A theory of change approach to curricular revision: filling a curricular gap identified through curriculum mapping

Curriculum mapping enables continuous quality improvement of the medical curriculum by identifying where and how frequently specific knowledge, skills and attitudes are taught and assessed within an educational program. However, once curricular gaps and redundancies have been identified, selecting and implementing strategies for revising the curriculum can be challenging.

Here we describe how we filled a curricular gap using a Theory of Change (ToC) model to create a framework and process for curricular revision.

Working backwards from our long-term goal of assuring that our graduates meet each of our educational program goals, the ToC approach prompted us to recognize and articulate implicit assumptions that underly our curriculum. It also helped guide us in identifying both the resources available for developing new curricular interventions and the strategies for filling the gap within each phase of our medical curriculum. Finally, the ToC framework required that we specify the short-term and medium-term outcomes for curricular revision, including new assessments that would confirm that all our students meet each of our educational program goals.

Developing a Theory of Change model for curricular revision has multiple advantages: it makes explicit the planning for curricular change, it facilitates communication with curricular stakeholders, and it benchmarks the progress of curricular revision.