Views of the Students and Teachers about the New Curriculum (Curriculum 2002) and Their Opinion on in-Course Assessment System

Abstract

Background: The academic activities of the 1st and 2nd year MBBS students are running according to the new curriculum (Curriculum 2002). Curriculum is a series of planned activities to which the learner may be exposed in order to achieve the learning goals. But due to ongoing modifications of society, disease demography, medical science, concepts of teaching and availability of newer technique; curriculum may need to be changed. Assessment is the process of testing a student's ability. A good assessment should be valid, reliable, practicable and objective. Without assessment the purpose of effective teaching will not fulfill. To change curricula, examination system or assessment system also needs to be changed. Though evaluation of students is an integral part of all educational processes, a suitable evaluation procedure is said to be lacking. So opinions of teachers as well as students are immensely important to develop an ideal evaluation procedure. Methodology: This cross-sectional prospective study was done in Dhaka Medical college over a period of 1 months.2nd year MBBS students( 100) and teachers of Physiology, Anatomy and Biochemistry (22) gave their opinion in this study in a mixed pattern of questionnaire ( both open-ended and closed) . Results: Majority of students( 84%) but minority of teachers opined that there was need of card completion examination as in course assessment system .Other teachers and students suggested for alternate examination instead of card completion examination like only MCQ (18%), both MCQ and SAQ (82%). Choice of venue of the examination were - tutorial class (58%), lecture class (21%), practical and tutorial class (21%). Discussion: Though present MBBS curriculum is a problem oriented scientific curriculum with modern concepts like MCQ, OSPE, SAQ and SOE; the teachers are facing a lot of problems in implementing the curriculum due to lack of orientation and shortage of manpower. Conclusion: In spite of criticisms Curriculum 2002 is a positive change in an academic field. In order to improve and update the curriculum; its planning should be constantly reviewed. Â DOI = 10.3329/jom.v8i2.1404 J MEDICINE 2007; 8 : 39-43

Students’ perspective of the MBBS Physiology curriculum

“…Our students also favoured regular assessment tests but they suggested that internal assessment exams should not be too frequent. This observation is in accordance with other studies that suggest assessment as an essential part of teaching learning process but very frequent assessments reduce the time for selfpreparation by the students (Ahmed et al, 2007).…”

“…It should be recognized that present day the medical students cannot be expected to learn as much physiology as was the case in the past but it should also be recognized that knowledge of physiology as a core discipline is fundamental to health and disease (Ahmed et al, 2007). Our study reveals that students are interested in learning the subject from a clinical application.…”

Competency-based integrated practical examinations: Bringing relevance to basic science laboratory examinations

“…Skills assessment does not only measure the performance but also provides an indication of the effectiveness of learning strategies and appropriateness of the content input. A good assessment should be valid, reliable, practicable, and should have educational value (Ahmed et al 2007).…”

“…As medical curricula around the world move from discipline-based to integrated teaching and learning, the integration of assessment must necessarily follow (Hudson & Tonkin 2004). A change in instructional methods without changing assessment will not achieve desired outcomes (Ahmed et al 2007). Studies have shown that such a mismatch can eventually lead to failure of any adopted curriculum (Ghosh & Pandya 2008).…”