Exporting a Student-Centered Curriculum: A Home Institution’s Perspective

Waterval, Dominique G. J.; Tinnemans-Adriaanse, Marjolijn; Meziani, Mohammed; Driessen, Erik; Scherpbier, Albert; Mazrou, Abdulrahman; Frambach, Janneke

doi:10.1177/1028315317697542

Cited by 22 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Most importantly, our student-centered course worked surprisingly well in a traditionally teacher-centered educational environment, where university students are rarely encouraged to be active participants in courses. This is in contrast with the results of studies describing the difficulties of introducing student-centered elements in teacher-centered curricula [32,33]. We propose that the success of the course can be traced back to a few key factors.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

Introducing career skills for dental students as an undergraduate course at the University of Szeged, Hungary

2020

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Background: In the last three decades there is a growing recognition in the dental profession that dental education must go beyond teaching the technicalities of dentistry and include professionalism and communication skills that the future dentist may need. Such skills are best taught in a student-centered way. Literature suggests that student-centered elements are difficult to introduce in traditional, teacher-centered curricula. This is especially true in post-communist countries where higher education was under strict state control for decades. The aim of the piece of research presented here was to investigate how difficult it is to introduce a student-centered career skills course in a traditionally teachercentered dental curriculum.Methods: Considering the needs of our final-year dental students and Super's model of career development, we created an undergraduate curricular career skills course running for two semesters in two languages (Hungarian and English). The primary aim of the course is to help students with their career expectations and develop their identity as a professional workforce. The secondary aim is to teach skills that students can use when applying for a job. At the end of the semesters, we assessed our students' satisfaction with various aspects of the course by using a questionnaire. Results were analyzed item-wise and according to the main aspects of the course (i.e., groups of items organized around a particular aspect). Results: General satisfaction with the course was high, and practical skills training (such as CV and motivation letter writing) got the highest scores. From the answers it appears that the students were the least comfortable with having to deal with their personal values and preferences. Conclusions: While it is common for universities to offer various forms of career intervention, to our knowledge, no other university offers a curricular career skills course specifically for dental students. Our student-centered course designed in a problem-based learning framework worked even in a traditionally teacher-centered educational environment, where university students are rarely encouraged to be active participants in courses. By sharing our experience, we would like to encourage our fellow dental educators working in similar environments to devise and offer such courses.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 71%

Introducing career skills for dental students as an undergraduate course at the University of Szeged, Hungary

2020

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“…Communities of practice will not only support host teachers in their daily activities, they will also render a more sustainable partnership. They can serve as principal platforms for the required frequent and effective communication on multiple organizational levels (Waterval et al 2017). As a result, the curriculum partnership can grow to become truly bilateral, such that a "network partnership" may come to evolve that could eventually span other issues of collaboration besides the curriculum.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connected, attracted, and concerned: A Q study on medical crossborder curriculum partnerships

et al. 2018

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Introduction: A new form of internationalization has been trending upward in the medical education realm: crossborder medical curriculum partnerships established to deliver the same, or adapted, curriculum to groups of geographically separated students. This study aims to investigate crossborder medical curriculum partnerships by exploring the experiences of teachers at the recipient institution who have a key role in delivering the program. Methods: From four pioneering recipient medical schools, 24 teachers participated in a Q-sort study. Each participant rankordered 42 statements about teaching in a crossborder medical curriculum on a scale from À5 (indicating strong disagreement) to þ5 (indicating strong agreement). The authors conducted a "by-person" factor analysis to uncover distinct patterns in the ranking of statements, using the statistical results and participants' comments about their Q sorts to interpret these patterns and translate them into distinct viewpoints. Results: Three viewpoints emerged, reflecting: (1) a feeling of connectedness with the partner institution, trust in the quality of the curriculum, and appreciation of interinstitutional relationships; (2) the partnership's attractiveness because of the career opportunities it offers; and (3) concerns over the quality of graduates because of doubts about the appropriateness of the didactic model and insufficient attention to local healthcare needs, and over the practical feasibility of such partnerships. Conclusions: The three viewpoints identified revealed a pallet of views on how host teachers might experience their work. It shows the heterogeneous features of this group and seems to counterbalance reports that they are feeling "deprived" from their role as teacher. Two viewpoints featured an appreciation of interinstitutional relationships and of the partnership, especially when perceiving a degree of autonomy. Partners can capitalize on all different viewpoints by deploying procedure and policies to raise the quality of education delivery.

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“…In addition, the home institution needs to organize the interactions and responsibilities at the project management level and to think about how to organize the project office and its place within the organization (Waterval et al 2017). Finally, a crossborder curriculum partnership requires the integration of new working processes into the existing ones.…”

Section: Tipmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others, including program directors, teachers, and students, argue against this adaptation and indicate that after a transition period, students adapt well to the difference in required learning behavior (Waterval et al 2017). Interestingly, the resulting didactic model will likely never be a carbon copy of the model applied in the home institution and will develop naturally in a way that fits the host context, as Frambach et al (2012) showed that there is a continuous interaction and influence between students, culture, and learning model.…”

Section: Theme 3: Tips On Learning Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In curriculum partnerships, interactions between institutions are taking place at multiple moments and at various levels. Consequently, the people involved will encounter different approaches and ways of doing things, which may potentially create "little annoyances", misunderstandings, or even frustrations (Waterval et al 2017). Due to differences in time zones and culture between partners, these feelings, which might arise at both sides, may jeopardize the sustainability of the partnership in the long run, as they impair interpersonal relationships.…”

Section: Tip 11mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Twelve tips for crossborder curriculum partnerships in medical education

et al. 2018

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Crossborder curriculum partnerships are a relatively new and fast-growing form of internationalization in which the curriculum that has been developed by one institution (the home institution) crosses borders and is implemented in another institution (the host institution). These partnerships aim to provide comparable learning experiences to the students in both institutions and are driven by a variety of motives, such as strengthening international networks, increasing financial gains, and stimulating research spinoffs. Although popular, crossborder curriculum partnerships are also criticized for their potentially low educational quality, failing to address fundamental differences in teaching and learning between the home and host institutions, and not addressing the educational needs of the host country's health care system. Our aim is to provide guidance to those considering or engaged in designing, developing, managing, and reviewing a crossborder curriculum partnership or other forms of international educational partnerships in medical education. Drawing from research, personal, and institutional experiences in this area, we listed twelve tips categorized into four themes, which contribute to the establishment of sustainable partnerships that can withstand the aforementioned criticism.

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Exporting a Student-Centered Curriculum: A Home Institution’s Perspective

Cited by 22 publications

References 35 publications

Introducing career skills for dental students as an undergraduate course at the University of Szeged, Hungary

Introducing career skills for dental students as an undergraduate course at the University of Szeged, Hungary

Connected, attracted, and concerned: A Q study on medical crossborder curriculum partnerships

Twelve tips for crossborder curriculum partnerships in medical education

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