Curriculum Information Management System Pilot Project. Planning Document

Transcription

1 Curriculum Information Management System Pilot Project Planning Document Motivation The purpose of the pilot project is to prove the ability of the selected Curriculum Information Management System (CIMS) to meet the needs of the undergraduate medical education program in several key areas, including curriculum management, curriculum planning, and curriculum delivery. Through the pilot project, the suitability of the CIMS software to the undergraduate medical education program at the University of Saskatchewan can be assessed. Objectives of the Pilot Project Demonstrate to the project sponsors the benefits of the Curriculum Information Management System in terms of centralized curriculum management, course planning and design, and course delivery Determine whether the evaluated CIMS product adequately meets the needs of the undergraduate medical education program Identify any functionality gaps which would need to be addressed prior to a full roll-out of a CIMS in the undergraduate medical education program Gain acceptance from faculty members for the implementation of a CIMS (???) Assess the level of acceptance and use of CIMS among target users (faculty, staff, students) Scope of the Pilot Project The pilot project will introduce the CIMS software to the undergraduate medical education program in a controlled manner. During the pilot, the software will be used for a subset of courses, affecting a subset of faculty members and a subset of students. However, this limited roll-out of the CIMS software will test all key functionality of the CIMS. Specifically, of the full list of project objectives as outlined in the Curriculum Information Management System Project Charter, the pilot project will include proving the CIMS capabilities in meeting the following subset of objectives: 1

2 1. Curriculum Management 2. Curriculum Planning 3. Curriculum Delivery 4. Interface to CurrMIT 1.1 Define curriculum content for each Phase 1.2 Define course structure (sessions within each course, sections within each session) 1.3 Associate learning objectives to courses, sessions, and/or sections 1.4 Associate topics to courses, sessions, and/or sections 1.5 Associate educational methods with courses, sessions, and/or sections 1.6 Associate assessment methods with courses, sessions, and/or sections 1.7 Modify learning objectives, topics, educational methods, assessment methods associated with courses, sessions and/or sections 1.8 Attach learning materials to courses, sessions, and/or sections 1.10 Provide an easy-to-use interface for accessing and maintaining curriculum information Curriculum Queries 2.1 Ability to determine where certain topics are covered in the curriculum 2.2 Ability to determine where certain objectives are met by the curriculum 2.3 Ability to determine where certain educational methods are used 2.4 Ability to determine where certain assessment methods are used Calendar Functionality 3.1 Provide a calendar view of the curriculum for each Phase 3.2 Provide a personalized curriculum calendar for each user (shows all relevant courses, sessions, sections for individual faculty and student users) 3.3 Provide the ability to link from the calendar to specific content for course, session, section 3.4 Provide a rotation calendar view by student 3.5 Provide a rotation calendar view by rotation Clinical Experience 3.8 Ability for clerkship students to log clinical learning experiences 3.9 Ability to monitor clinical learning experiences of students (individually and as a group) 4.1 Provide ability to export curricular data in a format which can be uploaded into CurrMIT 4.2 Provide ability to import existing curricular data from CurrMIT 2

3 General Principles for the Pilot Project (Assumptions) In order to demonstrate the functionality of the CIMS for curriculum management and curriculum planning, a group of courses will be selected for full curricular mapping and reporting. For these courses, the following steps will be taken: Course structure (sessions, structures) will be defined and entered into the CIMS Applicable learning objectives, topics, educational methods, assessment methods will be determined and entered into the CIMS Reports will be created to summarize curricular mappings Since curricular planning within the College of Medicine occurs both at the departmental level and through vertical themes, the pilot project should evaluate curricular mapping and reporting capabilities for both: A set of courses from one department A set of courses related to one vertical theme Including multiple courses from one department will allow the pilot project to demonstrate the benefits for curricular planning in this traditional organization of courses. Including multiple courses related to one vertical theme will allow the pilot project to demonstrate the benefits to curricular assessment based on themes. Selection of courses related to a theme will also enable participation in the pilot project for faculty members from multiple diverse departments. This may be beneficial for spreading the message of the benefits of CIMS following the pilot project, and may lead to wider acceptance of CIMS. Not all courses which are included in the pilot to test curricular planning and management capabilities will be included in the pilot project s test of curriculum delivery functionality. A subset of this group of courses will be selected to also test the curriculum delivery functionality. The two teaching modalities of the undergraduate medical education program (pedagogical teaching of Phases A, B, C and clinical teaching of Phase D) are both supported by the CIMS. To fully assess the capabilities of the CIMS for curriculum delivery, some representation of both stages should be included. Functionality of the CIMS for the pedagogical teaching stages can be assessed using a subset of courses from a particular Phase. It is not necessary for all courses for a particular Phase to be included in the pilot project. It would be beneficial for the evaluation of the student experience using the CIMS if the students involved in the evaluation had prior experience with other course delivery systems in use at the University of Saskatchewan (such as PAWS). For this reason, participants should be either Phase B or Phase C students. (Phase D students will also be involved, in order to assess the student experience during the clinical teaching stage of the program) 3

4 Set up of curricular data in the CIMS will be a time-consuming exercise. Roll-out of CIMS to students is feasible beginning in the second term (January 2008). Due to this timing, Phase C students could not be selected for participation in the pilot. Phase B students will be the representative group of students selected for participation in the pilot. Existing UGME curricular data in CurrMIT provides a good starting point for the curricular mapping of the pilot project. Data from CurrMIT will be imported into CIMS prior to the start of the pilot project. members will be asked to begin with this data and to modify course structures and mappings to objectives, topics etc. as part of the pilot project. As well as potentially reducing the amount of data entry required for this stage of the pilot project, this step will test the capability of the CIMS to utilize data from CurrMIT. Possible Structure of the Pilot Project There are a number of possible scenarios for the pilot project. Each is described below, with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each approach. All Scenarios: Include courses related to one vertical theme for curriculum planning / management Include multiple courses from one department for curricular planning / management Include only a subset of the courses selected for curricular planning / management to test the course delivery functionality. This subset of courses should be part of the Phase B curriculum. Include one or more Phase D rotations Begin Pilot Project in September for course set-up, curricular mapping Roll out to Phase D students beginning in January Roll out to Phase B students beginning in January Scenario 1 (Phase D): Include single Phase D rotation period in the pilot project to assess course delivery functionality for the clinical teaching phase o Involves all rotations during the same time period o Involves all Phase D students Students All Phase D students have the opportunity to assess the CIMS May not provide sufficient time for students to assess the capabilities and benefits of CIMS Provides experience with CIMS to all faculty involved in supervision of rotations Requires that faculty from each rotation participate in the pilot (upload learning materials for 4

5 rotations into CIMS, set learning objectives for rotations in CIMS, provide feedback on procedure logs) Requires that each rotation runs both with CIMS, and without, during different periods of the Phase D academic term. Increases workload of instructors. May lead to confusion. Administrators Would permit staggering of Phase D and Phase B student participation, reducing the number of students requiring support at any one time (if a single System from Phase B is chosen for inclusion in the pilot) All Phase D students would be involved, providing a complete representation of student opinions on CIMS All rotations would be involved, providing a complete representation of faculty opinions on CIMS Limits duration of pilot Procedure logs are collected via CIMS for only some of the duration each of the Phase D rotations. For all other periods of each rotation, another method of procedure log monitoring must be used. This may lead to difficulties co-coordinating and archiving logs Requires training for all faculty and administrative personnel involved in supervision of all rotations Requires support for all Phase D students during the same period Requires support for all faculty and administrative personnel involved in supervision of all rotations Scenario 2 (Phase D): Include single Phase D rotation in the pilot project to assess course delivery functionality for the clinical teaching phase o Involves one rotation for full 18 month duration o Involves all Phase D students at different times, as students cycle through this rotation 5

6 Students Administrators All Phase D students have the opportunity to assess the CIMS Selected rotation operates using CIMS for its full duration Only requires that faculty associated with the selected rotation participate in pilot Procedure logs are collected via CIMS for one rotation for its full duration. Only a subset of Phase D students would require support at one time (students assigned to the chosen rotation during each rotation period) Only faculty and administrative personnel associated with the selected rotation would require training and support Only faculty associated with one rotation receive experience with CIMS Pilot project would need to run for 18 months to support a full rotation Scenario 3 (Phase D): Include single Phase D rotation in the pilot project to assess course delivery functionality for the clinical teaching phase. Pilot project runs for only part of the full 18 month clinical instruction phase. o Involves different groups of Phase D students at different times, as the students cycle through this rotation. Only those students scheduled for the selected rotation during the pilot project period will participate in the CIMS pilot. Students Only requires that faculty associated with the selected rotation participate in pilot Only a subset of Phase D students have the opportunity to assess the CIMS Only faculty associated with one rotation receive experience with CIMS Instructors of the selected rotation would be required to use course delivery functionality of CIMS during the pilot project, and to use other techniques during other periods of this rotation. Increases workload for these instructors. May be 6

7 Administrators Limited duration of the pilot project Only a subset of Phase D students would require support at one time (students assigned to the chosen rotation during each rotation period) Only faculty and administrative personnel associated with the selected rotation would require training and support confusing. Procedure logs are collected via CIMS for only some of the duration of the selected Phase D rotation. For all other periods of this rotation, another method of procedure log monitoring must be used. This may lead to difficulties co-coordinating and archiving logs Scenario I (Phase B): Include one or more system from the Phase B Systems course to assess course delivery functionality for pedagogical teaching phases o Teaching of each system within the Systems course has a duration of approximately one month. Selecting one or more systems from this course would permit the full instruction period to be covered during the pilot project. o The system(s) to be included in the pilot would be selected from those scheduled to begin in January or later, which coincides with the target roll-out to students of the pilot project. Students CIMS is used for full duration of one or more system, resulting in consistency of course delivery for that system CIMS is used for full duration of one or more system. Instructors are not required to use more than one method of course delivery. May not provide enough opportunity for students to fully assess the CIMS (??) Systems courses would not be ideal for assessing the curriculum planning / management aspects of the CIMS. Consequently, selecting one or more system would not permit the course delivery aspects of the CIMS to be used for a course 7

8 Administrators Would permit staggering of Phase B and Phase D student participation, reducing the number of students requiring support at any one time (if a single Phase D rotation period is chosen for inclusion in the pilot) Timing of instruction period for system(s) matches the target pilot project timeframe which is also part of the curriculum planning / management assessment of the pilot project. Scenario II (Phase B): Include single departmental course from Phase B (e.g. Microbiology, Pathology) to assess course delivery functionality for pedagogical teaching phases o Since all Phase B courses run for a full academic year, only part of the duration of a course would be covered by the target pilot project timeframe Students Administrators Enables selection of a course to test curriculum delivery features that was also part of the CIMS curriculum planning / management assessment of the pilot project. Allows faculty to see benefits of curriculum planning / management and course delivery together for a course. Selected course would use CIMS course delivery functionality for only part of the duration of the course. Potentially confusing to students. Selected course would use CIMS course delivery functionality for only part of the duration of the course. Would require that instructors use more than one method of course delivery for a single course. Results in additional work for instructors. May cause confusion. 8