Applicants: pick a school that records their classes

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fiznat

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Something I never really considered when I was applying, and probably should have. Just thought I'd pass it on. I'm certain other students will agree.

When you are on your interview tours, ask if the school routinely records classes and makes them available online to students. This is something I've found to be absolutely invaluable to my (albeit marginal haha) success as a med student: the ability to re-watch lectures and catch all the stuff I missed on the first time around. My school has a system which enables us to play the lectures at varying speed (slow it down or speed it up), which really sweetens the deal.

I know that some schools record only some lectures or don't do this at all. Obviously this wouldn't or shouldn't be anyone's primary reason for picking a school, but I think it is definitely something to consider if you are looking to draw finer comparisons. It matters probably more than you might guess.
 
Just something I never really considered when I was applying, and probably should have. Just thought I'd pass it on. I'm certain other students will agree.

When you are on your interview tours, ask if the school routinely records classes and makes them available online to students. This is something I've found to be absolutely invaluable to my (albeit marginal haha) success as a med student: the ability to re-watch lectures and catch all the stuff I missed on the first time around. My school has a system which enables us to play the lectures at varying speed (slow it down or speed it up), which really sweetens the deal.

I know that some schools record only some lectures or don't do this at all. Obviously this wouldn't or shouldn't be anyone's primary reason for picking a school, but I think it is definitely something to consider if you are looking to draw finer comparisons. It matters probably more than you might guess.

Good post. I was actually thinking about this yesterday as something to consider when picking a school.
 
Yeah man. Just to add a little bit-- this system means that (at least at my school) it is more or less "optional" to attend class. I know a lot of people who never come to lecture and just watch the recordings on their own (at double speed) when it is convenient for them. I still go to lecture because I feel I need the structure, but I definitely appreciate the flexibility this system affords me. I know that if I need to travel for a long weekend or miss a day due to an illness I won't miss any of the lecture content. Pretty sweet.
 
Yeah man. Just to add a little bit-- this system means that (at least at my school) it is more or less "optional" to attend class. I know a lot of people who never come to lecture and just watch the recordings on their own (at double speed) when it is convenient for them. I still go to lecture because I feel I need the structure, but I definitely appreciate the flexibility this system affords me. I know that if I need to travel for a long weekend or miss a day due to an illness I won't miss any of the lecture content. Pretty sweet.

Nice! May I ask what school you go to?
 
Yeah DE that's correct. Only reason I didn't mention that already is because I didn't want to make this a "my school is awesome" thread, just general advice. There are lots of schools that record their lectures.
 
Yeah DE that's correct. Only reason I didn't mention that already is because I didn't want to make this a "my school is awesome" thread, just general advice. There are lots of schools that record their lectures.

Western and TCOM don't.

Edit: Western does, I meant Midwestern-AZ
 
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TouroCOM does (Though they have been known to occasionally get pissy and turn it off for a day or two if no one comes to a guest lecturer)
 
My med school did.. and it had no impact on my educational experience. Sure, consider this when choosing a school as part of the little bells and whistles, but by no means should this be a big part of the decision.
 
anyone have a somewhat list of which schools do/dont?
 
I really like having recorded lectures, but it's not necessary for everyone. I do better when I can schedule my studying myself, pause things, speed it up, etc.

It was a huge part of my decision on where to attend. But then I know people that always go to class because they hate listening to lectures or don't think they'd actually get around to doing it on their own.
 
My med school did.. and it had no impact on my educational experience. Sure, consider this when choosing a school as part of the little bells and whistles, but by no means should this be a big part of the decision.

It did consistently during 2nd year, and it made a huge difference from 1st year. There were many reasons I hated 1st year, and one of the major ones was no consistent Tegrity. Skipping that dark classroom to watch lectures in a light filled University Center made all the difference.
 
I'm not for sure about now, but as of last spring AZCOM did not record lectures. Students are allowed to record them if they get the okay from the professor first.
 
Western and TCOM don't.


Actually TCOM does, they record audio and upload them to iTunes. The admin has a wrong stance against video recording lectures but audio works just fine for me. They also place vids to watch prior to omm and interviewing that are helpful to watch before class.

I don't know about western but I'd double check, if u post false info about one school all street cred goes out the window. Edit- just saw that post about western. Double false info in one post, what school does that guy go to?

Ps. Kuba is yoda.
 
I find recorded lectures quite nice since I don't have to sit in class 8-4 and attempt to passively learn. Instead I study the previous day's material in the morning and still finish that day's lectures by 5pm at 2x speed. You can more or less tailor your schedule to your learning style with recorded lecture as an option.

Efficiency ftw.
 
Yup^^. I went to the first 2 weeks of class last year and this year I dont intend on going to any. Huge waste of time IMO.
 
Actually TCOM does, they record audio and upload them to iTunes. The admin has a wrong stance against video recording lectures but audio works just fine for me. They also place vids to watch prior to omm and interviewing that are helpful to watch before class.

I don't know about western but I'd double check, if u post false info about one school all street cred goes out the window. Edit- just saw that post about western. Double false info in one post, what school does that guy go to?

Ps. Kuba is yoda.

Since the first post was about WATCHING lectures, I'll say, no TCOM does not video-record their lectures. And they can be removed if attendance drops, so....
 
OUCOM.... (or OUHCOM🙁) does record audio, but not video. I listened from home to about 90% and attended the other 10%. Very rarely there would be no recording.
 
I'm not for sure about now, but as of last spring AZCOM did not record lectures. Students are allowed to record them if they get the okay from the professor first.

Students are allowed to AUDIO record all lectures after first asking the professor. Thus far in first year every professor has allowed us to record all of their lectures for personal use only. they are not allowed to be shared. Video recording of any lecture is prohibited entirely by the school.

Personally, I don't record the lectures.

As an aside, this recommendation would also be contingent on how thorough the lecture slides that the professors at your university provide. We are tested almost exclusively on what is given in lecture and nothing more (at least so far). For me, it is easier to read and understand the slides and not have to try to listen to the lectures more than once. Then again, its all on how you learn.
 
I forgot to add my school...PCOM. And the technology is the ish....were not just talking recordings. Full recording with the PPTs and full controls. Tegrity is the software if you are familiar.

Def a life saver...I dunno that I could do it without tegrity.
 
I forgot to add my school...PCOM. And the technology is the ish....were not just talking recordings. Full recording with the PPTs and full controls. Tegrity is the software if you are familiar.

Def a life saver...I dunno that I could do it without tegrity.

We had tegrity.. again.. meh.
 
We had tegrity.. again.. meh.


What issues did you have? The buffering is pretty good...my only beef is the lack of speed control on macs....so I have to keep my PC laptop setup on my desk as my tegrity station. They recently upgraded to the new version of Bb and it has noticeably helped with the buffering issue we had last year.
 
As an aside, this recommendation would also be contingent on how thorough the lecture slides that the professors at your university provide. We are tested almost exclusively on what is given in lecture and nothing more (at least so far). For me, it is easier to read and understand the slides and not have to try to listen to the lectures more than once. Then again, its all on how you learn.

We are tested mostly on lecture material as well, and I like to learn the same way. Our recording system gives us two screens: one with the professor, and another one with the slides. That way I can watch the slides, hear the audio, and pause/fast forward/rewind as I please. You can move around the lecture with FF/Rewind, or by choosing particular slides. Pretty sweet. It helps a lot with understanding complex slides (or histology!) because you can see the slide and hear the explanation a the same time. 👍
 
RVU does. We use mediasite. Nothing better than 2x speed lectures... except maybe 3x speed... that might be cool.
 
In an update, it seems according to the SGA minutes from AZCOM that the school is going to begin uploading our OMM, Clinical Med and Psych courses through itunes for the student's use. Not sure how it will work but AZCOM is making progress in the right direction.
 
In an update, it seems according to the SGA minutes from AZCOM that the school is going to begin uploading our OMM, Clinical Med and Psych courses through itunes for the student's use. Not sure how it will work but AZCOM is making progress in the right direction.

I reaaaally hope they do the same with interdisciplinary so I don't have to sit through that again.

Also, I wouldn't pick a school based on whether they record lectures or not alone. I know several people who record with pear note on mac and with drop box it'd be almost as easy to get recordings from other students as it would be from blackboard or whatever.
 
I reaaaally hope they do the same with interdisciplinary so I don't have to sit through that again.

Also, I wouldn't pick a school based on whether they record lectures or not alone. I know several people who record with pear note on mac and with drop box it'd be almost as easy to get recordings from other students as it would be from blackboard or whatever.

As long as it stays within a small study group dropbox is awesome, the class dropbox is epic failure presently lol

BTW, interdisciplinary was only that one day. Its almost all online. That was the one time we are supposedly meeting this quarter
 
As long as it stays within a small study group dropbox is awesome, the class dropbox is epic failure presently lol

BTW, interdisciplinary was only that one day. Its almost all online. That was the one time we are supposedly meeting this quarter

Yeah true ours has been ridiculous. Nobody understands copy and paste haha

Ok good that was like orientation all over again 👎
 
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