Staff Development Programmes
The Department of Medical Education regularly conducts staff development programmes for academic staff. These programmes include monthly staff development workshops and the facilitation of guest lectures and workshops by renowned medical educationists on an international scale.
The department hosts frequent workshops focused on Problem-Based Learning (PBL), Small Group Discussion (SGD) facilitation, and case development. These workshops serve as a platform for introducing innovative teaching, learning, and assessment methods, such as Best Response Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) and Task-based Learning.
In collaboration with the Medical Education Study Group, the department organizes lunchtime colloquia for faculty staff. Additionally, the department has had the privilege of hosting several international experts in the field of Medical Education, who have conducted workshops on Educational Research, Curriculum Development, and Review by invitation.
Furthermore, the Department extends its expertise by providing consultancies for workshops related to teaching, learning, and assessment methods to other medical faculties in Sri Lanka, including Kelaniya, Jayawardenapura, Karapitiya, Jaffna, and Peradeniya. It also collaborates with the Post Graduate Institute of Medicine and professional bodies, such as Colleges, Associations, and health professions training institutes under the Ministry of Health.
The Department organized the following staff development programmes this year:
| Date | Workshop Title |
| 18th January 2023 | How to do an effective lecture? |
| 20th February 2023 | Constructing OSCE/OSPE stations (Workshop with Exam Unit) |
| 13th March 2023 | Developing a power point presentation with advance features |
| 24th April 2023 | Revisiting item analysis (Workshop with Exam Unit) |
| 15th May 2023 | Uniform guidelines to prepare MCQs (For Chairpersons & Conveners of all streams) |
| 08th June 2023 | How to be an effective SGD/PBL facilitator (Small group learning facilitation) |
| 28th July 2023 | Training to serve as scrutiny expert (Workshop with Exam Unit) |
Curriculum Development
The Department actively contributes valuable and current knowledge about the curriculum to the Faculty of Medicine, Colombo, through its participation in the Curriculum Development and Evaluation Committee, which convenes monthly. Department staff members play pivotal roles in supporting the curriculum through their involvement in other units, including the Academic Standards Committee, the Curriculum Implementation Unit, and the stream and module committees.
To enhance the quality of medical education and ensure ongoing improvements, the Department collaborated with the Quality Assurance Cell to gather feedback from recent graduates who completed their studies. This feedback serves as a crucial component of the evaluation process for the current medical curriculum at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo. The insights and perspectives of these graduates are instrumental in guiding quality assurance efforts and facilitating curriculum revisions aimed at elevating the standard of medical education.
The Department obtain lecturers’ perceptions regarding the ongoing curriculum via electronically distributed questionnaires and during board meetings. The responses are qualitatively analyzed and several dominant themes are identified. Subsequently, an analysis report is submitted to the Curriculum Development and Evaluation Committee (CD & EC) meetings with the graduates’ feedback. In-depth discussions at CD & EC meetings focus on the lecturers’ feedback, and with the suggestions from the committee, a final document highlighting concerns related to the current curriculum is developed.
Regional Centre of APACPH
The Asia-Pacific Academic Consortium for Public Health (APACPH) is an esteemed international non-profit organization that consists of many of the largest and most influential schools of Public Health in the Asia-Pacific region. The Department of Medical Education has established robust collaborations with APACPH and operates as a regional center within the consortium.
Notably, the Department actively participated in hosting the annual conference of APACPH in Sri Lanka in both 2012 and 2020.
WHO Collaborating Centre
The Department of Medical Education holds international recognition as a centre of excellence in medical education. Notably, it has attained the prestigious designation of a WHO Collaborating Centre.