Practical tips for a fast and successful transition to an online curriculum.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the following lockdown forced educational institutions to transform their face-to-face curriculum into an online programme in a matter of weeks. In this article, we present 12 tips for a successful transition based on the challenges that we faced in the Bachelor of Medicine at Amsterdam Medical Centre. These tips are divided in four main themes: infrastructure, faculty development, student engagement, and teaching activities.

Team-based learning (TBL): Each phase matters! An empirical study to explore the importance of each phase of TBL.

Context: In Team Based Learning (TBL), it is, based on theory, assumed that knowledge development in each phase contributes to the subsequent phase and to learning performance. However, there is no empirical evidence for this assumption.

Aim: In order to find support for the relation between TBL and the underlying theory, we determined to what extent each phase of TBL is associated with the knowledge development in the next phase and with the total learning performance.

Dealing with emotions: medical undergraduates' preferences in sharing their experiences.

Context: Patient care evokes emotional responses such as uncertainty, grief and pride in medical students. There is a need for opportunities to share and express such emotions because they influence students' professional development and well-being. There is a trend towards introducing mentor programmes into medical curricula.

International survey of veterinarians to assess the importance of competencies in professional practice and education.

Objective: To determine the perceived importance of specific competencies in professional veterinary practice and education among veterinarians in several countries.

Design: Survey-based prospective study.

Sample: 1,137 veterinarians in 10 countries.

Evaluating clinical teachers with the Maastricht clinical teaching questionnaire: how much 'teacher' is in student ratings?

Background: Students are a popular source of data to evaluate the performance of clinical teachers. Instruments to obtain student evaluations must have proven validity. One aspect of validity that often remains underexposed is the possibility of effects of between-student differences and teacher and student characteristics not directly related to teaching performance.

Developing an online professional network for veterinary education: the NOVICE project.

An online professional network for veterinarians, veterinary students, veterinary educationalists, and ICT (Information and Communication Technology) educationalists is being developed under the EU (European Union) Lifelong Learning Programme. The network uses Web 2.0, a term used to describe the new, more interactive version of the Internet, and includes tools such as wikis, blogs, and discussion boards.

Peer group reflection helps clinical teachers to critically reflect on their teaching.

Background: Student evaluations can help clinical teachers to reflect on their teaching skills and find ways to improve their teaching. Studies have shown that the mere presentation of student evaluations is not a sufficient incentive for teachers to critically reflect on their teaching.

Aim: We evaluated and compared the effectiveness of two feedback facilitation strategies that were identical except for a peer reflection meeting.