Innovación docente: catorce años de experiencia en un curso teórico de pregrado en medicina

Background: The School of Medicine of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile implemented diverse curricular changes addressing teaching challenges, including those related to generational diversity. Aim: To describe the implementation and results of curricular innovation in the Theoretic Gastroenterology Course (CTG) imparted between 2008 and 2020. Materials and Methods: The new teaching methods consisted in the implementation of interactive sessions, research conferences, video-recorded classes, and a learning management/assessment platform. An assessment of the learning model was implemented. As bibliographic material we incorporated self-instructive material and the CTG manual was re-edited. We registered the course syllabi, evaluation surveys, and final grades. Results: Students dedicated more time to attend the course, from 12.2 hours before to 18 hours after the implementation of video lessons (p < 0.05). They reported improvements in the areas "Feedback" (from 6.2 to 6.6, on a scale of 1 to 7; p < 0.05) and "Grades" (from 6.3 to 6.4; p < 0.05), after implementing a learning model assessment. The score for "Information sources" increased from 6.5 to 6.6 after the re-edition of the manual (p < 0.05). The final grades were similar or significantly higher than the average grades of all the theoretical courses imparted in the same period. Conclusions: The CTG underwent a series of curricular modifications, allowing for a rapid adaptation to extremely dynamic academic conditions.

Las contradictorias exigencias a la Educación Superior en Chile / The contradictory requirements of university teaching in Chile

Chile should become a member of the "society of knowledge". Therefore, undergraduate curricula of university careers should be revised, to offer shorter programs that prepare for a permanent training during the whole professional life. This proposal requires an agile academic team, endowed with the adequate methodological tools, but also a contingent of interested and motivated students with comprehension and expression skills and a study discipline. This article comments on the training deficiences of students that are admitted to Chilean universities and the difficulties of university teachers to compensate this training deficiencies in order to teach their subjects in shorter lapses.