Christine Spratt

Reflective critique and collaborative practice in evaluation: promoting change in medical education

The School of Medicine at the University of Tasmania has recently begun to implement a process of curriculum evaluation,which aims to reflect contemporary best practice in evaluation in tertiary pedagogy and medical education. Best practice must accommodate a broadening interest in cooperative and collaborative evaluation strategies among stakeholders, advances in applied qualitative educational research and recognition that critical reflection on practice is the cornerstone of professional education. This paper reports a recent evaluation strategy in a specific year-long unit in the second year of a six-year undergraduate medical degree.The paper begins by presenting the context; it then discusses and rationalises the evaluation strategy and presents findings. The paper concludes by arguing that curriculum evaluation as best practice must be reflective, informed by the scholarship of medical education, and internalized as a dynamic process that can promote sustainable change and improvement in medical curricula. Such an approach will contribute to an undergraduate medical curriculum that prepares students for the demands and complexities of medical practice.

Online Learning and Social Presence: Developing Tertiary Students' Skills of Critique

Devising pedagogical strategies that will engage students in ways which will assure the development of their skills of critique and analysis presents a challenge to tertiary teachers. This paper draws on data from a recent case-based evaluation study to argue that innovative assessment and the development of social presence in online learning environments can contribute to developing skills of critique and analysis in tertiary students. The paper is underpinned by the belief that creative thinking about curriculum issues must continue to lead debates about tertiary pedagogy, the use of educational technologies and online learning. It concludes by posing implications for further research in pedagogical practices in tertiary settings.