Curriculum Redesign in Veterinary Medicine: Part I.

Curricular review is considered a necessary component for growth and enhancement of academic programs and requires time, energy, creativity, and persistence from both faculty and administration. At Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (TAMU), the faculty and administration partnered with the university's Center for Teaching Excellence to create a faculty-driven, data-enhanced curricular redesign process. The 8-step process begins with the formation of a dedicated faculty curriculum design team to drive the redesign process and to support the college curriculum committee. The next steps include defining graduate outcomes and mapping the current curriculum to identify gaps and redundancies across the curriculum. Data are collected from internal and external stakeholders including veterinary students, faculty, alumni, and employers of graduates. Data collected through curriculum mapping and stakeholder engagement substantiate the curriculum redesign. The guidelines, supporting documents, and 8-step process developed at TAMU are provided to assist other veterinary schools in successful curricular redesign. This is the first of a two-part report that provides the background, context, and description of the process for charting the course for curricular change. The process involves defining expected learning outcomes for new graduates, conducting a curriculum mapping exercise, and collecting stakeholder data for curricular evaluation (steps 1-4). The second part of the report describes the development of rubrics that were applied to the graduate learning outcomes (steps 5-8) and engagement of faculty during the implementation phases of data-driven curriculum change.

Curriculum Redesign in Veterinary Medicine: Part II.

Curricular review is considered a necessary component for growth and enhancement of academic programs and requires time, energy, creativity, and persistence from both faculty and administration. On a larger scale, a comprehensive redesign effort involves forming a dedicated faculty redesign team, developing program learning outcomes, mapping the existing curriculum, and reviewing the curriculum in light of collected stakeholder data. The faculty of the Texas A&M University College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (TAMU) recently embarked on a comprehensive curriculum redesign effort through partnership with the university's Center for Teaching Excellence. Using a previously developed evidence-based model of program redesign, TAMU created a process for use in veterinary medical education, which is described in detail in the first part of this article series. An additional component of the redesign process that is understated, yet vital for success, is faculty buy-in and support. Without faculty engagement, implementation of data-driven curricular changes stemming from program evaluation may be challenging. This second part of the article series describes the methodology for encouraging faculty engagement through the final steps of the redesign initiative and the lessons learned by TAMU through the redesign process.