dental curriculum

[elz787]

Hi, I know some dental schools have begun to use the DVD curriculum program where all your textboook info is on a DVD. For those that have experienced this could you tell me your pros and cons? What do others think? thanks for sharing.

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[grant555]

We have that at my school, and it has drawbacks and advantages. The good things are that you don' t have to carry around books and that really helps getting ready for each day. Some of the bad things are that you don't have a hard copy to study from unless you print things out, which can be pretty expensive if you don't own a printer. If your school uses a DVD format, it may be worth a few extra bucks to invest in a printer anyway due to convenience. This is not going to be relevant to everyone since some people have no problem (at least up to this point) staring at a computer screen for hours, which has drawbacks in itself.

Also, it makes taking notes easier if you can type faster than you can write, and it is easier to flip through key passages in the book.

Like most things in dental school, it seems to be sink or swim, which isn't that far off from undergrad. I hope this helps. Take care and GOD bless.

 

[ItsGavinC]

Here are my thoughts:

The DVD made no difference in how I studied, since the bulk of the information tested on came from our syllabus or Powerpoint slides that professors lectured from. I occasionall used the DVD texts for referencing, but that was no different than Googling a subject. I *never* sat and read from the DVD text for hours as I might have during undergrad (once again, because 95% of the information that was important was in the syllabus or class slides).

My real gripe comes with how my school is being billed for the DVD texts, and how that crap gets passed on to us. I don't want my texts anymore--I have no use for them, but I'm still being charged $3300 a year for them. That's ridiculous.

 

[elz787]

i'm just worried that its going to be a drastic change from what i'm used to in undergrad. Does anyone from the texas schools have any comments to share?

 

[gryffindor]

This thread reminds me that I need to contact VitalCrap since my original Mac I used to run VitalBook on died a month after graduating dental school. I wonder if I can load the final version I paid for onto my new laptop, b/c sometimes I do wish I could search a few things in a text book. And now I actually have time to read the text books, but too bad I don't have them handy anymore since my original laptop with VitalBook died.

For the OP, I can't remember anymore the pain VitalCrap was. It was a major pain, but by the end of my 4 years, their product had greatly improved from the junk they gave us in Fall 2000. For the most part, you had to study from the class notes anyways, there isn't enough time for in depth reading of all dental textbooks. I bought a few books like Histology and Anatomy in the beginning to transition between books & DVD.

Gavin, I can't believe you pay $3300 per year. We were paying $1500 per year in 2004, I wonder if it's inflation or school dependent.

 

[grant555]

$3300 seems excessive and is double of what we're charged. I don't know why it is so large a price tag. At any rate, whether the books are used or not will depend on the individual. Some professors draw heavily from their lectures while others mix and match between the lecture, powerpoints, texts, and old tests.

It is true that the text is mainly a reference that some either don't have time to read or choose not to, but this is just another reason why dental school is so expensive no matter where you attend, which leads to a host of other issues during and after your education. Take care and GOD bless.

 

[ItsGavinC]

You're right, the $3300 is a lot. That's the entire VitalCrap package that I was referring to. To my knowledge we're the only school using the entire package, although I recall reading somewhere that several other schools will be using it next year. It's more than just the texts, it's some websites and curriculum for PBL and other junk.

Either way the fee is absurd and the product is lacking.