Course Tutors
The general objectives of the program include:
- Promoting professional development and enhancing research activity, both for trainees and instructors.
- The ethical development of learners who teach students, contributing to the cultivation of a reflective and analytical attitude toward knowledge transmission, with the ultimate goal of improving teaching practices.
- The cultivation and development of specialized postgraduate activity characterized by the enhancement of metacognitive skills, professional relevance and usefulness, and orientation toward research that produces new or redefines existing knowledge as a basis for decision-making and problem-solving in biology education.
Learning outcomes of the course
At the end of the course, students will:
- Be able to compare and contrast learning theories and apply them to various audiences in biomedical science education.
- Be able to distinguish and compare learning objectives from learning outcomes.
- Be able to design curricula for biomedical sciences at all teaching levels—secondary and higher education—based on theoretical models such as SPICES, PRISM, or Kern.
- Apply the principles of reliable, reproducible, and valid assessment according to the defined learning outcomes.
- Be able to design teaching plans that incorporate cultural empathy.
General Competences
- Search, analysis, and synthesis of data and information, using the necessary technologies.
- Adaptation to new situations.
- Decision-making.
- Independent work.
- Respect for diversity and multiculturalism.
- Practice of critical thinking and self-criticism.
COURSE CONTENT
- Principles of learning theories such as behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, andragogy, connectivism, metacognitive theory, and the role of reflection.
- The use of new technologies in the teaching of biomedical sciences.
- Basic principles governing assessment (reliability, reproducibility, repeatability), methods of developing written exams that evaluate learning outcomes, differences between formative and summative assessment, norm-referenced vs. criterion-referenced assessment, objectively structured examinations, development of grading rubrics for essay-type exams, evaluation of logs and portfolios, and examinations within certification programs.
- Teaching design strategies in laboratory environments, methods of providing feedback in professional settings, assessment approaches in professional environments, the use of reflective portfolios in professional contexts, and methods for effective supervision in workplace settings.
- Basic principles for developing learning outcomes for a curriculum; principles of the PRISM, SPICES, and Kern models; their strengths and limitations; ways to improve and disseminate a curriculum; approaches to curriculum development for large audiences; fostering professionalism and ethics within a curriculum; and methods for curriculum mapping.
- Definitions of cultural competence, Cultural Quotient (CQ), the Intercultural Competence Model, ethnocentrism and stereotypes, tools for evaluating cultural competence training, and cultural diversity in the education of biology students.