COM:MANDSupporting the creation, mapping, revision and management of curriculum and learning outcomes

Michael BeggMatt HammondDavid Dewhurst

University of EdinburghLearning Technology Section

COM:MAND

• Curriculum Outcome Mapping: Management And Delivery– By necessity a suite of loosely connected tools– Born out of a number of problems/challenges– Informed by multiple contexts– Purposefully never out of development– Developed ad hoc / R&D according to immediate

need

The terrain

• Curriculum review and revision• Identifying gaps and overlaps • Find clarity in integrated curricula• Assist QA / QE• Assist program design• Align courses/curricula with professional/

national/ international guidelines• Align activity with clinical vocabularies

Surface challenges

• Full picture contained only in the minds of the few

• Increased expectancy to explicate, report and audit all outcomes for all parties

• Increased value of harmonized curricula• Increased requirement to map to professional /

national guidelines

Underlying challenges

• Managing a consistent vocabulary and tone across a full curriculum is a HUGE undertaking

• System structure very often at odds with human process

• The representation of data is never neutral• Example…

Plot outcomes by dimension?

Plot outcomes by domain?

Plot outcomes by case narrative?

Plot outcomes in abstract

Plot outcomes in context

The Toolset

• COMMAND is modular– Flexibility is critical– no one party could undertake activity in all

relevant areas at once• Resource prohibitive (hours / money)

• Modular approach allows for loosely coupled development– Loosely coupled suggests the side-benefit of

maximum integration

The Toolset• Add and edit outcome data

• Cross reference (map) datasets– Cross reference layers within

dataset

• Embed data within VLE content– Web service also allows association

of external web content with datasets

• Manage/sustain datasets (status and version)

• Visualisation Tools– Making use of technical affordance

to offer fresh perspective

Journey of discovery

• And this activity is all part of the map• Also engaged, in some form, to date:

– Edinburgh MBChB– National Health Education (Scotland) GP Unit / RCGP– Scottish Deans Medical Education Group– Royal College of Surgeons (Edinburgh)– Karolinska Institute

• Outcome datasets in the COMMAND db to date include:

– GMC Tomorrows Doctors 2009, Scottish Doctors 3, Tuning, MeSH, RCGP… and growing!

Waypoints

• The task is still massive – but unavoidable• Collectivity eases the pain• Technology can provide additional

benefits/outputs, and so further eases the pain

• Activity must fall into workflow for sustainability– And the technology must support that workflow

This Afternoon

• See COM:MAND in action at “Secrets of Success” session

• Hall A 16.15 – 17.45

Thank You

COM:MANDSupporting the creation, mapping, revision and management of curriculum and learning outcomes

Contact: michael.begg@ed.ac.uk