SPICES MODEL

1. Educational
strategies
in curriculum
development:
the SPICES model
DR.TAYYEBA IFTIKHAR

2. The Harden picked SPICES to enhance your
Curriculum
Student-centered
Problem-based
Integrated
Community-based
Electives
Systematic
Teacher centered
Information gathering
Discipline-based
Hospital-based
Standard
Apprenticeship

3. Utilization of the SPICES model
• To review the existing curriculum for improvement
• To develop a new curriculum from scratch
• To tackle specific questions related to the curriculum
• Helps in deciding the teaching methods
• The decision regarding the format of the assessment
Harden et al (1984)Educational Strategies in Curriculum Development : The Spices
Model, ASME Medical Education Booklet No. 18, First Published in Medical
Education (1984) Volume 18, No 4, 284-297

4. Student-centered
• Learners involved in
curriculum design
• Teaching content based on
learners’ agenda
• Small group teaching
• Encourage Self Directed
Learning
• Difficult to organize
• Facilitators need training
Teacher centered
• Teachers design the
curriculum
• Teaching content
prescribed by teachers on
the basis of what they
feel learners should know
• Didactic lecture
• Encourages a sit-and-
listen approach
• Easy to organize
• Lecturers

5. Supporting Factors
Increases
motivation
Emphasis
is learner
Lifelong &
Self
Directed
learning
Teachers are
familiar with
this method
Fewer
demands on
teachers’ list
of skills to be
required
Learners
are also
familiar to
this method

6. Problem-based
• Rids the irrelevance of
mounds of knowledge
• Involves patient problem
scenarios.
• An integrated body of
knowledge that is deeper
and more relevant
• Core messages of a
Discipline might be
missed
Information gathering
• Superficial knowledge
which soon becomes out
of date.
• Enables each Discipline
to convey its core
messages

7. Supporting Factors
Active
participation
Problem
solving
skills
Helps deal
with
overcrowded
curriculum
Understanding the
fundamentals and
vocabulary of each
Discipline
Logical
progression of
Concepts in a
Discipline
Learners
feel secure
Highlights
concepts

8. Integrated
• Integration between the
various Disciplines
Discipline-Based
• A learner has to find the
integration bit themselves
• Cognitive overload

9. Supporting Factors
Rationalizing
teaching
resources
Reduces
fragmentation
Communication
and
Collaboration
Teachers show
ownership of
the subject
Teachers are
used to the
method & are
more
comfortable
Learners see
departments
and decide the
career
Effective
& relevant
teaching

10. Community Based
• Direct contact with the
community they will serve
• Wide variety of conditions
at a wide variety of
stages
• Social and economic
aspects of the illness
• See patients at their
homes
Hospital Based
• See a small subsection of
the community
• See specialized diseases
in extremis
• Social and economic
aspects ignored
• No consideration of the
patient’s environment

11. Supporting Factors
Community
orientation
Experience
gained in
hospital context
Easier to
organize
Introduces
the learner
to the
health care
system

12. Electives
• Curricular flexibility
• Learner explores the field
of interest
• Explore other health care
services
• Self Directed Learning
Uniform/Standard
• The standard program
through which all must go
through
• Core experience

13. Supporting Factors
Inculcate a
sense of
responsibility
Attitude
change
Helps tackle
overcrowded
curriculum
Teachers are
at ease
No
disruption in
regular
course work
Facilitate
in career
choices Identify and
tackle areas
in which
deficient

14. Systematic
• Structured and well
defined
• Core competencies
identified
• Teaching is structured
• Better for accreditation
purposes
Apprenticeship
• Teaching is opportunistic
• Exposed to a fair
proportion of patients in a
fixed time period
• “Follow what you see”

15. Supporting Factors
Competencies
defined and
rationalized
Exposure to
variety of
health
problems
Organizational
Advantage-follow
the service
commitment of
those already
involved
Sense of
belonging
Competent
and
confident
with less
wastage of
time

16. Educating the mind without
educating the heart is no
education at all.— Aristotle
THANK YOU