Global Curriculum Research Articles

Leaving Victorian Studies Behind: The Case of Vassar College

Much of the recent reflection on nineteenth-century global studies has focused on research, graduate program(me)s, or upper-level courses. This essay recounts the transformation of the Program in Victorian Studies at Vassar College, one of the few institutions in North America offering an undergraduate degree in Victorian Studies, into a global nineteenth-century studies program. The new multidisciplinary program prioritizes teaching at the 100-level in order to prepare students to take a global perspective into advanced courses. Its introductory team-taught course, ‘Revolution, Evolution, and the Global Nineteenth Century’, is the place where the Vassar faculty work out both the practical and theoretical challenges of teaching ‘the global’, such as how to incorporate non-Anglophone materials as well as science and technology into a global curriculum. The course - and the program more broadly - constitute a serious effort to decolonize the study of the nineteenth century at the undergraduate level.

Design and Implementation of a Global Health and Underserved Care Track in an Otolaryngology Residency.

Despite widespread resident interest in global health and underserved care, few otolaryngology residency programs offer a formal global health experience. This article is the first to characterize a formal otolaryngology global health and underserved care track with a focus on how this curriculum integrates with and supplements resident education. Components of the track include longitudinal limited-resource field experiences in domestic and abroad settings, a related quality improvement project, and completion of a formalized global health educational curriculum. In addition to delivering humanitarian aid, residents in this track obtain a unique educational experience in all 6 core competencies of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Early barriers to implementation included identifying mentorship, securing funding, and managing busy resident schedules. In this work, we detail track components, schedule by track year, keys to implementation, and potential educational pitfalls.

The KKNI-based ELT curriculum applied in Islamic higher education in Indonesia: Global curriculum ideology perspectives

The KKNI-based ELT curriculum applied in Islamic higher education in Indonesia: Global curriculum ideology perspectives

Medical students’ perceptions of global health at the University of Cape Town, South Africa: The gap between interest and education

Background. Global health competencies are an increasingly important part of medical training; however, there is currently no integrated formal global health curriculum at South African (SA) medical schools, and perceptions of medical students towards global health have not been reported. Objectives. To describe SA medical students’: (i) perceptions of global health; (ii) access to global health education (GHE); (iii) awareness of global surgery as a global health priority; and (iv) perceived relevance of select medical specialties to global health. Methods. Medical students at the University of Cape Town (UCT), SA, were invited to complete a 35-item survey over 2 months in 2018. The survey was designed on REDCap (Research Electronic Data Capture) and distributed by email. All responses were anonymised and self-reported. Results. Of 1 640 medical students, 245 (18%) completed the survey. Only 66 (27%) reported GHE in medical school, whereas 213 (87%) reported a career interest in global health. Childhood in a rural setting was a positive predictor of a career interest in global health, while lack of medical resources and infrastructure in resource-limited communities was the most commonly cited barrier to a career in global health. Most students identified family medicine and infectious diseases as the two most important specialties in global health delivery. The majority of students had limited insight into global surgery, which ranked low as a past and future global health priority. Conclusion. UCT medical students are interested in global health careers, but lack formalised GHE or global surgery education during their medical studies to support and encourage integrating global health into their future careers.

Information Literacy for Global Inclusion: Designing an Annotated Bibliography for Global Search and Selection

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the notion that our world is global and interdependent. Despite the ever-increasing connection of global with local, there continues to be formidable barriers in accessing information produced in different international contexts and languages. This Innovative Practices article details the redesign of an annotated bibliography assignment in an international studies course to support the inclusion of global perspectives into the information practices of undergraduate students. The redesign embedded explicit information literacy dispositions and global citizenship education competencies through the search and selection of global information sources. The authors discuss the instructional elements used, student outcomes, and the connection between information literacy and global citizenship pedagogies. The goal of this article is to support librarians in developing inclusive and global information literacy curriculum enabling students to connect to international voices.

Crossing the Innovation Chasm: Identifying Facilitators and Barriers to Early Adoption of the Global Health Starter Kit Curriculum.

Purpose:The Global Health Starter Kit (GHSK) is an interdisciplinary, competency-based, open access global health curriculum covering global disease and demographic trends, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the connection between oral health and overall health, social determinants of health, and concepts of sustainable and ethical global health programs. In this study, we evaluate and describe barriers to and facilitators for using and implementing the GHSK curriculum across a variety of new users.Methods:This two-phase study uses the Roger’s Adoption Curve concept to standardize this evaluation and inform a strategic plan for continuing to move the curriculum across the chasm from early adopters to an early majority of global oral health educators and learners. We utilized a theoretical adoption framework to identify facilitators and barriers under the domains of innovation and curricular, educator and learner, and institutional and structural factors. Under qualitative Phase 1, five early adopter institutions were interviewed to elicit understanding of factors that contribute to adoption of the GHSK curriculum. Common themes identified were next used to create a Phase 2 quantitative survey for early majority subscribers of the GHSK (N = 27).Results:These qualitative and quantitative results showed an overall high satisfaction with the quality of the GHSK materials, but also effectively identified barriers to its adoption, including inexperience of faculty in teaching global oral health, a lack of awareness and marketing, and absence of global health accrediting requirements.Conclusions:By identifying the barriers and facilitators of GHSK curriculum integration, this study provides concrete and specific opportunities to improve its format, relevance, content, and delivery. This study outlines next steps to creating a standardized approach to successfully adopting competency-based global oral health teaching and learning.

Youth Research in Community Settings: Inspiring Social Engagement Through Critical Pedagogy, Collaboration, and Arts-Based Research

Background/Context: This article shares qualitative findings from one arts-based youth research project. It offers insights for educators and researchers working in youth-driven contexts with an interest in critical pedagogy, engaged research methods, and youth media. Purpose and Research Questions: Youth artist-researchers produced their own media projects that explored themes of importance to them as part of a critical media literacy project. The class was designed around the research question: What role do narratives, representation, and media-making play in the identity construction of youth in an urban setting? Research Design: The arts-based research project, Through the Lens of Resistance, involved six youth artist-researchers who produced media artworks during the summer class and presented their work in community spaces. I led the class and collected data, serving as both teaching artist and lead researcher. The installations explored racialized violence, representation, and the political work of media. Youth researchers learned critical media theory and media-based qualitative methods from a Global Action Project curriculum over 4 weeks. In the final 2 weeks, youths worked individually or in groups to design an arts-based installation that involved media research. After the conclusion of the class, two artists continued to show one of the final projects in various community settings. Qualitative data shared here come from interviews, participant observation, and one focus group. Findings/Results: This article identifies the potential of qualitative methods that foreground critical pedagogy and art-making to generate youth community engagement and critical consciousness. It shares insights for educators and researchers working in youth-driven contexts. This article demonstrates that arts-based research grounded in critical pedagogy and community spaces offers a powerful vehicle for young people to develop critical consciousness as they grapple with social issues.

Reaching the women with the greatest needs: Two models for initiation and scale-up of gynecologic oncology fellowship trainings in low-resource settings.

Women in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) are significantly more likely to develop and die from invasive cervical cancer, while rates of other gynecologic malignancies are comparable to those faced by women in high‐income countries. Despite this increased need, there are few specialist physicians in LMICs available to treat women with gynecologic cancers. Training specialists in low‐resource settings faces multiple challenges, including ensuring protected time from other clinical demands, access to best practice guidelines, training that is tailored to the specific challenges faced in the trainee's environment, and isolation from other fully trained professionals and securing support services. In addition, training specialists from LMICs in high‐resource settings is costly and return of trainees to their own country is not guaranteed. Here we describe two approaches to gynecologic oncology training in LMICs. The International Gynecologic Cancer Society (IGCS) developed the Global Curriculum Mentorship and Training Program (Global Curriculum) to support gynecologic oncology fellowships in regions of the world that do not currently have formal training in gynecologic oncology. In India, on the other hand, leaders in world‐class gynecologic oncology centers must find a way to meet the training needs of a vast and disparate country.

ACGME Milestones in global health: Need for standardized assessment of global health training in obstetrics/gynecology residency.

Collective interest in global health training during US obstetrics/gynecology (Ob/Gyn) residency has grown over the past decade. The benefits of participation in global health electives have been well described. This review seeks to determine what literature exists regarding the use of Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) Milestones in Ob/Gyn residency as an assessment tool to evaluate global health programs. The PubMed database was searched from July 14, 2020 to August 20, 2021, using six search phrases: "global health curriculum(s) and ACGME"; "international health and ACGME"; "global health and Ob/Gyn residency"; "international health and Ob/Gyn residency"; "global health and Ob/Gyn residents"; and "global health curriculum(s) and Ob/Gyn residency." Publications that described global health programming outside of residency, within other medical specialties, and/or at non-US institutions were excluded from this review. In total, 259 publications resulted from the preliminary search. Five articles described US global health residency training in Ob/Gyn in some capacity. Only one publication described a specific global health elective and its evaluation with respect to ACGME Milestones. Despite growing popularity of global health electives among residency programs, few are assessing the educational value of these offerings using ACGME Milestones or describing these efforts in the literature.

Current landscape of ESMO/ASCO Global Curriculum adoption and medical oncology recognition: a global survey

BackgroundWith the implementation of multidisciplinary treatment and development of multiple novel anticancer drugs in parallel with expanding knowledge of supportive and palliative care, a need for separate training and specialisation in medical oncology emerged. A Global Curriculum (GC) in medical oncology, developed and updated by a joint European Society for Medical Oncology/American Society of Clinical Oncology (ESMO/ASCO) GC Task Force/Working Group (GC WG), greatly contributed to the recognition of medical oncology worldwide.Material and methodsESMO/ASCO GC WG carried out a global survey on medical oncology recognition and GC adoption in 2019.ResultsBased on our survey, medical oncology is recognised as a separate specialty or sub-specialty in 47/62 (75%) countries participating in the survey; with a great majority of them (39/47, 83%) recognising medical oncology as a standalone specialty. Additionally, in 9 of 62 (15%) countries, medical oncology is trained together with haematology as a specialty in haemato-oncology or together with radiotherapy as a specialty in clinical oncology. As many as two-thirds of the responding countries reported that the ESMO/ASCO GC has been either fully or partially adopted or adapted in their curriculum. It has been adopted in a vast majority of countries with established training in medical oncology (28/41; 68%) and adapted in 12 countries with mixed training in haemato-oncology, clinical oncology or other specialty responsible for training on systemic anticancer treatment.ConclusionsWith 75% of participating countries reporting medical oncology as a separate specialty or sub-specialty and as high as 68% of them reporting on GC adoption, the results of our survey on global landscape are reassuring. Despite a lack of data for some regions, this survey represents the most comprehensive and up-to-date information about recognition of medical oncology and GC adoption worldwide and will allow both societies to further improve the dissemination of the GC and global recognition of medical oncology, thus contributing to better cancer care worldwide.

1826P Current landscape of ESMO/ASCO Global Curriculum adoption and medical oncology recognition: A global survey

With the implementation of multidisciplinary treatment and development of multiple novel anti-cancer drugs in parallel with progress in supportive and palliative care a need for separate training and specialisation in medical oncology emerged. A Global Curriculum (GC) in Medical Oncology developed and updated by a joint ESMO/ASCO GC Task Force/Working Group (GC WG) greatly contributed to the recognition of medical oncology worldwide.

Decolonising globalised curriculum landscapes: The identity and agency of academics

This article explores how academics in a higher education institution (HEI) make sense of the challenges that they encounter in a neoliberal context typified by an increasingly globalised curriculum landscape. Two key questions are explored: What are the contours of the shifting boundaries which define the ‘global curriculum’ in HEI contexts? How do academics navigate and make sense of this fluidity in an uncertain and disputed landscape? Using reflections on practice emanating from the redesign of educational courses to respond to a rapidly changing student cohort, this inquiry takes an auto-ethnographic approach, offering the perspectives of five academic staff from a UK-based HEI through the lens of their lived experiences, and acknowledging the emerging shifts in identities that they experience and the need to confront tensions in this curriculum space. We conclude that our own scrutiny of, and critical reflections on, our identity and positionality as teachers and education practitioners represent a form of decoloniality, enabling us to find ways to share what we know without excluding knowledge outside it and to welcome contributions and possibilities beyond our own experiences. In terms of how we should act, we recognise that it must be through a dialectic that does not seek cultural supremacy or sovereignty.

Towards a Global Englishes-aware National English Curriculum of China

Abstract Although researchers and practitioners have discussed the concept of Global Englishes (GE), the degree of GE’s influence in the practical use of English is much wider and deeper in the real world than in the field of education. Mainstream ELT practices tend to adhere to native and fixed norms, which are regarded as the central problems in ELT from the perspective of the GE paradigm. Although a GE-oriented pedagogy has been discussed, studies on curriculum in the Chinese ELT context from the GE perspective are relatively rare. This paper aims to investigate the extent to which the National English Curriculum (NEC) in China reflects GE-oriented phonology and cultural learning. The study adopted a content analysis in which the NEC statements on phonology and cultural aspects were identified and discussed. After reporting the findings, the paper further discusses some pedagogic implications about curriculum and language teaching from the GE perspective.

Assessment of Global Health Education: The Role of Multiple-Choice Questions.

Introduction: The standardization of global health education and assessment remains a significant issue among global health educators. This paper explores the role of multiple choice questions (MCQs) in global health education: whether MCQs are appropriate in written assessment of what may be perceived to be a broad curriculum packed with fewer facts than biomedical science curricula; what form the MCQs might take; what we want to test; how to select the most appropriate question format; the challenge of quality item-writing; and, which aspects of the curriculum MCQs may be used to assess.Materials and Methods: The Medical School for International Health (MSIH) global health curriculum was blue-printed by content experts and course teachers. A 30-question, 1-h examination was produced after exhaustive item writing and revision by teachers of the course. Reliability, difficulty index and discrimination were calculated and examination results were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: Twenty-nine students sat the 1-h examination. All students passed (scores above 67% - in accordance with University criteria). Twenty-three (77%) questions were found to be easy, 4 (14%) of moderate difficulty, and 3 (9%) difficult (using examinations department difficulty index calculations). Eight questions (27%) were considered discriminatory and 20 (67%) were non-discriminatory according to examinations department calculations and criteria. The reliability score was 0.27.Discussion: Our experience shows that there may be a role for single-best-option (SBO) MCQ assessment in global health education. MCQs may be written that cover the majority of the curriculum. Aspects of the curriculum may be better addressed by non-SBO format MCQs. MCQ assessment might usefully complement other forms of assessment that assess skills, attitude and behavior. Preparation of effective MCQs is an exhaustive process, but high quality MCQs in global health may serve as an important driver of learning.

Global Health Curricula in Ophthalmology Residency Programs in the United States

Abstract Objective The aim of the study is to investigate the design, content, and administration of global health curricula within ophthalmology residency programs in the United States (U.S.) and share the curriculum utilized in the Department of Ophthalmology at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM). Design A survey designed through the Association of University Professors in Ophthalmology platform was emailed to residency program directors at 106 accredited ophthalmology residency programs. Setting BUSM Department of Ophthalmology, Boston, MA. Tertiary clinical care. Participants Twenty-eight ophthalmology residency program directors responded, which represent 26% of the total number of residency programs in the United States. Twenty-seven programs fully completed the survey, and one program partially completed the survey. Results Of the respondents, three programs do not include global health curricula. The most common curricular elements included are: lectures (n = 15, 60%); wet laboratories (n = 10, 40%); and journal clubs (n = 9, 36%). In terms of annual frequency, global health activities occur: twice a year (n = 12, 46%); less than once a year (n = 10, 39%); or every few months (n = 4, 15%). Fewer than half of programs (n = 10, 42%) incorporate local outreach at least once a year into their program. Twelve programs (48%) do not incorporate ethics-related topics, while the 13 remaining programs (52%) incorporate them at least once annually. The most common curricular topic is surgical techniques, with manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS) being the most frequently emphasized (n = 17, 68%). Conclusion A robust global health curricula combined with a hands-on international component can contribute to a well-rounded training experience. Many ophthalmology residency programs value the importance of incorporating global health into their residents' training. The most common elements of global health curricula in U.S. ophthalmology residency programs included are teaching of surgical techniques for resource-limited settings and international electives. Further investigation into the impact of different components of a global health curriculum on both resident experience and international partnerships is warranted.

Exciting times

Lessness Heath Primary School now has the opportunity to move ahead with its global curriculum, focusing on ‘future thinking and innovation’ as its theme for the summer term. Children will also be enjoying the outdoors and building their writing skills says Emily Francis.

Improving Emirati students’ social responsibility competence through global citizenship education

Purpose The purpose of this study is twofold: to determine if implementing a global citizenship education curriculum can aid the development of Emirati students’ social responsibility competence and to experiment with different instructional strategies that aim to yield improvement in the social responsibility of students. Design/methodology/approach The intervention research study used a mixed-methods quasi-experimental approach to examine Emirati students’ social responsibility gains and overall perceptions of a global citizenship education curriculum. Conceptual frameworks for instructional design of service-learning were used as theoretical underpinnings. The data were collected from student reflections, field notes, questionnaires and interviews. Findings Both the quantitative and qualitative data indicated that the global citizenship curriculum advanced students' understanding of social responsibility and civic concepts, specifically civic awareness, social justice and diversity. Research limitations/implications For future studies, researchers are encouraged to expand the current study's five-week timeframe by exploring the implications of a global citizenship education curriculum over a full term or even a whole academic year. Practical implications The results of the present study indicate that educators should experiment with curriculum redesign to further facilitate the development of social responsibility in undergraduate students. The results also suggest that educators incorporate specific instructional strategies such as integrated reflections and intergroup dialogue on social issues. Originality/value Social responsibility and global citizenship education have broadly been based on Western paradigms. Few studies have explored the impact of global citizenship education on the development of students' social responsibility in the Gulf region. This study fills the gap in knowledge by lending evidence of the role of global citizenship education in undergraduate university programs in the Gulf.

Global Health Leadership Pathway: A Novel Approach to Global Radiology Curriculum Integration for Residents

Purpose: Our radiology residency programs are at an academic medical center in the southeastern United States and are accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). During the initial eight years of our department’s global health program, 22 residents participated in our global health collaborations with a related $31,000 in extradepartmental travel awards. Increasingly, residents applying to our program convey interest in the integration of global health into their careers as radiologists. To that end, our administration, global health faculty, and residency program directors created and approved a Global Health Leadership Pathway (GHLP). The Pathway spans all years of radiology training to provide curriculum support with the aim of ensuring that our residents have the knowledge and skills necessary to become future leaders in global health. Description: The GHLP is a residency track that residents apply to join with a related radiology clinical education, global health specific curriculum throughout all training years, integration of the RAD-AID Certificate of Proficiency in Global Health Radiology, individual mentorship, and participation with an international elective. Structured education on global radiology, epidemiology, access implications, and related methodologies give our residents the opportunity to learn best practices for sustainability in global health. Conclusion: Because of increasing interest and due to the past successful involvement of our radiology residents in global health, our department created this Global Health Leadership Pathway to give our trainees the educational resources to support their future leadership and involvement in the academic field of global health.

Children as courseware collaborators: Using participatory research to produce courseware integrating science and sustainable development

UNESCO’s 2014 report on education for sustainable development (ESD), Shaping the Future We Want, shows that there have been worldwide advances in integrating ESD into school curriculums. Although there is a global curriculum in ESD, children as the end users of the curriculum are not actively involved in constructing sustainable discourses. Cognisant of children’s role in materials development, this research investigates how teachers can collaborate with children in producing teacher-made courseware using participatory action research (PAR). The study was conducted with 37 teachers enrolled in a graduate course on second-language teaching. Its goal was to produce courseware that promotes ESD and science concepts, such as global warming and the environment. Using PAR, the children collaborated with the teachers in designing the content. Interviews, focus-group discussions and surveys show that the courseware promoted excitement, science and ESD concepts, but suggested revising and trimming some videos and reading texts.

Contact lens education for the practitioners of the future.

The World Health Organization has identified a shortage of trained human resources as one of the greatest challenges to increasing the availability of eye care services and reducing preventable visual impairment around the world. Increased prevalence of myopia and new strategies for myopia management have raised the prospect of various interventions, including contact lenses for therapeutic use as well as for refractive correction. More personnel skilled in contact lens fitting will be needed to address potential worldwide demand for these interventions. This review investigates the current status and future requirements of global contact lens education in light of these developments. The COVD-19 pandemic led educational institutions worldwide to move towards online delivery. An online survey among 546 educators, conducted in May 2020, investigated changes to contact lens education delivery before and after the onset of the pandemic. A total of 214 responses were received from 32 countries. Prior to COVID-19 restrictions, 23% of educators had conducted more than 50% of their total teaching online; however, 69% expected to conduct more than half of their teaching online by the end of 2020 and 12% anticipated 90% or more of their teaching would be online. Some 76% of educators expected to provide more online lectures after the pandemic and 63% anticipated new methods to deliver practical education. Around half were planning to introduce new teaching online platforms (54%) and more online assessment methods (53%). The global need for increasing numbers of skilled personnel points to a crucial role for educators in teaching the contact lens practitioners of the future. Contact lens education delivery was already evolving prior to COVID-19, and changes that are currently occurring may lead to permanent differences in the way contact lenses are taught in future. The International Association of Contact Lens Educators (IACLE) provides educators with a standardised global curriculum, online resources and teaching technology that could also serve as a model for wider ophthalmic education in future.