Educational Methodology

The Importance of a Shared Language 

A standardized vocabulary serves as a common language that allows for comparison of data across institutions and over time, providing a basis for identifying patterns, trends, and gaps. This important information can be used in decisions about teaching, learning, assessment, curricular content, quality and program improvement, and accreditation. Documenting curriculum is an existing or emerging accreditation requirement across health professions education (HPE), providing an opportunity to synthesize language to aid in reporting and analysis of national trends. 

To facilitate this, standardized vocabulary needs to adapt to current conditions while remaining flexible enough to accommodate institution-specific terms. It should also be broad enough to reveal patterns across institutions tracking the delivery and assessment of learning activities. A standardized list of terms to facilitate reporting of aggregate data related to curriculum content and pedagogy was developed by the MedBiquitous Curriculum Inventory Working Group Standardized Vocabulary Subcommittee and last updated in 2016. Since 2023, we have embarked on a multi-faceted approach to updating the MedBiquitous standardized vocabulary list of instructional methods (IM) and assessment methods (AM) to:  

• Better reflect current trends in curricular delivery and assessment,  
• Provide flexibility for local mapping needs,  
• Streamline and clarify terms,  
• Support competency-based education, and  
• Enable better accreditation alignment across HPE. 

About Educational Methods 

Educational methods are the various instructional and assessment approaches that educators use to facilitate learning and enhance engagement.  

 All health professions programs need to document how they teach and assess their curricular content. This documentation serves many functions:

• Providing insight for an institution’s program evaluation and continuous quality improvement processes, 

• Assessing readiness to meet accreditation standards,  

• Communicating within and outside the institution about the curriculum,  

• Enabling competency-based and precision education by connecting student performance data to learning contexts and aligning instruction with assessment 

• Consistent documentation of educational methodology, i.e. using standardized terms and definitions, supports individual institutions and helps facilitate national dialogue. 

Project Goals, Overview & Timeline 

Recognizing the importance of a shared language for consistent and up-to-date documentation, MedBiquitous and Curricular Resources partnered on a multi-year project to update the terminology to better reflect the realities of today’s HPE. We sought to:

• Leverage HPE expertise through a collaborative, community-engaged process, 

• Ensure alignment with accreditation while maintaining flexibility, 

• Focus on instructional and assessment methods for early impact, 

• Eliminate redundancies and low-value categories, with an “Other” option for emerging practices, 

• Develop a scalable, matrixed framework where key attributes (e.g., learner type, assessor role) function as independent tags. 

To achieve these goals, we employed a multi-step approach from 2023 to 2026 to support informed decision-making, promote inclusivity across the health professions, and reflect evolving trends in teaching and learning. Key activities included: 

• Review of Curriculum Inventory data (2013–2023): Analysis of more than 10 years of data to identify underutilized terms that could potentially be removed 
• Literature review: Examination of emerging methodologies and trends to further refine the vocabulary 
• National survey (October 2023 – May 2024): Collection of 583 responses from the HPE community 
• Survey analysis: Identification of key issues, including over- and under-use of terms; conflation of methods with settings, tools, technologies, and roles; inconsistencies across instruction, assessment, and resources; and gaps such as overlapping terms, limited definitions, and missing elements 
• Working group development (2024–2026): Leveraged these insights to inform the development of a revised, more relevant taxonomy 

In Fall 2024, an interprofessional working group was established. Chaired by Julie Youm, PhD, MA, MS, of the University of California, Irvine, the group brought together representatives from across HPE to revise and support implementation of an updated standardized vocabulary for educational methods. 

The working group was organized into three subcommittees—Definitions, Accreditation, and Matrix Model—led by Lori DeShetler, PhD; Katie Maietta, MPPM; Nancy Adams, MLIS, EdD; and Spencer Harpe, PharmD, PhD, MPH, FAPhA. Drawing on expertise in curriculum, assessment, educational technology, accreditation, industry, and implementation, and representing the full continuum of HPE, members collaboratively revised the vocabulary to reflect current needs.

This working group brings together representatives from across the HPE continuum to review, revise, revise and support the implementation of an updated educational methods standardized vocabulary list, primarily focused on instructional and assessment methods. Representatives across health professions, professional organizations, and industry ensure the broad applicability of this work. Health professions representatives include those from medicine (MD and DO representatives), nursing, pharmacy, osteopathic medicine, and others.

Utilizing key principles, the working group ensured that the revised taxonomy focused on methodology, was closely related to accreditation needs, provided clarity and flexibility, and could be implemented to support institutions’ varying reporting needs. In spring 2026, an implementation pilot was launched to connect directly with industry partners to proactively integrate the revised terms and structure into educational technology products. With early access to the draft terms, private feedback sessions with working group members and other engagement opportunities, implementation pilot participants engaged in an important feedback loop back to the committee to strengthen the work.

Emphasizing alignment, interoperability, and future implementation readiness, the working group is engaging the broader community, industry stakeholders, and complementary standards initiatives to promote shared understanding and reduce fragmentation across the educational data ecosystem. Updates have been shared through community forums, webinars, conference presentations, and more. Together, these efforts aim to strengthen common vocabulary, improve data utility, and better support educational operations, accreditation processes, and research across the continuum.