National Tuberculosis Curriculum Consortium

Overview

The National Tuberculosis Curriculum Consortium (NTCC) was established in October 2003, under a multi-year contract from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (N01-HR-36157). The Consortium consists of the NTCC Core Group (see below), five curriculum centers, and 23 partner schools. The Consortium includes faculty members representing 12 medical schools, six nursing schools, and 11 allied health schools. The primary goals of the NTCC are: 1) to create an environment for designing, implementing and evaluating tuberculosis (TB) curricula; 2) to develop a network of organizations to impact TB education throughout the U.S.; and 2)  to increase access to educational and training materials for post-graduates and the public. The NTCC Core Group includes UCSD faculty members: 

• Antonino Catanzaro, M.D., Project Director
• Marguerite Jackson, Ph.D., R.N., Administrative Unit Director
• Shawn Harrity, M.D., Curriculum Unit Director
• Helene Hoffman, Ph.D., Educational Technology Unit Director
  

EdCom's Role

Under the direction of Dr. Helene Hoffman, the NTCC Educational Technology Unit Director, EcCom has been responsible for the development and maintenance of the NTCC websites and associated dateabases including:

NTCC Consortium Web Portal

• To facilitate communication and interaction among Consortium members and committees
• To support the intellectual and logistical requirements for each phase of this project: needs assessments, goals and objectives, instructional strategies and implementation plans, and final evaluations
• To serve as a repository for the development and testing o all teaching and learning materials created by the Consortium.
  

NTCC Educational Product Center <http://ntcc.ucsd.edu>  For the world-wide distribution of TB-centered instructional media including:

• Computerized Cases
  
  • Multimedia-rich, Web-based clinical scenarios.
  • Peer-reviewed clinical simulations intended to promote self-paced learning, provide interaction and feedback, and create opportunities for students to manage a wide variety of TB-related diseases.
  • Each case available in Self-Instructional format, where all reflective questions are followed by expert answers.
  • Internet-based; run from the NTCC server.
• Resource Banks - Three collections of TB-related “raw” instructional materials available for download and incorporation into any teaching context:
• Multimedia – Radiographic studies, histologic and pathologic images, and video clips.
• Question/Answer – Multiple choice questions, each with a stem and 4 foils, covering a multitude of topics related to TB. Teaching points for correct answers are also included.
• Clinical Case Descriptions – Akin to complete medical records, these patient cases have been developed for the potential teaching value of TB-related topics covered by the case material

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