Gaps In Curriculum Research Articles

Personal financial literacy among Indian postgraduate residents.

Background Postgraduate residents' ability to understand and effectively manage their finances is variable. We conducted this study to assess the awareness of personal financial literacy among Indian residents. Methods We circulated a web-based cross-sectional Google Forms multiple-choice questionnaire having questions in three categories including financial awareness, current financial status and plans among 400 Indian residents. Results A total of 215 Indian residents (53.75%) responded to the survey (men 80.9%, unmarried 74.4% and pursuing broad specialties 83.3%). The majority were unaware of stocks, special student/doctor loans, tax planning, life insurance, professional indemnity and tax/financial planning. The majority opined that personal finance and investing should be taught at medical school/residency. A financial pyramid based on the hierarchy of needs is proposed. Conclusion Lack of financial literacy and planning was seen among the majority of Indian residents. Our study highlights this gap in the medical curriculum and the need for formal structured financial education during training.

Evolving Needs of Critical Care Trainees during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study.

Critical care trainees were integral in the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic response. Several perspective pieces have provided insight into the pandemic's impact on critical care training. Surveys of program directors and critical care trainees have focused on curricular impact. There is a lack of data from the trainee perspective on curricular enhancements, career development, and emotional and well-being needs to succeed in a critical care career in the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Our objective was to elicit perspectives from critical care trainees on their personal and professional needs as they continue to serve in the COVID-19 pandemic. This was a hypothesis-generating qualitative study. Individuals in a U.S. critical care training program during the COVID-19 pandemic participated in either focus groups or semistructured interviews. Interviews were conducted between July 2020 and March 2021 until data saturation was achieved. Audio recordings were professionally transcribed and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. A codebook was generated by two independent coders, with a third investigator reconciling codes when there were discrepancies. Themes and subthemes were identified from these codes. Thirteen participants were interviewed. The major themes identified were as follows: 1) Curricular adaptation is necessary to address evolving changes in trainee needs; 2) COVID-19 impacted career development and highlighted that trainees need individualized help to meet their goals; 3) receiving social support at work from peers and leaders is vital for the sustained well-being of trainees; 4) fostering and maintaining a sense of meaning and humanity in one's work is important; and 5) trainees desire assistance and support to process their emotions and experiences. The needs expressed by critical care trainees are only partially captured in conceptual models of physician well-being. The need for multilevel workplace social networks and identifying meaning in one's work have been magnified in this pandemic. The themes discussing curricular gaps, career development needs, and skills to process work-related trauma are less well captured in preexisting conceptual models and point to areas where further research and intervention development are needed.

Developing Military Doctors: An Institutional Approach to Medical Force Readiness in Graduate Medical Education.

Military physicians are required to not only meet civilian accreditation standards upon completion of their Graduate Medical Education (GME) training programs but also be proficient in the military-unique aspects of their field, including medical care in austere environments and management of combat casualties. They must also be familiar with the administrative and leadership aspects of military medicine, which are often absent from the training curriculum. The San Antonio Uniformed Services Health Education Consortium Military Readiness Committee, by incorporating questions of military relevance into each GME program's mandatory Annual Program Evaluation, identified curricular gaps upon which military readiness training objectives and opportunities were developed. These activities included a lecture series on the sustainment of medical and military readiness, an interactive procedural skills training event, trainee involvement in operational pre-deployment exercises, and the development of an elective operational rotation in Honduras. The Military Readiness Committee provides a model for other military GME institutions to develop training goals and opportunities to strengthen the preparedness of their trainees for military service.

Wilderness Medicine Curricula in United States EMS Fellowship, Emergency Medicine Residency, and Wilderness Medicine Programs.

Wilderness Medicine (WM) focuses on care delivered in austere or resource-scarce environments. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) requirements and core content for Emergency Medicine (EM) residency and Emergency Medical Services (EMS) fellowship in the United States (US) include some WM topics that are covered to varying degrees in these programs. Furthermore, there are no ACGME-approved WM fellowships or specific curricula. Different training programs may develop WM content and curricula that differ significantly, leading to variations in WM competencies and training. In 2009, the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) Wilderness Medicine Section created a Fellowship Subcommittee and Taskforce to develop a standardized curriculum and core content for EM-based WM fellowships. However, to date, EMS fellowship and EM residency WM curricula in the US content have not been analyzed for consistency with the ACEP WM fellowship curriculum. In this study, the WM curricula components of EM residency and EMS fellowship were evaluated using the ACEP WM fellowship curriculum as a control. Potential curriculum gaps for each program type were identified. Of the 19 WM competencies developed by the ACEP Wilderness Medicine Section Fellowship Subcommittee and Taskforce, EMS fellowship covers more WM topics (16 topics, or 84%) than EM residency (12 topics, or 63%), and combined, they cover 89% of these topics. By expanding to cover two additional WM topics, all WM curricula topics recommended by the ACEP WM fellowship curriculum could potentially be covered in EM residency + EMS fellowship; however, the depth of education in each topic may vary. It may be beneficial for Graduate Medical Education (GME)-level learners for programs to implement hands-on educational experiences in WM topics.

Investigating the challenges of teaching sex education to autistic learners: A qualitative exploration of teachers’ experiences

BackgroundSex education is essential as it equips individuals with the knowledge to live independent and safe sex lives. However, in the United Kingdom, sex education is not particularly accessible for autistic learners which may lead to a lack of knowledge around appropriate sexual behaviours. AimsThe current study focusses on the challenges of teaching sex education to autistic learners. Methods and proceduresThe data was produced through one-to-one interviews with thirteen educational practitioners that have experienced delivering sex education to autistic learners. Outcomes and resultsReflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) was used to interpret the data, producing themes of (1) Pedagogical Restrictions, and (2) Sexual Impulses. Conclusions and implicationsThese findings demonstrated that the main challenges of teaching sex education to autistic learners pertained to Pedagogical Restrictions in the classroom, and learners’ own sexual impulses. These findings are a positive step towards understanding how to adapt sex education lessons to make them more inclusive and accessible for learners with autism. This study contributes to developing understanding around how to support autistic learners, highlighting gaps in the current sex education curriculum for policy makers, and enabling those surrounding autistic individuals to best support them with body transformations.

The wounded social work student: A strength-based enquiry of personal loss experience and its impact on social work students’ professional practice

INTRODUCTION: When working in the fields of loss, grief, bereavement and dying, the lived experience of the social work students, and their developing practice in the field, can be enhanced by awareness of the concept of the wounded healer. METHODS: This study sought to explore the wounded healer concept amongst Australian social work students who had experienced the death of a loved one. The project was underpinned by a phenomenological approach seeking to understand personal loss experiences in professional practice skill development. Using semi-structured interviews, final-year social work students were asked to reflect on the positive and negative impacts of their personal loss experience on their emerging professional social work practice. FINDINGS: An analysis of the data identified three main themes: (1) repeated triggers of loss and grief during field placement can occur; (2) students’ ambiguity and confusion of safe inclusion of lived experience in a professional setting was identified; and (3) learning can be impacted by wounded reflections. CONCLUSION: The study noted a lack of understanding among social work students on how to safely navigate their own woundedness and how to incorporate awareness into their professional practice skills. This may be addressed by responding to a current gap in the Australian social work curriculum. Future considerations for reflections on the effectiveness of field placement supervision and further guidance and education for wounded social work students at a university level may assist.

Slack Intern Curriculum Supports Intern Preparedness and Bridges Curriculum Gaps due to COVID-19

Slack Intern Curriculum Supports Intern Preparedness and Bridges Curriculum Gaps due to COVID-19

How future proof is design education? A systematic review.

Due to a rapidly transforming world, design education needs to adjust itself. To do so, it is essential to understand curriculum gaps in the discipline. This systematic review (n = 95) reports on these gaps and the future readiness of design curricula. The search strategy consisted of both a database search, and discipline-specific journal search in which generalised results about current or future perspectives of design education were found. Structured around the constructive alignment framework, this research found that more 21st century learning objectives focusing on skills next to domain-specific knowledge need to be incorporated, and teaching and learning activities need to be more student-centred and better aligned to industry. Related to assessment, a considerable gap was found in literature on guidelines and means for formative assessment. Design education is not yet ready for the challenges ahead, therefore, the authors hope that design departments rethink their curricula and fill the specified gaps.

Educators’ perspectives on and motivations for using TeachersPayTeachers.com

TeachersPayTeachers.com (TpT) is an influential online education resource marketplace where users download, buy, and sell education content. How and why educators use platforms like TpT has received only limited scholarly attention. This research therefore addresses a gap in the literature by exploring educators’ (N = 1359) self-reported uses and perceptions of TpT. Participants reported intensive and multifaceted TpT use, in particular to address curriculum gaps and time pressures. Most respondents perceived TpT content to be of high quality, but many also noted challenges with TpT. We discuss implications related to education resource production, distribution, and consumption in a digital era.

Mental Health in the Medical Home: A Longitudinal Curriculum for Pediatric Residents on Behavioral and Mental Health Care.

IntroductionCurrently, a pediatric mental and behavioral health crisis exists, driven by increasing stressors among children coupled with a paucity of psychiatric providers who treat children. Pediatric primary care providers can play a critical role in filling this gap, yet trainees feel uncomfortable screening for, identifying, and managing mental and behavioral health conditions among their patients. Thus, expanding training for pediatricians in this domain is critical.MethodsWe created a longitudinal integrated mental and behavioral health curriculum for pediatric residents at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center with a logic model contextualizing outpatient pediatric care as a framework for the development and planned evaluation. We devised a comprehensive set of materials, with presentations on topics including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and anxiety disorders. Workflows and escalation pathways promoting collaboration among interdisciplinary providers were implemented. We evaluated residents’ and faculty members’ participation in the curriculum and their perception of curricular gaps.ResultsApproximately 155 pediatric residents participated in the curriculum from 2017 to 2021, reflecting robust curricular exposure. Few residents and no preceptors perceived mental and behavioral health as a curricular gap.DiscussionOur curriculum is feasible and can be adapted to a variety of educational settings. Its use of a logic model for development, implementation, and ongoing evaluation grounds the curriculum in educational theory and can address curricular gaps. The framework can be adapted to suit the needs of other institutions’ educational and practice settings and equip pediatric trainees with the skills to promote patient mental health and well-being.

Educational potential of English-language extracurricular activities with elements of palaeontology at secondary school

Introduction. The relevance of the research is accounted for by the search of new pedagogical technologies for the formation, preservation and reproduction of traditional cultural values in the socio-cultural space. The aim of the article is to analyse the educational potential of extracurricular activities in the English language involving the elements of palaeontology for secondary school students. Materials and methods: 1) study of due normative documents and scientific methodological literature; 2) organisation of two expert interviews with worldclass palaeontologists; 3) questioning encompassing sixty-four 8th-year pupils of two schools of Karaganda region, Kazakhstan; 4) experimental work aimed at introduction of a series of extracurricular activities in the English language with elements of palaeontology; 5) methods of mathematical processing of research results: Yule’s coefficient of association (Q), Pearson’s contingency coefficient (Cc), Fisher’s angular transformation criterion (φ), McNemar test (χ2). Results. A number of factors were revealed testifying that the palaeontological discoveries on the territory of Kazakhstan represent a cultural component which heightens the interest to the history of the native land, develops patriotism, improves the quality of education, as well as draws attention to the problem of imbalance between the interest in palaeontological finds of Kazakhstan on the part of the world scientific community and the lack of knowledge in Kazakh young people about the richness of the country’s ancient flora and fauna. The study of the regulatory framework revealed some inconsistencies and gaps in the biology curriculum for 7th-9th year school learners, which were filled only with the help of extracurricular activities in the English language with the inclusion of elements of palaeontology. The cumulative assessment formed by the means of analysis of two expert interviews makes one conclude on the interest of the global palaeontological community in the ancient flora and fauna of Kazakhstan as well as on the motivational, educational and socio-cultural potential of palaeontological content in school’s educational activities. Some statistically significant differences were revealed in respect of preference of extracurricular activity types in 8th-year learners (χ2exp =7.719; p≤0.05), on the ways to increase motivation to participate in such extracurricular activities (φemp=2.353 with p≤0.05) and regarding the extension of vocabulary on palaeontology in English (χ2 = 9.524 with p≤0.05). Conclusions. The evidential base of the educational potential of palaeontological elements in extracurricular activities at classes of English at secondary middle school can be used in interdisciplinary extracurricular activities at all educational levels.

Curriculum Gaps in Public Administration: Perceptions of Academicians and other Stakeholders in the Philippines

This paper aims to examine the limited area of public management education program of more than 70 institutions of higher education learning in the Philippines. The examination focused on distinguishing the variations of experts, college/university administrators, teachers, and students towards developing the public sector/administration management curriculum. To achieve the research objectives, it applies a survey in three phases. The first and second phase deals with questionnaire distribution to Master of Public Administration students, teachers, college administrators, and experts. The third phase was the distribution of questionnaires to all participants who have given their opinion on the proposed curriculum, their objectives, and the subjects/courses. The findings disclosed that the established curriculum confirmed with the Commission on Higher Education standards consisting of the core or professional subjects, research and evaluation, major subjects, and thesis writing. This study is helpful by universities in offering the public sector management curriculum at the master's level.

Trauma & the Brain: Student Experiences With a Case-Based Training Series for Social Work Students

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examines “Trauma & the Brain”—a case-based training series for graduate-level social work students focused on the neurodevelopmental impact of childhood trauma. Four focus groups were conducted with 17 participants from the Trauma & the Brain training series. Reflexive thematic analysis identified six themes regarding students’ application of training series content to their field work: nurturing a learning community, bridging content and curriculum gaps, understanding “the why,” taking the toolbox into the field, confident communicators, and field challenges. Implications for social work education are discussed, including the necessity of preparing students for fluent communication about complex trauma in multidisciplinary settings, and building learning communities that connect students across cohorts and micro- and macro-practice tracks.

The Aesthetics of OER, Deaf Pedagogy, and Curriculum Design Contra the “Wicked” Policy of Deaf Education

Designing inclusive education for deaf learners is a complex dilemma affecting multiple spheres and agents. In the US and Canada, despite considerable work by students, parents, educators, school administrators, curriculum developers, and lawmakers to address education policy about deaf bilingual literacy, the provision of deaf education through open access educational resources is a wicked problem exacerbated by gaps in curriculum and pedagogy. Despite increasingly hypermodern technologies and mandated early assessment, most deaf high schoolers in North America have unsatisfactory literacy skills (Qi & Mitchell, 2012). To better manage this “wicked problem,” involving policy, pedagogical methods, and curriculum design, we explore how aesthetic forms of knowledge and deaf positive design operations are used in conjunction with Open Educational Resources (OER). We reviewed the literature and constructed a novel framework about OER and e-books in deaf education. The synthesis generated three key takeaways that assisted our understanding of the complex issue. We presented our new framework alongside structured questions to 382 attendees hailing from 20 nations at the WUN/UNESCO Conference (2021, October), focused on inclusive and open access education technologies. We empirically analyzed this rich corpus using qualitative coding and represented our findings using a multipart Ecocycle Model. Following basic analysis, we describe four broader implications for deaf education research about teaching and curriculum using OER and e-book materials. Our analysis shows that deaf curriculum design is an educational problem embedded in a larger policy debate concerning methods and philosophies of pedagogy.

Artificial Intelligence Education for the Health Workforce: Expert Survey of Approaches and Needs.

BackgroundThe preparation of the current and future health workforce for the possibility of using artificial intelligence (AI) in health care is a growing concern as AI applications emerge in various care settings and specializations. At present, there is no obvious consensus among educators about what needs to be learned or how this learning may be supported or assessed.ObjectiveOur study aims to explore health care education experts’ ideas and plans for preparing the health workforce to work with AI and identify critical gaps in curriculum and educational resources across a national health care system.MethodsA survey canvassed expert views on AI education for the health workforce in terms of educational strategies, subject matter priorities, meaningful learning activities, desired attitudes, and skills. A total of 39 senior people from different health workforce subgroups across Australia provided ratings and free-text responses in late 2020.ResultsThe responses highlighted the importance of education on ethical implications, suitability of large data sets for use in AI clinical applications, principles of machine learning, and specific diagnosis and treatment applications of AI as well as alterations to cognitive load during clinical work and the interaction between humans and machines in clinical settings. Respondents also outlined barriers to implementation, such as lack of governance structures and processes, resource constraints, and cultural adjustment.ConclusionsFurther work around the world of the kind reported in this survey can assist educators and education authorities who are responsible for preparing the health workforce to minimize the risks and realize the benefits of implementing AI in health care.

Closing the Curriculum Gap by Updating Content Standards and Guidelines for Teaching Monetary Policy

The topic of the Federal Reserve’s (the Fed’s) implementation of monetary policy has a significant presence in economics teaching resources. Over the past decade or so, the Fed has purposefully shifted the way it implements monetary policy, introducing a new methodology with new policy tools. Unfortunately, many teaching materials are out of date with the Fed’s current ample-reserves regime and classroom teachers are often guided to teach old content. This guidance often comes from the Voluntary National Content Standards (VNCS) in Economics and the Advanced Placement (AP) Course and Exam Description that are sadly outdated. The VNCS influences the treatment of economics content in K-12 curriculum and textbooks, and the AP course framework determines the content taught in thousands of high school classrooms every year. As such, revising these influential documents is instrumental for closing the curriculum gap. We provide recommendations for how these materials can be updated.

Analysis of USAID/Georgia Supported Basic Education Program First Cycle Implementation

The article highlights Akaki Tsereteli State University's involvement and participation in wide school reforms to establish student-centered education in Georgia. School educational reform cannot proceed and succeed without the direct involvement of the universities which carry out teacher preparation programs. Unequivocally, there should be close cooperation and collaboration between these two institutions to reach the desirable and targeted outcomes. The purpose of the article was to present the results of the survey, which was intended to assess the effectiveness of training conducted by the university trainers during the first phase of the new school reform in Georgia which focused on achieving student-centered learning. The selected trainers from the eight partnering universities were supposed to cover 2075 schools throughout Georgia (373 schools in Imereti Region) to train leader teachers and help the institution to develop new instructional methods, more specifically, to develop a school curriculum based on constructivist educational principles and apply it into practice. The survey findings assisted Pedagogical faculty in identifying existing curriculum gaps and discrepancies and taking measures to bridge them by modifying and supplementing them with the necessary content.

Framework for identification of curriculum gaps: A systematic approach

With the rapidly evolving technology, academics and curriculum developers experience criticism for the curriculum being outdated or unable to meet industry requirements. Additionally, the stakeholders involved in curriculum development have divergent views. Therefore, the challenges lie with academicians imparting the necessary skills and preparing the students to be industry-ready. This study takes a closer investigation of the predecessors of the curriculum gap and classifies it into preceding gaps, viz. information gap, benchmarking gap, perception gap, and learning gap. Prior research has focused on overcoming the curriculum gap, while the current study attempts to propose a framework for methodically identifying the curriculum gap. The paper follows online desk research. The framework is developed based on the multidisciplinary literature and thus provide a comprehensive view of the curriculum gap. Hence the study relies heavily on secondary sources of data. The framework transpired from the literature survey of engineering, management, accounting, nursing, and medical sciences disciplines. It, therefore, lacked affiliation to a specific field of study. Also, the stakeholder's role in the framework may not be appropriate in all contexts as their functions vary within a subject domain and may not exist in some cases. A systematic investigation of the curriculum gap will emphasise the shortcomings in the curriculum, which will assist the faculty in moulding their subject to meet the expectations of stakeholders. The proposed framework aims to expedite the collaboration between the stakeholders and develop a shared vision among all affected. Furthermore, the framework presented benefits academics and curriculum developers by bettering the courses offered and bridging the academia-industry skills gap. Keywords— Benchmarking gap; Curriculum gap; Curriculum developers; Information gap; Learning gap; Perception gap; stakeholders

Academic Identity Development of Doctoral Scholars in an Online Writing Group

Aim/Purpose: This study explores how online writing groups facilitate the academic identity development of doctoral scholars. Background: Academic institutions around the world, and especially in developing societies, are demanding increasing amounts of research and publications from their doctoral scholars. The current study used an online writing group to facilitate writing skills development, which bolstered the academic identity development of participating scholars. Academic identity is defined as the becoming and being of an academic scholar, with writing skills as a means of acquiring and performing the status and skills of a scholar. It is reflected in the confidence, contribution, and relationship carried out in writing as a member of the academic community. Methodology: This study utilizes narrative inquiry as a research methodology to capture the experiences of six doctoral scholars from two universities in Nepal. We explore the academic identity of doctoral scholars from a sociocultural perspective, employing unstructured interviews, meeting notes, and entry and exit surveys of the online writing group. Contribution: This article shows how online writing groups offer unique and impactful opportunities for networking, collaboration, and problem-solving, which can significantly enhance their writing abilities and prospects of publication, thereby fostering their intellectual agency and academic identity. Findings: This study reports three findings of the value of online writing groups: addressing gaps in formal education, community as a form of accountability, and virtual community as a platform for identity development. On the final finding of identity development, we identify and discuss four themes from data analysis: growth of self-image as scholars, strengthening of commitment to scholarship, identification of venues for expanding the scope of publication, and enhancement of digital skills. The informal and collaborative nature of online writing support facilitated socially constructivist learning, which was highly conducive to the development of academic identity among emerging scholars. Recommendations for Practitioners: It is recommended that institutions implement and encourage online writing support programs as an effective means of addressing gaps in doctoral education. While this program can fill gaps in the low-resource contexts of developing countries, it can bolster formal mentoring in any context. Recommendation for Researchers: Further research should use large-scale or longitudinal studies to explore how informal, especially online writing support and collaboration, accelerate research and writing skills, scholarly productivity, and overall academic identity formation of doctoral scholars. Impact on Society: As societies around the world accelerate their demand for doctoral degrees and also require research and publications for degree completion, new and creative approaches utilizing emerging technologies could help to fill gaps in curriculum and support systems for their doctoral scholars. Future Research: Future research could expand the scope and take a longitudinal approach for more fine-grained data and developing broader perspectives.

Integrating soft skill training in professional coursesfor sustainable employment: an overview

There has been a significant shift in the educational and employment scenario in recent years. Employers used to prioritize individuals with a strong academic record and relevant work experience, but today, persons with superior soft skills have surpassed them. It is typical to discover that graduating students lack the necessary abilities to work effectively in a corporate environment. Recruiters believe that new hires lack soft skills such as the capacity to effectively communicate, think creatively, solve problems independently, work well with others, and act professionally. This is one of the main reasons why many students, even those with relevant degrees, find it difficult to find work. This can lead to students questioning the practical worth of the many professional degrees that are offered in contemporary times. To close this gap, the field of training and development has developed a rapidly expanding and specialized sector known as “soft skill training.” Both technical and soft skill development are viewed as essential for an employee’s efficacy and success at work. Researchers claim that learning soft skills is more important and critical for professional development than learning technical abilities, and as a result, it is considered one of the most in-demand core talents for organization growth and development. The purpose of this article is to highlight some of the practical implications of soft skill training in bridging the gap between industry needs and curricular gaps. It also tries to look into the influence of soft skill training in terms of its importance, utility, and subsequent competence development.