Windsor Program FAQs

[Windsor_Med_Student]

Hey Guys,

 

I am a first year med student at the Schulich Windsor Campus. I thought people out there might have some questions as to how it works. So feel free to post any questions you have and I will try to answer them.

 

The Windsor program (for preclerkship) is housed in a brand new Medical Education Building on the University of Windsor campus. The third year Schulich clerks that are based in Windsor are based out of the hospitals in Windsor. If you look around the schulich website you can probably find some photos of the building ( http://www.schulich.uwo.ca ) and here is the link to the Windsor program site ( http://www.uwindsor.ca/medicine ).

 

Here is a typical week for a Schulich student at Windsor (London does all the same things but the small groups can be on different afternoons).

 

M-F 8:30 am to 11:30 am are videoconference (VC) lectures. The lecturer is usually in London broadcasting to Windsor, but there have been a couple of Windsor to London broadcasts. VC is pretty cool and high tech. Each classroom has three projector screens at the front of the class with the powerpoint presentation on the middle one, the video feed from Windsor on the left and the video feed from London on the right. There is a microphone and a 'buzzer' for every two students in London and Windsor. To ask a question you hit this buzzer/button and you are in queue to ask a question. When the instructor wishes to answer questions, a camera zooms in on the person asking the question and the mic becomes active. The video than switches back to the instructor when they begin answering the question.

 

Depending on which block of material we are learning we will have a couple of independent learning modules, which are basically a lecture you learn by yourself at your leisure. Usually two to four per week.

 

On Monday afternoons we have community health lectures (ecosystem health, ethics, epidemiology) which are sometimes done by VC and sometimes by separate lecturers (though the same slides) in each location.

 

Tuesday afternoons are PCCIA (I am not going to explain the acronym, it is lame), which deal with biopsychosocial issues of medicine. They are either with a faculty member or clinician and are in groups of 8.

 

Wednesday afternoons we usually have a small group discussion (8 people) in pathology or pediatrics with a pathologist or pediatrician, sometimes we have Wednesday afternoons off.

 

Thursday afternoons are clinical methods (ie. physical exam, history taking) with standardized patients and clinicians. They are in groups of 4.

 

Friday afternoons are always off in Windsor .

 

So hopefully this gives you a better idea as to how it works with two campuses and if you have some questions feel free to ask!

[RandomGuy]

How objective is your viewpoint?

 

What would you identify as the pros/cons of the Windsor campus over the London campus? From what I've heard, the clerkship offerings in Windsor are excellent, but the basic science years might be more disconnected (due to VC lectures). Agree? Disagree?

[Windsor_Med_Student]

I would say my viewpoint is pretty objective. Some of my classmates have been to lectures in London once or twice and I have heard their feedback and feedback from students at the London campus. I am not here to promote one campus over the other because clearly there are pro's and con's to each campus. What I hope to achieve by answering any questions is that people get a more informed view of the Windsor campus and can make an informed decision as to what suits them best.

 

Now having said that disclaimer, clearly the answers to these questions are still my opinion, but I will be as objective as I can be.

 

VC Pro's for Windsor:

More space per student, more desk space, they are not traditional fold up desks from under the seats, you have large semi-circular tables for each row. You are not as crammed in as you are in London. It did not take that much adjusting to get used to VC lectures. Also with a room of only 24 people, it is more quiet than in the London classroom during lectures (though see below for the con). It is also easier to ask the neighbour beside you to clarify something rather than bother the professor.

 

Con's:

Knowing that the instructor cannot hear the class room means that people will sometimes get a little more chatty during a dull lecture. People also seem to be more apprehensive to ask a question when they have to do it over VC versus in person. There are people in our class who are way too shy to even ask a question, however it is probably like that in London as well.

 

Surprisingly, I wouldn't put not having an instructor infront of you as either a pro or con as I don't find much of a difference. I used to sit at the back of the class during undergrad anyways and so don't find it much different, you almost feel closer to the instructor on VC because the camera is zoomed in. However if you preferred to sit at the front of the class and really close to the instructor, you might have more of an adjustment period.

 

However, lectures are only 15 hrs/week (at most) and so majority of your time is spent in small groups where VC doesn't come into play.

 

Educational opportunity wise, it is actually a bit hard for me to come up with pro's for London. If you want to do research during the year, clearly this would be quite difficult in Windsor and so London would be a better choice.

 

The pro for London would be the social aspect if you are a really outgoing person. There are alot more medical students in London and so you can get larger scale events going. This could change next year when there are 48 students in Windsor (1st and 2nd years). If you are a more introverted person, Windsor is almost better for the social aspect because you meet, interact and know everyone inevitably.

 

In terms of which city is better, it is actually more difficult to say than most people would assume (that being London >> Windsor). Windsor has great restaurants (> than London) and a good night life (though London > Windsor) but the thing Windsor has that people don't consider is that you are 5 minutes from Detroit (but you don't have to live in Detroit yay!). This means sports teams, bigger concerts (AC/DC, Coldplay to name a few), better shopping, and things like mexican and greektown (great for food).

 

Another con is the fact that most people that go to Western are from east of London and so Windsor is two hours further from home. This is understandable, though it is nice to live in different cities (if you have already gone to UWO and lived in London for four years).

 

A big pro for windsor is the community support. London has had a medical school for probably close to a hundred years. This is Windsor's first time and they are excited. You are treated like a rock star (not actually that much of an exaggeration). Everyone wants you to be happy, fed (lots of free dinners and food!), and have everything you could possibly need at your finger tips (great staff!). They want this program to be amazing and are very determined to make it so. I have heard some negative things about McMaster's satellite campuses so far (someone correct me if i'm wrong or the opinion I heard was different than the majority), and I know Toronto is having trouble getting their Mississauga campus going but I can assure you that this is not the case for Windsor, and certainly won't be the case for the incoming class of 2013.

 

So hopefully that long and rambling post answered your question, if you have more questions or need something clarified let me know.

[ploughboy]

A big pro for windsor is the community support. London has had a medical school for probably close to a hundred years. This is Windsor's first time and they are excited. You are treated like a rock star (not actually that much of an exaggeration). Everyone wants you to be happy, fed (lots of free dinners and food!), and have everything you could possibly need at your finger tips (great staff!). They want this program to be amazing and are very determined to make it so.

 

Just to add to my colleague's point, medical students in Windsor are spoiled rotten. I did 6 months of clerkship down there. The perqs are quite nice, and the staff (Mike, Bev, Kelly, etc) go out of their way to make sure that the students are taken care of.

 

The new medical school is a really big deal for the community, especially given the troubles of the automotive industry. A lot of people really want the school to succeed and expand, and that's reflected in the way the students are treated.