Student Orientation 

Grading Policy

Syllabus

Since my course is web-enhanced, you have a few extra online programs to join. Follow these instructions to get started.

First, join these sites and become familiar with them:

• Become a member of this wiki. Request access on the front page (go to upper right-hand corner). Then, the teacher will approve you.
• Login to MyReadingLab.com. If you have to register yourself (and then be reimbursed), see the registration guide and demo video on the Tech Support wiki page.  
• View the virtual tour of our DREAM project site on Sakai: http://www.screenr.com/agNH 

Second, bring these things to class each day:

• Laptop to access free wifi from USA to work on MyReadingLab (MRL), this wiki, and Dictionary.com, as well as to research information for your debate. 
• Tabor's Medical Dictionary to build your electronic vocabulary deck and to learn Greek and Latin word parts

Third, do your homework:

• Practice the various speed-reading strategies we discuss in class. See Week 1 activities.
• Use the cognitive strategies we discuss in class to transfer new information to long-term memory. 
• Do the reading modules and lexile readings (two separate things) in the MRL program.
• Complete your projects: individual vocabulary project, favorite learning strategies group project, and debate team project. 
• Chart your reading growth. Set high goals. Conference with your teacher. You need to have a print out of the growth chart. 
• Read assignments and study for tests. 

Fourth, participate in class:

• Add your ideas to this wiki
• Participate in class discussions
• Be courteous to your peers and your instructor. 
• Work collaboratively in teams. Select a team leader.

Class Teams 

Note: I assigned numbers for iClicker usage. 

Course Overview and Rationale

Students will learn the following content to improve the overall reading comprehension:

• Speed-reading strategies, how to overcome obstacles, goal setting for goal attainment at beginning and midpoint will be covered. Medical students have to read exorbitant amounts of research literature, so there is a need to read quickly, otherwise, you will get behind in your homework. Secondly, speed-reading techniques lead to better comprehension because slow readers that become bogged down in reading word by word often lose the gist of the paragraph, overall message of the author, or subtleties like inferences.

• Metacognitive strategies: Metacognition is thinking about thinking. Students need to think critically about how they are learning. For instance, cramming is ineffective for storing information into long-term memory. Distributed or spaced learning, where you learn information overtime and revisit it, is more effective for transferring information into long-term memory. 

• MyReadingLab.com (MRL) has modules on the following reading comprehension skills: active reading, identifying the author’s purpose and tone, critical thinking, inferences, implied main idea, patterns of organization, and reading rate.  It also provides variety of articles at different lexile levels that measure a student’s reading comprehension level and an approximated lexile level score of 0L-1700L based on the Lexile Reading Framework™.   MRL is a research-based program that targets the individual needs of the students through computer-assisted instruction. 

• Scientific vocabulary from academic journals and class discussion on Greek and Latin roots commonly used in medicine will be covered.  Increased vocabulary knowledge aids reading comprehension. For example, verbal reasoning on the MCAT is based on concepts framed in words. If you don't understand academic words, then you'll have difficulty understanding the concepts.