An Integrated Curriculum: Evolution, Evaluation, and Future Direction

Abstract

The topic of curriculum reform has received an enormous amount of attention in the field of dental education. While recently established dental schools benefit from the evolution of curriculum change and innovation in constructing their new curricula, these advantages can become lost if the curriculum is not assessed to ascertain the degree to which the curriculum accurately reflects the initial intended goals. The purpose of this educational research project was to evaluate a dental school curriculum to determine the extent of vertical and horizontal integration originally intended. After a faculty retreat that presented a historical perspective and prevalent concepts of the definitions of an integrated curriculum, a survey instrument was distributed to all course directors asking them to assign each of their courses to one of ten established models of integration. Analysis of the survey results allowed the mapping of each of the eighty-four courses to four themes of integration. Chi-square analysis demonstrated courses were distributed in a classic bell-shaped curve along the integration continuum. Dental school year 4 courses mapped to the highest levels of integration, while no courses were assigned to the lowest level (fragment or silo model). All courses were found to have at least some level of integration. More than half (n=43) were found to be both horizontally and vertically integrated.

Undergraduate education in Brazil: the students’ curricular perspective of Dental care training

“…The undergraduate course aims to prepare students to become experienced and qualified professionals to deal with the challenges of clinical practice 16 . Faculty-centered pedagogy, 15.…”

Bridging the Gap: An Approach to Facilitating Integrated Application of Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology in Graduate-Level Speech-Language Pathology Across the Semester

“…Advocates for integrated curricular reform have identified a lack of vertical and horizontal integration during the first two years of medical and dental schools (Howard et al, 2009;Pfeifer, 2018). Scholars suggest that curricular re-design that focuses on both may provide multiple benefits.…”

“…Specifically, curricular integration may help trainees define and work towards a potential specialty area earlier and with greater certainty, decrease their tuition costs and time in medical/dental schools, and allow them to connect normal bodily functions and disease together immediately by learning about them simultaneously rather than separately (Pfeifer, 2019). Other health science scholars have examined explicitly integrating core skills like evidence-based clinical reasoning and general healthcare and business practices across course sequences, rather than expecting them to be picked up during practica and field experiences (Cohn et al, 2014;Howard et al, 2009).…”

“…Specifically, instructors coordinated course scheduling and timing of integrated course content, labs, and assessments across the semester. This kind of close coordination has been described as a challenge in other health sciences disciplines that have attempted integration also, and the time and structure required to facilitate full or partial integration should be considered when attempting to modify curriculum in this way (Cohn et al, 2011;Howard et al, 2009).…”

Co-teaching Model Promotes True Integration for Integrated Curriculum of Urology

“…There is no cross-fusion between various disciplines, which is not consistent to the truly clinical practice. Considering of the shortages of the traditional teaching model, integrated medicine based on organ systems becomes gradually the mainstream of medical education (1). It meets the view of integration of human body, and can make students more conducive to understand the integration of medicine as a whole.…”