25experience may not be within the budgetary constraints of a residency training
program. However, a live animal hands-on, robotic surgery teaching laboratory offers
a less costly experience and allows more residents to participate in learning opportu-
nities with a single model that provides the valuable teaching environment of pulsa-
tile tissue handling and management. Important basic robotic surgery skills can be
taught effectively with both the cadaveric and live animal models. More detailed
discussion on simulation and skills lab is addressed in another chapter.
Once the educational issue has been clearly identified, it is next important to
determine what finite resources can be directed toward developing and implement-
ing an applicable solution or developing a curriculum. Demonstrating the feasibility
of the curriculum development will then lead to the establishment of goals and
objectives specific to the curriculum.
Goals and Objectives
An educational goal describes the “real-world” performance the learners can expect
to exhibit once they have completed the curriculum. Educational goals describe the
overall learning outcome. Subsequent objectives, methods, and evaluation proce-
dures are directed toward achieving the goals. Broad educational goals communi-
cate the overall purposes of a curriculum and establish criteria for various
components of the program.
Ideally goals should describe overall outcomes and be stated in terms that clearly
define the expected learner outcomes of the curriculum. It is intuitive, but important
to ensure, that the goals are realistically attainable by the completion of the curricu-
lum. Goals are usually stated in terms of the knowledge, behavior, and/or attitudes
the learner will acquire by completing the course of training. They describe the real-
world behaviors that are expected to be used by the learner.
Some examples of goals that could be associated with a urology curriculum
include:
- Perform a thorough urological history and physical examination.
- Recognize the presenting symptoms of pyelonephritis.
- Articulate the staging and associated treatment options for bladder cancer.
While goals are often expressed in somewhat vague terms, curriculum objectives
must be very specific. Educational objectives are descriptive statements that are
precise and measurable in terms of what the learner will be able to do at the end of
the instructional sequence within the curriculum. The well-written objective
delineates the audience for whom the objective is intended, outlines the observed
and/or recorded behavior of the learner, and defines the conditions of the observed
behavior and the degree to which a behavior must be performed. It is often best to
consider how the learner will be tested to determine if they have actually achieved
the knowledge, behavior(s), and/or attitudes that are expected from completing the
curriculum when writing objectives. It is the objectives that would let any group of
3 Curriculum Development