Please note that terms vary from country to country, as does the nature of healthcare delivery. The definitions below are not inclusive and some terms nay be subject to different interpretations in different settings.

Aims – the broad intentions of a programme of study

Appraisal - a regular review of an employee's overall contributions to the institution by his/her manager. Performance appraisals, also called annual reviews, evaluate an employee's skills, achievements and growth, or lack thereof.

Assessment – measurement of students’ progression and achievement of the declared learning outcomes. In the US this is sometimes termed evaluation. Assessment can be written, clinical, oral or computerised.

Blended learning - an education programme that combines online digital media with traditional classroom methods. It requires the physical presence of both teacher and student, with some element of student control over time, place, path, or pace. Blended learning can also be described as the process of mixing introductory didactic lectures, large group case discussions (e.g. clinicopathological cases), self-directed learning using web-based materials etc. with the traditional small group case or problem based process.

Blueprint - a map and a specification for an assessment programme which ensures that all aspects of the curriculum and educational domains are sampled by assessment programmes over a specified period of time. Blueprinting of a specific assessment ensures that the content of the assessment aligns with the learning outcomes of the programme and ensures adequate sampling across subject area and skill domains

Clinical attachment/placement/clerkship - any arrangement in which a student is present in an environment that provides healthcare or related services to patients (medical, dental or veterinary) or the public. Placements can take place in primary, secondary or community healthcare or social care settings. Students can be actively involved in patient care or they can be observing health or social care processes. Examples include: obstetrics and gynaecology ward, community dental practice, livestock farm

Cognitive integration - the facilitation of integrated understanding of the full range of basic and clinical sciences within the mind of the individual learner.

Community – in this context, it simply means outside of a hospital, including people’s homes, schools, community organisations, general practice/family medicine based outside the hospital, rehabilitation centres, community dental surgeries, farms, stables or kennels

Educational Strategy – the different reasons individual universities have for developing medical, dental or veterinary courses. These are likely to relate to the vision and mission of the school or university. The curriculum is therefore designed to meet particular needs. These may relate, for example, to fulfilling local, national or international health needs, to serving the local community, to the research interests of the faculty or to make up for a shortage of doctors locally or nationally. The educational strategy explains the reasoning behind the educational approaches which have been adopted by the school

Epistemology – By epistemology, we mean the theory or theories of knowledge underpinning the development of the curriculum. Educators’ understanding of the various forms of knowledge and patterns of knowing influence their decisions concerning content selection and its organization during curriculum design and implementation. Selecting an appropriate epistemology based on educational goals, learner development, and context helps shape pedagogy and is important for successful curriculum development.

e-learning - The delivery of a learning, training or education programme by electronic means. e-learning involves the use of a computer or electronic device (e.g. a mobile phone or i-pad) in some way to provide training, educational or learning material.

Elective – an immersive educational experience chosen by the student, that occurs early enough to help the student with career decisions. Learning objectives for the experience are determined by the student and are usually clinical in nature

Evaluation - a systematic method for collecting, analysing, and using information to answer questions about projects, policies and programmes, particularly about their effectiveness and efficiency. Thus evaluation refers to analysis of a programme. In the US, evaluation sometimes means measurement of students’ achievements and progress

External review – a process whereby an institution is subject to external validation of their programmes. This may be by a Statutory Body such as a Medical Council, a Ministry of Education or some other legal entity, or it may simply be an External Examiner appointed by the institution to comment on a programme and its assessments and provide externality and comparability with other similar institutions

Faculty development – courses and workshops for training academic and administrative staff in matters relating to education

Integration

Learning environment - The learning environment includes formal learning activities, the attitudes, values, and informal "lessons" conveyed by individuals who interact with the learners (the hidden curriculum) and the physical spaces where learning takes place.

Shochet, Colbert-Getz & Wright referring to the Johns Hopkins Learning Environment Scale quote: “The medical school learning environment (LE) comprises the physical, social, and psychological contexts in which medical students learn and grow professionally, and it influences how students develop behaviours and form identities as future physicians. The LE encompasses the student’s broadest experience of an academic institution—including the curriculum, the facilities, and interactions with peers, faculty, and staff—as well as the student’s sense of the learning climate, or institutional ethos.”

Objectives – clear and concise statements of what is intended that the student will learn by the end of a programme

Outcomes – broad statements about what the student should be able to do or demonstrate, in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes by the end of a programme

Pedagogy – the study of how to impart knowledge to students – the science and development of approaches to facilitating learning

Peer review – observation of a teaching event of one member of staff by another (peer) with subsequent constructive feedback on performance. Peer review can sometimes be reciprocal. Students can also take part in peer review.

Patient – member of the public (or animal kingdom) who may utilise the healthcare system

Primary care – the first contact and principal point of continuing care for patients/animals within a healthcare system

Professionalism - a set of values, behaviours, and relationships that underpins the trust the public has in doctors, dentists and vets. All healthcare professionals are committed to integrity, compassion, altruism, continuous improvement, excellence and working in partnership with members of the wider healthcare team. In terms of professional behaviour of students, this includes attendance, punctuality, respect Including respect for equality & diversity) and the practice of sound ethical principles.

Programme - medicine, dentistry or veterinary medicine, in this case

Project - a discrete piece of work conceived with guidance by and for the student. Student choice is the fundamental principle. The project may take several forms e.g. a clinical or laboratory research study, an evaluation of a service or specific intervention, a literature review, an audit, a survey

Quality assurance - the processes by which organisations responsible for education and training demonstrate that their programmes meet the required standards. It includes all the policies, standards, systems and processes that are in place to maintain and improve the quality of medical education and training.

Scholarship/scholarly activity - academic study and achievement at a high level. e.g. by designing and presenting quality courses, developing widely used textbooks or instructional manuals, contributing to regional and national education, publishing research related to education, being recognized by peers as a preeminent scholar, securing extramural funding to develop new curricular tools, and developing distance based learning

Scholarship of teaching and learning should result in work that is communicated publicly such as curriculum development, analysis, and outcomes assessment.

Secondary care – acute care, often but not necessarily in hospitals, for a serious illness, injury or other health conditions

Selective - an immersive educational experience, clinical or non-clinical, that a student chooses from predetermined list. Learning Objectives are usually set by the curriculum or designated committee

Standardised patient

A Standardized Patient (SP) is a person trained to portray the personal history, physical symptoms, emotional characteristics and everyday concerns of an actual patient.

Teaching/learning methodology - Methods of curriculum delivery including, but not limited to, large group teaching, small group teaching (including case based learning, problem based learning and team based learning), self-directed and independent/individualised learning