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DEAN’S MESSAGE
School of Medicine Update:
New Curriculum Students Graduating
By Francisco González-Scarano, MD
The first students to complete four years of a dynamic new cur- cation of those sciences. Courses such as biochemistry or physi-
riculum at the School of Medicine at the UT Health Science Cen- ology are no longer taught as stand-alone disciplines, but rather
ter San Antonio will graduate this spring. The new curriculum is in relation to systems in the body as part of organ system-based
called “CIRCLE,” which stands for “Curricular Integration: Re- modules. In this way, the basic sciences come alive to students as
searchers, Clinicians, Leaders, Educators.” Led by Vice Dean for clinically relevant information.
Undergraduate Medical Education, Florence Eddins-Folensbee,
M.D., and Associate Dean Deborah Conway, M.D., its prepara- The new curriculum is heavily reliant on technology. Stu-
tion took two years and involved hundreds of hours by multiple dents are able to access the vast universe of medical information
teams from throughout the School. Continuously refined since its at their fingertips at any time. There are electronic textbooks
launch in 2012, students are now getting a medical education that and syllabuses; calendar feeds tell the students where they need
emphasizes active learning in an experiential setting, a model fol- to be and what materials belong in that session. Blog posts and
lowed by the top medical schools in the country. online chats provide ways to discuss content. Examinations are
administered electronically, giving faculty the ability to more
CIRCLE represents a completely different way of looking at readily provide individualized feedback on student strengths
medical school education. The 225 students graduating this May and weaknesses.
will have completed a medical education unlike anything most
of us experienced as medical students. They will have assumed Students benefit from tools that present content in a more in-
more direct responsibility for their education and spent fewer teractive, user-friendly format. For example, a “flipped class-
hours in lectures, all within a coordinated format that focuses the room” means the material previously conveyed in lectures is now
content and brings a higher degree of engagement. given to the students for learning on their own. A professor is
able to record a lecture that students can watch as a streaming
Throughout the medical school experience, each student par- video online, pausing and reviewing again as needed. These vir-
ticipates in faculty-facilitated group learning teams that serve as tual desktop lectures mean they can stop at any time to research
an accountability tool, a learning modality and a model for the questions in their texts, with the faculty member, or each other.
team-based world of clinical practice. Now, our students’ first pa- In class, they are then able to discuss the material with the pro-
tient encounter takes place in the first week of school instead of fessor and other students to deepen their understanding of the
the end of their second year or later, as was the case in the tradi- material and its implications.
tional Flexnerian curriculum. The School now also requires stu-
dents to undertake extensive preparation before a class or Through an online platform that serves as a guided reading ex-
group-based learning activity. With this active format, students ercise, faculty members can present material in a way that each
are able to apply knowledge at a higher level in their first two student can follow at their own pace, but with a variety of tools
years of instruction. built into the materials such as learning aids, pedagogic tech-
niques and quizzes. Innovative methods such as these let students
By using a systems-based approach the curriculum integrates learn on their own while still receiving the guidance and facilita-
formal knowledge and clinical experience, teaching basic sciences tion of faculty members.
to students while simultaneously exploring the real-world appli-
Team-based activities teach students that team-work is not only
32 San Antonio Medicine • March 2016
