Curriculum Map FAQs
What is the Curriculum
Map?
How does the Curriculum
Map work?
What is
signposting?
How do I find relevant
educational resources?
How are the
educational resources categorised?
Who decides which
educational resources are suitable for signposting?
Why are there no
signposted resources on some parts of the Map?
How to I give feedback
or advice about a resource?
Can I suggest a new resource
for the Curriculum Map?
How can I get further
information or advice?
What is the Curriculum Map?
The Curriculum Map is a website that maps the RCGP
Curriculum for Specialty Training for General Practice to a
variety of relevant educational resources. The Curriculum Map
enables you to navigate easily through the entire RCGP Curriculum.
You can browse through the domains, learning outcomes and the
knowledge base for each curriculum statement; on each section of
the Map, you will find links to educational resources relevant to
learning that part of the curriculum – a process known as
signposting. There is also a search engine to allow you to search
the curriculum for keywords, such as key topics or conditions, and
a 'quick jump' navigation tool.
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How does the Curriculum Map work?
The Curriculum Map is a database-driven website organised with
the same structure as the RCGP Curriculum for Specialty
Training for General Practice. There are 32 curriculum
statements, each of which is split into a number of areas of
expertise, known as domains. Each domain contains a number of
learning outcomes; these describe an item of knowledge, skill or
expertise that a GP is expected to master. Many of the curriculum
statements also contain a Knowledge Base, which describes the
symptoms, common conditions, treatments and other items of clinical
knowledge that a GP is expected to learn for a particular
topic.
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What is
signposting?
Signposting is the process by which users of the Curriculum Map
are directed towards relevant educational resources that will
support them in learning or teaching a part of the curriculum. All
resources included for signposting demonstrate a specified standard
of quality and are evaluated against the RCGP’s signposting
criteria.
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How do I find relevant
educational resources?
You can find the educational resources in two ways. You can
browse through the pages to view the educational resources
signposted from each part of the curriculum, or you can use the
search facility to search for specific curriculum content.
Some resources are wide-ranging and support learning of a large
part of the curriculum; these are signposted from at the statement
or domain level on the Map. Generic educational resources (such as
those supporting the learning of a transferable skill or a broad
area of expertise) are signposted from the core curriculum
statement, Statement 1: Being a General Practitioner. Many
resources are very specific and are signposted from a single
learning outcome or item of knowledge in an individual
statement.
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How are the educational resources
categorised?
Educational resources signposted from the RCGP curriculum map
are categorised as follows:
|
Area of Interest
|
|
Learning & Teaching
|
The resource is intended primarily to support
the learning or teaching of knowledge, skill or expertise in
general practice.
|
|
nMRCGP Assessments
|
The resource is intended primarily to support
candidates undertaking the nMRCGP assessments.
|
|
Testing Knowledge or Skills
|
The resource enables the learner (or their
educator) to assess an aspect of knowledge of skill.
|
|
Training & Course Organising
|
The resource is intended primarily to support
GP educators.
|
|
Type of Resource
|
|
Advice
|
The resource is an item of written advice, opinion or feedback
received from a curriculum user.
|
|
DVD / CD
|
The resource is a DVD or DVD-ROM, CD or CD-ROM, or similar.
|
|
Educational Tool
|
The resource is a tool for facilitating learning or teaching.
Tools must be applied to educational activities and have little
information content in isolation; examples include a confidence
rating questionnaire or consultation analysis tool.
|
|
Information Resource
|
Information resources are websites primarily designed to provide
information content rather than to deliver formal educational
objectives. Key features of quality include validity, authority,
relevance, currency and accessibility of information. Examples
include an on-line medical encyclopaedia, a collection of clinical
images or a health news website.
|
|
Journal Article
|
The resource is a published article from a recognised
peer-reviewed journal.
|
|
Learning Module
|
The resource is a learning module with an identified educational
objective, a unit of instruction, selected information content, and
some form of feedback for the user.
|
|
Media Clip
|
The resource is an online video, audio, or multimedia clip.
|
|
Printed Publication
|
The resource is a printed document, book or leaflet (i.e. in
paper-based format only).
|
|
RCGP Document
|
The resource is a document formally published by the RCGP.
|
|
Resource Pack
|
The resource is a pack or collection of educational materials
suitable for supporting an educational activity.
|
|
Educational Context
|
|
Audit or Research
|
The resource is particularly suitable for use in the audit or
research process, such as a best practice guideline.
|
|
Group Education
|
The resource is particularly suitable for use in group learning
activities.
|
|
One-to-one Education
|
The resource is particularly suitable for use in one-to-one
learning activities, such as a tutorial.
|
|
Independent Education
|
The resource is particularly suitable for use in individual
learning activities, such as an e-learning module.
|
|
Use in the Consultation
|
The resource is particularly suitable for use in the
consultation; in the case of information resources, ease of access
and relevance of information content is a crucial factor.
|
| Quality |
|
RCGP Accredited
|
The resource is of very high quality and is entitled to use the
college logo.
|
|
RCGP Signposted
|
The resource is of good quality and has been successfully
evaluated against the RCGP Signposting criteria.
|
|
Unevaluated
|
Due to the nature of the resource, its quality cannot be
evaluated (for example, this applies to advice and opinion received
from curriculum users)
|
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Who decides which educational resources are
suitable for signposting?
It is important that the educational resources are evaluated in
a transparent and reliable way. To achieve this, the RCGP has
developed and published a standard set of signposting criteria.
The Curriculum Development Fellow evaluates every submitted
educational resource for relevance to the curriculum and assesses
it against the signposting criteria; if the resource is of
sufficient quality, it is signposted from the most relevant
location on the Curriculum Map. The current Curriculum Development
Fellow is Dr Ben Riley, a practicing GP with recent practical
experience of completing his GP training within the past few
years.
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Why are there no signposted resources
on some parts of the Map?
The Curriculum Map is a new way of helping GP Specialty
Registrars and GP Educators to find suitable educational resources
to support the learning of general practice. Useful resources of
suitable quality for signposting have not yet been identified for
all parts of the curriculum and in some areas these may not
currently exist. The college is developing a comprehensive
e-learning project, which will fill these educational resource gaps
in the future. In the meantime, if you come across a resource you
found useful and believe may be suitable, please let us know by
clicking here: share your experience
with others.
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How do I give feedback or advice about a
resource?
The Curriculum Map is an evolving interactive project and we
would value your input. You can give feedback or advice about a
resource in two ways. You can rate a resource for usefulness out of
5 (5 stars = very useful, 1 star = not at all useful) by clicking
on the ‘Rate this resource’ link next to the resource’s
description. Alternatively, if you would like to share your
experience about using a specific resource with other curriculum
users, or report a broken link, you can click on the ‘feedback’
link next to the resource’s description. Useful tips and advice
will be added to the appropriate part of the Curriculum Map.
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Can I suggest a new
resource for the Curriculum Map?
If you would like to suggest a resource you have found useful
and believe may be suitable for signposting from the Curriculum
Map, please let us know by clicking here: share your experience with others.
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How can I get further information or
advice?
For problems with using a particular resource, please contact
the resource provider. For any technical enquiries or difficulties
with using this website, please email the webteam. For any
enquiries about the RCGP curriculum and MRCGP assessments, please
email the
curriculum administrator.
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Dr Ben Riley
RCGP Curriculum Development Fellow
28.04.08