AAMC CI Reporting

Purpose

This page is intended to outline the configuration and setup requirements for an Elentra organization to generate compatible AAMC CI reports for submission via the AAMC CI Portal.

Current supported version of the Medbiquitious CI Standard: V. 10

Background

The AAMC encourages participitating schools to it regularly report on the school’s offered curriculum (Curriculum Inventory) by submitting a generated curriculum data file.

Schools may generate this file a number of ways, including:

  • Using an in house system to create the file

  • Using a vendor supplied curriculum management system to create the file

Schools may submit the file a number of ways, including:

  • Using an in house system to automatically upload the file to the AAMC

  • Having the vendor upload the file on behalf of the school using the AAMC Vendor CI Portal

  • The school themselves uploading the file using the AAMC CI Portal

The submitted curriculum data file is of XML file type.

References

Setup and Configurations

Organization Settings

To generate AAMC CI Reports, Elentra requires that the Organization containing the information to export have certain AAMC required fields set in the Organization settings:

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Curriculum Mapping and Hierarchy

AAMC Physician Competencies Reference Set (PCRS) Mapping

The AAMC CI report requires that Program Level Curriculum Tags (referred to as Learning Objectives by the AAMC) used and set in Elentra are mapped to a corresponding AAMC Curriculum Tag. By default, the AAMC Curriculum Tag Set is included by default, labelled ‘AAMC Physician Competencies Reference Set’.

In addition, the mapping must be done from the domain level AAMC Curriculum Tag (lowest level Curriculum Tags in Elentra).

Mapping MUST be done FROM the AAMC Curriculum Tag Set. That is, this AAMC Curriculum Tag Set selected, then for each low level item, mapped to the Curriculum Tags assigned to the Courses outputted in the report.

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NOTE: Ensure that NO Map Version is selected. Elentra will not output Curriculum Tags if mapping is done using a Map Version.

Curriculum Hierarchy Overview

The AAMC also strongly recommends that a three level hierarchy exist, and as above, AAMC domain level Curriculum Tags (i.e. AAMC PCRS) as follows:

AAMC Recommended Curriculum Hierarchy

AAMC Recommended Curriculum Hierarchy

NOTE: Not having the three level hierarchy underneath the AAMC PCRS will generate a valid CI file that passes AAMC validation, however the generated AAMC validation report will be missing certain data.

Curriculum Hierarchy Setup

The above mentioned Curriculum Hierarchy can be setup in Elentra in two ways:

  1. Individual Curriculum Tag Sets

    • Individual Curriculum Tag Sets can be created in Elentra, and the containing Curriculum Tags Mapped from the Curriculum Tag Set containing the Program Objectives, to the Curriculum Tag Set containing the Course Objectives, to the Curriculum Tag Set Containing the Event Objects

    • The resulting Curriculum Tag Mapping Report may then look like the following, where each of the bottom three levels corresponding to a single Program Objective mapped to a Course Objective mapped to an Event Objective, as examples.

  2. Hierachy Built into Single Curriculum Tag Set

    • Alternately, the hierachy can be built into a single Curriculum Tag Set, for example:

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    • In the above example, ‘Application of Basic Sciences’ would be a single Program Objective, ‘ME1.1 Homeostatis & Dysregulation’ a single Course Objective, and ‘ME1.1a’ an Event Objective

Courses and Events Objectives

Once the Curriculum Map Hierarchy is setup, Courses and Events should be assigned the required objectives. Curriculum Tag Sets for Courses and Events should only be set for those specifically.

Curriculum Tag Sets are outputted to the AAMC CI Report and assigned only one of the following categories:

  • program-level-competency: If the parent Curriculum Tag Set was selected as a ‘Program Level Objective’ OR if the individual Curriculum Tags in the CompetencyObject was mapped from an AAMC PCRS Curriculum Tag

  • sequence-block-level-competency: Not a program-level-competency, and the Curriculum Tag was assigned to the Course (whether or not it was assigned to an Event)

  • event-level-competency: Not a program-level-competency or a sequence-block-level-competency, and the Curriculum Tag was assigned to an Event but not to any Course

Therefore, if a Course Level Objective Curriculum Tag was assigned to both Courses and Events, it will only be set a category of sequence-block-level-competency. Although this type of issue will pass AAMC validation, the generated report will not contain the required information mapping Events to a Learning Objective if the Event is not associated to an Event Level Objective, and if that Objective is not mapped from a Course Level Objective, and if that Course Level Objective is not mapped from a Program Level Objective, as described above in the Curriculum Hierarchy section.

Course Objectives

Course Objectives are set in the ‘Curriculum Tags’ section of Course Administration. From this view, any Curriculum Tag can be assigned as a Course Objective:

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Event Objectives

Event Objectives are set in the ‘Curriculum Tags’ section of Event Administration. From this view, any Curriculum Tag can be assigned as an Event Objective:

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NOTE: On first use, the Filter for the Curriculum Tag Set menu may be set to ‘Course’, which limits the selection of Curriculum Tag Sets to those set in as Course Objectives only. This filter must be cleared to allow selection of Event Objectives from other Curriculum Tag Sets not set for the Course (i.e. if the Program-Course-Event hierarchy consists of multiple Curriculum Tag Sets).

Event Medbiquitous Methods

Elentra can assigned three types in Medbiquitous Methods when writing data to the AAMC CI report for each Event:

  • Instructional Method

    • Mapped for each Elentra Event Type, such that the Instructional Method written for the Event in the CI report corresponds to that set for the Event’s Event Type in Elentra.

    • Results in the Event containing sub element ‘InstructionalMethod’ for each Medbiquitous Instructional Method for each of the Event’s Event Types.

  • Assessment Method

    • Mapped for each Elentra Gradebook Assessment Characteristic if gradebook assesments are assigned to the Event, otherwise may be set manually for each Event

    • Results in the Event containing sub element ‘AssessmentMethod’ for of the Event’s selected or assigned Medbiquitous Assessment Methods.

  • Resource Method

    • Set manually for each Event

    • Results in the Event containing sub element ‘ResourceType’ for each selected Medbiquitous Resource Method.

Medbiquitous Methods can be viewed, and the Assessment and Resource Methods set manually, in the Elentra Event Content page:

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Note that one of Instructional or Assessment Method is required for the Event to be written to the AAMC CI Report.

If a Learning Event has:

  • Event Type mapped to a Medbiquitous Instructional Method AND

  • No Assessment Method assigned THEN

  • Then it will appear in the AAMC CI Report with only an Instructional Method

If a Learning Event has:

  • Event Type NOT mapped to any Medbiquitous Instructional Method AND

  • Assessment Method assigned THEN

  • Then it will appear in the CI Report with only an Assessment Method

If a Learning Event has:

  • Event Type mapped to a Medbiquitous Instructional Method AND

  • Assessment Method assigned THEN

  • Then it will appear in the CI Report with BOTH an Instructional Method and Assessment Method

Event Assessment Methods

Elentra has two ways in which an Assessment Method is set in the AAMC CI report for an Event:

  1. If a Gradebook Assessment is assigned to a Learning Event, then:

    1. The AAMC CI report will contain the Event with the Assessment Method set to that mapped for the Gradebook Assessment set Characteristic

    2. The Event Title in the AAMC CI report will contain the Assessment’s Name instead of the Event Title

    3. Any Assessment Methods set in the Event’s Content page will be added to the AAMC CI report for the Event as additional Assessment Methods

  2. If no Gradebook Assessment is assigned to a Learning Event, then:

    1. Any Assessment Methods set in the Event’s Content page will be added to the AAMC CI report for the Event as additional Assessment Methods

These two ways are made available due to the two different assumptions some schools make, where the first of the above options assumes a Learning Event is itself an Assessment in that Learners are being assessed on what they learned in the past, whereas the second assumes that the Learning Event is an Instructional one and will be assessed by the set Assessment method at some point in the future.

Report Generation

Elentra AAMC CI Report Generation Process

The Elentra platform allows the AAMC CI report to be generated by selecting Admin → System Reports → AAMC Curriculum Inventory Reporting, which opens the following page:

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Selecting to create a new report displays the following:

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FieldDescriptionRequired?

Reporting Period

Auto generated to display four calendar year periods, each from July 1st to June 30th, where the first year is calculated as follows, the the other three period being for the previous years before it:

If the current month is before July

  • First Period = July 1st in Previous Year to June 30 Current Year

Else

  • First Period = July 1st in Current Year to June 30 Next Year

Y

Report Title

Title of report being generated. Outputed to the Report itself (Title element), and displayed for the Report in the above AAMC Curriculum Inventory Reports pages

Y

Report Description

Description of report being generated. Outputed to the Report itself (Description element), and displayed for the Report in the above AAMC Curriculum Inventory Reports page

N

Supporting Link

Supporting Link describing the Curriculum. Outputed to the Report itself (SupportingLink element).

N

Academic Levels & Learners

Used to select a representative learner for each academic level. Courses and Events assigned to the representative learner will be exported to the report generated, for the selected academic level (i.e. curriculum period).

Y

Program Level Objectives

Selected curriculum tag sets as program level objectives will include them (if also selected in ‘Allowed Curriculum Tag Sets’ as program level objectives in the generated report (i.e. corresponding Competency Object containing a Category attribute 'program-level-competency’)

N

Allowed Curriculum Tag Sets

Used to limit what curriculum tag sets are included in the report as objectives. Selected curriculum tag sets must contain curriculum tags mapped FROM ALL AAMC Curriculum Tags (i.e. AAMC Physician Competencies Reference Set).

N

AAMC CI XML Report Structure

The generate AAMC CI XML Report will contain the following elements:

Element

Description

CurriculumInventory

Top level element. Must be the only top level element and contain the attributes indicating specific versions.

ReportID

Contains a uniquely generated identifier for the generate report

Institution

Contains attributes describing the institution generating the report: - InstitutionName: Contains the set organization’s ‘AAMC Institution Name’ in System Settings - InstitutionID: Contains the set organization’s ‘AAMC Institution ID’ in System Settings - Address: Contains the set organization’s address in System Settings

Program

Contains sub elements for describing the Program

Program/ProgramName

Contains the set organization’s ‘AAMC Program Name’ in System Settings

Program/ProgramID

Contains the set organization’s ‘AAMC Program ID’ in System Settings

Title

Report title as set in the AAMC CI report generation form

ReportDate

Date the report was generated

ReportingStartDate

Start date of the selected Reporting Period

ReportingEndDate

End date of the selected Reporting Period

Language

Report language. Set to ‘en-us’ by deafult in the Elentra database for each created report.

Description

Report description as set in the AAMC CI report generation form

SupportingLink

Supporting link as set in the AAMC CI report generation form

Events

Contains sub elements for each Event included in the report, corresponding to the Events assigned to the selected representative learner in the AAMC CI report generation form

Event

Contains an attribute for a Learning Event’s ID, and sub elements describing the Learning Event. Note: The ID will be in one of the following formats: - E#: Single occurance of this Event where # corresponds to

Event/Title

Learning Event’s Title

Event/EventDuration

Learning Event’s Duration, as set in the Learning Event’s Content page (Duration field)

Event/Description

Learning Event’s Description, as set in the Learning Event’s Content page

Event/Keyword

MeSH keyword assigned to the Event in the Learning Event’s Content page Note: To be able to set Keywords to Events, ensure the optional Course keywords feature has been enabled by following the steps outlined here.

Event/CompetencyObjectReference

Contains a reference to a CompetencyObject in the AAMC CI file under element Expectations. Competency Objects correspond to Curriculum Tags. Event/CompetencyObjectReference therefore refer to Curriculum Tags assigned to Events in the Learning Event’s Content page

Event/ResourceType

Medbiquitous Resource Code corresponding to set Medbiquitous Resources in the Learning Event’s Content page

Event/InstructionalMethod

Medbiquitous Instructional Method corresponding to assigned Medbiquitous Instructional Method for the Learning Event’s Event Type

Event/AssessmentMethod

Medbiquitous Assessment Method corresponding to assigned Medbiquitous Assessment Method for the Learning Event’s assigned Gradebook Assessment, or manually set in the Learning Event’s Content page (see Event Assessment Methods section above)

Expectations

Contains sub elements for each CompetencyObject and CompetencyFramework.

Expectations/CompetencyObject

Correspondonds to a Curriculum Tag. Will include each Curriculum Tag in all Curriculum Tag Sets enabled for the Organization if selected in the AAMC CI report generation form’s ‘Allowed Curriculum Tag Sets’ field. In addition, each Curriculum Tag assigned to Courses and Events will also be included, if not already included in the above retreived Curriculum Tag Sets, as long as they also belong to the allowed Curriculum Tag Sets selected during report generation. This is to ensure we don’t have a CompetencyObjectReference elsewhere in the AAMC CI xml file without a corresponding CompetencyObject here, which will result in errors on submitting to the AAMC CI portal. Each CompetencyObject is also assigned a Category: - program-level-competency: If the parent Curriculum Tag Set was selected as a ‘Program Level Objective’ OR if the individual Curriculum Tags in the CompetencyObject was mapped from an AAMC PCRS Curriculum Tag - sequence-block-level-competency: Not a program-level-competency, and the Curriculum Tag was assigned to the Course (whether or not it was assigned to an Event) - event-level-competency: Not a program-level-competency or a sequence-block-level-competency, and the Curriculum Tag was assigned to an Event but not to any Course If none of the above conditions are met, the category defaults to sequence-block-level-competency Note: Each Curriculum Tag’s nested Curriculum Tags will also be included recursively.

Expectations/CompetencyFramework

Includes sub elements for cf:Includes and cf:Relation depending on Curriculum Tag mappings to AAMC Curriculum Tags.

Expections/CompetencyFramework/cf:Includes

Corresponds to: - An AAMC domain level Curriculum Tag (i.e. lowest level Curriculum Tag in the Curriculum Tag Set ‘AAMC Physician Competencies Reference Set’) that has been mapped to a Curriculum Tag in the included Events and Course (i.e. Event and Course objectives) OR - Curriculum Tags belonging to a Curriculum Tag Set selected as ‘Allowed’ in the AAMC CI report generation form

Expections/CompetencyFramework/cf:Relation

Corresponds to a mapping from the AAMC Curriculum Tag to a Curriculum Tag set for Courses and Events

AcademicLevels

Corresponds to the selected Academic Levels (i.e. Curriculum Layouts) in the report generation form. Note: Only Academic Levels for Curriculum Layouts containing Learning Events included in the report for the selected representative learners will be included here

AcademicLevels/LevelsInProgram

Number of Academic Levels as described above

AcademicLevels/Level

Corresponds to a specific Academic Level, as described above

AcademicLevels/Level/Label

Label for Academic Level as set for the Curriculum Layout

AcademicLevels/Level/Description

Description for Academic Level as set for the Curriculum Layout

Sequence

Parent element for SequenceBlock elements

Sequence/SequenceBlock

Corresponds to a Course containing the included Learning Events in the report

Sequence/SequenceBlock/Title

Corresponds to the Course Title set in the Elentra Course Management

Sequence/SequenceBlock/Description

Corresponds to the Course Description set in the Elentra Course Management

Sequence/SequenceBlock/Timing

Contains the Course Timing elements

Sequence/SequenceBlock/Timing/Duration

Corresponds to the Course Duration in number of days. E.g. P120D refers to 120 days. Duration is calculated as follows: - Non Clerkship Course or Clerkship Course without Rotations: Duration between earliest and latest containing Learning Events - Legacy Clerkship Course with Rotations: Duration between earliest and latest Clerkship events (i.e. events in events table of legacy Clerkship database), for the Course’s rotations, within the repoting period - Clerkship Course with Rotations: Duration between earliest and latest rotation Note: AAMC Note on Start/End Dates: Start and end dates. The AAMC CI collects curriculum from the previous academic year, so to upload your CI data in August 2021, your course start and end dates will generally fall between July 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. While your CI reporting dates will be July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, it is acceptable if some content within your CI (e.g., academic levels, courses) fall outside those bounds. For example, while the academic year begins July 1, 2020, you may have clerkship courses which begin in May 2020, and you should go ahead and include this in your CI.

Sequence/SequenceBlock/Timing/Dates

Corresponds to the Course Period

Sequence/SequenceBlock/Timing/Dates/StartDate

Corresponds to the Course’s Start Date, as described above for the Sequence/SequenceBlock/Timing/Duration element

Sequence/SequenceBlock/Timing/Dates/EndDate

Corresponds to the Course’s End Date, as described above for the Sequence/SequenceBlock/Timing/Duration element

Sequence/SequenceBlock/SequenceBlockLevels

Contains the references to the Academic Levels (i.e. Curriculum Layout) for the Course, defined in the AcademicLevels element above

Sequence/SequenceBlock/SequenceBlockLevels/StartingAcademicLevel

Reference to the Starting Academic Level (i.e. Curriculum Layouts) for the Course, defined in the AcademicLevels element above

Sequence/SequenceBlock/SequenceBlockLevels/EndingAcademicLevel

Reference to the Ending Academic Level (i.e. Curriculum Layouts) for the Course, defined in the AcademicLevels element above

Sequence/SequenceBlock/ClerkshipModel

Set for Clerkship courses (i.e. Courses with ‘clinical_course’ field set, determined by the selection to the ‘Clinical Experience’ setting in Elentra’s Course Administration page). In Elentra, set to ‘rotation’ for these Courses, otherwise this element is not included at all.

Sequence/SequenceBlock/CompetencyObjectReference

Contains a reference to a CompetencyObject in the AAMC CI file under element Expectations. Competency Objects correspond to Curriculum Tags. Sequence/SequenceBlock/CompetencyObjectReference therefore refer to Curriculum Tags assigned to Courses in the Course Adminstration page.

Sequence/SequenceBlock/SequenceBlockEvent

Contains a reference, for a containing Learning Event for the Course, to an Event defined in the Events element in the report.

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Troubleshooting Submission Errors

Errors with AAMC CI files fall into the following main categories:

  • File Structure Validation

    • This is the first check done by the AAMC CI portal upon submission and ensures that major required elements exist in the CI XML file. The portal checks against a defined XSD available here.

    • Errors appear as a modal on submission, for example:

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    • These errors can be validated before submission by validating the generated CI file against the XSD using an XML validator, or via command line: xmllint --noout --schema curriculuminventory.xsd <AAMC_CI_XML>.xml

  • Business Rules Validation

    • This check is done after submission to ensure the file contents meet the AAMC’s defined CI Business Rules

    • Details on errors with a submission can be found by selecting ‘Submission error: AAMC CI Business Rules’ in the Activity History for the required school, then clicking the ‘Export’ Button.

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  • Data Issues

    • Even if the above two validations pass, depending on the data in the file, the AAMC may not process the file in a way to produce the required information for AAMC accreditation. This form of error is harder to detect and depends largely on the Elentra Curriculum Mapping configuration

  • Possible specific issues include:\

    CategoryError Message / IssuePossible Issue

    File Structure Validation

    One of ‘../CompetencyObject’ expected

    CompetencyObject references to a Curriculum Tag. Reason why this error might occur when generating a CI from Elentra include: - In the Elentra AAMC report generation form, the Course assign Curriculum Tag was not selected as a ‘Program Level Objective’ or in the selected ‘Allowed Curriculum Tag Sets’, or the Course does not have the expected Curriculum Tags assigned - Elentra does not output Curriculum Tags mapped to an AAMC Curriculum Tag, if mapping is done with a Map Version selected.

    File Structure Validation

    cvc-complex-type.2.4.b: The content of element 'SequenceBlock' is not complete. One of '{"http://ns.medbiq.org/curriculuminventory/v10/":CompetencyObjectReference, "http://ns.medbiq.org/curriculuminventory/v10/":Precondition, "http://ns.medbiq.org/curriculuminventory/v10/":Postcondition, "http://ns.medbiq.org/curriculuminventory/v10/":SequenceBlockEvent, "http://ns.medbiq.org/curriculuminventory/v10/":SequenceBlockReference}' is expected.

    A ‘SequenceBlock’ corresponds to a Course. This errors may refer to the Course not containing any included Events, possibly due to: - The Course being a Clinical Experience one, and no Events existing within the Learner’s Rotation periods This may also refer to the the Course not being assigned any Course Objectives (i.e. Curriculum Tag assignments in Course Administration within Elentra)

    Business Rules Validation

    The program-level competency object ... does not have a corresponding 'Relation' tag that relates it to a PCRS.

    - Course assigned Curriculum Tag has not been mapped from an AAMC domain level objective, which in Elentra correspond to the lowest level Curriculum Tag in the ‘AAMC Physician Competencies Reference Set’ Curriculum Tag. - Elentra does not output Curriculum Tags mapped to an AAMC Curriculum Tag, if mapping is done with a Map Version selected.

    Data Issues

    Verification Report’s Tables 6/7/9 Empty or Missing Data with Learning Objectives linked to Events or Courses

    In the AAMC Verification Report, tables 6 and 7 require that the Events are assigned Event Level Objectives, and that the three level hierarchy of Learning Objectives have been set. See section ‘Curriculum Hierarchy**’** above for more details.

    Data Issues

    Course marked as ‘Clinical’ does not contain expected Events

    Learning Events in Clinical Experience Courses are only included in the AAMC CI report if they fall within a Rotation period of the representative learner selected. If an Event falls outside that range, it will not be included in the report. Additionally, if a Clinical Experience Course does not contain any Rotations, it and it’s containing Learning Events will not be included in the AAMC CI report at all.

    Elentra Setup

    Unable to find Event Objectives to assign to Learning Events

    Ensure the Curriculum Tags filter for the Event is cleared, as opposed to being set to ‘Course’ which only displays Curriculum Tag Sets set for the Event’s Course.

    Elentra Setup

    Specific Events not found in generated CI data file and Verification Report

    Events are included if they have either an Assessment or Instructional Method assigned to them. Event’s without a valid Assessment or Instructional (i.e. Assessment or Instructional method with a valid Medbiquitous code) will not be included in the generated AAMC CI file as it would generate an error on submission to the AAMC portal.

    Elentra Setup

    No option to set Event Keywords in Elentra for inclusion in the AAMC CI Report.

    Ensure the optional Course keywords feature has been enabled by following the steps outlined here.

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