This background led us to develop a clinically integrated course for the teachers of EBM who supervise postgraduate medical training.
The clinically integrated course consisted of five modules, each comprising self-directed e-learning components and clinically related activities, under the guidance of a facilitator (table 1).
In the process of our faculty gaining accreditation, the debate concerning the necessity for initiating an integrated course in which medical ethics course is implemented have arouse.
The applied nature of the discipline, the move towards integrated course structures, the deconstruction of discipline boundaries and increasing numbers of students seeking higher education raise issues concerning retention of subject-based discipline integrity, scope of material taught and maintenance of academic standards.
DS1 course instructors who provide evidence of integrated course materials and instruction between two or more departments or disciplines are selected to participate in the Integration Seminar.
Nineteen provided analysable data, with one providing only a blanket response for each domain that teaching took place as part of a 5-year integrated course.
A recent study at Manchester University [ 16] has shown that changing a conventional course into a new integrated course, using problem-based learning throughout, has significantly improved recently graduated students' perceptions of their preparedness for entering the professional market.
Virginia's integrated course system is possible because the business school is swimming in money, thanks in part to a series of corporate sponsorships (the first page of this course's syllabus carries a Rolls-Royce logo).
However, because of the shorter period of time, some courses in some institutions may offer fewer credits and more integrated course contents.
Definitions of the following terms are provided in Table 2 for clarification: degree program, course, theme, topic, stand-alone course, and integrated course.
Blended learning involves a combination of online and face-to-face course components, with the notion being that the elements work together as a single, integrated course [ 2, 3].
