MSIV Instructions

MLC III: Introduction and Guidelines for Students (2009-2010)
Co-Directors: Paul Shanley, M.D. and Sara Grethlein, M.D.
Associate Directors: John Epling, M.D. and Thomas Poole, Ph.D.
Assistant Director: Karen Kelly, M.S.

General information

The course will run from July 14, 2009 to March 16, 2010. The opening session will be an online orientation within Blackboard that is mandatory for all students to complete during the week of July 14th. All work in the course must be submitted by midnight on March 16, 2010.

On-campus sessions will be held weekly beginning July 21, 2009, on Tuesday evenings at 5:00 p.m. in Room 103 Weiskotten (teleconferenced to the Binghamton Clinical Campus) except on weeks with holidays or those otherwise designated. Please see "Schedule" tab (click here for a printable version).

What does this course consist of?

The course is designed to supplement the growing clinical experience students have gained through clerkships and clinical electives by offering a return to a more fundamental scientific and mechanistic approach to problems in medicine. The focus will be on the promise and limitations of research in medicine through exposure to timely clinical problems that are informed by primary reports of clinical and basic science studies.

The articles will be read and discussed each week during on-campus sessions (see below for methods of assessment), with the format for the course similar to that of the MLC I and MLC II courses.

In general, each week is a self-contained unit comprised of:

The main paper - a clinically oriented article (oftentimes from the "Clinical Decisions" or "Clinical Practice" series in the New England Journal of Medicine)
An accompanying report of clinical or translational research that sheds light on the clinical problem at hand
Periodically: a perspective piece (editorial or short review of the subject)
Periodically: a report of some concrete event (patient case or news release) that makes the reason for studying the subject more obvious or compelling

The following are the objectives that students will be asked to demonstrate on the quizzes and written assignments with respect to the readings:

Knowledge of the relevant background concepts in the basic sciences
Knowledge of what is established and what the question is with respect to the clinical issue being addressed
Ability to translate the findings of the study and the state of knowledge in the field into lay language appropriate for communication with patients
Ability to critically assess the information presented in terms of the conclusions drawn by the authors
Ability to appropriately apply the findings to specific clinical problems
Ability to suggest further research questions stemming from the study results
Awareness of the ethical issues raised by the investigation (e.g., conflicts of interest, patient safety, informed consent, etc.)
Attitudes of curiosity, skepticism, humility in the face of the unknown and intent to pursue a career of lifelong diligent questioning and learning.

What are the grading and attendance policies?

Grading will be based on quizzes and written assignments about the readings.

For each on-campus session:	For each online session:
Students will be asked to complete a timed online quiz and written assignment prior to class, with a follow-up quiz given at the end of the class session and peer grading of the written assignment due by the end of the week.	Students will be asked to complete a timed online quiz and written assignment, watch a taped video pertaining to the material and accomplish peer grading of their classmate's written assignment due by the end of the month.

Completion of 16 sessions is necessary to fulfill this requirement.
For Syracuse and Binghamton campus students, attendance at 10 on-campus sessions is required, with the option to complete the remaining 6 sessions online. Completion of online sessions may be done concurrently with attendance at on-campus sessions.

Grades will be based on your top 16 session scores (i.e., you can drop your lowest score(s) if you complete more than the required 16 sessions). A percentage grade for each session will be posted in Blackboard after completion. Passing for the course is set at 75%. Honors and High Pass grades will be determined per school guidelines.

Late submissions of work	Late submission of written assignments will not be accepted and will result in forfeiture of the session (and ineligibility for taking the follow-up quiz at the conclusion of class for on-campus sessions).

Adhering to time limit of quizzes	Online quizzes will be timed at 1 minute per question. If you go over the allotted time limit you will receive a penalty deduction of 1 point for each per minute over.

Failure to complete peer grading	Failure to complete peer grading of a classmate's work by the stated deadline will incur a 10-point penalty deduction for each occurrence.

Non-completion of course	Students with uncompleted sessions after Match Day will be required to give an oral presentation on a faculty-assigned topic for each missing session (irrespective of whether it was an on-campus or online session).

Duplicate sessions	Students may not count the same session twice (i.e, if an on-campus session that you attended is later made into an online session, you cannot attempt it a second time for credit)

You will be allowed to have printed copies of the readings (and any other typewritten material) available to you during the quizzes (both online and in-class), so highlight and make notes on them as you read. In turn, the quizzes will be tightly timed so that it will not be possible to read the papers in real-time (well-annotated copies of the readings should prove very helpful though).