University of Virginia School of Medicine
Curriculum Committee
Minutes – 06.12.17
MCBR, #2700 4:00 p.m.
Present (underlined) were: Gretchen Arnold, Jonathan Black, Elizabeth Bradley, Megan Bray, Donna Chen, Aaron Freilich, Jose Gurrola, Maryellen Gusic, John Hickman, Barry Hinton, Rachel Kon, Robin LeGallo, Keith Littlewood, Vishal Madaan, Nancy McDaniel, Mark Moody, Selina Noramly, Juan Olazagasti, Steven Powell, Theresa Schlager, Neeral Shah, Ryan Smith, Linda Waggoner-Fountain, Bill Wilson, Stephen Wolf, Liz Hoang, Elizabeth Graham, Bobbi May (Administrative Cord.)
Minutes Reviewed/Accepted. The Committee accepted the minutes from the June 5, 2017, meeting.
Conclusions/Recommendations 2017:
- Moyer, the instructors and the teaching assistants: Dr. Moyer and the MSI instructors continue to meet the students where they are, supporting and challenging them as they learn the MSI content and as they perform in the Anatomy Lab. The students find Dr. Moyer to be caring, engaging, available, and dedicated, and they were appreciative of all that he, and the Anatomy instructors and TAs, did from being available after hours, to answering questions, and everything in between. Several of the MSI instructors were also praised for their effective teaching and dedication to student learning.
- Instructional sessions: The feedback on the instructional sessions this year was almost identical to last, and that of years’ past. As Dr. Moyer continues as System Leader, perhaps he can review the feedback from this and prior years and determine if adjustments need to be made.
- Active learning and engagement: Based on the quantitative data out of OASIS, and the qualitative comments provided by students, it appears that MSI provides students with a variety active and engaging learning opportunities. The students stated that the hands-on learning in the Anatomy lab, as well as the engaging problem sets and TBLS, reinforced their learning, placing the content in a clinically applicable context that made for more meaningful learning.
- Dermatology thread: Many students comments that they did not find the concentration of Dermatology content at the end of the System effective for their learning. Several suggested that the content could be spread out across the weeks, and additionally that the class time could be spent applying what was learned in PRLs, rather than merely rehashing or reviewing the same content.
Conclusions/Recommendations 2017:
- System Leaders and Instructors: The System Leaders for GI, Drs. Shah and Tuskey, continue to support the students in their learning, to encourage and provide opportunities for students to think clinically, and lead in a way that though the System is densely packed and challenging, leaves the students feeling confident that they have learned the material well. The students also find the instructors and teaching assistants in GI to be very high quality and supportive of their learning.
- Front-loading of material: Each year, the students voice concern about the large volume of material that faces them when they start GI. The System Leaders assure the students that after about week three it decompresses. This year the students commented that it never really decompressed, and asked that in the future, the expectation is set that GI is a dense System with a lot of material throughout the weeks.
- Clinical relevance and integration: Even with the densely packed and challenging nature of the content, the students overall found the integration of the content, as well as the continual revisiting and review of it, effective in helping them learn the material well. Placing the content in a clinical context through case discussions, TBLs, and other engaging activities was very effective for student learning. Faculty, residents and fellows from at least 10 departments work together in this highly-integrated System.
Epidemiology Thread Leader Nomination – Targonski. Dr. Bernheim, Chair, Department of Public Health Sciences, offered her support for Dr. Targonski to assume the role as Epidemiology Thread Leader. His CV was provided and reviewed by the Committee. There were no concerns voiced about his nomination.
VOTE: The Committee voted unanimously to approve Dr. Targonski as Epidemiology Thread Leader.
Grading Policy and LOA/Withdrawal and Readmission Policies:
The majority of changes to these policies were previously discussed and passed by the Committee. All policies were highlighted and addressed in this final discussion.
VOTE: The Committee voted unanimously to approve these policies which will be in place for the new matriculating SOM Class 2021 in the first week of August 2017.
Note: The next meeting will be held on Monday, June 19, in MCBR, #2700.