Evaluation of the first Curriculum Year of the new Integrated and Interactive Curriculum at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at HoChiMinh City (UMP), Vietnam

Abstract

Purpose: The University of Medicine and Pharmacy at HoChiMinh city (UMP), Vietnam launched a new integrated and interactive curriculum of medical education in 2016. This study aims at evaluating the new curriculum by determining whether the new curriculum successfully affected the teaching and learning activities in the first curriculum year and if so, how. Method: We conducted a one-year single-center observational prospective cohort study using mixed methods and a historical control as the comparison. We used online surveys and focus groups to collect feedback from the UMP’s faculty and students. We applied a modified Bloom’s taxonomy to evaluate the cognitive levels of test questions. We analyzed the students’ summative scores. Results: 89% of the faculty and students indicated that the teaching content was integrated across basic sciences and with clinical applications. All faculty and 80% of the students rated that the instructional methods were interactive. The integrated content and interactive methods promoted the learning activities. 77% of the students and 59% of faculty answered that the students prepared pre-reading materials. 85% of the students and 75% of faculty assessed that the students interacted with their peers. Only 41% of the students and 61% of faculty rated that the students contributed in class. The passive faculty-student interaction might be due to the oriental hierachical collective culture. 84% of the faculty and students responded that the test questions integrated basic sciences and clinical applications. 100% questions reflected the learning objectives. In comparison to the traditional curriculum, the new curriculum was more integrated across basic sciences (84% vs. 72%) and with clinical applications (89% vs. 78%). The faculty provided pre-reading materials more frequently (84% vs. 72%), encouraged students to contribute ideas more often (90% vs. 50%), and gave more test questions at high cognitive levels (21.5% vs. 12.3%). Conclusions: The new curriculum at UMP has achieved most of its stated objectives. The data provide evidence of integrated teaching content, interactive instructional methods, valid and reliable assessment instruments. Students are committed to self-learning, interacted effectively with peers, and achieved integrated high cognitive knowledge. Further study is planned to evaluate the new curriculum’s long-term impacts.