Guest FockI'mOld! Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 I've heard that at Western you have 3-4 hrs of lecture per day. Is this true? If so, what do you do after lectures? Tutorials? Practicums? This is of interest to me because UofT has like 8-9 hrs of lecture/day and there is no way i'm putting myself through that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darla Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 I can tell you about my week as a first year student Every morning, starting at 8:30 we have lecture for 3-4 hours. On the days that we only have 3 we're expected to do "independent learning" for the 4th hour (more on that at the end). Mondays we have 2-3 hours of lecture in the afternoon on Community Health (epidemiology, environmental health, ethics). One afternoon of Tuesday-Friday we have 2 hours of small group problem based learning and one of the afternoons we have 3 hours of clinical methods. That gives us 2 afternoons a week off to do observerships, homework and catch up on our independent learning. The Independent Learning Modules are a big part of the first year curriculum. Since next September is when the satellite school in Windsor opens and the intent is to ensure the same education at both schools, there is going to be even more independent learning. The modules can be pretty quick to work through or very dense depending on your background and the material. So far they're all do-able. I think when you calculate the ILM into our week we have as many hours as Toronto, but you can pick when to do some of those hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eng_dude786 Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 thanks Darla! Was helpful. btw...do you find you do more 'group' based studying for exams and such or are you finding you have to study by yourself for these exams? 2. How do you find the work-load schedule? Any room for fun-activities or is it pretty much study and then study for the next thing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 Darla, what exactly is independent learning? Is it some sort of big research project that you work on throughout the entire year, or is it just time to read smth that interests you and then report on that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mezzamorra Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 "independent learning" means that we cover material that could be presented in a lecture but instead learn it on our own time. for some, this is as simple as reading the posted notes to study for the exam. for others, they form study groups to help each other through the material. but the material is nothing special (not a special project)- for instance, rather than receive lectures on embryology, we read posted notes and videos to teach ourselves. apparently the 'independent learning' is a mandatory component of medical school curricula now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted October 19, 2007 Report Share Posted October 19, 2007 "independent learning" means that we cover material that could be presented in a lecture but instead learn it on our own time. for some, this is as simple as reading the posted notes to study for the exam. for others, they form study groups to help each other through the material. but the material is nothing special (not a special project)- for instance, rather than receive lectures on embryology, we read posted notes and videos to teach ourselves. apparently the 'independent learning' is a mandatory component of medical school curricula now. Ah, so pretty similar to homework then, really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bustylegs Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 This is of interest to me because UofT has like 8-9 hrs of lecture/day and there is no way i'm putting myself through that. Hey: U of T doesn't really have 8-9 hours of lectures a day. In general, first years have two 2-hr dissection labs a day from Mondays to Thursdays, and one 2-hr dissection block on Fridays. The rest of the day is occupied by four 1-hr lectures. It's really not that bad considering in another 3 weeks, all the dissections will be done. Furthermore, not everyone dissect all the time and labs are interspersed with tutorials and presentations to other group memebers. Although, 8AM starts and 5PM finishes are painful some days... Contrary to public perception, there is actually ample group work involved in first year at U of T (dissection labs, determinants of community health, and arts and sicence of clinical medicine). Hope the above info helps clarify U of T's first-year schedule a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cluelesswonder Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Darla, what exactly is independent learning? Is it some sort of big research project that you work on throughout the entire year, or is it just time to read smth that interests you and then report on that? on top of what mezzamorra mentioned, we also have a small bit of independent learning work for our PBL-type sessions. each week you're supposed to do something on your own time to make you better at one of the 8 "physician roles" used by schulich (and, i believe, mirrored in the CME physician roles/competencies) including things such as physician as advocate, physician as educator, physician as scientist... etc. anything you feel like doing that fits into the role you're working on counts, and it's basically a free 5% each block for following up on something that interests you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darla Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 thanks Darla! Was helpful. btw...do you find you do more 'group' based studying for exams and such or are you finding you have to study by yourself for these exams? 2. How do you find the work-load schedule? Any room for fun-activities or is it pretty much study and then study for the next thing? I tend to do a lot of group based studying to keep myself motivated but those sessions are sandwiched by even more solitary studying. Because we're the same group all day, there's lots of gossip and chatting that can go on so group studying sometimes dissolves before all the work is covered. Some in the class work only on their own, others only in group. I'm balanced Work load is rough on me this block - immunology - but there's definitely time for fun. I spent the weekend in Toronto, up to no good. Lots of us are playing intramurals and are involved in clubs, some have jobs and families. It's not all studying-there is a lot, but it's not everything. Also, between blocks we essentially have no homework, so every 6 weeks (or so depending) we get the weekend off guilt free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted October 23, 2007 Report Share Posted October 23, 2007 Work load is rough on me this block - immunology. " "Pass the ball" "Use your noodle". Ah yes, good times. Has Dr. Colby lectured your class yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreek Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 haha that guy lectured one day in 221-2 years ago (microimmuno) pretty funny, i remember in one line he tried to convince people not to set their dreams on med school, and then in the same sentence, described it as the best job ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darla Posted October 24, 2007 Report Share Posted October 24, 2007 ""Pass the ball" "Use your noodle". Ah yes, good times. Has Dr. Colby lectured your class yet? I'm going to use my noodle to put a ball in a very uncomfortable place I think 1/4 of the class is hiding under there beds rather than showing up to be terrorized. Wimps. We have only had Dr. Colby for 2 hours so far. It gets better right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 I'm going to use my noodle to put a ball in a very uncomfortable place I think 1/4 of the class is hiding under there beds rather than showing up to be terrorized. Wimps. We have only had Dr. Colby for 2 hours so far. It gets better right? Haha, let's hope for the sanity of your class it does. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted October 25, 2007 Report Share Posted October 25, 2007 We have only had Dr. Colby for 2 hours so far. It gets better right? With Dr. Colby, what you see is what you get and you either love him or hate him. Personally I'm pretty fond of the guy. Enough of our class loved him that he was chosen to be our honourary class president, and our class has had some good times at his place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrgreek Posted October 26, 2007 Report Share Posted October 26, 2007 I was curious, what is an honourary class president? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted October 26, 2007 Report Share Posted October 26, 2007 I was curious, what is an honourary class president? At the end of first year each class chooses a faculty member to be honourary class president, and there's also one for Hippocratic Council. The duties are pretty light. We've had a couple of parties at Dr. Colby's, hit him up for some cash for a class project and he spoke at a classmate's funeral. He's also occassionally offered words of wisdom/encouragement to the class collectively and people individually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
webshy Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 I can tell you about my week as a first year student Every morning, starting at 8:30 we have lecture for 3-4 hours. On the days that we only have 3 we're expected to do "independent learning" for the 4th hour (more on that at the end). Mondays we have 2-3 hours of lecture in the afternoon on Community Health (epidemiology, environmental health, ethics). One afternoon of Tuesday-Friday we have 2 hours of small group problem based learning and one of the afternoons we have 3 hours of clinical methods. That gives us 2 afternoons a week off to do observerships, homework and catch up on our independent learning. The Independent Learning Modules are a big part of the first year curriculum. Since next September is when the satellite school in Windsor opens and the intent is to ensure the same education at both schools, there is going to be even more independent learning. The modules can be pretty quick to work through or very dense depending on your background and the material. So far they're all do-able. I think when you calculate the ILM into our week we have as many hours as Toronto, but you can pick when to do some of those hours. Are the lectures during pre-clerkship years true lecture style, similar to undergraduate courses? Is there just one afternoon of problem based learning per week? Is this session based on the topic being covered for the week? How much patient contact is there in the first two years? Is any patient contact based on you taking initiative to set up observerships/clinical electives during your two afternoons per week without class? When you are with patients, what role do you fill? Are you just observing, or do you have the opportunity to get involved? How is grading done during the first two years? Are marks (or essentially, the determiniation of pass/fail) based solely on exams, or are there assignments/presentations/etc.? How often are the exams? Are they cummulative? Thanks for your help! Elaine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gob Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 Are the lectures during pre-clerkship years true lecture style, similar to undergraduate courses? Is there just one afternoon of problem based learning per week? Is this session based on the topic being covered for the week? How much patient contact is there in the first two years? Is any patient contact based on you taking initiative to set up observerships/clinical electives during your two afternoons per week without class? When you are with patients, what role do you fill? Are you just observing, or do you have the opportunity to get involved? How is grading done during the first two years? Are marks (or essentially, the determiniation of pass/fail) based solely on exams, or are there assignments/presentations/etc.? How often are the exams? Are they cummulative? Thanks for your help! Elaine Lots of questions! Lets see if I can help... Yes, pre-clerkship is similar to undergrad in terms of lecture style. Yes, there is only one morning/afternoon of small groups learning a week ("PCCIA"), however, often blocks have small groups sprinkled throughout the block instead of lectures, so sometimes you'll have 2 or 3 small group sessions/week. The PCCIA topic is related to the block and is USUALLY related to what is covered in class that week. In clinical methods, you may have a facilitator who takes you to the hospital to do physical exams on pts, but you may also be in the clinical skills building all year practising on standardized patients. It varies. You have the opportunity to set up observerships, and most students do a few each year. What you do depends on who you are with, for example I was with a general surgeon and I just observed, but I was also with an orthopod and I assisted on a total knee replacement. Each block has 15% for PCCIA, 15% for an assignment, 30% for an end of block exam and 40% for a cumulative final exam either in June or December. Hope that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beekeeper Posted January 22, 2008 Report Share Posted January 22, 2008 Just popping in to share in the Dr. Colby love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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