The Unofficial Guide to First Year - University of Oklahoma Health ...

UNOFFICIAL GUIDE
Embryology
a.k.a.: “Embryo”
Hours: 32
When it hits: Fall
Course Director: Dr. Jody Rada, BRC 266
SECTION
C
J.D: My Life is over.
Dr. Cox: Oh come on,
you gotta focus on
the positives. For
instance the medical
miracle that is one
woman actually
impregnating another
woman. [smacks hands
together] Sha-daisy!
Turk: Coincidentally, I
have a cousin named
Shadaisy.
-Scrubs
This is one of the best-organized courses of the fall semester. Both Dr. Rada and
Dr. Tomasek enjoy teaching, and it shows. Most lectures include detailed
explanations of the diagrams provided in the syllabus or in the handouts. In
addition, the class only meets once a week, which means that they cover a lot of
material in each lecture, especially during the first test block. Therefore, coming
to class is important (read: go to class). However, you will be taking this class
with dental and allied health students, which can make the lecture hall crowded.
To accommodate this, the lectures are simulcast to the mods. It is sometimes
nice to sit in the mods and watch the lectures but the PowerPoint slides are
sometimes hard to see and it is much harder to ask questions.
It's easy to let this class become third priority behind Biochem and Gross.
Nevertheless, it is important to stay caught up - especially in the last two test
blocks. Many people stop focusing on Embryo by the third test block and end
up getting their butts kicked on the third exam. Though the time spent studying
Embryo may pale in comparison to the hours spent pouring over Biochem and
Gross, any time spent on Embryo is time well spent. Most people suggest getting
a good understanding of the material early. Since the class builds on itself, you have
to grasp the beginning stuff to be able to get the material presented later in the semester.
PROBLEM BASED LEARNING (PBLS)
During the course of the semester, there will be three combined Embryo/Gross
problem based learning (PBL) sessions. In case you aren't familiar with PBLs, I'll
give you the general overview. For our class, PBLs were sessions led within our
mod by a facilitator (faculty members) with about half your mod. We were given
the bare bones of a clinical case on our first meeting and were asked to do a little
research to find out more about the case. Then, we met in the mod again with
the facilitator and with our group to discuss our findings. This may not be the
exact format you have, but it is likely that at least a similar format will be utilized.
Some people like them because they prepare you well for the tests. Some people
think they are simply a distraction from the studying. You have to decide that for
yourself, although not liking them doesn't get you out of doing them.
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