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Preventing too little too late: a novel process of continuous curriculum evaluation

  • Claire L. Coleburn
    ,
  • Linda Jones
  • Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust
    ,
  • University of Bedfordshire
Research Output:
Contribution to journal
Article
 Peer-review

Open access

Abstract

This study was designed in response to the implementation of the UK’s first Critical Care Fellowship in Echocardiography (ultrasound of the heart). The curriculum is a two-year, mentored, self-directed learning process enrolling one senior trainee annually. This expansive, situated apprenticeship was designed and implemented by the first author and members of the Cardiology department. This paper presents a novel evaluation process as applied to an emergent curriculum designed for a highly specific and mainly self-directed programme. We argue that whilst this case study describes a highly specialised tool applied in unique circumstances, the principles that emerge are applicable to emergent curricula being tested in other specialist post-graduate programmes. Evaluation methods are often post-hoc processes. We report on the power and potential for a cyclical action-reflection evaluation tool to maintain a novel self-directed postgraduate medical curriculum. We adapted the qualitative process of ‘Distance Travelled Analysis’ (DTA) from vocational education to construct an evaluation tool, which was used to collect the primary data from the Echo Fellow (singleton user of this unique curriculum) repeatedly over a five-month period. The quality and trustworthiness of the subjective primary dataset was triangulated using a variety of techniques including reflective conversations, spontaneous positive storytelling, face-to-face questionnaires and peer assessment. DTA successfully translated onto the study curriculum, offering purposeful and active evaluation. The tool was able to identify a critical incident and alerted stakeholders to negative change allowing contemporaneous rather than post-hoc action. An unexpected finding was that the DTA evaluation tool significantly impacted on both learner and tutor, creating active learning exchange. The study findings expose the importance of reflective conversation as a balancing component of DTA. This qualitative case study lends weight to the potential for continuous evaluation in high stakes curricula. While evaluation may bring to mind a post-hoc assessment of usefulness, we aim to help catalyse a paradigm shift towards a broader concept of evaluation as a tool for ongoing management of a curriculum. The process of DTA could offer curriculum evaluators an agile alternative to traditional retrospective methods, preventing evaluation from being ‘too little, too late’.

Publication Information

Output type

Research Output:
Contribution to journal
Article
 Peer-review

Original language

English

Journal (Volume, Issue Number)

Journal of pedagogic development (Volume 4.0, Issue 3.0)

Publication milestones

  • Published - 11/2014

Publication status

Published - 11/2014

ISSN

2047-3265

Publication IDs

  • handle.net: 10547/335881

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