PROJECT - GEOSTE

Development and acceptance of international standards in undergraduate medical education have empowered Curriculum and Faculty developments, contributing to the improvement of medical education at the Institutional and regional levels. Curriculum development and implementation of integrated programs have created a demand for Medical Schools/Universities to create effective programs/projects for the development of skills necessary to teach, and to use more advanced teaching methodologies. Further professionalizing academic personnel, helping them better understand the learning, teaching process, ensures intended learning outcomes are met and standards of medical education are attained. In frames of Faculty development programs, the promotion and advancement of the teaching and interpersonal communication skills of faculty members will contribute to the effective alignment and integration of the teaching-learning methodologies with the modernized curriculum and the effective achievement of the intended learning outcomes among students. 

OSTE (The Objective Structured Teaching Encounter), as an effective model for the advancement of the teaching and interpersonal communication skills of academic staff and the promotion of their professional development, has already been tested in Western countries and the United States of America. This will be the first of this kind of project in Georgia, which will contribute to the development of new, modern approaches to staff training, as a faculty development tool, important for the full-fledged implementation of the modernized, integrated curriculum. 

Tbilisi State Medical University and Georgian American University will create a solid platform to ensure the implementation, dissemination and sustainability of the project by training of working groups in both partner universities with the direct involvement of international experts, by creating an OSTE Simulation Environment and Developing appropriate quality assurance mechanisms and embedding these in the medical school regulatory processes, and disseminating intra- and among Georgian Universities, through the creation, development, and application of a series of online Open Educational Resources, by providing cycle trainings and accurate guidelines, Involving key stakeholders regulatory bodies in the initiative.