ABE PDC Webinar: Back to Basics: The Role of Foundational Sciences in CBME

Competency-based education is well aligned with and depends on the teaching of basic science. In this talk, I review how returning to the fundamental reasons why we teach basic science in medicine can help align pre-clinical learning with CBME. This will involve addressing perennial challenges such as integration and assessment that enhance learning. One of the most important ways of conceptualizing basic science knowledge is as preparation for the development of competency. One of the most effective methods of preparation is utilizing programmatic assessment and assessment for learning.

By the end of this talk, participants will:

• Identify how conceptual knowledge is essential to building competency
• Articulate how an integrated understanding of basic and clinical science is fundamental to CBME
• Identify approaches to assessment that align with programmatic assessment

Dr. Kulamakan (Mahan) Kulasegaram is a Scientist at the Wilson Centre and Temerty Faculty of Medicine where he is the Temerty Chair in Learner Assessment and Program Evaluation. Additionally, he is an Associate Professor and Director of the Office of Education Scholarship in the Department of Family & Community Medicine.

Mahan’s research advances our understanding of how assessment can be used to help learners develop clinical reasoning as well as how education programs can use assessment as a tool to systems and outcomes for learners. His research examines educational assessment as an opportunity to enhance learning and in particular, how to support the transfer of learning that is required to develop clinical expertise in medicine. This involves reexamining the entire context of assessment – the objectives, process, tools, learners, and assessors – from theoretical perspectives informed by psychology and educational measurement. This program of research has led to significant changes in the practice and design of assessment at multiple levels of the education continuum for physicians. The next stage of this research – supported by the Temerty Chair in Learner Assessment – is utilizing assessment big data to understand opportunities to optimize programs and their impact on learners, teachers, and eventual clinical care. He is developing models with national and international collaborators to facilitate education data sharing within and between institutions as well as identifying best practices in this new area for medical education. Notably, in 2021-22, he co-lead the development of a national consensus statement on principles for ethical and equitable data sharing governance informed by national stakeholders in medical education (www.dataconnection.ca). Mahan also conducts research in instructional design, curriculum design, as well as in admissions and selection to medical education. He is currently accepting PhD students in all of the above areas.