Page 4 - Goal Mission Attributes

Applying Modern Medical Curricular Basic Concepts

Course modules

Modules or packages: This term means package of some curricular topics, units, or courses. The
module can be a part of a course and can represent combination of some courses. Building
modules entails certain degree of integration according to the integration ladder. Either the

individual courses of certain skill field can contain many modules as in interviewing skills,
professionalism and clinical skills courses (each represent one skill or one competency) or some

related courses of several domains can represent a major module as in semester 7.

Credit hours system

According to the universally accepted definition, the accredited hour is equivalent to 15-18 hours

of study or lecture in the classroom, each 50-60 minutes - or 15 - 18 sessions of 100-120 minutes
or 15-18 sessions, workshops or seminars; each with a duration of 150-180 minutes. Other
academic activities shall be taken into consideration when calculating their hours.

The calculation is crucial to avoid student overload and loss of learning capacity. The maximum

number of credit hours per course must consider the time allocated for that course. Also, the
same rule for the semester. It is not allowed to put a huge number of credit hours, within a fixed
time frame of the academic day. The mire the credit hours mandates extension of the working

hours. Another paradigm is the student ability. That is the capacity to study.

The number of credit hours per semester ranges from 18 to 20 and may increase in some
practical and clinical classes to 22 or less in some classes according to the registration rules,

depending on the number of weeks of the semester, the type of courses and the number of hours
of the school day.

Self-directed learning

The new curricula adopt the self-learning strategy. The whole time in college not only for the
study, but a large part of the hours of research and self-learning and therefore leave the

appropriate spaces in the tables for self-learning within the college.

Problem-based learning

The modern medical curricula focus on the problem-based learning approach with certain
percentage (PBL). It is totally different from problem solving. The student in PBL, learn by

analyzing the problem and deciding his/ her own needs.

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