Does the curricular change of GMU improve the students' perceptions of educational environment?

ABSTRACT

Gulf Medical College, United Arab Emirates, underwent a major curriculum change from a discipline-based to an organ system-based integrated curriculum. There was no knowledge about the educational environment in the institution, both before and after the change. In this context, the present study compared students' perception of the educational environment in the discipline - based curriculum with that in the organ system-based integrated curriculum. Data was collected from second year students [Group 1] in discipline-based curriculum and in the subsequent year from second year students in integrated curriculum [Group 2]. The instrument used was the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure [DREEM] questionnaire. Collected data was transferred to PASW-17 for analysis. Global, domain and individual item scores were assessed with Wilcoxon Rank Sum test. In addition, data from second, third and fourth year students in the discipline- based curriculum gave the global DREEM score for the school. The global DREEM score was significantly higher [p<0.001] for Group 2 [135/200] when compared to Group 1 [116/ 200]. Both groups unanimously perceived a positive educational as indicated by the domain scores. Although Group 2 showed significantly more satisfaction, they perceived an over-emphasis of factual learning and a problem of cheating. The global DREEM score for the school before the curricular change was 120/200. The study shows that the organ system- based integrated curriculum is perceived to provide a better educational environment than the discipline based curriculum. The DREEM questionnaire identified the weakness and strengths of our newly introduced integrated curriculum. Analysis of individual items identified the teachers' medical knowledge and competence as our strength. Reduction of core curriculum and introduction of new assessment strategies have emerged as areas of remedial interventions: