Nature of Disease: Pathology for Allied Health Students (original and redesign for authentic task)

The original design of this pathology course was composed of weekly recorded lectures covering the topic of pathology through various body systems. The learning activities consisted exclusively of quizzes to check the learner's understanding and of multiple summative (midterm and final) exams.

Note that the learning taxonomy graph concentrates on the lower levels of learning taxonomy (remembering and understanding) and that the original course design fosters zero 21st century skills.

Course-level Outcomes (original)

  1. Define human disease as an alteration of normal structure and function (as learned from anatomy and physiology), e.g., state that pathologic change is represented by abnormal structure and function.
  2. Correlate the concepts and underlying general pathology with specific diseases in different organ systems, e.g., inflammatory reactions are similar whether in the heart, lungs, or other organ system.
  3. For each of the organ systems delineated, e.g., the cardiovascular system, indicate the common diseases of the system, inherited, infectious, neoplastic, etc. then explain the primary features of each disease.
  4. Identify the interdependence of anatomic and functional systems, e.g., pituitary and thyroid, heart and lungs, prostate/bladder/kidney, and recognize the sequence of events when one part is affected.
  5. Define common terms used in clinical medicine and pathology and the frequently used suffixes and prefixes (e.g., -itis, -emia, dys- as in dysplasia, etc.).
Learning Taxonomy Graph (original)

 

Learning Activities and Assessments

(original)

21st Century Skills Active Learning Score
course outcomes taxonomy

View  40+ video lectures by 15 different content experts

Take weekly practice quizzes (multiple choice)

midterm and final exam (multiple choice)

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Nature of Disease: Pathology for Allied Health Students (authentic task redesign)

The pathology course underwent a redesign towards a more learner-centered design. All the lectures were kept, the quizzes were kept for learners to check their understanding, but a group assignment was added counting for 40% of the grade that spanned the entire course. The Disease Narrative Project asks learners to investigate a pathology of their choice and to apply pathology concepts learned in the course as well as independently researched knowledge to create two narratives using a digital software. One narrative explains the progression of the pathlogy in medical terminology, the second narrative explains the pathology in layman's terms. 

Course-level  Outcomes (redesigned)

  1. Define human disease as an alteration of normal structure and function (as learned from anatomy and physiology), e.g., state that pathologic change is represented by abnormal structure and function.
  2. Correlate the concepts and underlying general pathology with specific diseases in different organ systems, e.g., inflammatory reactions are similar whether in the heart, lungs, or other organ system.
  3. For each of the organ systems delineated, e.g., the cardiovascular system, indicate the common diseases of the system, inherited, infectious, neoplastic, etc. then explain the primary features of each disease.
  4. Identify the interdependence of anatomic and functional systems, e.g., pituitary and thyroid, heart and lungs, prostate/bladder/kidney, and recognize the sequence of events when one part is affected.
  5. Define common terms used in clinical medicine and pathology and the frequently used suffixes and prefixes (e.g., -itis, -emia, dys- as in dysplasia, etc.).
  6. Investigate a pathology of your choice integrating pathology terminology and concepts from lecture and independent research. 
  7. Create two disease narratives integrating pathology terminology and concepts as well as the interdependence of body systems.
    Learning Taxonomy Graph (redesigned)

    Learning Activities and Assessments (redesigned)

    21st Century Skills Active Learning Score
    lamp 4711 taxonomy graph (revised)

    Lectures

    Qizzes

    Final Exam

    Interactive Disease narrative

     

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