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CLM-40192 - Module Specification
School of Medicine
Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 04 December 2025

CLM-40192 - Principles of Curriculum Design and Assessment
Coordinator: Karl Gimblett Tel: +44 1782 7 33061
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 7
Credits: 30
Study Hours: 300
School Office: 01782 733928

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

This is a core module on the MSc Clinical Education programme. The module will enable the student to link the principles of curriculum design with assessment practice to design curricula that use the relevant assessment strategies to assess knowledge and competence which align with ILOs, teaching and learning.
The student will design a curriculum with a programme of assessments and chair an emendation (quality) panel to develop their assessments design.

Aims
Students will build on their knowledge of curriculum and assessment and start to develop new curricula and assessments relevant to clinical education. Students will distinguish between different types of curricula and appraise development models, identify the educational needs of learners and the competences required by regulators and stakeholders as applied to health profession courses.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Distinguish between different types of curriculum and critically evaluate curriculum development models: 1
Critically appraise different learning strategies and apply them to a curriculum: 1
Critically evaluate assessment strategies used for assessing knowledge and competence: 2
Design and justify, for a novel educational programme, a programme of assessments: 3
Design a curriculum and justify the constructive alignment between ILOs, teaching and learning and assessment strategies: 3
Interpret the roles of stakeholders in curriculum and assessment design and evaluate their role: 2
Use guidelines, frameworks and psychometric data to design assessment items to assess part of a curriculum: 1,2,3

Study hours

Synchronous activities -emendation panel, assessment tasks - 20 hrs
Asynchronous activities - discussions and online activities- 40 hrs
Curriculum design activity – 20 hrs
Independent study - learning resources, reading, - 100hrs
module assessment design and development – 120 hrs

School Rules

Undertaken module covering the basis of assessment practice - for example CLM-40188 (previously PAR-40023) or equivalent

Description of Module Assessment

1: Essay weighted 50%
Design a curriculum, providing a rationale and justification for your decisions
Using a known model as a structure, students will design their own curriculum for an educational context of their choice. Students will critically evaluate their curriculum, reflecting on the rationale and justification for the decisions they have made in the design of their curriculum. Theoretical concepts will be applied in order to discuss the merits of their design and highlight potential areas for development. Underpinning concepts of learner needs, aims, learning outcomes, educational climates and educational environments should be appropriately included in the critique: 3000 words.

2: Exercise weighted 20%
Design assessment items aligned to an aspect of your curriculum
Design assessment items (both written or practical based), worth 20 exam (or equivalent) marks using psychometric data and an appropriate evidence base that aligns to your designed curriculum

3: Presentation weighted 30%
Present the alignment of your curriculum and assessment items and chair an emendation session to develop your individual
Present the alignment of your curriculum design and assessment items to justify your designs and set out the context of your assessment item(s). This will be a brief presentation to set the context for the assessment items. You will then chair a 45-minute emendation session (including teaching staff and all module students) to develop your individual assessment item(s) for your curriculum. The emendation session will emulate the quality assurance processes required by health professions regulators for assessments.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 04 December 2025