Resources
Office of Medical Education (OME)
- Provides educational support for faculty and students.
- Provides multi-media systems design and hardware installation for medical school education.
- Provides faculty development through instructional techniques, design and evaluation in coordination with the Office of Faculty and Student Development.
- Provides educational resources including audiovisual aids, instructional videotapes and computer software programs.
- Develops and implements computer-based instructional systems.
- Assists in the development of special educational programs.
- Assists in curriculum development and evaluation of curricular programs.
- Provides evaluation of instructional systems and techniques.
- Provides audiovisual support services for lecture halls, small group classrooms and special events.
- Provides individual and group tutorials, mock examinations and study skills workshops.
- Provides research in medical education, instructional design, evaluative techniques and educational technology.
- Consults with faculty and staff of the medical school, as well as the other UMB schools, on media production.
- Provides classroom scheduling.
A variety of services, administered by the director of Academic Development, offer opportunities for students to become more effective, efficient learners. The services include:
Prematriculation Summer Program (PSP): Prior to the beginning of the academic year, incoming freshmen are invited to take part in a six-week simulation of the first year curriculum. Participants study significant portions of Structure & Development and Cell & Molecular Biology, and are given a brief introduction to Functional Systems; learn to handle the medical school's accelerated pace and grasp-of-material demands; gain practice in gross anatomy and histology labs, small group study, and exam-taking; and refine their study skills and habits to meet new challenges. PSP is especially designed for students who are at greater risk of not succeeding in medical school; such applicants are given enrollment preference. Follow-up studies have consistently shown that PSP has had a positive and significant impact on the academic achievement of PSP students. Each year, the program also affords a select group of academically talented sophomores the opportunity to explore academic medicine and sharpen their own academic knowledge by teaching this class of approximately 20 students.
Supplemental Instruction: Individual and small group tutorials are available to all freshmen and sophomores as needed at no charge.
Academic Development Workshops: At various times throughout the year, formal presentations and panel discussions addressing topics of general concern and interest (e.g., time management, active learning, test-taking, and course previews) are conducted.
Academic Counseling: Individual counseling sessions, focusing on problems affecting academic performance and strategies for improvement, are available to all medical, physical therapy and medical technology students.
Academic Monitoring: First- and second-year exam results are reviewed frequently. Students who do not pass an exam or whose results are significantly lower than usual are invited in for consultation as soon as possible after the poor exam showing. The student works with the director in specifying what went wrong and in fashioning an appropriate remedy. Follow-up contacts provide additional support to the student. The Academic Monitoring Committee meets periodically to examine the academic progress of all first- and second-year students with particular attention paid to devising interventions for students experiencing difficulty.
Board Preparation: A series of activities assist sophomores in getting ready for the USMLE STEP I. Activities include: gathering and sharing with sophomores the collective wisdom of juniors who have just taken the boards; offering frequent formal review sessions covering "high yield" exam topics; conducting occasional information-sharing workshops and panel discussions; identifying "at risk" students who may have difficulty with STEP I for special board prep assistance; in individual consultations, structuring study strategies/schedules, answering questions and discussing areas of concern; administering a February mock board which provides students with baseline information as well as giving a "heads up" that the boards are approaching; helping those who must retake the STEP I. Board review books are available for circulation from the academic development resource library. By request, assistance also is given to those preparing for the STEP II or the specialty licensing exams.
Research: Ongoing data collection and analysis provide a source of information useful in clarifying the role and interplay of various factors involved in student learning. These qualitative and quantitative data sets are utilized by others conducting research or making curriculum decisions.
Educational Screening/Special Accommodations: Students with learning disabilities (LD) or attention deficit disorders (ADD) receive assistance in minimizing the disability's impact on their academic performance. Students suspected of being LD or ADD, but not previously identified as such, are referred for testing. If the results are positive, the student will receive assistance in gaining accommodations and adjusting his/her study approach accordingly.
Student Computer Facilities: The Computer Learning Center is located on the second floor of the MSTF building and consists of 20 computer work stations open throughout the day. The Office of Medical Education maintains the network and provides helpdesk activities dedicated to support student laptop computers and their use by the students.
Photography: Services include photographic copying of flat material such as written matter, x-rays, laboratory tracings and data, photography of specimens, equipment set-ups, surgical, clinical and laboratory activities, and portraits for school-related purposes. The photography laboratory also handles slide duplication, and acts as a collection station for commercial processing of color photography. Computer-developed color slides are a major area of service.
Health Sciences and Human Services Library
"The library is always one of the first places you look to in order to measure the quality of any institution of higher education. Those who see our new library, from the outside and inside, will have no doubt as to the seriousness of our academic mission. This wonderful building puts us in a leadership position on an international scale." -UMB President David J. Ramsay (March 1998)
Distinguished as the first medical school in the United States to build a library, the University of Maryland continued its leadership role when the new Health Sciences and Human Services Library (HS/HSL) opened in April 1998.
The library is the second largest medical school library on the East Coast. It has six levels and covers 190,000 square feet, which includes the Tower Café, the HS/HSL coffee lounge. The facility offers wireless access as well as 1,500 data connections for laptop users, along with 50 public-access workstations. These workstations have access to everything, from the Web to email to databases to full-text journals/textbooks to applications. The library's 370,000+ volumes and 2,500 print and e-journal titles can found through HS/HSL online catalog which also provides access to the resources of 15 other libraries in the University System of Maryland. There is seating for 900 individuals in the library. This arrangement includes 130 individual study-carrels and more than 40 collaborative learning rooms always available to students.
HS/HSL digital information resources are available offsite through the Web site (http://www.hshsl.umaryland.edu). Additionally, the Web page directs users to other valuable resources from around the world and is also the first place to look for additional news and information about the Health Sciences and Human Services Library.
All library services are fully supported by a staff of librarians, computing, and network support professionals. The staff is available for consultations and both online and on-site instruction, as well as assistance in planning for the integration of information skills into curricula and courses.
In addition to serving all the professional schools on campus and the University of Maryland Medical Center, the library is a nationally recognized leader in information technology and serves as the Regional Medical Library for the Southeastern United States, Region 2 of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine.
For further information about the library and its services, access the library's Web address at http://www.hshsl.umaryland.edu.
Medical Alumni Association
The Medical Alumni Association - the oldest independent medical alumni association in the United States - has served all students, graduates, faculty and staff affiliated with the School of Medicine since 1875. Located in historic Davidge Hall, 522 West Lombard Street, the Medical Alumni Association office is open weekdays. Among its many activities, the association coordinates the annual Reunion weekend, publishes the quarterly Bulletin and sponsors an annual social event for each medical school class.
Since the association inaugurated the Annual Giving Drive in 1978, lectures, scholarships and student loans funded by alumni contributions have enriched the programs and goals of the School of Medicine on a daily basis.
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