Foundations 2022 Rules of the Road
What:
The Rules of the Road are a set of principles to guide faculty and staff in planning and implementing blocks and courses across the Foundations Phase. This document is based on current practice and policy within the SOM, faculty, student, and staff feedback, course evaluations, and the work of Foundations 2022 workgroups.
Why:
- To create a shared understanding of the curriculum,
- To standardize the student experience where appropriate,
- To reduce student cognitive load,
- To identify areas for flexibility to support creativity and individual teaching styles.
Overall student time commitment
Students are expected to commit a total of 60 hours per week to medical school. This number includes time spent in class (for all Blocks, Threads, Themes, PCP, and FCM), on homework, and exam prep. This number does not include extracurriculars.
Independent/Out-of-class experience
Purpose:
| Out-of-class material should | Students should |
|---|---|
| Provide students with new information, background, schema, framework, and important concepts & connections to previous knowledge | Recall facts and core concepts about topic Understand and describe/recognize framework and key concepts |
| Delineate key concepts within materials | Be prepared to communicate and apply concepts in class |
| Provide opportunity for self-assessment | Identify gaps in knowledge/areas of uncertainty |
Design Parameters:
Time Commitment
- Students are expected to spend no more than 1-1.5 hours on out-of-class preparation for each hour in class, including reading assignments, pre-class videos, and other required activities. This time commitment does not include after-class review or studying for examinations. Faculty should encourage students to discuss learning strategies if they are regularly exceeding the time commitment.
- Recommendations on expected time commitments for different learning resources can be found on the Out-of-Class Materials page.
Materials
- All materials meet accessibility requirements (e.g., screen readers, searchable, captioning, etc.).
- All out-of-class material (e.g., course packs/syllabi, pre-class videos, etc.) are the same at all sites.
- Canvas site follows provided template and the Canvas style guide.
- Clear delineation of required and optional material identified on Canvas.
- Course packs follow a consistent style guide used in all blocks and courses. If using PressBooks for materials, authors will follow the SOM Pressbooks Guidelines.
- Materials are completed by the date determined at Lockdown Meeting. If materials are not completed by deadline, then previous year’s materials will be utilized.
In-class experience
Purpose:
| Interactive sessions should | Students should |
|---|---|
| Provide students with opportunities to engage with faculty and fellow students | Meaningfully participate in working through problems or projects |
| Review and reinforce key concepts & schema | Practice communicating ideas and key concepts |
| Create opportunities for students to use information learned in new situations | Engage with faculty, other students, and materials to construct a personal framework for understanding the material |
| Support students in practice of applying concepts and filling in gaps in understanding of material | Use materials to discover gaps in their own knowledge and to help support fellow students’ learning |
Design Parameters:
- Teaching methods and in-class materials can vary at different sites if session objectives are met.
- All class sessions, including Large Group Discussion and Lecture, will be designed to incorporate active learning. Examples of active learning strategies include polling, think-pair-share, brainstorming, break outs and report back, Q&A with warm calls, etc.
- If a block chooses to use a pre-recorded video in place of an in-class session, individual sites may choose to deliver the equivalent material in person to increase active student participation. Students attending the live session are not expected to view the pre-recorded video.
- All blocks should incorporate patient voices when possible, either through synchronous sessions or videos.
- Presentation materials (i.e., PowerPoint slides) meet accessibility requirements and adhere to presentation best practices.
- Small group sessions should emphasize student collaboration, discussion, and problem-solving.
- All block directors are required to review the documents and resources available to understand their role and expectations in the Foundations curriculum.
- New instructors who develop content are required to meet with the block/thread director to understand their role and expectations.
Assessment
Design Parameters:
- Assessment in basic science blocks should adhere to the Foundations Assessment policy.
- Blocks should not schedule MCQ exams and pin test exams on the same day.
- Weighting graded components:
- Blocks can award up to 5% of the grade for participation in small groups, but students must perform an appropriate task (e.g., write a reflection on a session they attended) to receive participation credit.
- Blocks can award up to 5% of the grade for completing readiness quizzes.
- Due dates for non-exam graded components should be the morning of the last day of the block in order to facilitate timely return of final grades to students.
- An estimate of the number of exam questions for each thread should be included as part of the assessment plan.
- The content that is considered testable should be communicated clearly to students. The learning materials that contain testable content should be as standardized as possible across campuses.
- If exam review sessions are led by block faculty, they must be offered to students at all sites. Sessions may be delivered locally using identical materials or scheduled as a WWAMI-wide session when all students are available to attend.
- Review sessions are faculty run, structured sessions that cover defined course content that will be covered on an upcoming exam.
- Faculty office hours and Q&A sessions are not considered review sessions. Such sessions can be made available to all students or scheduled upon student request and do not require standardization across campuses.
- In Canvas, all major assessments should be named as Exams (rather than Quiz or Midterm).
Evaluation
Design Parameters
- All blocks (excluding FCM) will use the same end-of-block evaluation form and instructor evaluation form.
- Evaluations will open on the morning of the last day of the block.
- All instructors that are listed as teaching sessions in Elentra will be included in the end-of-block instructor evaluation. If additional instructor evaluations are desired, it will be the responsibility of block faculty to distribute and collect the evaluations.