Implementing an online curriculum management database in a problem-based learning curriculum

Managing a medical school curriculum is a difficult challenge. The body of knowledge is large, diverse, and changing. Continuous oversight is required to ensure the proper balance of learning opportunities, to eliminate redundancies, and to fill in gaps. Within the context of the integrated problem-based learning curriculum at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), the authors describe a 2003 transition from a paper-based method of curriculum tracking to an online international database. The tool chosen, the Curriculum Management and Information Tool (CurrMIT), allows for myriad ways of entering data and structuring the curriculum, but presents unique challenges as well. The authors describe how this new tool was implemented at JABSOM, which included initial data entry by course directors, who provided close scrutiny of course content and took the opportunity to more closely align course objectives with course content. A keyword meta-data strategy was adopted to tag each curriculum element. Despite some difficulties, the resulting ease and accuracy of report generation has produced significant benefit to course directors and to the curriculum oversight committee, and has allowed even further improvement in the educational process. This strategy has been successfully adopted and adapted by other institutions.