Medical educators’ Beliefs about Alignment of Learning goals, Teaching and Assessment in the Context of Curriculum Changes

Abstract

Background: Achieving changing needs, advancing knowledge, and innovations in higher education require constant changes of medical school curricula and brings greater clarity to the influence of the core beliefs held by medical educators. The purpose of this study was to describe medical educators’ beliefs about alignment of learning goals, teaching and assessment in the context of curriculum changes.Method: A qualitative method was used to this goal by selecting faculty participants in a purposeful sampling strategy. For the individual interviews, we invited both professors of basic sciences and clinical professors who had worked with medical students for at least five years.Result: Findings showed that gaps between theoretical contents and real world settings caused ignorance of the core competencies in learning and assessment processes. It also indicated gaps between what students learn in class and what they need to know and, especially, do in hospitals. Furthermore, the current beliefs of teachers need to be further changed to realize more integrated learning in the future.Conclusion: A change towards more active teaching methods and a whole-task approach to teaching and assessment is needed in order to help students acquire desired competencies. Thus, a shift from a discipline-based to a competency-based approach to teaching and learning is needed.