Setting up a curriculum framework

A curriculum framework lets you organise your scenarios around a curriculum and track which topics your learners have covered. You can create more than one framework (for example, one for medical students and one for another programme).

A framework is made up of:

• Domains - categories within the framework (for example "Conditions" or "Areas of clinical practice")
• Topics - the individual items within a domain (for example "Cardiac failure")

Only owners and administrators can manage curricula.

Creating a curriculum

1. Go to Curriculum in the sidebar
2. Select Create curriculum
3. Enter a name
4. Select Create

You'll be taken to the framework, where you can start adding domains.

Using the MLA template

If you teach to the UK Medical Licensing Assessment, you can start from a ready-made template instead of building from scratch:

1. On the Curriculum page, select Use template
2. Choose Medical Licensing Assessment (MLA)

This creates a framework with two domains - Areas of clinical practice and Conditions - already populated with the standard topics. You can then edit or extend it.

Adding domains and topics

To add a domain:

1. Open the framework
2. Select Add domain
3. Enter a name and an optional description
4. Optionally choose another domain under Topics relate to, if topics in this domain map to topics in another (for example, conditions mapping to areas of clinical practice)

To add topics:

1. Open a domain
2. Select Add topic
3. Enter a name and an optional description

Importing and exporting topics with CSV

You can add many topics at once using a CSV file.

1. Open a domain
2. Select Import CSV
3. Download the template to see the expected format
4. Upload your file

Your CSV must include a name column, and can include an optional description column. If the domain relates to another domain, you can map topics across using the related columns shown in the template. Duplicate topic names are skipped.

To download the current topics, select Export CSV from the domain page.

Tagging scenarios with curriculum topics

Once you have a framework, you can tag scenarios with its topics. In the scenario creator, open the Settings step and use Curriculum topics to search for and add topics.

Tagging scenarios is what allows SimChat to report on coverage. See Tracking curriculum coverage.

Renaming, archiving and deleting

From a framework's Actions menu you can:

• Rename curriculum
• Archive curriculum - hides it from pickers but keeps its historical coverage data. You can restore it later.
• Delete curriculum - permanently removes the framework, its domains and its topics

Archiving is usually safer than deleting, because it preserves past coverage data.

Updated on: 24/06/2026