Increasing the quality and capacity of education: the challenge for the 21st century

Abstract

Just as Flexner argued for a scientific basis in the practice of medicine, we argue for a scientific basis in the practice of education. In our view, this is the way to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

Devising a consensus definition and framework for non-technical skills in healthcare to support educational design: A modified Delphi study

“…simulation) [19][20][21][22][23][24] . This renders them of limited practical value to clinical teachers and health professional educators in all contexts and represents poor quality educational research 25 .…”

Standard setting and quality of assessment: A conceptual approach

“…[11] A decision has to be made whether the cut-off marks and the resulting pass/fail results are sufficiently valid and accurately representative of the intended interpretations assigned to them. For specific information about the technical process and in-depth review of each method, several publications may be consulted.…”

“…It is dependent on assessment quality, as a test that does not cover appropriate content is not at the appropriate level of difficulty, is not reliable, and will not lead to appropriate decisions, regardless of the standard-setting methods employed. [11] However, educational assessments not only comprise technical sufficiency; attention must also be paid to the accountability of the HPE institution to various stakeholders. The holistic representation is captured in the conceptual approach ( Fig.…”

“…Although standard setting is an important psychometric problem, it is not solely a technical issue. [1,11] The consequences of appropriate or inappropriate standards for society, institutions and individuals must be considered. [1] Crocker and Zieky [7] noted that because of the judgemental nature of standards, validity was dependent on how sensible the standard-setting process and its outcome were, together with the consequences of pass rates and possible classification errors.…”

Gender, religion, and sociopolitical issues in cross-cultural online education

“…Given the globalization of health professions education (Schwarz 2001, Harden 2006, Norcini, Banda 2011, health professions educators need to pay attention to cultural differences and values, and the events that shape them. If people feel it is inappropriate to bring their identity or ideological background into educational environments, students may remain "physically and socially within … a culture that is foreign to, and mostly unknown, to the teacher" (Hofstede 1984), and teachers' cultural assumptions will prevail.…”