AMEE Guide No. 14: Outcome-based education: Part 4-Outcome-based learning and the electronic curriculum at Birmingham Medical School

Abstract

Outcome-led curricula are increasingly relevant to medical education as Universities seek means to make explicit the criteria against which the success of both the course and the students should be judged. This paper outlines some of the main factors which led the University of Birmingham School of Medicine to develop an outcome-led curriculum for the new undergraduate medical course. Having set the general context, it then describes how the specific structure used by the school for organising integrative learning outcomes both influenced and was influenced by the parallel decision to develop an 'electronic curriculum'database.The advantages of the electronic curriculum database developed by the School are discussed and examples are given to demonstrate the flexibility with which information can be accessed by students, clinicians and other teachers.