Study On The Graduate Curriculum For The Major Of Information Science

BACKGROUNDInformation Science is a comprehensive discipline which refers to the knowledge of Medical Science, the Science of Health Management, Information Science and Computer science. The following four medical colleges, China Medical College, Bethune Medical College, Tongji Medical College and Hunan Medical College, have established the major of medical Information Science as early as the mid-80's, in the 20th century. Subsequently, the major of Information Science got great development in many medical colleges in our country. Different colleges have their respective goals and unique curriculum, and have cultivated many students. However, because the develop history of the medical Information Science in China is not long, and the rapid development of information technology, which has been more and more widely applied in the medical field, bring greater challenge to the information professionals, so, we can not think the education of Information Science is successful, there are so many problem needed to resolve and much research needed to do to improve the curriculum system of the Information Science.OBJECTIVE1. Master the outline of the graduate education of Information Science in and out of our country.2. Constructing the structure of knowledge and ability of the graduate students in the major of Information Science.3. Designing the graduate curriculum for the major of Information Science based on the model of academic-programme system.METHODSThe methods of literature analysis, questionnaire survey, and expert consultation have been used to carry out the study. First of all, we have consulted a large number of related literatures in order to master the status quo of the graduate education of Information Science and the outline of curriculum. Then, we designed two different questionnaires separately used to investigate the graduates and employers. The objectives are mainly the students who graduated from Hunan Medical College, Tongji Medical College or Medical Information Institute and their employers of the graduates. 20 pieces of questionnaires aimed at graduates and another 20 pieces aimed at employers were handed out, the recovery rate were separately 90% and 80%. Meanwhile, the professors in the fields of Medical Science, Information Science, Computer Science and Health Management Science were arranged together to provide expert consultation, offer theoretical suggestions.RESULTSAfter the study on lots of literature and questionnaires, we master the status in quo of the Information Science education; have profound opinion to the structure of knowledge and ability and the graduate curriculum, detailed results are as follows:1. The education of Information Science is in the process which goes wich reform and development. There are three main difficulties faced by the discipline: first, the curriculum lacks of stabilities and systematism; second, the study fields are impacted by other discipline; third, lack of independence. Also, Information Science shows new development trends, mainly focus on the Information Technology, Knowledge Management, social application and comprehensive management.2. The graduates'knowledge and ability can't keep up with the pace of Information Age, can't combine the Information Technology with the research methods and tools of Information Science effectively. There are another two problems: emphasizing theory knowledge but lack enough practice, emphasizing major knowledge but not pay enough attention to integrated management capabilities.3. The curriculum system for Information Science is unreasonable; the curriculum reform lags behind. There are several prevalent problems: the proportion of theoretic courses and practical courses is not appropriate (88.9%), lack of flexibility (55.6%), lack of systematism (44.4%)Conclusion 1. The structure of knowledge and ability of the graduate students in the major of Information Science should be social-need oriented, and fully exert the stimulative effects of Information technology. Health knowledge, information processing capacity, information technology and integrated management capabilities should be appropriately arranged.2. The design of curriculum should be based on the cultivation objectives, fully embody the knowledge and ability that the students in the major of Information Science should master. Meanwhile, we should promote Academic-Programme System in the graduate education, optimize the graduate curriculum. We construct the graduate curriculum under the instruction of two educational models of three-dimension curriculum model and Academic-Programme System. The curriculum system mainly include three parts: the first is the core curriculum, the second is three course groups, and the third is three types of training post...