College of Medicine Policy on Small Group Instruction in M1 and M2 Years
During the M1 & M2 years, all “morning cores” will be responsible to provide case-based, small group experiences during the core that constitute at least 8% of the instructional time for the core. Each Core Director will be responsible for reporting to the appropriate Core Directors Committee how case-based, small-group instruction is incorporated into their core’s curriculum.
- "Case-based" is understood to mean that:
- The instruction centers around a patient for whom students are provided with the following data (as appropriate):
- Patient history
- Physical exam results
- Lab results
- Images
- students analyze the data presented to identify the problem to be solved
- students produce and evaluate solutions to the problem (hypotheses, differential diagnosis)
- students’ products are manifest and assessable
- "small group" is understood to mean:
- students are organized into a group of 4-12 peers
- the students in the group are expected to work cooperatively and to communicate with each other
- attendance at small group sessions is mandatory
- small groups will have appropriate faculty interaction, as determined by the core director
- The goals of the small group sessions are that students will:
- learn how to identify and frame a clinical problem
- apply content knowledge in a clinical context
- hypothesize and research solutions to a clinical problem; including differential diagnoses
- employ research skills to find solutions to clinical problems
- take responsibility for their own learning
- work in cooperative teams
Approved by COM Curriculum Committee on April 24, 2012
