Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-2020

Publication Source

Advances in Physiology Education

Abstract

Undergraduate degree programs named “Physiology” have existed for over 50 yr. The number of programs and enrolled students have been growing since ~2005 (5, 9). There are many thousands of students currently enrolled in physiology pro- grams across the United States and indeed across the world. Despite the long history and current popularity of the physiol- ogy major, there is no coordinated plan articulated for the design, administration, or assessment of degree programs in physiology at the undergraduate level.

Although several professional societies have invested in under- graduate physiology education in various ways, none has under- taken the task of developing programmatic guidelines at the level of a degree program. This paper outlines the work being done by multiple stakeholders in physiology undergraduate education in the hopes of building a collaboration among interested parties. A large-scale collaboration could result in establishing consensus national programmatic guidelines. Through coordinated efforts, we ensure that entities with common educational interests are working together, and we collectively strengthen our programs to help our students succeed.

The goals of this paper are to: 1) draw attention to the lack of national, program-level guidelines for physiology under- graduate degree programs; 2) share ongoing efforts by stake- holders in physiology undergraduate education; 3) suggest a mechanism for coordination among stakeholders; and 4) dis- cuss challenges and considerations for development of pro- grammatic guidelines for physiology programs.

Inclusive pages

602-606

ISBN/ISSN

1043-4046

Document Version

Postprint

Comments

The document available for download is the authors' accepted manuscript, provided in compliance with the publisher's policy on self-archiving. Permission documentation is on file.

Publisher

American Physiological Society

Volume

44

Issue

4

Keywords

curriculum, degree, guidelines, undergraduate

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