Enjoy.
Showing posts with label Success strategies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Success strategies. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
FAQ's: MCAT Vol 1: Schedule, Books, & Verbal
1) There are MCAT study plans found all over the Internet, especially studentdoctor.net. Some of the plans call for the Berkley Review Books. I plan on taking a Kaplan review course and intend on using my Kaplan books instead. Your thoughts?
First, it is great that you are planning your MCAT schedule so far ahead of time. This will allow you to adjust fire well in advance from your official first day of studying. Here are some tips in regards to your questions.
Schedule: I downloaded a few of the suggested calendars from that same website. Based on our email traffic, it looks like you will be devoting a little more than two months of full-time MCAT studying. This is plenty of time. I started studying in mid-May and took my exam August 4th. It wasn’t until about 3 weeks into my routine that I felt I really had a groove going. I wonder how much better my score would have been had I acquired better study methods earlier. I suggest you use those schedules as reference but don’t let them dictate your daily learning. Use them as a guide only.
I found that having unscheduled days mixed in REALLY helped. They allowed me to do nothing but review past problem sets, go over notecards again and again, and go back to a chapter or two that I didn’t perform well on the Q & A’s that followed. It is one thing to learn the material and press on; it is another to be able to recall that material two weeks later with at least 75% proficiency.
Books: You will be fine substituting the Kaplan books for the Berkley books. I used Kaplan but have seen both and they are similar. My recommendation is to purchase the complete Exam Krackers book set (includes one book for each subject and an additional book on strategy and mental math), EK’s 101 Verbal Passages, and EK’s 1001 questions for each topic. Do problems, problems and more problems. If you incorrectly answer several questions on spring tension, pendulums, frequency, and time, make notecards of the formulas and concepts and then tab that page. Go back and do those problems as your warm up the next day and then do the online Kaplan test bank for those problems.
2) What resources did you use (books, study guides, group study, Kaplan online vs. in person)?
Keep in mind; all this is my opinion here. I found that the online Kaplan course was good for one thing and one thing only: online question banks. Everything from full-length practice exams, subject matter exams, small quizzes, stand-alone verbal reasoning exams, etc. can be found on their database. I wasted my time with the “online tutorials” for about a week and that got old really quick. It was a PowerPoint with audio that went along with the main learning objective text they issue you. Use that book as a paperweight and don’t waste your time on the “online lessons.”
I never attended the in-person Kaplan review course, nor did I have the cash flow for that. I’ve heard mixed reviews with the two following being the most common:
“Waste of time,” and “This is a good program if you are a procrastinator and need someone to keep you on schedule.”
See my answer to number 1 for my thoughts on the EK books. These are phenomenal! In fact, as was recommended to me and I’m recommending to you: review the EK subject matter books along with your undergraduate courses to see what the MCAT is testing. For example, for Chemistry 2, those equilibrium and I.C.E. charts take plenty of time and calculations that would be near impossible without a calculator (logs, natural logs, etc.) are abundant. There is no calculator use allowed on the MCAT so it is a good idea to learn the “mental math short cuts.” EK books will teach you this.
I studied alone. However, if I knew someone who was taking the exam around the same time as me, I would have preferred chalk talking some concepts every other night. Also, see my blog post in-regards to Coursesaver.com. I used this site as a supplement to my studies.
3) What Verbal Reasoning strategies worked best for you?
Ahhh, good old Verbal. This section is a beast and is NOT to be taken lightly in any way. The only way to get better at verbal is to keep doing verbal. You need to do all the passages in the 101 EK book, all stand-alone verbal exams through Kaplan online, and every verbal on the full-length practice exams.
Each company has their own method of success. I can’t remember the intricacies of Kaplan but taking notes and jotting down main points…you won’t have time for that. The pace is fast and furious and the questions will leave you guessing between the last two best sounding answers more often than not.
Not including the days that I took full-length exams, I did a stand-alone verbal test every other day. I started my morning off with them. The verbal exams should take about an hour. Then take ten minutes to relax and then review the entire exam. This review will take longer than an hour. I made notes of what types of questions I was getting wrong and why I thought I was missing information. Read the questions and all the wrong answers and WHY they are wrong. You will be able to learn what mistakes you are making and make an effort to correct this.
You’ll know what I mean when you start taking the verbal. By exam day, I read each passage with my feet flat on the ground, my left hand touching the side of the monitor screen (as if that was feeding some neurological connection between the passage and my understanding), and highlighting some key phrases using my mouse with my right hand. I sat with my back straight and had my face about 18 inches from the screen. This kept me as in-tune with the passage as possible. Anyone who hasn’t taken the verbal section and is reading this is probably thinking, “whatever dude,” anyone who has taken the verbal exam is laughing with agreement. This is not reading comprehension. The passages are challenging and the questions are vague, sometimes have double negatives, and are designed to make you second-guess yourself.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Question: Recommended Board Exam Books while in medical school?
I know all our schools are going to have different required and recommended text books for all of our subjects. However, any input on review books for the STEP exams would be greatly appreciated. Also, do you recommend reviewing these board review books while in the didactic portion of medical school? Reason I'm asking is because I'm a M1 and I won't be taking my step for about 22 months from now.
PJ GS
//BREAK//
PJ Checky said the following:
- First and foremost, make sure you prioritize the core notes to your school lectures and all reading assignments assigned by your professors.
- In addition, be sure to prioritize First Aid Step 1 from the first day of school. Continually reference it and compare and contrast what it says with what you are learning in lecture. DO NOT BLOW THIS OFF, if you do you will regret it come time to study for step 1.
- I suggest that you purchase a year subscription to a Q bank such as
- Almost forgot a must have book, Robins path. Make sure you have this and study it. I highly suggest that you get the review book that goes with it and use it religiously. This will also ensure your success on the step 1.
- Additional books such as BRS, Goljans, Costanza physiology, clinical microbiology, and case files are all good books but make sure you don’t go book crazy. You will have more than enough material to read and buying too many books wont help you. You will just have a pile of books that you never have time to read.
- I suggest that you prioritize those class specific books and the others that I mentioned. If you need additional resources then dig into BRS ect.
PJ Checky
//BREAK//
PJ Golf Sierra said the following:
Do you know if there are major differences between the annual installments of the First Aid Step 1 book? I see 2011 and 2012 versions.
I know there is a BRS for each subject, which ones did you end up using?
Did you find the same organizational methods that worked for you in pre med worked in medical school? I usually kept a binder for each subject and tabbed it out with lecture notes, book notes, problem solving, case studies, lab reports, etc. Your thought?
Which online Q bank did you like the best?
PJ GS
//BREAK//
PJ Checky said the following:
By the time you begin actual "official" step 1 study you will want to get the latest version of first aid. An older version will work fine for your first year though. The problem is that you would have to wait until the January of your second year to get the latest version, so just get what they have and begin now.
It is dependent on the individual as to which BRS you should get. I think I used psych, physio, neuro, and micro, but I only used them as adjuncts. Never had time to actually read through all of them.
Absolutely no way you can use your same study/organizational methods that you used in pre med. There is just too much info to get through and not enough time to do anything else but study. It usually takes 4-5 months of your first year before you can figure out a new study method in med school. You will see what I mean soon. If you spend time tabbing, organizing and reviewing things to the point of mastery you will quickly be way behind the class. You eventually have to get used to the fact that you can never know all that you want to or need to know about a lecture. You basically have to read, learn, study to get the main points and move on to the next lecture and do the same. A lot of info.
PJ Checky
Monday, March 21, 2011
Study Strategies During Medical School
Studying in medical school is different than any other studying you have done before. This is just a fact. This is true because of the amount of information thrown at you each day. It has nothing to do with difficulty, in fact 98% of medical students are well prepared for the level of difficulty and its not a matter of trying to “understand” concepts. The difficult part is absorbing all the information and then retaining it. 4 to 5 lectures a day, each day with new info trying to get it all in and remembering what you learned the previous days is tough. Cramming almost everyday for monthly exams keeps you in “test mode” constantly.
Two learning scenarios in general that you deal with in medical school:
1) Lecture
In lecture, professors often try to turn it into an interactive process where they implement the Socratic method and ask questions to the class. They try to generate class discussion. Without getting into a grand description of this let me just say that this approach to a large group (>100 students) is not effective for most students. This concept comes from a Law school model that works well when discussing abstract philosophical thought and correlating it with the practice of law but it does not work well when trying to teach objective science. Personally I prefer a lecturer to merely stand and deliver the information. I find constant questioning to be a distraction and takes away from the delivery if info. However there are many students who prefer that method.
2) Small group
In small groups you and about 5 -10 students meet and discuss cases relevant to current lecture topics. This is an area where open discussion usually does help with the education process.
Ok let’s get back on point. This post is really about how to effectively study in medical school. Remember that this is merely my preferred study method. In my school, and many schools, they make use of the Podcasts. Podcasts are great because they allow you as a student to watch the actual overhead presentation of each lecture and hear all the audio. They usually get posted an hour or so after the lecture is completed (see podcast post below). I tried going to lecture for the first three months of Med school and did fine. I was getting 70% to 80% on exams and I was ok with that. The problem was that I was working my ass off and felt like I should be getting 90% for my effort. I began transitioning to podcasting and my first exam was a 95%. Overall I yielded a net gain of >10% on all exams with podcast. Dont ask how I figured those stats.
Studying for each lecture, you should have a strategic approach that you use with all of them. I would first skim over the lecture notes, which were pre printed by our school. I would focus on paragraph headings and try to think for a moment about each topic without reading the actual paragraphs, effectively brainstorming what I already knew about those areas. This would prepare my mind for that information. Once comfortable with the big picture I would begin back at the first paragraph and read through it quickly. Then again more methodically and try to pull out the big-ticket items. I would go on the each paragraph with the same approach. When done with the reading I would view the podcast and watch it diligently, pausing it almost every 2 minutes to effectively take notes. When done with each lectures’ reading and podcast I would complete the learning objectives, which our professors outline for each lecture. After completing them I would move on to the next lecture and do the very same thing until either I was starving or exhausted.
For those of you who aren’t furnished with preprinted notes and instead only have reading assignments from book chapters, it will be more time consuming but doable.
Unless you are uber smart and able to retain things that you see only once, you will have to maintain firm dedication to studying and never get lazy. When you are tired, yawning and your eyes are losing focus of the words, coffee will not help (Coffee only helps your brain when your brain is alert). At that point you should take a 15-minute power nap and get back to it. Seriously, this works well. I would lie on the hard floor with my legs on a chair and fall asleep. On the hard floor it takes about 15 minutes until pressure points cause you some pain and wake you up. This is your built in alarm clock. Get up, suck it up and get back to work.
I studied all day everyday, literally. That’s what it took for me to be as successful as I wanted to be. I would take a day of review each week and go back through only the learning objectives of previous lectures. I never used note cards because I didn’t learn that way. I merely read through the learning objectives and recited them out loud sometimes. As soon as I felt solid with the information I would meet a loyal study partner who had the same study strategy. We would both go through the learning objectives and talk about them, always learning new information from each other. With out my study partner I would have done significantly less well on my exams.
That’s it for now. Any specific questions pleas make a comment to this post and others can add their input as well.
Two learning scenarios in general that you deal with in medical school:
1) Lecture
In lecture, professors often try to turn it into an interactive process where they implement the Socratic method and ask questions to the class. They try to generate class discussion. Without getting into a grand description of this let me just say that this approach to a large group (>100 students) is not effective for most students. This concept comes from a Law school model that works well when discussing abstract philosophical thought and correlating it with the practice of law but it does not work well when trying to teach objective science. Personally I prefer a lecturer to merely stand and deliver the information. I find constant questioning to be a distraction and takes away from the delivery if info. However there are many students who prefer that method.
2) Small group
In small groups you and about 5 -10 students meet and discuss cases relevant to current lecture topics. This is an area where open discussion usually does help with the education process.
Ok let’s get back on point. This post is really about how to effectively study in medical school. Remember that this is merely my preferred study method. In my school, and many schools, they make use of the Podcasts. Podcasts are great because they allow you as a student to watch the actual overhead presentation of each lecture and hear all the audio. They usually get posted an hour or so after the lecture is completed (see podcast post below). I tried going to lecture for the first three months of Med school and did fine. I was getting 70% to 80% on exams and I was ok with that. The problem was that I was working my ass off and felt like I should be getting 90% for my effort. I began transitioning to podcasting and my first exam was a 95%. Overall I yielded a net gain of >10% on all exams with podcast. Dont ask how I figured those stats.
Studying for each lecture, you should have a strategic approach that you use with all of them. I would first skim over the lecture notes, which were pre printed by our school. I would focus on paragraph headings and try to think for a moment about each topic without reading the actual paragraphs, effectively brainstorming what I already knew about those areas. This would prepare my mind for that information. Once comfortable with the big picture I would begin back at the first paragraph and read through it quickly. Then again more methodically and try to pull out the big-ticket items. I would go on the each paragraph with the same approach. When done with the reading I would view the podcast and watch it diligently, pausing it almost every 2 minutes to effectively take notes. When done with each lectures’ reading and podcast I would complete the learning objectives, which our professors outline for each lecture. After completing them I would move on to the next lecture and do the very same thing until either I was starving or exhausted.
For those of you who aren’t furnished with preprinted notes and instead only have reading assignments from book chapters, it will be more time consuming but doable.
Unless you are uber smart and able to retain things that you see only once, you will have to maintain firm dedication to studying and never get lazy. When you are tired, yawning and your eyes are losing focus of the words, coffee will not help (Coffee only helps your brain when your brain is alert). At that point you should take a 15-minute power nap and get back to it. Seriously, this works well. I would lie on the hard floor with my legs on a chair and fall asleep. On the hard floor it takes about 15 minutes until pressure points cause you some pain and wake you up. This is your built in alarm clock. Get up, suck it up and get back to work.
I studied all day everyday, literally. That’s what it took for me to be as successful as I wanted to be. I would take a day of review each week and go back through only the learning objectives of previous lectures. I never used note cards because I didn’t learn that way. I merely read through the learning objectives and recited them out loud sometimes. As soon as I felt solid with the information I would meet a loyal study partner who had the same study strategy. We would both go through the learning objectives and talk about them, always learning new information from each other. With out my study partner I would have done significantly less well on my exams.
That’s it for now. Any specific questions pleas make a comment to this post and others can add their input as well.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Podcasting in Medical School
The following was written on the utility of Podcasting lectures in Medical School:
A student’s duty is to learn, and their first step is to determine how they learn. Albert Einstein once said: “Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting the different results”. If a student determines that they are less able to learn from attending interactive lectures or case conferences time and again, they owe it to themselves to make a change. That change for many students at major Universities is the podcast. A podcast is in essence a take home lecture; a means to bring the lecture hall to a more suitable environment customized for each student. Ultimately it is a new learning tool offered to the student of today to ensure efficiency and optimize time management. In a technological world with so many new choices to assist a student in their education it is essential that every student identify the tools that work for them.
So what is the problem? If Podcasts were such an excellent educational tool that serves the needs of so many students why would it be necessary to write this treatise? The answer is simple. This new technology, like others, is not well understood by professors, and there are widely held misconceptions that cast podcasts in a bad light. Too many professors are reluctant to accept podcasts as positive because they firmly believe that students SHOULD be in class. Misunderstanding the podcasts has resulted in the assumption by many professors that the students who use them are lazy. This treatise intends to clarify exactly what a podcast is and explain how it is used. The ultimate goal is to express the concerns by students and attempt to explain this new technology with the hopes that the modern educator will understand and come to accept podcasts as a productive new learning tool.
STUDENTS MUST BE PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN CLASS
Some professors disagree with the idea of podcasting because they believe students should be in class to ask questions and interact with their peers. While that may be true for some, it is not true for others and this presents one of the biggest hurdles for the podcast: overcoming this misconception. Many professors set up their lectures to be interactive in an attempt to make the environment more stimulating. Their goal of course is to attempt to make the experience of sitting through lecture as high yield as possible. This is a great strategy for those students who engage during lecture but it is of no benefit to those who don’t.
FORCE STUDENTS TO ATTEND CLASS
Many professors seem to think that the student should be required to attend lecture and therefore go out of their way to penalize those students who don’t attend. For example, many will refuse to use the podcast pointer or they will use the chalkboard rather than a power point presentation with the hope that if enough material is restricted to the classroom then the podcasters will feel pressured to attend. Forcing a student to attend lecture is not an effective means of educating. It will not accomplish anything besides filling a lecture hall, which is not synonymous with learning. Those students who do not learn while sitting in class will not suddenly be motivated to interact or ask questions. In fact, most of those students find the constant questions and interruptions in lecture to be more of a distraction than a benefit. Sitting in class is simply not conducive to learning for some students and pressuring students to attend only disrupts the learning process for them.
GET 100% OUT OF THE LECTURE
For those students who cannot fully benefit from attending lecture, podcasts are an important part of their individualized adult education. They allow the student to pause and think before moving on. The student can take comprehensive notes and understand them before they proceed to a new topic. This option is lost in the lecture hall as the student will only have time to rapidly jot down a quick note before the professor moves on, hindering thorough understanding of the topic or to even take proper notes. In the past this was the best option but still ineffective for many students. But we now have a new option, the podcast, which allows a much higher yield. A student can now take in information at his or her own pace and to process it effectively.
Here is an explanation of the benefits of the podcast as described by a student of the COM Class of 2012:
“Since I began using podcasts, my average test scores went up approximately 10 percentage points. In addition, because podcasts are a more effective use of my time, I spend less time per lecture than I previously did. For example: Prior to using podcasts, I was spending an additional three hours on top of each 50 min lecture I attended – a total of 4 hours per lecture. Given that on average we have 3-5 lectures per day, I was struggling to just stay caught up. With podcasts I go through each lecture slowly; I start and stop, replay, etc. Podcasts allow me to organize my thoughts and learn as I go. I am able to hang on every word the professor says and make sure I write it down. In class this is not an option. Even with this amount of detail my time per lecture is still reduced by podcasting – only two hours per lecture compared to the four I previously spent. In effect, I learn more of the material in about half the time.”
This statement demonstrates that some students find the podcasts not only more practical but as a valuable tool to better comprehend the material. Should a student be obligated to attend class when it is clear that their success would be diminished? If you ask the students who use the podcasts I am certain that the answers would be “no” across the board.
PODCASTS PROMOTE LAZINESS
Another misconception seemingly held by many lecturers is that students are just plain lazy and use the podcasts as an excuse to not come to class. There is no doubt that there are lazy students but podcasts are not to blame for this. Those students will always find a way to remain lazy, irrespective of the availability of podcasts. In fact, the majority of the students who don’t attend class don’t even use the podcast. Many block directors have confirmed that before podcasts, there was an equal number of students present at lecture and the advent of the podcast has not significantly decreased the numbers of students in lecture.
IF STUDENTS ARE NOT PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN MY LECTURE THEN THEY CANNOT FULLY APPRECIATE WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER AS A LECTURER
Professors often think that a student just can’t understand the material presented if they aren’t in class, believing a student must be physically present in order to learn. As a student who has tried both, I can tell you that this belief is simply incorrect. One’s physical presence is not a measure of their attentiveness, determination or work ethic and most certainly does not equate to what they can learn. What professors don’t understand is that podcasters diligently watch the entire lecture, pausing it from time to time to jot down notes, and rewind to ensure a proper understanding of what the professor is teaching. This reflects the student’s enormous respect for the material that is being presented, and in effect, the time and effort put into a lecture by the professor is not lost on the podcast, but rather, amplified.
DON’T ALIENATE THOSE STUDENTS WHO HAVE A DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLE
Lecturers should not ostracize students for utilizing different learning methods especially when those methods have proven to be successful. One of the greatest complaints by podcasters is being made to feel like less of a student, as if they do not work as hard for choosing to utilize podcasts. In every block (though not with every professor) podcasters must listen to comments directed at their absence. Some professors go out of their way to make it more difficult for podcasters to get the most out of lectures. For example, one professor said he preferred to use the laser pointer because he knew that podcasters could not see it; that there should be some reward for those who attend lecture. Nothing more acutely destroys a student’s motivation to learn than having to listen to comments from professors criticizing them for utilizing the podcasts. Ultimately, these comments demonstrate the lecturer’s ignorance of the system. Such unprofessional behavior further serves to divide the student body, often generating laughs from those students present in lecture and even causing arguments between podcasters and students who prefer lecture. Moreover, a student should not be denied access to lectures or any interaction based case conference by refusing to podcast them. This only hurts those students who find that attending group based conferences/lectures to be ineffective.
IT IS ABOUT EDUCATION
The modern age of technology offers us many new ways to make our lives more efficient and successful. The science behind education has always taken advantage of technology; from the chalkboard to the calculator to the computer and now the podcast. Education is not about how educators should teach as much as it is about how each student learns. With so many new learning tools available, the modern students are obligated to identify what works for them. They would be derelict in their duty if they did not take advantage of the learning tools that they individually deem to be most effective. Teachers, by the very creed of their profession, should be concerned with what has actually proven to help the student learn. Specifically, what the student has decided is the most effective means.
CONCLUSION
In the past, attending lecture was the only option so a student had to learn to adapt. Now we have many more learning tools, and it is the duty of every student to find the tool that works for them. We feel that it is important for faculty to support the students in their endeavor to not only be educated by others, but to educate themselves; our future profession requires it. The only way in which we as physicians will be able to meet the demands of the ever-evolving field of medicine is through self-education, and podcasts are an excellent means to achieve that. The take home message of this treatise is that a student should not be forced to learn in a particular manner, and the current obsession with attendance and pedagogic hand-holding by many professors has no place in adult education.
In ending I leave you with a quote from Kahlil Gibran: “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”
A student’s duty is to learn, and their first step is to determine how they learn. Albert Einstein once said: “Insanity is doing the same things over and over again and expecting the different results”. If a student determines that they are less able to learn from attending interactive lectures or case conferences time and again, they owe it to themselves to make a change. That change for many students at major Universities is the podcast. A podcast is in essence a take home lecture; a means to bring the lecture hall to a more suitable environment customized for each student. Ultimately it is a new learning tool offered to the student of today to ensure efficiency and optimize time management. In a technological world with so many new choices to assist a student in their education it is essential that every student identify the tools that work for them.
So what is the problem? If Podcasts were such an excellent educational tool that serves the needs of so many students why would it be necessary to write this treatise? The answer is simple. This new technology, like others, is not well understood by professors, and there are widely held misconceptions that cast podcasts in a bad light. Too many professors are reluctant to accept podcasts as positive because they firmly believe that students SHOULD be in class. Misunderstanding the podcasts has resulted in the assumption by many professors that the students who use them are lazy. This treatise intends to clarify exactly what a podcast is and explain how it is used. The ultimate goal is to express the concerns by students and attempt to explain this new technology with the hopes that the modern educator will understand and come to accept podcasts as a productive new learning tool.
STUDENTS MUST BE PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN CLASS
Some professors disagree with the idea of podcasting because they believe students should be in class to ask questions and interact with their peers. While that may be true for some, it is not true for others and this presents one of the biggest hurdles for the podcast: overcoming this misconception. Many professors set up their lectures to be interactive in an attempt to make the environment more stimulating. Their goal of course is to attempt to make the experience of sitting through lecture as high yield as possible. This is a great strategy for those students who engage during lecture but it is of no benefit to those who don’t.
FORCE STUDENTS TO ATTEND CLASS
Many professors seem to think that the student should be required to attend lecture and therefore go out of their way to penalize those students who don’t attend. For example, many will refuse to use the podcast pointer or they will use the chalkboard rather than a power point presentation with the hope that if enough material is restricted to the classroom then the podcasters will feel pressured to attend. Forcing a student to attend lecture is not an effective means of educating. It will not accomplish anything besides filling a lecture hall, which is not synonymous with learning. Those students who do not learn while sitting in class will not suddenly be motivated to interact or ask questions. In fact, most of those students find the constant questions and interruptions in lecture to be more of a distraction than a benefit. Sitting in class is simply not conducive to learning for some students and pressuring students to attend only disrupts the learning process for them.
GET 100% OUT OF THE LECTURE
For those students who cannot fully benefit from attending lecture, podcasts are an important part of their individualized adult education. They allow the student to pause and think before moving on. The student can take comprehensive notes and understand them before they proceed to a new topic. This option is lost in the lecture hall as the student will only have time to rapidly jot down a quick note before the professor moves on, hindering thorough understanding of the topic or to even take proper notes. In the past this was the best option but still ineffective for many students. But we now have a new option, the podcast, which allows a much higher yield. A student can now take in information at his or her own pace and to process it effectively.
Here is an explanation of the benefits of the podcast as described by a student of the COM Class of 2012:
“Since I began using podcasts, my average test scores went up approximately 10 percentage points. In addition, because podcasts are a more effective use of my time, I spend less time per lecture than I previously did. For example: Prior to using podcasts, I was spending an additional three hours on top of each 50 min lecture I attended – a total of 4 hours per lecture. Given that on average we have 3-5 lectures per day, I was struggling to just stay caught up. With podcasts I go through each lecture slowly; I start and stop, replay, etc. Podcasts allow me to organize my thoughts and learn as I go. I am able to hang on every word the professor says and make sure I write it down. In class this is not an option. Even with this amount of detail my time per lecture is still reduced by podcasting – only two hours per lecture compared to the four I previously spent. In effect, I learn more of the material in about half the time.”
This statement demonstrates that some students find the podcasts not only more practical but as a valuable tool to better comprehend the material. Should a student be obligated to attend class when it is clear that their success would be diminished? If you ask the students who use the podcasts I am certain that the answers would be “no” across the board.
PODCASTS PROMOTE LAZINESS
Another misconception seemingly held by many lecturers is that students are just plain lazy and use the podcasts as an excuse to not come to class. There is no doubt that there are lazy students but podcasts are not to blame for this. Those students will always find a way to remain lazy, irrespective of the availability of podcasts. In fact, the majority of the students who don’t attend class don’t even use the podcast. Many block directors have confirmed that before podcasts, there was an equal number of students present at lecture and the advent of the podcast has not significantly decreased the numbers of students in lecture.
IF STUDENTS ARE NOT PHYSICALLY PRESENT IN MY LECTURE THEN THEY CANNOT FULLY APPRECIATE WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER AS A LECTURER
Professors often think that a student just can’t understand the material presented if they aren’t in class, believing a student must be physically present in order to learn. As a student who has tried both, I can tell you that this belief is simply incorrect. One’s physical presence is not a measure of their attentiveness, determination or work ethic and most certainly does not equate to what they can learn. What professors don’t understand is that podcasters diligently watch the entire lecture, pausing it from time to time to jot down notes, and rewind to ensure a proper understanding of what the professor is teaching. This reflects the student’s enormous respect for the material that is being presented, and in effect, the time and effort put into a lecture by the professor is not lost on the podcast, but rather, amplified.
DON’T ALIENATE THOSE STUDENTS WHO HAVE A DIFFERENT LEARNING STYLE
Lecturers should not ostracize students for utilizing different learning methods especially when those methods have proven to be successful. One of the greatest complaints by podcasters is being made to feel like less of a student, as if they do not work as hard for choosing to utilize podcasts. In every block (though not with every professor) podcasters must listen to comments directed at their absence. Some professors go out of their way to make it more difficult for podcasters to get the most out of lectures. For example, one professor said he preferred to use the laser pointer because he knew that podcasters could not see it; that there should be some reward for those who attend lecture. Nothing more acutely destroys a student’s motivation to learn than having to listen to comments from professors criticizing them for utilizing the podcasts. Ultimately, these comments demonstrate the lecturer’s ignorance of the system. Such unprofessional behavior further serves to divide the student body, often generating laughs from those students present in lecture and even causing arguments between podcasters and students who prefer lecture. Moreover, a student should not be denied access to lectures or any interaction based case conference by refusing to podcast them. This only hurts those students who find that attending group based conferences/lectures to be ineffective.
IT IS ABOUT EDUCATION
The modern age of technology offers us many new ways to make our lives more efficient and successful. The science behind education has always taken advantage of technology; from the chalkboard to the calculator to the computer and now the podcast. Education is not about how educators should teach as much as it is about how each student learns. With so many new learning tools available, the modern students are obligated to identify what works for them. They would be derelict in their duty if they did not take advantage of the learning tools that they individually deem to be most effective. Teachers, by the very creed of their profession, should be concerned with what has actually proven to help the student learn. Specifically, what the student has decided is the most effective means.
CONCLUSION
In the past, attending lecture was the only option so a student had to learn to adapt. Now we have many more learning tools, and it is the duty of every student to find the tool that works for them. We feel that it is important for faculty to support the students in their endeavor to not only be educated by others, but to educate themselves; our future profession requires it. The only way in which we as physicians will be able to meet the demands of the ever-evolving field of medicine is through self-education, and podcasts are an excellent means to achieve that. The take home message of this treatise is that a student should not be forced to learn in a particular manner, and the current obsession with attendance and pedagogic hand-holding by many professors has no place in adult education.
In ending I leave you with a quote from Kahlil Gibran: “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.”
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