Tag: eCurriculum

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Identifying Gaps and Redundancies

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Health science education programs use curriculum mapping to identify and address academic gaps and redundancies in the coverage of key topic areas, accreditation standards, program learning objectives, and graduation outcomes.  The mapping of course content or the curriculum as a whole is used to perform an analysis of the effectiveness of the curriculum and to make improvements.  

The first step is to map the curriculum.  The mapping or alignment process typically consists of breaking each course down into course objectives, sessions, and/or session objectives.  The objectives are then aligned to the specific standard, competency, or topic that is covered with that objective. In some cases, the objective is also aligned to the method of instruction and method of assessment.  

Once the curriculum is mapped, run a gap analysis to check and see what is missing.  A gap analysis takes the list of standards or topics, compares it to what has been aligned to objectives and provides a list of the standards or topics that have not been aligned to any objective.  The goal of the gap analysis is to fill in the holes. To do this take each standard or topic and ask questions like the following:

  • “Are we covering this?”,
  • “Do we need to be covering this?”
  • “When should we be covering this?”

First run the gap analysis across all of the curriculum.  Once those holes are filled, run it on subsets of the curriculum (by academic year, term, course, department).  Then ask the same questions above in the context of that subset of curriculum. For example, if we are looking at Year 1 curriculum and we see gaps in foundational knowledge items, we would ask “Should we be covering this in Year 1?”, “Is this possibly covered in Year 2?”, etc.

After the gap analysis is complete, perform an overlap analysis.  This is used to identify and analyze the what, when, and how of curriculum content.  If the curriculum is properly mapped, an overlap analysis will show each and every standard or topic that is covered, how many times it is covered, the sequencing or when it is covered, how the topic is being taught, and how the topic is being assessed.  This information can then be used in conjunction with student performance to make curricular and programmatic improvements.

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Mapping Your Curriculum to the CBVE Framework

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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

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Changes in Occupational Therapy Standards

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The compliance clock is ticking! If, as an Occupational Therapy (OT) program administrator, the July 31, 2020, deadline for compliance with the new 2018 Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) Standards is a constant in the back of your mind and at the top of your to-do list, you are not alone.

The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc.’s (AOTA)  2018 ACOTE Standards and Interpretive Guide lists and clarifies each 2018 ACOTE Standard in the ACOTE Standards Interpretive Guide. These new accreditation standards apply to OT programs at the doctoral degree and master’s degree levels, and to Occupational Therapy Assistant programs at the baccalaureate and associate degree levels. Development of the new standards involved several open hearings and multiple surveys to the communities of interest over a 2 ½-year period.

Existing OT programs should currently be in compliance with the previously adopted 2011 ACOTE Standards. But even if a program only has to newly show compliance with those 2018 Standards which differ from the 2011 Standards (outlined in the AOTA document Standards Changes 2011 to 2018), the magnitude of the project can be intimidating.

When the July 31 date arrives, how can programs show compliance? Without a curriculum mapping system, programs are limited to documenting in the course syllabus and/or a spreadsheet with a two-dimensional alignment between courses or course objectives and a set of standards . This spreadsheet is typically only manageable with a single set of standards. This solution is not only cumbersome, time-intensive, and subject to human data entry errors, but it does not translate easily to reporting.

A curriculum mapping system like eCurriculum by AllofE Solutions empowers programs to easily align multiple sets of standards to program objectives and course objectives at the course level and/or session-level. OT programs can use mapping to quickly and easily analyze curriculum gaps and overlaps. Reports can show from broad information, such as which program objectives are mapped to course objectives, to narrow information, such as where a specific ACOTE standard is covered at the session-level. 

OT programs that have implemented eCurriculum will be able to analyze curriculum mapped to the new ACOTE standards.  For more information, click here. 

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Group Learning Methods in Health Science

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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.