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From David Snadden, Executive Associate Dean, Education
As we approach the holiday season, I would like to express my appreciation for the hard work that so many of you have put into the Curriculum Renewal Project. Embarking on such a large project with so many people involved at sites across the province is no easy undertaking. Innovation, like that found in the many phases of this project, from bold ideas like flexibility to new course designs, means that we face numerous collisions, frictions and obstacles as we work through what is desirable, feasible, and viable.
Though this process isn’t without its frustrations, I am delighted to see so many people from across the spectrum of curriculum renewal—from program managers to clinicians, assessment experts to project managers—contributing ideas and solutions that help us overcome these obstacles. All of you continue to look for ways to propel us forward, to create fantastic learning experiences for our students, and great doctors for our patients.
We have been working to create a better model for managing the curriculum renewal project so that our direction is clear, your ideas are heard, and we have the right resources to support us as we advance toward our goals. We have listened to feedback calling for clarity around roles, responsibilities, the decision-making process, as well as the need for more details, project management and better communication.
I would like to share with you the new Curriculum Renewal project structure, which shows relationships among individual roles as well as committees and teams. Over the life of the project, we will need to make iterative changes to these structures based on project requirements, ideas for continuous improvement, and inevitable transitions of people in and out of roles over time.
[https://gallery.mailchimp.com/84dbe88d2e6f5e7fb3fc108c7/images/CR_Diagram_2_2013_12_12_web.png]<http://ubc.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84dbe88d2e6f5e7fb3fc108c7&id=a7acb171f5&e=ac84b33d0d>
[https://gallery.mailchimp.com/84dbe88d2e6f5e7fb3fc108c7/images/CR_Diagram_1_Committees_2013_12_12_web.png]<http://ubc.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=84dbe88d2e6f5e7fb3fc108c7&id=7f030c3512&e=ac84b33d0d>
More information on these diagrams can be found on the revitalized Curriculum Renewal Project website: http://cr.med.ubc.ca/governance/<http://ubc.us5.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=84dbe88d2e6f5e7fb3fc108c7&id=cd7c3ebf60&e=ac84b33d0d>
We are in the process of implementing these structures and ask for your support. In the new year, the Curriculum Renewal Project will work within these structures to focus heavily on three immediate project priorities:
1. Completion of mid-level course and assessment designs including course-level, year-level milestones, and week templates for all 4 years, themes integration, programmatic assessment framework, assessment type definitions, and preparation for the detailed Senate package submission in fall 2014.
2. Development of the Transitional Year 3 for launch in August 2014 including detailed design of the 8 week elective/selective block, ensuring alignment and availability of resources for academic half days, preparing for integration of Family Practice into the core rotation schedule, and adjusting assessments as needed.
3. Preparation of first iteration pedagogical shifts within the current course structure for implementation in September 2014. These first iteration shifts will lay the ground-work for the more significant structural shifts that will occur with the implementation of the renewed curriculum in August 2015.
Thank you again for your continued efforts and support of this important initiative. We look forward to working with you in January and, in the meantime, we all wish you a happy and peaceful holiday season.
Thank you,
Dr. David Snadden
Executive Associate Dean, Education