to my friends

i’ve been getting a lot of pressure to join facebook. the unthinkable has happened… i got an invite from my mom to add her as a facebook friend. i don’t know how much longer i can hold out; i’m admittedly a late adapter.

i want to highlight a few of our accomplishments to affirm that our effort as a group is meaningful. we delayed, perhaps defeated blackboard as a format for testing. multiple course exams are no longer a part of the first-year curriculum. we provided precise feedback to administrators and instructors about our desire for increased quality of experience in lectures. we established a culture of personal responsibility, collegiality, and community. we encouraged high ethical behavior from each other and the established the practice ‘if you see something, say something’. we encouraged a ‘roll with it’ attitude. dental school is difficult and we try to make it as comfortable as possible. in some cases we can change things, in other cases, we must change.

those of you who know me best know that i am very sentimental. please forgive me for being very personal with you now. i want to share with you my feelings for nyu: some of the most capable people i have ever known direct this school. i’ve found them to be genuine, warm, intelligent, resolutely confident, wise and fun. they care deeply about the value of our experiences and have impressive cohesion that makes this institution nimble, adaptable, current, relevant, and progressive.
i want to share with you an email that dr bertolami sent all of us last year. i am happy that we are on track with his vision for this school:

“NYUCD/NYUCN students, faculty, and staff all share the same goal – the furtherance of excellence in the academic program in order to educate outstanding healthcare professionals. But the hierarchy inherent in the traditional faculty/student model obscures this reality. More important, it's the wrong model for a professional school…the model should not be about who’s in charge, but about grown ups coming together around shared values and objectives. In other words, it should be about collaboration.” – Dr. Charles Bertolami, Dean

i hold this college in the highest regard. i’ve given my heart and my best effort to you and to this school. so it is with mixed feelings that i announce to you that i have accepted an admissions offer to another university. this decision was difficult to arrive at and i thank my mentors who spent time with me helping me to understand the decision and my feelings about it. they have helped me develop intellectually and emotionally. i encourage you to seek mentorship relationships; they will add richness to your experience and will be more valuable than many things you will learn here. as a parallel to what i have done, i encourage you to add value to the school and to your community. in return i’ve been given every opportunity i wanted: observing in clinic and hospital procedures, i have the cell phone numbers of many faculty, i’ve been a part of pet projects with faculty, research, friendships, asked for my assessment and opinions many issues. i’ve given myself to my community and i’ve been entrusted as second in command in my church congregation, captain in the new york sailing club. I share that with you to show you what could be if you do the same.

there are not words to tell you how much i will miss you and how much i appreciate you.

that was tough

yesterday it hit me how strange it is have a plastic event while studying neuroscience. so circular.

another something to think about: i saw dr baker. if you’re interested in helping in the anatomy department as a peer-assistant next year, contact him. my guess is that these positions will go fast.

please let jane know how much you appreciate her and wish her well on her next pursuit. her support to our class and the college will be greatly missed.

congratulations to us, and here’s to some earned relaxation…

new clickers

tell me what you think

computer-based examinations

seems like we don't see each other as often as we used to... special thanks to aaron, parisa, and david for capturing the lectures, and dr eisenberg and her capable crew at informatics.

i have three questions:
1. what are the benefits of paper-based quizzes (for both faculty and students)?
2. what are the benefits of computer-based quizzes (for both faculty and students)?
3. are you willing to forgo the benefits of computer-based in order to maintain paper-based?

clickers > attendance

statement of the problem: on 9feb09, many more of us were logged-in to CPS than were present in hp II.
objective: encourage self-regulating community. moderate class conversation.
class conversation 18feb09, highlights: overview. met with lots of upset students, instructors, deans. we aren't as anonymous as we think. three facets of involvement: those who lent remotes, those who accepted them, those who saw it happen.

asked 'what recommendations can we relay to admin for how to proceed?'
some replies: this experience as a warning is sufficient. admin should provide clear policy of crime/punishment. admin should provide overview for raising/resolving allegations.

asked 'how can we deal with this within our group?'
some replies: we know better than to have done this. those involved feel remorse. learn from it. we won't do it again.

recommendations: reaffirmed mantra 'if you see something, say something' (approach the person directly or talk to officer of class, instructor, admin, etc). take courage in that the majority of the class supports this action, as established by vote early last fall.
limitations: approximately 125 in attendance. few statements.
accolades: because dealing with information of this nature is 'inconvenient' requiring much effort to resolve, many of the faculty are unwilling to expose improprieties. kudos to dr sehl for keeping us honest.
outcomes: TBD. lots of us were discussing the theme throughout the day.

met with deans

in their many years of deaning, none had seen a student-generated report like the one we all contributed to. over and over: ‘thank you,’ ‘i have confidence in this report,’ ‘this is fantastic.’ our interest in high quality instructors and course content came across very strongly.
the report (survey, comments/recommendations) was not intended to go only to the top. soon, class officers will have met with all our instructors, course directors, department chairs, and deans to address the quality of instruction at every level.
deans have already started meeting with department chairs to reaffirm our feedback.

met with bucklan

class officers met with dr bucklan last week to review with him the results of our survey. we focused our discussion on comments directed to gds row instructors.

met with schiff

class officers met with dr schiff last week to review with him the results of our survey. he was appreciative for the feedback. we focused our discussion on the statement ‘materials (visual aids, lecture slides) and activities were effective’ to which over half of respondents ‘very strongly disagreed’ despite the fact that three-fourths responded that they attend class either 75% or 100% of the time.
we asked what other material and resources he could provide to meet this need.
he offered to:
a. provide references (particularly visual helps) from vitalbook
b. provide practice questions that involve calculations
c. consider providing a ‘key-concepts’ manual/bulleted list

dean's mtg agenda

the deans invited class officers to another meeting where we bring the agenda. what's on your mind?