Technology
Computers
Computing is an integral part of the medical school curriculum. You will use it to access PowerPoint presentations and other course materials online, to look up seemingly-nonexistent words in Stedman’s Medical Dictionary, to conduct research on the Web, and, most importantly, to e-mail friends during class. You will receive your laptop during orientation.
The entire curriculum can be found online. This is in a calendar format; you can click on the items in the schedule to get the information for that particular class, meeting, etc. The computer services people put the lecture notes, PowerPoint presentations, and additional information into the schedule on the web as the individual lecturer provides them. Real-Audio recordings of the lectures are also available online from the calendar (see the Tegrity section below). The school has high-speed connections in lecture halls, small group rooms, and in the library, but to access the internet at home you need your own internet service provider.
The computer support staff are among the most helpful and friendly bunch around. Their office is conveniently located on the E-floor right by E-24 and the small group rooms so they are easily accessible for any computer disasters that might arise. If you have any problems with anything related to your computer, including not knowing how to do something because you are less than 100% computer literate, just drop in; they’re more than willing to help.
Tegrity
Tegrity is the software that we use to record the lectures and upload them. When you watch a Tegrity lecture, you will hear the audio and see the powerpoints associated move in real time with the audio. While the school purchases the software and has it available to use, the school does not actually record the lectures. Each class is responsible for making sure that the lectures are recorded.
What worked for us is to have a group of individuals that were determined to make this happen (dubbed "Team Tegrity") take on the responsibility of getting the lectures recorded and online for the class. Then once our Information Systems Chair was elected, it became his responsibility, with the assistance of Team Tegrity. By having a team responsible for the recordings, it allows someone to be late to class or to miss a class and not have the entire class miss the recorded session. We suggest that a few people that are interested in doing it talk to each other during orientation and then on the Thursday or Friday of orientation ask someone in Academic Computing to show you how to use the software and upload it. It's really easy and they're happy to do it.
Additionally, the Class of 2016 purchased a small webcam for the Tegrity recordings. Not all professors run their presentations from the computer on the podium (where Tegrity is run from) so it allowed us to catch their powerpoints as well as their audio. Additionally, it allowed for us to account for professors that used laser pointers extensively or wrote on the whiteboard. This is not something the school purchases; your class will have to purchase it. We just took up a collection for a few days. The good thing is that when you purchase it the camera will stay with you for a few years.
What worked for us is to have a group of individuals that were determined to make this happen (dubbed "Team Tegrity") take on the responsibility of getting the lectures recorded and online for the class. Then once our Information Systems Chair was elected, it became his responsibility, with the assistance of Team Tegrity. By having a team responsible for the recordings, it allows someone to be late to class or to miss a class and not have the entire class miss the recorded session. We suggest that a few people that are interested in doing it talk to each other during orientation and then on the Thursday or Friday of orientation ask someone in Academic Computing to show you how to use the software and upload it. It's really easy and they're happy to do it.
Additionally, the Class of 2016 purchased a small webcam for the Tegrity recordings. Not all professors run their presentations from the computer on the podium (where Tegrity is run from) so it allowed us to catch their powerpoints as well as their audio. Additionally, it allowed for us to account for professors that used laser pointers extensively or wrote on the whiteboard. This is not something the school purchases; your class will have to purchase it. We just took up a collection for a few days. The good thing is that when you purchase it the camera will stay with you for a few years.
Useful Apps
- Mobile: Epocrates (super for pharmacology; the paid version has diseases)
- Desktop pc or Mac OS: USMLE World qbank
- StudyBlue flash cards
- Sticky Study (let's you download anyone's flashcards and keeps track of flashcards you don't know)