An innovative outcomes-based medical education program built on adult learning principles

Abstract

An innovative medical curriculum at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) has been developed through a highly collaborative process aimed at building faculty ownership and ongoing sustainability. The result is a novel capability-based program that features early clinical experience and small-group teaching, which offers students considerable flexibility and achieves a high degree of alignment between graduate outcomes, learning activities and assessments. Graduate capabilities that focus student learning on generic outcomes are described (critical evaluation, reflection, communication and teamwork) along with traditional outcomes in biomedical science, social aspects, clinical performance and ethics. Each two-year phase promotes a distinctive learning process to support and develop autonomous learning across six years. The approaches emphasize important adult education themes: student autonomy; learning from experience; collaborative learning; and adult teacher–learner relationships. Teaching in each phase draws on stages of the human life cycle to provide an explicit organization for the vertical integration of knowledge and skills. A learning environment that values the social nature of learning is fostered through the program's design and assessment system, which supports interdisciplinary integration and rewards students who exhibit self-direction. Assessment incorporates criterion referencing, interdisciplinary examinations, a balance between continuous and barrier assessments, peer feedback and performance assessments of clinical competence. A portfolio examination in each phase, in which students submit evidence of reflection and achievement for each capability, ensures overall alignment.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

H. Patrick McNeil

H. PATRICK MCNEIL, MBBS PhD, is a former associate dean for medical education and professor of rheumatology.

H. Patrick McNeil

H. PATRICK MCNEIL, MBBS PhD, is a former associate dean for medical education and professor of rheumatology.

Chris S. Hughes

CHRIS S. HUGHES, PhD, is a senior lecturer and medical educator in the Office of Medical Education.

Susan M. Toohey

SUSAN M. TOOHEY, MA, is a senior lecturer and medical educator in the Office of Medical Education.

S. Bruce Dowton

S. BRUCE DOWTON, MBBS, MD, is a former dean and professor of pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine.