The Office of Curriculum and Educational Development (OCED), a division of Academic Affairs, is a central resource for educational activities at Weill Cornell Medical College. The main mission of OCED is to work with faculty to ensure that the curriculum continually evolves to meet the learning needs of students who as physicians will be leaders in clinical practice, biomedical research, healthcare administration, and medical education.
OCED is directed by the Associate Dean of Curricular Affairs assisted by an Associate Director and an Administrative Manager who have offices in the Weill Education Center. Within OCED, basic science courses and clinical courses are supported by curriculum coordinators and several staff secretaries. OCED also runs a curricular support center staffed by a clerk who distributes course-related materials to students and faculty. A liaison office coordinator and assistant coordinate videoconferences and curricular materials used by WCMC-Qatar. OCED also has an evaluation coordinator, who is responsible for implementing student surveys, data collection, and preparation and distribution of reports to course directors and faculty teachers and a clerkship coordinator who works with clerkship directors to identify and assess curricular needs as well as monitoring and reporting needs for internal and LCME accreditation purposes. In all activities OCED seeks to foster an educational partnership between students and faculty.
Curriculum Implementation, Course Administration, and Curriculum Evaluation
OCED serves as a resource to enhance the smooth administration of courses, working collaboratively with course directors, course module leaders, and library professionals. Our staff assist in the recruitment of faculty to teach courses, assignment and scheduling of course activities, distribution of course materials to faculty and students both on course websites and in hard copy version, access of faculty and students to electronic and print-based course materials, administration of exams, and maintenance of a database on student assessment (e.g. quiz grades, small group assessment forms, course grades). Staff also assist in coordinating student transportation to clinical sites and fieldtrip locations.
OCED supports the faculty and staff in Qatar by ensuring that they are able to deliver our curriculum effectively by providing all the curricular materials for each course, including recorded lectures. In addition, we assist in recruiting selected faculty in New York to participate in videoconferenced sessions to provide live interaction with the students in Qatar.
OCED staff members provide support to the major curriculum committees including the Core Basic Science Committee (CBSC), Clinical Curriculum Committee (CCC), the Faculty and Evaluation Committee (CFEC), and Advanced Biomedical Sciences Committee (ABS) and course design groups of the medical college.
OCED plays a major role is assisting students and faculty in evaluating the curriculum. OCED staff help faculty course directors and module leaders design survey questions to evaluate courses and clerkships. In addition, a full time coordinator implements the online surveys for all required courses and clerkships, compiles the data and prepares reports for faculty teachers and course leadership.
OCED staff have played a major role in curricular mapping design and development. OCED’s basic science and clinical curriculum offices coordinate data collection for an online searchable curricular map (curricular inventory) that documents the principal topics and learning objectives at a session-based level for all required courses and clerkships. OCED staff have prepared detailed inventories of curricular topics across courses in specific disciplines (e.g. nutrition, pharmacology, microbiology). OCED staff have also worked with faculty and students in new curricular design and assessment initiatives. For instance, staff have directed and/or advised student led initiatives to assess lecture quality and improve the pedagogy and methods of student assessment in PBL.
The director and associate director also provide academic counseling to students with a focus on study skills, test-taking strategies, and when indicated, arrangement for tutoring in specialized subjects.
OCED interfaces closely with event services and web-based services to facilitate education center activities, including presentations involving audiovisual modalities, education center computers, and printers.
