Integration and assessment of critical outcomes in a learning programme for first-year medical students

[摘要] English: It is currently a time of great change throughout medical education, as well as inthe wider higher education context within which it operates. The problemsgenerated by changed approaches to the delivery of curricula need to be addressedin innovative ways if educational outcomes of a high quality are to be ensured.Critical inquiry into one's own teaching practice is one of the most significantways in which this goal may be achieved.The purpose of this study was to improve the integration and assessment ofcritical outcomes in the first year of the Programme for Professional Medicine,currently conducted at the UFS School of Medicine. The focal point of theresearch was Module MEA 112, which has the development of general skills as itstheme, with a view to giving effect to the government and public demand to equipstudents at all levels of their higher education careers with employment-related,lifelong learning skills. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions that took place in ModuleMEA112 over a period of three years, an action research was adopted. Thismeans that actions taken were critically explored, evidence was gathered andperceptions were considered in order to develop an understanding of how criticaloutcomes could best be integrated and assessed within the parameters of the firstyearof the Programme for Professional Medicine. Features of the original ModuleMEA112 that demanded modification were pinpointed (cf. Chapter Seven);changes were described, and finally, the lessons learned were reflected on, with aview to re-planning and improvement of practice (cf. Chapter Eight and ChapterNine).Three cycles of action research were completed. In Cycle One (1999-2000), thefocus was on the design and implementation of a purpose-built module on generalskills development that would be appropriate for the UFS School of Medicine context. The inference was drawn that the original model should be furthercontextualised to help students to see the relevance of general skills in a medicalleaming programme; and that general skills development should form an integralpart of core modules and not be confined to a stand-alone period of orientation.In Cycle Two (2000-2001), the potential for close collaboration between subjectand skills specialists, with a view to encouraging the development of generalskills inherent in performing authentic discipline-related tasks, was explored. Theidea that a professional healthcare practitioner should be able to appraise her ownwork and that of others - a skill that is at the centre of professional medicalpractice - was instilled by introducing students to self- and peer assessment. Theintroduction of this skill at a relatively early stage of their study careers waspremised on the belief that students should be skilled in the habits and attitudesthat prepare them for a student-centered curriculum; for functioning as lifelonglearners in their future careers, and also as responsible citizens, while they are stillreceptive to such influences. In Cycle Three (2001-2002), the difficulties associated with the incorporation ofskills development in core modules and the evolution of alternative forms ofassessment formed the focal points. Efforts to establish a portfolio-basedassessment system featured most prominently, in furtherance of the idea thatassessment strategies should reflect the educational aims of an outcomes-basedlearning programme.context. The inference was drawn that the original model should be furthercontextualised to help students to see the relevance of general skills in a medicalleaming programme; and that general skills development should form an integralpart of core modules and not be confined to a stand-alone period of orientation.In Cycle Two (2000-2001), the potential for close collaboration between subjectand skills specialists, with a view to encouraging the development of generalskills inherent in performing authentic discipline-related tasks, was explored. Theidea that a professional healthcare practitioner should be able to appraise her ownwork and that of others - a skill that is at the centre of professional medicalpractice - was instilled by introducing students to self- and peer assessment. Theintroduction of this skill at a relatively early stage of their study careers waspremised on the belief that students should be skilled in the habits and attitudesthat prepare them for a student-centered curriculum; for functioning as lifelonglearners in their future careers, and also as responsible citizens, while they are stillreceptive to such influences.The value of the research rests on its emancipatory nature in the sense that ithelped to redefine the relatively narrow boundaries that were initially set forgeneral skills development in 1999. In reporting the evolutionary process,credibility was pursued by documenting actions and their outcomes in a rigorousand systematic manner; and by giving an honest, autobiographical narrative on thelaborious process of improvement.

[发布机构] University of the Free State