A New Kind of Medical School?
The potential of new technology is leading administrators and faculty to ask such path-breaking questions as:
- Does medical school need to be a four-year affair for every student?
If the curriculum were unleashed from the constraints of traditional
scheduling — could a student then complete the degree in less than
four years, or more, based on measurements of his or her competency,
rather than the completion of courses?
- Must medical school be confined
to the boundaries of the traditional campus? If coursework is presented
well enough online, via “distance learning” tools such as
streaming video and interactive media, couldn’t many courses be
completed anywhere there’s an Internet connection?
- Can medical students take a larger role in their own education, mapping
learning plans that diverge from those of their colleagues?
- Is it possible
for faculty to spend less time conveying basic information from the front
of a lecture hall, and more time in close contact with students, fostering
advanced skills in analysis and judgment?
- No one knows precisely where such questions may lead, or what shape a new kind of medical school might take. But it’s likely that the U-M will be among the first to find out.
What do you think about increasing technology in medical education at the U-M? Send your opinion to the editor at rkrup@umich.edu.
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