VIEWS OF THE STUDENTS AND TEACHERS ABOUT THE NEW CURRICULUM ( CURRICULUM 2002 ) AND THEIR OPINION ON IN-COURSE ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

Background: The academic activities of the 1st and 2nd year MBBS students are running according to the new curriculum (Curriculum 2002). Curriculum is a series of planned activities to which the learner may be exposed in order to achieve the learning goals. But due to ongoing modifications of society, disease demography, medical science, concepts of teaching and availability of newer technique; curriculum may need to be changed. Assessment is the process of testing a student’s ability. A good assessment should be valid, reliable, practicable and objective. Without assessment the purpose of effective teaching will not fulfill. To change curricula, examination system or assessment system also needs to be changed. Though evaluation of students is an integral part of all educational processes, a suitable evaluation procedure is said to be lacking. So opinions of teachers as well as students are immensely important to develop an ideal evaluation procedure. Methodology: This cross-sectional prospective study was done in Dhaka Medical college over a period of 1 months.2nd year MBBS students( 100) and teachers of Physiology, Anatomy and Biochemistry (22) gave their opinion in this study in a mixed pattern of questionnaire ( both open-ended and closed) . Results: Majority of students( 84%) but minority of teachers opined that there was need of card completion examination as in course assessment system .Other teachers and students suggested for alternate examination instead of card completion examination like only MCQ (18%), both MCQ and SAQ (82%). Choice of venue of the examination were—tutorial class (58%), lecture class (21%), practical and tutorial class (21%). Discussion: Though present MBBS curriculum is a problem oriented scientific curriculum with modern concepts like MCQ, OSPE, SAQ and SOE; the teachers are facing a lot of problems in implementing the curriculum due to lack of orientation and shortage of manpower. Conclusion: In spite of criticisms Curriculum 2002 is a positive change in an academic field. In order to improve and update the curriculum; its planning should be constantly reviewed. 1. Professor, Department of Physiology, Comilla Medical College 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Dhaka Medical College 3. Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Comilla Medical College 4. Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Sir Salimullah Medical College 5. Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Begum Khaleda Zia Medical College 6. Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Dhaka Medical College experiences to be used for achievement of these activities. RM Harden (2001) also summed up the statement of Reggers ( 1996 ) the concept of curriculum. He explained the curriculum as “curriculum is often seen as a body of knowledge, the content of education to which the students need to be exposed. But curriculum J MEDICINE 2007; 8 : 39-43

experiences to be used for achievement of these activities.
RM Harden (2001) also summed up the statement of Reggers ( 1996 ) the concept of curriculum.He explained the curriculum as "curriculum is often seen as a body of knowledge, the content of education to which the students need to be exposed.But curriculum J MEDICINE 2007; 8 : 39-43   .

ORIGINAL ARTICLES
is much wider than a list of subjects to be studied; it is not only what you say, but also how you say it![3][4] RM Harden (2001)  g) Resources -may be person, materials.
Details of teachers and staffs should be mentioned in Curriculum.Description of teaching materials should also be included in Curriculum.Teaching materials may be-chalk, OHP, Flip-chat, Tape-recorder, slide and slide-projector, books, multimedia etc.
Curriculum is a course of study at school or university.
A curriculum a time-table, a list of contents, a list of objectives, a list of learning experience.A curriculum for the future cannot rely upon passive consumption of facts.Critical thinking and a scientific approach are imperative both for scientists and physicians.

Assessment & Evaluation:
Assessment is not only a measurement of performance but also provides an indication of the effectiveness of teaching situation and also the appropriateness of the content input.Assessment is the process of testing a student's ability.
Being involved in student assessment is perhaps the most critical of all tasks facing the teacher.Generally, teachers take such involvement quite seriously but sadly, the quality of many assessment and examination procedures leave much to be desired.Assessment may be again be classified as: • Formative and summative assessment • Norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment Formative assessment: An assessment that takes place during a course of instruction is known as formative assessment.Formative assessment is also known as progressive assessment , in-course assessment or diagnostic assessment.
Summative assessment: Summative assessment typically comes at the end of a team or course.
The Purpose of the Assessment or functions of assessment: Without assessment the purpose of effective teaching will not fulfill.To change curricula or instructional methods without changing examination system or assessment system will achieve nothing.
When faced with developing and assessment you must be quite clear about its purpose.This may appear to be stating the obvious but try asking your colleagues what they think is the purpose of the assessment with which you are concerned.We are certain that there will be a considerable diversity of opinion.Some may see it as testing the students mastery of the course content, others may see it as a way of ranking the students, and yet others as a way of encouraging students to study the content of their course.
Mehrens and Lehmann identify several purposes of assessment which may be paraphrased as follows: • Judging mastery of essential skills and knowledge (To pass or fail the students) • Measuring improvements over time.( providing feedback to the students) • Ranking students • Diagnosing student difficulties.(To guide the students) • To motivate the students • Evaluating the teaching methods • Evaluating students to study.
Evaluation of students constitutes an integral part of all educational processes.It has, now a days, become matter of continuing concern for the medical teachers as they lack a suitable evaluation procedure that satisfies all concerned.Therefore it is an urgent need to an ideal evaluation procedure which would fulfill the criteria like validity, reliability, and practicability.Teachers can assess the students' performance by adding his problem oriented records and also can assess the students by reading the notes and so can evaluate the ability to utilize information and deliver clinical care.
[7] Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional prospective study.done in Dhaka Medical College for 1 months duration.In this study all the students of 2 nd year MBBS were selected as study population.Teachers of Physiology, Anatomy and Biochemistry departments responded to the questionnaire.84 students and 22 teachers gave their opinion in this study.Mixed pattern of questionnaire (both open-ended and closed) were given to the study population.
All the study population were grouped into group A and group B. Students were included in group A and teachers were included in group B. As there were no sex variation regarding the opinion about curriculum and in-course assessment system, they were not sub grouped into male and female.Data was analyzed manually.

Results:
Results were shown in table I, II, III.This study was designed for collection of valuable opinion of the teachers and students regarding new curriculum of 1 st Professional MBBS examination and in-course assessment system so that a fruitful and positive steps could be accepted for proper running of the academic activities for the students who would appear in 1 st professional MBBS examination.For this purpose the 2 nd year MBBS students of Dhaka Medical College were selected, because they were the senior most students would be appeared in 1 st professional examination.The teachers who prepared the students to appear in 1 st professional examination were included in this study for their valuable opinion.
New curriculum 2002, is a problem oriented curriculum.This curriculum is based on scientific approach.New modern concepts have been included in this curriculum -MCQ, OSPE, SAQ and SOE.But we the teachers faced a lot of problems in implementing the curriculum.Because the number of teachers are not adequate and they are not oriented properly.Curriculum 2002 is a positive change in an academic field and we the teachers are academic field workers.Now during working in this academic field we the teachers faced many problems in relation of allocation of time and contents of the syllabus.
Present MBBS curriculum is a positive step in medical education.In implementation of any curriculum , public expectation about their health care services is considered all over the world. 3Need of the society is changing, therefore curriculum is should be changed.
Curriculum is not static it is dynamic. 4e strategies of curriculum and also the role of teachers and students in teaching-learning process for positive changes in medical education need to be reviewed and developed.
Before 2002, curriculum 1998 was running for the MBBS students.Difference between curriculum 1998 and 2002 in 1 st year and 2 nd year MBBS students are: Among 22 teachers 6(27%) teachers gave their opinion in favour of card completion examination.They suggested that card completion examination is a preparation for the term examination.This result is in consistent with that of RM Harden (2001). 1 He stated that assessment is an essential part of teaching learning process.However in our curriculum 3-term examinations are going on as formative assessment.
For this reason 6 teachers and 16 students realized that card completion examination is also a burden both for the students and the teachers.
Too much assessment would reduce the time for self preparation of the students.As the marks of the term examinations are added in Professional examination, therefore it is helpful for the students.At the same time they felt that manpower is very insufficient for proper running of the curriculum.Among 100 students 80 (80%) were in favour of card completion examination whereas 20 (20%) students are not in favour of card completion exam.80 (80%) students who were in favour of card completion examination opined that for better preparation of the term examination there should also be provision of card completion examination.whereas 20 (20%) students who are not in favour of card completion exam opined that as there is shortage of duration of the curriculum, there should not be provision of card completion examination.Repeated examination again reduce the time for self preparation of the students to appear in professional examination.

Conclusion:
Attempt of implementation of a new curriculum is a positive step in medical education.Though there are many negative criticism along with positive criticism of present curriculum, new curriculum is a positive change in medical education.As the process of curriculum planning is continuous, dynamic and never ending , review of the curriculum is always encouraged.However, in order to further improvement, update and effective, this curriculum needs constant review and revision 1. Professor, Department of Physiology, Comilla Medical College 2. Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Dhaka Medical College 3. Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Comilla Medical College 4. Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Sir Salimullah Medical College 5. Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, Begum Khaleda Zia Medical College 6. Associate Professor, Department of Physiology, Dhaka Medical College

Table I
Table showing the knowledge of the students about curriculum 2002

Table II
Opinion of the students in continuing the provision of card completion exam as in course assessment test.

Table III
Opinion of the students about alternate examination system instead of existing card completion examination.