Typically, education begins with delivering information to students, who then output that information in the form of exams. Another approach is called Competency-Based Education (CBE) and it starts with the desired outputs then goes backwards to figure out what the inputs should be.
Laura Molgaard, Associate Dean for Academic and Students Affairs at the University of Minnesota College Of Veterinary Medicine, is co-lead of a working group that has developed a framework and tools to help veterinary colleges move toward CBE curriculums. The group is composed of representatives from veterinary colleges from around the world. “It is an entirely volunteer effort that members have done on top of their day jobs,” says Molgaard.
Many veterinary colleges already have elements of CBE in their curriculum. “It’s not completely new,” says Molgaard. “But this is a turbo boost to those efforts. Rather than each school reinventing the wheel, we are saying let’s work together to develop the best wheel that can roll all of us into the future.”
The framework of a CBE curriculum consists of desired outcomes, or competencies, organized into categories. The CBE work group began developing these in 2015. “We started by saying, ‘By the end of four years, we need these people to be able to do these things’, says Molgaard. “I don’t mean ‘do’ as in technical skills. I mean do what is necessary to be good veterinarians. It’s about clinical reasoning, individual care, communication, collaboration, practice management . . . the whole picture of the veterinarian.”
The work group envisions CBE as the standard for all veterinary colleges around the world. “There is value in having a shared framework,” says Molgaard, “so we can all work together to share tools and compare what is working and what is not working.” Faculty in the Carlson College of Veterinary Medicine met with Molgaard last week to learn about applying CBE to the OSU program. “We will be using the principles of CBVE to adapt our curriculum and outcomes assessment moving forward,” says Dean Susan Tornquist.
Although CBE is often described as ‘learner-centered’, faculty still determine the curriculum and teaching methods. “The faculty are still driving the bus, but are now thinking about the destination to help guide them,” says Molgaard.
The shift toward a CBE curriculum in veterinary colleges, takes into account two modern phenomena: the concern about student wellness and the impact of the internet.
For wellness, a big advantage of a CBE approach is that it helps students understand where they are in a progression toward competence, and it helps faculty provide feedback in a way that emphasizes development. “Instead of telling students they did not meet expectations, we want to be able to show them where they are, where they need to be, and how they can get there,” says Molgaard.
As in everything, the internet is changing the practice of medicine. On one hand, veterinarians can look up information related to a case fairly quickly. However, internet information is a mixed bag. “Veterinarians need to be really good at evaluating information,” says Molgaard. “They are working in a world with very different resources than we had when we were going to school. Some of those resources are wonderful, and some of those resources are terrible. We need to give them the tools to critically evaluate information and decide how to apply it.”
The CBE work group is still developing assessment tools, and realizes the CBE model may need tweaking over time. “We have clues from human medical education and some of their outcomes,” says Molgaard, “We can learn from those and not have to start from scratch and make all the same mistakes, but we don’t know yet all of the things that will work. We have the optimism that this can be a better way; it just makes a whole lot more sense to begin with end in mind and work backwards.”
For more information on Competency Based Veterinary Education, visit the AAVMC website.
