Asking professors for objectives

[dangit]

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[sylvanthus]

Id probably be a bit irritated as well. Part of me wonders if this kind of behavior is just a taste of what were all in for when we get to rotations and residency. I'm not sure if it is some strange preparation for the inevitable down the road or an example of how the system treats medical students poorly.

My school just sent out an email telling us they are changing the way testing is done with a long list of acceptable and unacceptable behavior and we either comply or run the risk of dismissal. The tone was as if we were naughty elementary school kids with no explanation of why the sudden changes.

I guess I would just pick my battles carefully as the higher ups have all the power. But, perhaps document what occurs along the way just in case you need it down the road.

 

[dangit]

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[EmersonAnne]

Since he didn't mention you by name, I don't think it was that unprofessional. I think he was just trying to gauge the rest of the class's need for learning objectives. That said, all of my professors post learning objectives and some people use them. I've found them to be unhelpful because they're usually things like "discuss (everything in the lecture)." It's basically code for "know everything." It's great that they're there for students who want/need them though. Do you guys have a team responsible for feedback to the professors/department? At my school, we do and if we ever have suggestions/comments, we just slip an anonymous note into a comment box at the back of our lecture hall and our feedback team picks it up and then discusses it with the professors at regularly scheduled meetings during the block.

 

[dermpathdoc]

Since he didn't mention you by name, I don't think it was that unprofessional. I think he was just trying to gauge the rest of the class's need for learning objectives. That said, all of my professors post learning objectives and some people use them. I've found them to be unhelpful because they're usually things like "discuss (everything in the lecture)." It's basically code for "know everything." It's great that they're there for students who want/need them though. Do you guys have a team responsible for feedback to the professors/department? At my school, we do and if we ever have suggestions/comments, we just slip an anonymous note into a comment box at the back of our lecture hall and our feedback team picks it up and then discusses it with the professors at regularly scheduled meetings during the block.

as a pathology professor with over 20 years teaching experience I have found objectives can both help and hinder students. If you find objectives to be helpful...you might use one of the Board study guides to help you study..some students use the powerpoint lectures as thier study guide....
and of course some professors will say"read Robbins in entirety"..an extremely unhelpful response...
I try to provide some sort of objectives with my lectures to guide student studying but also provide them with computerized learning modules with case studies of the most common presentations of diseases in each system.
That helps guide studying and student discussion more than anything.

 

[Siggy]

btw, i do understand and relate to how medical school adminstration treats you like children. i would've thought that they weeded out all those others during the interview so that those ppl who DID get accepted are responsible students.

Pfft. My class "has a reputation" because a podiatry student couldn't take a joke (the ironic thing was the other podiatry students who learned that we got in trouble because someone made a sarcastic remark in jest got mad over the fact that the administration thought that the they (admin) needed to protect the podiatry students) and some people studying for a different class during a lecture. Now, when ever I make a comment joking around about anything, I always include the foot note that I'm just trying to maintain our reputation. 😉

 

[ChiDO]

objectives are a waste. Half the time they're very vague: "Know the side effects of drug XXX" - then you get to the slide and there are 40 side effects.

"Understand Renal Failure" - well the lecture is called renal failure...well...that sure narrows it down

Basically, I don't even look at the objectives, but study the entire powerpoint. The only excpetion is professors who make very specific objectives and then strickly test off them. (ie. "know 2 most common side effects of Drug X" - then only 2 side effects are listed).

 

[doctordodo]

thats dr. mareez for ya lol, but if that were me i'd be pretty mad too

 

[ZDawg826]

Well you're obviously talking about anatomy. For anatomy, every professor has stated "KNOW EVERYTHING ON THE SLIDES." So I think that's a fair question for the professor to ask if he really needs to put objectives to direct our learning if we need to understand and memorize everything anyways - and the reason why everyone laughed is because we've all heard "KNOW EVERYTHING ON THE SLIDES" so many times - and if there isn't something that's necessary to know for an exam or boards they tell us.

I don't think the idea was to humiliate anyone, however, I can see how you feel that way since everyone laughed at the idea of objectives for that class.

I don't think thats fair to call people ignorant who don't look at the objectives - we've obviously figured out that they are not really that helpful. I have never looked at the objectives and I'm doing great in that class. A better use of time would be to do some practice board questions, because as its been stated by our professor, that's where the test questions come from.