Could you tell us a bit more about how online workload is handled? Our program will be held entirely online. Just wondering how the set up is, login times, required zoom meetings, exams, etc? Thanks in advance
So did you have the exact verbiage from Jamie - did he say online in entirety or hybrid? JW.
So we've been online since end of Feb./Beginning of March and there were a lot of hiccups initially. I'm sure this will get ironed out over summer esp. because they were really thrown into the online platform with COVID.
Set Up/Course Content - All professors use powerpoint which will be posted on the portal for you to download. I highly recommend Notability if you have an iPad. Every professor is different with their approach. The medical school records lectures (video and audio) for students to watch playback. So at the beginning of the quarantine MMS/MS1/MS2 were using archived video lectures (same prof., content, ppt. just previously recorded) and we were given links to view them. Remember, MMS is almost exactly the same as first semester MS1. Class was kind of asynchronous at this point. We have exams every other Monday so essentially you just had to get all your video lectures watched by exam time (no daily login requirements). A few professors that didn't have an archived video lecture would record themselves (audio) to a powerpoint and we could listen and view the powerpoint slides. Clinical Integration is the last course of the semester, and by this point they really had things figured out. Clinical Integration is a PBL course and completely novel to MMS so there was no prerecorded lecture. We met on Zoom 2-3x a week for about an hour to go over our case and were given assignments to turn in (tables, student question submissions, etc.) - the course ran absolutely no differently than in the Fall. Just login, mute your mic, turn off your camera and listen/take notes. Dr. Carty (facilitator of Clin. Int.) asks questions and you type in the chat box your answers. For the end of the year we had Zoom reviews for almost of the spring courses.
Exams - Exams are on Examplify every other Monday at 1pm (with the rare exception). We download the exam usually Friday night to our laptops. Monday at around 12:55p we get our "code sheet" and honor code. The code sheet has the login password for the exam. Take your exam. It automatically uploads and times you - it's a secure platform. Email in your honor code after you finish. Exams get ~70secs per question, multiple choice, randomized. All courses taken in the 2 week period are on the same exam. You get a separate grade for each course. This is the exact same way we took exams in the Fall - you're just doing it at home.
Quizzes - Very occasionally there's quizzes (usually for Clin Int.) and it functions the same way as exams. Clin Int. has the occasional worksheet as well.
We have discussion boards on the portal that you can submit any questions you have to our profs. They're also receptive to email or you could schedule a Zoom with them if you need further help. I'm thinking that they will transition more to Zoom as they get things figured out (classes are scheduled 2p-6p) which is nice because you can just ask your question in live time. They were really thrown into things with COVID, but they handled it well.
Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any more questions/clarifications.
and am matriculating LDP-Erie this Fall. I always got a ton of help from prev students through these SDN posts so I want to return the favor. If you have any questions about Erie, LECOM, MMS, etc. please feel free to ask!
