Defining a Curriculum

Curriculum can be implemented through many evidence-based methods using a variety of effective resources. To support aggregate reporting on different educational methods and resources across medical schools, the American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC) and the MedBiquitous Consortium (MedBiquitous), created a standardized vocabulary through which medical schools can communicate about their curriculum to the AAMC. MedBiquitous is a developer of information technology standards for healthcare education and quality improvement and is accredited by the American National Standards Institute.

This standardized vocabulary includes a common set of instructional and assessment methods and resource types that can be used to identify and describe a medical school curriculum. For our Office of Medical Education, this terminology helps to provide a consistent way to generate a curricular map of our learning activities to share with the AAMC and for internal continuous quality improvement purposes. For instructors, this list could also serve to generate ideas for new ways to teach and assess learners. Each curricular term in the list is defined and often includes examples and a citation for reference. Reviewing this list may provide a reminder to try a new type of assessment or investigate an innovative resource.

For more information, visit Curriculum Inventory Standardized Instructional and Assessment Methods and Resource Types.