In person

Learning activities are based on actively engaging in the process of reading, analyzing, and synthesizing information from medical journals. Students will discuss course contents in seminars. They will give presentations as well as produce some writing assignment lectures by a professor and presentations by other students and speakers.

In-class and outside-class time

The estimated student work time for this course is 60 hours. Total hours per activity are: 

 Methodology and Activities

Different teaching methodologies will be combined to achieve learning objectives and competencies

1. Classroom training sessions: Full-group lectures with practice in the classroom. The teachers will explain concepts and present practical exercises on research design and critical reading concepts

2.  Seminars: Divided group Sessions introducing a topic by the teacher (20 min), followed by Journal Clubs sessions devoted to critical analyses of published research.  Journal Clubs will be structured in two parts: First, a research paper that will be commented on by the teacher. The teacher will summarize and explain and discuss the paper (15 min), highlighting the reasons for the design. An open debate on the paper will follow.  Papers discussed by the teachers will be mandatory readings. After teacher discussion, groups of students will conduct a similar comment on a paper using the research design covered during the session

3. Group Project: A Journal Club project in small (4-5 persons) groups. Groups will prepare a presentation for discussion. A list of themes and papers will be provided at the beginning of the course; groups will choose a paper of their liking in the first three sessions. These papers will be read by all group members, who will develop a critical analysis to present during the sessions. These papers are optional readings for students other than group members. Open discussion is encouraged. If no debate arises spontaneously, teachers will ask questions to promote an informed dialogue.

4. Quizzes:  At mid-seminar an online quiz will be open to the students in the classroom. The quiz will contain 5 questions about the paper discussed by the teacher. Quiz qualifications will be part of the assessment. At least 60% of the quizzes must be completed for passing the course without taking the final quiz. No make-up quizzes will be given, so students who miss a quiz will receive a 0 for that quiz. However, each quiz bears little weight individually in the course evaluation, missing one will have little effect on the total grade.  Students with less than 80% quizzes will receive a 0 in quizzes and will attend the final quiz session, which will account for 40% of the gradin

5.  Final Quiz: If a student has 60% or fewer quizzes (6 or less out of 10), quizzes will not be graded. Instead, the student will have to attend the final quiz session. In this session, students will receive a paper to read and analyze, and they will have to answer a 20 question quiz. The quiz score will account for 40% of the course grade.

Classroom attendance

Attendance is not mandatory. However, students must be aware that assessment quizzes will be open during the classroom and cannot be answered from outside the classroom and during course hours. Quizzes will begin at any moment during the session, according to the pace of the presentations, and for a limited time. Missed quizzes will not be reopened after the allotted quiz time. 

Students will not be allowed to leave the classroom during a quiz or presentation. A note from a healthcare provider will be required for any student expecting any sort of emergency during the quiz/exam. Please plan appropriately.

Course web page

The moodle webpage will contain the course schedule, contents, and reading materials. Open forums will provide the means for course communication.

Course quizzes and tasks will also be embedded in the Moodle platform, so students are expected to have online access to Moodle during sessions for adequate progress.

Communication and tutorhips

Questions about the tasks and course procedures must be addressed in the forums, where all students are encouraged to participate to clarify doubts. No queries will be made about tasks or procedures by e-mail. Forum queries may not be answered by the teacher unless they require only a brief and clarifying answer.

The contact by email will be reserved for personal contacts with potential implications on the academic activities. Prompt response to e-mail messages is not guaranteed. Forum messages directly addressed to the coordinator will be answered within 48h business days.

You are encouraged to contact the teacher about any concerns you have about the evolution of the subject. To do this, a message will be sent in a new line of the forum indicating in the BCER tutoring sessions for an appointment to discuss problems as soon as there is a concern on the part of the student. These queries are requested by email (NOT before or after class).

Participation

 Students are reminded that class participation and continuous evaluation are fundamental to passing the course. Furthermore, group work outside of class will also form a major part of the evaluation. It will not be possible to pass the course by only taking the quizzes.

Second Sitting 

No student can pass the course by only taking the resit exam. If students fail the course, they will have to contact the course coordinator to arrange the conditions and contents of the resit. If they intend to attend the resit exam, they must contact the course coordinator at least 14 business days before the exam date.  

Course Policies

Task Assignments due dates: All due dates are final. Submissions after the due date will not be accepted, and there will be no extension closing dates. Students and groups take full responsibility for the contents in the submitted assignments. Submissions will require students to click the submit button to declare their submission as final. No submission amendments will be accepted after clicking the submit confirmations or after the closing dates.

Extra credit: Extra credit opportunities are not provided.

Plagiarism and cheating:  Plagiarism is the use of using someone else’s words, ideas, or phrases as one’s own or failing to reference or use quotations to indicate copied text.  For this course, cheating is defined as the following: (a) representing homework as one’s own work when in fact it is the work of others; (b) using assignments completed by any other person, however, it’s okay to work with other students; (c) accessing the quizzes from outside the classroom.  Any student who cheats will not pass the course and will  be reported to the student vice-dean.