OTC AcademicProgram

Curriculum

Upon acceptance into the program, each entering student is assigned an OTC faculty member who is responsible for mentoring the student. They meet regularly to review the Learning Plan for educational activities to be undertaken as part of the OTC program.   All students are required to take at least one summer institute and participate in a research or policy practicum offered by the OTC as part of their learning experiences for the program (see specific learning experiences offered below).

Students choose additional course work and other learning experiences organized by the OTC faculty to round out their education and ensure that they possess the conceptual understandings and skills needed to be a competent, entry-level health services researcher. With acceptance into the OTC Type 2 Diploma Program or Collaborative Program (at the University of Toronto), the student gains access to OTC faculty members from other programs to serve as members of their thesis/project committee. They may also invite an OTC faculty member from another university to join their supervisory committee or may invite a member of the policy-making community to sit as the fourth member of the thesis committee.

The OTC local site director and the OTC Curriculum Committee review student learning plans to ensure students can meet the OTC competencies by completing the learning experiences proposed. This learning plan review also provides important information about the learning needs of OTC students and enables the Curriculum Committee to plan special experiences needed by students (e.g., using mechanisms such as local symposia or lecture series) or to design additional summer institutes, if required. It is also a mechanism to ensure that equivalent expectations are set within and across OTC sites for the types and amount of learning required to achieve the competencies required.

Learning experiences specifically offered as part of the OTC Program

Specific learning experiences planned as part of the program include:

Summer Institutes : These institutes are one week learning events held at one of the six universities participating in the OTC during the summer months and require students to do prior preparation and follow up work under the guidance of their OTC faculty mentor.   Institutes allow to bring OTC students together from all participating universities to meet and discuss important issues in health services research with distinguished faculty and policy makers. All OTC program students are expected to attend at least one summer institute that is planned by OTC faculty and led by them and other relevant experts. Summer Institutes are equivalent to a half (or one term) course.

Research Practicum : The OTC program student will spend at least 200 hours with a health services research team and develop skills in the development of a research project including selection of design, sampling strategy and measurement; ongoing data management and analysis; and presentation and discussion of results with stakeholders. All Diploma students who have not had this experience are expected to do a research practicum. Students will be assigned to research teams led by OTC faculty for this experience.

Policy Practicum : The student will spend at least 200 hours in a policy/decision-making environment working with stakeholders in the health care system to better understand that environment, how to relate to it, and how to communicate effectively with other stakeholders in the health care system.   All OTC students who have not had this experience are expected to do a Policy Practicum.   OTC policy maker partners have indicated they are willing to provide these experiences.

All students are required to do at least one practicum. They may do a research or policy practicum, depending on the types of competencies that they need to acquire. Some will require both the policy and research practicum.   Each practicum is seen as the equivalent of a one-term course.

Courses : The OTC Curriculum Committee, composed of representatives from each university, has reviewed the list of courses taught at each university that are seen as relevant to one or more competencies required of a health services researcher. This course review has identified which courses are available to students generally,   which courses are available only after taking other prerequisite courses, and which are available only to students within a specific program (e.g., law, social work).   The language of course instruction (English and French) and whether the course is currently offered by distance or has the potential to be offered by distance has also been reviewed. This process has served two purposes: to identify OTC course development needs and to provide guidance to OTC students and their mentors about courses available to them at their university or at other universities under the Ontario Visiting Graduate Student (OVGS) program.   The cost of OTC students' participation in the OVGS program is revenue neutral for the sending university. (The OTC will reimburse any imbalances that occur if a participating university sends more students as part of the OVGS program than it receives).

All courses developed by OTC faculty to meet specific identified needs are submitted for approval to the appropriate graduate school committees at the universities in this consortium. In some cases, OTC faculty will offer the new course only to students at their home university.   This is an example of a course developed because a large need exists at the university and the expertise also resides there; the OTC provides the opportunity for collaboration in course development and sharing of course materials across universities but no inter-university collaboration occurs in teaching the course. Some courses are taught by distance education (to expand the capabilities of each university to offer a course when expertise resides in only one or a few of the partners). In this latter case, an instructor from the home university may also be assigned to the student(s) from that university to ensure each student has the opportunity to discuss concepts and clarify issues with a local faculty member as well as participating in asynchronous discussions with the lead instructor and other OTC students through distance learning.   The OTC provides opportunities for collaboration in course development, sharing of materials and faculty expertise across universities in this latter type of course. The centre has recently developed eight new web-based courses and converted other three existing courses into distance education modality.

Supervision of Thesis/Project/Final Paper : The OTC works with the degree program in which student are enrolled to identify OTC faculty from a range of disciplines who have knowledge and skills relevant to a given student's work and are suitable members of the supervisory committee. The OTC faculty may also be external examiners of theses for students at other sites.

Mentorship : Each student accepted into the Diploma by the local OTC site is assigned an OTC faculty member as a mentor. If the thesis supervisor is an OTC faculty member, he/she will be the mentor. If the OTC faculty member is not the thesis supervisor, the OTC mentor shares the learning plan with the supervisor and may meet with the student and the supervisor to ensure that good communication exists at all times.

Other experiences : Each site may also develop seminar series, a special symposium and/or other learning events that are needed to support the development of specific competencies among enrolled students.

Evaluation of student learning

Each learning experience that students undertake for the Diploma or Collaborative Program is evaluated. Courses are graded using the usual grading system of the university where the course is taught.   Students are required to establish goals for each practicum, provide a summary of their activities, and evidence that they have accomplished the goals initially set.   Practicum experiences are monitored by the student's OTC mentor and graded on a distinction/pass/fail basis. Student participation in summer institutes is also graded on a distinction/pass/fail basis by the OTC institute faculty, who are charged with reviewing the work done by all students, including information from institute instructors about the quality of the student's participation, grading written work assigned before and after the institute, providing feedback to the student, and reporting their evaluation to each site director. Supervisory committees routinely monitor students' progress on their thesis/project.

The student is required to maintain a learning portfolio containing all evaluations from faculty for courses, practica, and summer institutes.   When all objectives have been met, the student submits this portfolio to the OTC Admissions Committee who also serves as a Graduation Committee and verifies that the student has accomplished all learning objectives as identified in the learning plan and may be awarded the Diploma.

Requirements for the Diploma, Course Equivalencies, and Expected Completion Time

A student must satisfactorily complete all aspects of the individual learning plan to be awarded the Diploma or the equivalent Collaborative Program qualification.   Most students enrolled in the Diploma or Collaborative Program participate in learning experiences that are the equivalent of two or more full courses to obtain the competencies needed for an effective, entry-level health services researcher. A few students may need more than three full course equivalents to achieve this level. A few exceptionally well-prepared students may have achieved the competencies required for the Diploma after completing the equivalent of 1.5 courses.

Summer Institutes, Research Practicum, and Policy Practicum are equivalent to a half (or one term) course each. Courses may be half or full courses.   The minimum requirement for the Diploma is 1.5 course equivalents.   Most students usually complete the Diploma in 2 terms or their equivalent.   The maximum completion time for the Diploma is 4 terms or their equivalent.