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The purpose of this paper is to describe examples of the application of learning analytics (LA), including the assessment of subject grades, identifying subjects that need revision, student satisfaction and cohort comparisons, to program curriculum review.,Examples of analyses that address specific questions that a curriculum review wishes to address are provided, together with examples of visualizations from the analyses to aid interpretation.,The results show that using LA as a part of curriculum review can provide insights not possible with the traditional curriculum review methods and can yield useful and actionable insights.,The work in this paper illustrates another important application for LA and demonstrates the value this approach has for informing curriculum enhancement at the program level.,The analyses described provide insights not possible with traditional curriculum review methods. However, the challenge remains to develop analytic tools that can assist teachers to conduct LA independently.,LA have been used to predict grades or identify at-risk students (Gasevic et al., 2016), but there is little research on its use for curriculum evaluation (Mendez et al., 2014). This paper addresses this gap and provides examples of its application in program curriculum review and the insights it can provide.

The Bachelor of Enterprise Learning is a newly accredited undergraduate degree where connectivist principles have been used to guide design of active, student-centered learning activities. A key feature of the curriculum is that it incorporates technology as both a source of information and a tool. Examples from this course are provided in this article showing how connectivist principles can be put into practice in developing learning activities, assessment tasks, and whole subjects. These examples illustrate the value of using a framework such as this for providing consistency in subject design while still leaving scope for innovative and effective pedagogy. They also provide curriculum designers and instructors with practical examples and advice useful for the design and delivery of courses based on a connectivist approach.

Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the rationale behind the expansion of specialist psychiatry training positions outside of major public teaching hospitals, as expounded by the Australian Federal Government's Expanded Settings for Specialist Training (ESST) Program. Conclusion: Alternative training settings are required to help address the anticipated growth in numbers of medical graduates and to meet the need of psychiatry trainees for greater experience in treating high prevalence mental disorders. To progress the expansion of training settings within psychiatry, it is essential that comprehensive consultation be undertaken to understand the implications of this program for trainees, existing training facilities and expanded setting providers to ensure that all stakeholders, including patients and carers, derive benefit.

The School of Medicine at the University of Tasmania has recently begun to implement a process of curriculum evaluation,which aims to reflect contemporary best practice in evaluation in tertiary pedagogy and medical education. Best practice must accommodate a broadening interest in cooperative and collaborative evaluation strategies among stakeholders, advances in applied qualitative educational research and recognition that critical reflection on practice is the cornerstone of professional education. This paper reports a recent evaluation strategy in a specific year-long unit in the second year of a six-year undergraduate medical degree. The paper begins by presenting the context; it then discusses and rationalises the evaluation strategy and presents findings. The paper concludes by arguing that curriculum evaluation as best practice must be reflective, informed by the scholarship of medical education, and internalized as a dynamic process that can promote sustainable change and improvement in medical curricula. Such an approach will contribute to an undergraduate medical curriculum that prepares students for the demands and complexities of medical practice.

Objective: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP) is working together with the Australian Federal Government to expand the range of training experiences and settings with the object of producing better equipped and better distributed psychiatrists to address the rising prevalence of mental disorder. To assist in this process, the College sought the views of its Fellows (psychiatrists) and trainees concerning important gaps in clinical experience and the settings best suited to filling them. Method: An electronic survey was sent to all Australian RANZCP psychiatrists and trainees in June 2008. Results: Only 15% of psychiatrists and 28% of trainees responded to the survey. There was striking concordance, however, that psychological therapies required much greater emphasis and that this experience would best be acquired in the private healthcare system. Conclusions: These findings support the recommendations of the Medical Specialist Training Steering Committee's report on expanded settings, suggesting that RANZCP members are likely to engage enthusiastically in the expanded specialist training program. It will be important to ensure that trainees are well supervised in their treatment of anxiety, affective and substance abuse disorders.

Background Clinical activities that trainees can be trusted to perform with minimal or no supervision have been labelled as Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs). We sought to examine what activities could be entrusted to psychiatry trainees in their first year of specialist training. Methods We conducted an online survey of Fellows of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP). Results The majority of respondents considered initiating patients with the common medications, discharging patient suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or following a crisis admission, conducting risk assessments and managing psychiatric emergencies were activities that trainees could be entrusted with by the end of the first stage of training. Conclusions Four activities were identified that trainees should be entrusted with by the end of their first year of training. Each of these activities comprises a set of competencies in each of the CanMEDS roles. When a trainee is unable to satisfactorily perform an EPA, deficits in the underpinning competencies can be a focus for remediation. Further EPAs are being identified in areas of more specialised practice for use within more advanced training.

Many higher education institutions have implemented a learning management system (LMS) to manage online learning and teaching, with varying levels of support provided to staff and students, but often there is little subsequent investigation into the quality of the online sites or the use made of the support structures provided. This paper presents findings from an institutional survey investigating the use of WebCTby academic staff and students in their learning and teaching at a large Australian university. It was expected that student feedback would relate to technical and infrastructure issues, but instead, the survey elicited responses primarily on how WebCT was used in teaching and learning, indicating that quality control is a major issue for the University. Student opinions appear to reflect more the use of the technology made by teaching staff - students who have experienced a well-designed unit rich with resources, timely feedback and good interaction with staff reported a positive experience with the technology. Staff responses are more focused on the technical and administrative aspects of using WebCT rather than teaching issues. The findings in this paper have implications for quality teaching and learning with technology, and the way in which tertiary institutions support academic staff.

Devising pedagogical strategies that will engage students in ways which will assure the development of their skills of critique and analysis presents a challenge to tertiary teachers. This chapter draws on data from a recent case-based evaluation study to argue that innovative assessment and the development of social presence in online learning environments can contribute to developing skills of critique and analysis in tertiary students. The paper is underpinned by the belief that creative thinking about curriculum issues must continue to lead debates about tertiary pedagogy, the use of educational technologies and online learning. It concludes by posing implications for further research in pedagogical practices in tertiary settings, in particular it presents a discussion of the potential of ‘blended learning’ and ‘variation theory’ for leading such research.

The paper describes the processes and outcomes of a major curriculum innovation which was conducted by a collaborative multi-disciplinary team (nurse academics, educational developers and software developers). The paper argues that collaborative professional development in pedagogical innovation in nursing can be successfully supported by action learning as a framework for practice. In presenting this argument the paper draws on the experience of the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SNM) at the University of Tasmania in integrating high-fidelity simulation-based learning into an existing undergraduate case-based learning curriculum in the three year Bachelor of Nursing (BN).

This paper reports a qualitatively informed curriculum research project in the three-year Bachelor of Nursing (BN) at the School of Nursing and Midwifery (SNM) at the University of Tasmania. The project investigated the perceptions of second year undergraduate nurses and their academic teachers of their experiences of high-fidelity simulation using the Laerdal Vital Sim Nursing Kelly and Nursing Anne technology(2) as part of their preparation for clinical practice. An associated curriculum benchmarking audit was also undertaken. A voluntary purposeful sample of students enrolled in a clinically-based practise unit(3) participated in the research, along with a small cohort of academic teachers. The results indicated that undergraduate nursing students value the opportunity to practice nursing activities in a safe environment prior to clinical placement. Students believed that simulation is an innovative strategy that promotes active learning and has great potential for developing clinical competence and increasing confidence prior to practise. The academic staff reported a similar belief about the potential of high-fidelity simulation in a case-based curriculum. The associated curriculum benchmarking audit provided evidence to support further integration of high-fidelity simulation in the undergraduate nursing program.