Mawdsley Andrew, Willis Sarah
Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, School of Health Science, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Room 1.135, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
Social Pharmacy Division of Pharmacy and Optometry, School of Health Science, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Room 1.29, Stopford Building, Oxford Road, M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
Curr Pharm Teach Learn. 2018 Mar;10(3):373-381. doi: 10.1016/j.cptl.2017.11.017. Epub 2017 Dec 14.
Lack of consensus regarding the benefits of an integrated curriculum, and ambiguity concerning what is being integrated within a pharmacy curriculum exists, but how an integrated curriculum is viewed, epistemologically, and subsequently incorporated into teaching practice has not been investigated. This study explores how educators conceptualize, experience and enact curricula integration both pedagogically and organizationally.
In-depth qualitative interviews with faculty members purposively sampled for maximum variation in disciplinary background and teaching experience were undertaken at a single site. Interviews addressed two research questions: how pharmacy educators understand an integrated curriculum and educators' experiences of it.
Analysis of the interview data suggests four essential meanings of integration: integration as a method for organizing teaching and learning; integration as enacted by self and others; integration as tension between conflicting knowledge domains; and integration as an impossible concept to apply to teaching practice. Analysis suggests that integration is an abstract rather than enacted concept and although integration is viewed as learner-centered, integration is complex and associated with a loss of in-depth learning.
Differences in how faculty members conceptualize the purpose and effects of integration mean that the level and type of integration reported varied. A clearer understanding of the rationale for change, and methods for better applying theory of integration to teaching practice, may be needed to achieve curriculum standards required by bodies accrediting undergraduate pharmacy programs.
对于整合课程的益处缺乏共识，并且在药学课程中究竟整合了什么存在模糊性，但是从认识论角度如何看待整合课程以及随后如何将其纳入教学实践尚未得到研究。本研究探讨教育工作者如何从教学和组织层面在概念上理解、体验和实施课程整合。
在一个地点对学科背景和教学经验有最大程度差异的教师进行了有目的抽样的深度定性访谈。访谈涉及两个研究问题：药学教育工作者如何理解整合课程以及他们对其的体验。
访谈数据分析表明整合有四个基本含义：整合作为组织教学与学习的一种方法；整合由自我及他人实施；整合作为冲突知识领域之间的张力；整合作为一个无法应用于教学实践的概念。分析表明整合是一个抽象而非已实施的概念，尽管整合被视为以学习者为中心，但整合很复杂且与深度学习的缺失相关。
教师对整合的目的和效果在概念理解上的差异意味着所报告的整合水平和类型各不相同。可能需要更清楚地理解变革的理由以及将整合理论更好地应用于教学实践的方法，以达到本科药学专业认证机构要求的课程标准。
