation. 67 Instructor-based performance assessment would seem to be a useful method to evaluate overall clinical skills, if these are the skills that students will need in their future practice. Students' selfassessment of their level of competency can be compared with instructor assessments.…”

The current status of medical education in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries

“…17c19 Periodic reviews of medical school curricula were carried out in each medical school, independently, and these efforts have generated useful reforms through the years. 20,21 Curricular innovations should be implemented in new medical colleges upon their establishment, whereas established medical colleges could implement these inc c novations in a phased manner. In this respect, Professor Harden highlighted the importance of studentccentered learning as being pivotal to the thinking about learning and teaching.…”