Tag: curriculum mapping

As new approaches to education become more popular, institutions may find it challenging to adapt their curriculum to modern standards. Competency-Based Veterinary Education (CBVE) is a recent approach to veterinary education developed by the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC) that is modeled after medical education. The CBVE approach is intended to confirm a student’s ability to care for animals and to meet the expectations placed upon veterinarians by society. CBVE focuses on outcomes-based and learner-centered education and assessment to promote educational renewal and focus on the purpose of veterinary programs. 

The CBVE framework consists of nine domains of competence and 32 competencies, all intended for assessment in either a clinical or preclinical setting. Within each competency are sub-competencies that can be modified or refined to fit the needs of individual schools, courses, and assessments. This framework is associated with Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs), also developed by the AAVMC Competency-Based Veterinary Education Working Group.

Curriculum Mapping gives an overview of a program’s requirements and the resources needed to meet them. This process is used to spatially represent curriculum components to view the relationships between them. Many veterinary schools align their existing DVM curriculum with the CBVE framework using spreadsheets containing a broad outline of the alignment and amount of time devoted to each sub-competency. Other schools use software to make their curriculum maps accessible to students, faculty, and accreditors, and to easily edit and organize course information. 

A comprehensive curriculum mapping solution such as eCurriculum can assist with mapping to the CBVE framework by eliminating the need of lists and spreadsheets, enabling users to easily navigate their curriculum map. In addition to being a cloud-based solution accessible to faculty, students, or other users, eCurriculum allows the pre-loading of AVMA Core Competencies, CBVE Framework, and EPAs. To make sure that your program’s curriculum is comprehensive and cohesive, reports are generated to identify gaps and overlaps in the coverage of specific competencies across academic years, terms, and individual courses. 

If you would like more information on how you can efficiently map your curriculum to the CBVE framework with eCurriculum, set up a demo with us.

*eCurriculum is a mapping system and is not affiliated, associated, authorized, endorsed by, or in any way officially connected with AAVMC

Developed in the late 1970s, team-based learning (TBL) was created by Dr. Larry Michaelsen to instruct a business course with a large group of students. He decided to direct his energy to group activities instead of lecture, and students found the strategy beneficial; they learned more, and he had more fun teaching. 

With TBL, students are expected to prepare before class. One teacher runs various groups simultaneously, making it optimal for classes with many students but few instructors. Many programs that employ TBL as a teaching strategy also use individual and team testing, allowing students to take a test by themselves and then collaborate as a group after. Some use Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique (IF-AT) forms for team testing that are said to improve the quality of the student discussion, that work similarly to scratch-off tickets.  It can be concluded that TBL would be even more beneficial within fields where students are expected to ultimately work as a team or employ thorough problem-solving skills. 

While TBL is used extensively in the medical field, case based learning (CBL) and problem based learning (PBL) are becoming increasingly popular approaches in educating students in health-related programs. Many medical schools track courses that use PBL and CBL in their curriculum. Using curriculum mapping software, like eCurriculum, can make it easier to see what courses are utilizing these techniques at a glance. 

PBL and CBL are mostly used to simulate patient cases, whether it is to create care plans, diagnose illnesses, or practice bedside manner. PBL groups focus on solving problems using independent learning and teamwork. There is one facilitator per group, but they are usually just observers. PBL is considered an effective approach to guide medical students to fully understand clinical diagnoses and treatment. PBL is considered an “open inquiry approach”.

CBL groups focus on creative problem solving with the advantage of advance preparation. Facilitators tend to participate more in these groups. With the aid of guiding questions, facilitators keep students on task. Students are expected to prepare in advance for sessions, and many groups have post-session work, depending on the program. CBL is considered a “guided inquiry approach”. 

Studies show that students tend to prefer the CBL method to the PBL method. They believe that the CBL format made better use of class time, had fewer tangents, and was more efficient. In consolation, faculty felt that PBL encourages independent learning.