Illinois Curriculum Change

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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Truth74

Truth74

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I was just wondering how many people decided to apply to Illinois because of their anticipated changes to the curriculum.

According to the annual report, some of the plans include getting clinical instruction during the first semester, along with basic sciences. There will also be more PBL (read problem solving, case studies, or group learning). I'm assuming, we'd be in the clinics way sooner.

At the interview last year, they spoke about it possibly getting started in spring 2008, but the 2008 annual report is saying that 2009 would be the first year to fully implement the plan.

We'd be the guinea pigs.
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I also heard from a friend of mine that (if I get in) we are going to be the guinea pigs for this change in curriculum. She seemed to think it would be an awesome opportunity for us. The curriculum may not be that well organized but it would be better than the previous years! :thumbup:

It didn't really affect my application. I applied because I am IS. :)
 
Davis will also likely be re-configuring it's curriculum, coming into effect in the next few years. I think it'll be a fabulous change.
 
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Last fall I sat next to a U of IL zoo vet on an airplane from Chicago back to California. He was super nice and discussed these new changes with me a little. I think he mentioned he had been part of the committee working on instituting these changes? Anyway, he gave me his card so I will email him and see if he can provide us with any more info on what exactly they decided to change and when they might start implementing.

He definitely mentioned to me that they were trying to get students clinical exposure much earlier in the curriculum. He was batting for clinical experience for 1st year students! woo!

So yeah, I'll check up on this and let you know if I hear back from him.
 
Yeah, that's pretty much what I found out through a site search at UIUC CVM.

Here's the link to the 2008 Annual Report that I spoke of earlier.
 
starlene45 said:
Last fall I sat next to a U of IL zoo vet on an airplane from Chicago back to California. He was super nice and discussed these new changes with me a little. I think he mentioned he had been part of the committee working on instituting these changes? Anyway, he gave me his card so I will email him and see if he can provide us with any more info on what exactly they decided to change and when they might start implementing.

He definitely mentioned to me that they were trying to get students clinical exposure much earlier in the curriculum. He was batting for clinical experience for 1st year students! woo!

So yeah, I'll check up on this and let you know if I hear back from him.
Click to expand...

I'm just curious, but who did you talk to?
 
The curriculum change will definitely influence my decision based on some of the other schools that I have applied to, but it was not the main reason why I applied. Besides the fact that I am an IS applicant, I also feel that the school has a lot to offer in a broad range of areas.
 
wildvet--

My mystery airplane vet was Dr Mark Mitchell ring any bells?
I know that he worked at Louisiana State for a long time, too.
I hope he writes me back!
 
starlene45 said:
wildvet--

My mystery airplane vet was Dr Mark Mitchell ring any bells?
I know that he worked at Louisiana State for a long time, too.
I hope he writes me back!
Click to expand...

Ah yes, I'm actually working for him right now lol. Yeah, he's definitely an awesome and funny guy (and a great lecturer/professor!). I had no idea that he's on the committee for these curriculum changes, though. I'll have to set up a meeting with him to chat about it one of these days! You know, this would definitely make a great admissions interview topic once we get to that point! ;-)
 
Did everybody get the e-mail update about the curriculum change? It came out yesterday afternoon.

The University Senate overwhelmingly approved the new curriculum on February
23, 2009. The remaining hurdle is its presentation as an informational item to
the University Board of Trustees in their May 21st meeting in Chicago. At this
time the College is planning and working hard on implementation of the new
curriculum in the fall of 2009.
Click to expand...

Let's hope the Chicago people go with downstate. I know that Dean Foreman said that it is going to pass, but those people are a bit tricky, on occasion.
 
I just thought I would add here that the curriculum was approved and the first class to go through the curriculum will be the class of 2013.

A new area is being built to help with the immediate placement in clinics on the first day of classes.
 
So I realize that this thread is way old, but I was just wondering if students currently going through the new curriculum could share their feedback. Does the early clinical exposure seem helpful? How does the school go about fitting all the classroom learning in first year since the first 8 weeks are spent in clinics? I (and I'm sure others) would love to hear some firsthand experiences! Thanks!
 
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all605 said:
So I realize that this thread is way old, but I was just wondering if students currently going through the new curriculum could share their feedback. Does the early clinical exposure seem helpful? How does the school go about fitting all the classroom learning in first year since the first 8 weeks are spent in clinics? I (and I'm sure others) would love to hear some firsthand experiences! Thanks!
Click to expand...

I /think/ if you look through the Illinois thread for the past two-ish years you'd be able to find a lot of posts about it. I'm guessing TT will stop by sometime with a link, maybe?

Anyways...there's several good posts from CO 2013-ers I think in the last year's thread.
 
^Thanks! I have actually looked through that thread too. There's definitely a lot of useful info in there, and thanks for sharing it again. I'm just wondering if anybody can give a more recent update on their experiences here.
 
We do have some Illinois students that still come around sometimes, but you'll probably have to be patient. Many have dropped off the radar for one reason or another.
 
Hi! I am currently a first year at Illinois. I'd say everyone felt differently about rotations. I personally had a lot of rotations that were small animal based so they weren't as beneficial or exciting to me. However, there were a lot of other new experiences that I got to have that were a lot of fun. Obviously with cutting out 8 weeks of class time they can't possibly teach EVERYTHING that they used to. Every time we freak out about feeling overloaded they stress to us that they did have to cut stuff out in order to fit it all into the 2nd 8 weeks. Personally I love the new curriculum despite my feeling about rotations. Integrated testing is really relevant to how we will practice once we're out. Also, if you do terribly on one subject on one test or quiz, the other subjects can really boost your grade so you don't fail something.

If you have more specific questions I'd be happy to answer. We have a month off now so I've finally got some free time!
 
Thanks natalieises! Very helpful. Could you just explain a little more about the integrated testing, and how the classes are integrated together? Do you actually have separate classes, or just a single class that integrates all of the classes together?
 
I have to be honest it sounds like PBL. I have a friend who is a 2nd yr at Western and this sounds like a similar if not the very same system. The intergration of subjects is just how Western gives there exams. They also say if you do well in the other subjects @ Western it doesnt mean you fail because you need a 70% to pass what they call there Veterinary Basic Science exam component which includes anatomy physiology behavior biochem and other basic sciences. Although if you dont have a 70% in those VBS courses you must repeat that year. Also you must raise any subject you are deficient in to a 70 % by the end of your 2nd year before moving into the 3rd yr. It seems that alot of professional programs are seeing this as an effective way to educate students without cramming them with randoms facts and hoping they retain the knowledge during there clinical years. So I say Congrads to ISU CVM for jumping on board and being innovative in veterinary education. As it pertains to the tradtional educational systems being used. I feel they're just as effective because I have worked under some awesome doctors that use this system look @ KSU CVM they had a 99% pass board rate last year so they're something rite ! :D:D
 
It's more of a baby step in the direction of PBL. We do have individual lectures for each subject. We just have one "course" for each 8 weeks that contains all of the individual subjects. So you get ONE grade. The tests just have questions from every subject, and the number from each depends on how many lectures you've had in each subject. The midterms and finals have a day two section that is the "integrated" portion of our exams. They just ask questions that are more clinically relevant and pertain to more than one subject. These are the open ended questions.

I have to say that overall I really like it so far. I think it's a great way to get us thinking clinically and not just memorizing and cramming facts in our heads. If you are terrible at one subject the others can really help you out. I know Physiology has saved me on more than one occasion. The professors do a really good job of integrating each other's material into their topics. You will go over the same concept in each subject so you can really tie it all together and make a complete picture instead of just memorizing. This is definitely a progressive curriculum, and it definitely works for me.
 
^Very interesting, thanks for sharing! Just getting a single grade sounds kind of intimidating. So every test then covers all the subjects at once? Yikes, that seems like it might get to be overwhelming. Overall though, it really sounds like a great curriculum that forces you to truly understand the material.
 
It sounds overwhelming, but then you don't have 3 tests every week for all of your classes, so it isn't as stressful with cramming and what not. In the end you get a cumulative GPA so it's kind of like you just get that to start with by having one grade.
 
natalieises said:
Obviously with cutting out 8 weeks of class time they can't possibly teach EVERYTHING that they used to. Every time we freak out about feeling overloaded they stress to us that they did have to cut stuff out in order to fit it all into the 2nd 8 weeks.
Click to expand...

Bumping this thread because I am currently deciding between Ohio and Illinois.

natalieises, this issue of cutting out material concerns me. Do you mean that you guys are responsible for the material but they are just unable to cover it in lecture?

A second-year I spoke to on interview day said that they cut out stuff that you would only need to know if you were going to do research in a specific subject or something, stuff you don't need to know to be a clinician.

Do you have any thoughts about this?
 
Hey there,

Sorry about the lag in reply.
The Illinois curriculum is an evolving thing. I can tell you that the first years last year did not do the same thing that the first years this year did. The rotations were based on what was in the clinic at the time.
As far as the classes were concerned, there were some instructors who tried to cram 16 weeks worth of info into 8 (or less) and a few that put their favorite disease in there (when it is rare and probably won't be seen by a GP). Some of those courses were taught by non-clinicians. That problem was rectified for this year.

The way that they ran the anatomy portion changed drastically. They are currently doing a systemic approach, instead of a small then large animal approach.

We only did structured PBL in the clinical correlations portion of the class. During rotations, we do what we can do. We go by the motto, "see one, do one, teach one," some of the time. If there is a person with different experience, they teach what they know. We are responsible for independent research, and sometimes presentations of that research, during rounds.

We are made ethically responsible for patient medical records from day one.
Yes, we do touch real patients. When we aren't allowed to touch real patients (per client request), we watch 4th years touch patients or touch school owned animals.

ISU's doing it, too? ;-) That abbreviation could stand for Iowa State (not in the state of Illinois) or illinois state (which is a school that does not have a vet med curriculum at all).
 
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