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Competency Perspective on Teaching
- Teaching/Learning Is Explicit and Clearly Aligned With Expected Competencies
The “residency experience” is rich in opportunities to learn. Rotations, however, are often hectic, and learning opportunities may be missed because of timing, confusion about learning priorities, and limited contact with patients. Often, especially early in residency training, a rotation is completed before residents recognize where to focus their attention. The same may be true for the didactic curriculum, where general topics and the “disease of the week” are presented to residents, without the outcomes or expected competencies being clearly identified.
- In CBE, teaching and learning are purposeful. They are made so by explicitly stated learning goals, defined in advance and linked with competencies. Faculty, therefore, must consider the six general competencies when planning instructional activities, and must provide clear learning objectives that link the experience with the competency.
- Explicit learning objectives linked to competencies and identified in advance of an instructional event provide focus and direction, and make clear the full breadth of expected performance for purposes of teaching and learning. For example, a competency such as communication skills, that may have been overshadowed in the past in the quest for medical knowledge, can be highlighted and integrated into clinical and didactic teaching.
- In support of CBE, research shows that students learn better when goals, instruction, and outcomes are aligned. Studies in higher education have found that providing learners with early guidance and continuing comment leads to increased learning, higher skill levels, and higher self-esteem.
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