Hello November, there are indeed a lot of medical schools also turning to flipped classroom. Ohio state (partially) and Harvard, to name a few. I cannot speak to if they had concerns when they first transitioned. In terms of OU doing something different, it may be that OU is not only turning to a flipped classroom, but also at the same time moving away from block systems into a more integrated patient based way of teaching.
Thus, instead of learning everything about cardio at once, we learn everything about a certain disease state (e.g. heart failure) and how it affects other systems (e.g. pulmonary edema at the lungs). So instead of having a cardio block, a renal block, etc, now there is an acute disease block, a chronic disease block, a healthy state block, etc. In my opinion, this might be why there is a little more of an adjustment - it's a little more change at once than perhaps other schools do (usually they transition from blocks one year, and then the next year transition to flipped classroom).
However, the school is aggressively pursuing improvement and making sure people don't slip through the cracks. This last week they adjusted the exam scores and also resolved some class schedule concerns students had, and Wednesday the dean will be meeting with students to also address questions. I don't expect any (if at all) of these hiccups to still be problems when the new class begins in the fall. Feel free to DM if you have more questions.
(Bear with me here, and if you glaze over, skip to the end)
Just want to throw in my two cents: I'm not personally a first year, and can't speak first-hand as to difficulty or fairness of the new flipped-classroom model and how OU-HCOM is implementing it, but I'll tell you what I've observed.
1) I have some friends in the class below (seriously, others who have said the students are the best part of OU-HCOM are right--it's a very collaborative and supportive atmosphere all around)--I have some friends in the class below, and other than being busy all the time (welcome to medical school) they haven't really complained a lot. I've sought out the opinions of other first years I didn't know very well, and I really haven't heard all that much complaining when I talk to people in person. I think two things are happening to blow it out of proportion: a few dissatisfied voices are being super loud, and there tends to be a bit of a herd mentality where others around them sort of jump on the bandwagon in the heat of moment (like when people complain after a particularly difficult test) even though they don't actually feel as negatively as they pretend to when talking with the real dissenters. ...that seems more convoluted than it did in my head. Anyway, what others have told me is that it's hard, time-consuming, and sometimes difficult to know what to study for the upcoming exam.
2) My class complained about the block curriculum from time to time--not about how material was being presented, but about things we saw in Pathoma for example that weren't covered in class, or how the exam tested nitpicky details we were sure aren't necessary for Level 1 (like the % of people suffering from a certain disease, etc). Basically, it was just complaining about different things in different ways.
So here's my overall assessment of the situation (for what it's worth):
-Medical school is difficult, no matter what type of curriculum you have.
-There are always dissenters, no matter what program or how things are presented.
-No medical school can cover everything you need to know for boards in the amount of lecture time available, and there will always be things you have to study on your own anyway.
-There probably is some legitimacy to the claim of the first-year curriculum being a bit haphazard; I tend to think the administrators might have been a bit ambitious making so many changes all at once.
-That being said, I think they have done the best they can to accommodate students and take their feedback into consideration, and I guarantee there will be changes next year (and every year) that will reflect this feedback.
-I have worked personally with some of the administration in various settings, and I can say with certainty they really care about the students and their success.
-Lastly: There are SO MANY resources for medical students out there, that it almost doesn't matter where you go to school unless you care about prestige, or are a terrible self-studier. If you are motivated to do well on Level 1/Step 1 and know how to work Google, you can score as high as anyone else. 'Attending class' in general has almost become a formality these days, and this is exactly why OU-HCOM is doing what they're doing. They want to make sure they're giving you something you can't Google--in-class time to work through cases and collaborate, talk things through with classmates, and apply the things you you have already learned. Doesn't matter if you learned it in a lecture, or by reading yourself beforehand; bring what you've learned and apply it to a situation.
So... if you get into OU-HCOM, come join the family. We have quarrels sometimes, and the younger siblings are currently jealous of the older siblings' shiny (weathered and beaten up) curriculum, but we all help each other out. The tools are available to succeed and end up in whatever practice you want. The prestige might not be equal to some, but if you crush boards, build your CV by getting involved, and aren't a jerk, then you're only limited by your own motivation. Medical school is a wild ride; it's nice to do it with other people who care.
also still waiting to hear
