I am part of the group of academics who led the curricular reform process that led to the current UNSW Medicine program. I played a particularly significant role in designing and refining the scenario-based-learning approach that characterises Phase 1 of the medicine program. I also based my own doctoral research project in scenario-based learning. I am part of the first group of facilitators who taught within the scenario-based-learning approach since 2004. I built on this experience and conducted research to examine and improve the program. 

Developing students’ skills in teamwork and self-directed learning: I adopted specific strategies to enable students to develop the relevant learning skills to benefit from the ‘scenario-based-learning’ (SBL) approach. As our attempts to ‘teach’ these skills were found to be of limited value, I collaborated with the phase 1 convenor at the time to design the ‘Teamwork group project’. This was initially trialled in one course and, due to its success, was taken up by other courses. The value of this work is highlighted by this comment:

"The development of a challenging but popular group project ... and several other innovations in the assessment offerings. Having read many student portfolio essays, I am struck by the number who mention this group project as being pivotal in focusing learning and ‘bringing it all together’.” (Referee report ALTC Citation nomination)

Drawing on this experience, I developed two variants of this project. One was designed specifically to guide commencing Phase 1 students in their first assessable course (following foundations). This activity requires students to take a self-directed and collaborative approach to their SBL activities. The focus of this project on both the process of learning and on development of interactional capabilities is one of its most valuable features. This is now a routine inclusion in the relevant Phase 1 course (BGDA). The second variant extends the above project and is designed for groups that include senior students in the mixed 1st and 2nd year groups. The project requires students to apply concepts from a given scenario to an alternate scenario, thus develops their skills in integrating and applying content knowledge. Following the success of these projects, the Phase 1 committee recommends that all students should complete the teamwork group project during the Phase. Student group reflections highlight the impact of this project:

“Honing our teamwork and effective communication skills through this project will prove to be beneficial in the future since these are essential skills when working in multidisciplinary healthcare teams” (P2-HMA 2014)

This work was submitted for peer review and was accepted for publication on MedEd Portal, the peer-reviewed portal for educational innovations that is coordinated by the Association for American Medical Colleges. The publication is available at this link: Innovative Assessment That Combines Collaborative and Self-Directed Learning With Integration and Application of Knowledge: Teamwork Group Projects | MedEdPORTAL