Learning Management Systems for Outcome-Based Education

CHED Memorandum Order 18, series of 2016

The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Memorandum Order 18 implements the shift to outcome-based education in 2016, so that medical education in the Philippines can become more socially accountable to the health needs of the population.  It specifies program outcomes expected of Doctor of Medicine graduates.  Hence, faculty of different medical schools revisited their curriculum to develop the most effective teaching strategies to adapt to outcome-based education.





Outcome-Based Education

In February 2018, the Association of Philippine Medical Colleges (APMC) held its 51st annual convention at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila (PLM).  The theme was “Medical Education in Challenging Times” and there were discussions about e-learning strategies, whether to adapt or adopt and the role of the professional quality framework (PQF) in harmonization in the Asean region.  There were break out sessions where faculty from different schools shared how they used learning management systems, whether as a repository of learning materials or in examination or as venues for constructive discussion.  This was a chance for us to reflect on whether we need to adapt an e-learning strategy for our school and to what extent.


Flipped Classroom

Last month, we were lucky to have Dr Iris Thiele Isip-Tan over in Cebu to talk to us about the "flipped classroom".  Traditionally, our classes consist of long lectures and students are assigned homework to submit on the next school day.  In the flipped classroom, content input is provided as homework, such as a video to watch online or reading assignments prior to class.  It then allows us to maximize our time in the classroom to supervise the student’s work, addressing questions and difficulties, which is the most crucial part of learning.  This alternative teaching strategy seems to sit well with our students, as evidence by a research paper conducted by our students where their preferred learning style was solitary (independent study time) and their preferred teaching strategy was alternative methods/small group discussions.  This pedagogy is most consistent with outcome-based education where direction is student-centered with emphasis on evidence of outcomes in objectively verifiable indicators.

Learning Management Systems like Moodle

Just this week, we were privileged to be able to attend the MoodleMoot Philippines #MootPH18 at the Manila Hotel.  We met Mr. Martin Dougiamas, the creator of moodle, an open-source learning management system which has been used by the University of the Philippines since 2003 (according to Dr Iris Thiele Isip-Tan).  Admittedly not a techie myself, but willing to learn and try new things, I learned a lot about the possible advantages of using moodle for medical education - foremost it is free of charge to use for small classes of 50 students and it is user-friendly for non-millenial technologically challenged faculty.  There were also moodle users who presented researches showing that gamification improves student motivation and that learning management systems using videos improve retention and increase test scores.