Curriculum development: a how to primer

Abstract

Curriculum development is a topic everyone in the field of medical education will encounter. Due to the breadth of ages and types of care provided in Family Medicine, family medicine faculty in particular need to be facile in developing effective curricula for medical students, residents, fellows and for faculty development. In the area of medical education, changing and evolving learning environments, as well as changing requirements necessitate new and innovative curricula to address these evolving needs. The process of developing a medical education curriculum can seem daunting but when broken down into smaller components can become very straightforward and easy to accomplish. This paper focuses on the curriculum development process using a six-step approach: performing a needs assessment, determining content, writing goals and objectives, selecting the educational strategies, implementing the curriculum and, finally, evaluating the curriculum. This process may serve as a template for Family Medicine educators, and all medical educators looking to design (or redesign) their own medical education curriculum.

Response to letters by M. Jawad Hashim and Chuan Zou: Advancing curriculum development and medical education research

“…We appreciate the thoughtful read of our article1 ‘Curriculum development: a how to primer’ and the commentaries about this topic by Drs Hashim and Zou. We thank Dr Hashim for bringing to light another specific type of teaching style, called here a mini-workshop, using some of the theory of the flipped classroom, which is ever more present in medical education.…”

“…We validate that many aspects of medical education benefit from some hands-on practice, with pre-learning to be done either independently or as a group before the skill-based learning can take place. This would fit nicely with many other modalities one might consider during ‘step 4: selecting teaching/educational strategies’ as articulated in our primer ‘one should match the learner, teacher and material to one or more of the available teaching formats.’1…”

Transforming a medical curriculum development into an education research

“…As family medicine educators and researchers in China, it was with a great anticipation we read the article of curriculum development framework by Jill Schneiderhan and Dobson 1. Because education of future general practitioner in China has become increasingly important, this paper is timely and instructive.…”

Miniworkshops: an alternative educational strategy

“…I read with interest the article by Drs Schneiderhan, Guetterman and Dobson, curriculum development 1. This is a timely and well-written paper that is pertinent for Family Medicine clerkship coordinators.…”