In the very evening after the gangster meeting, our man from Pluto gave the (probably his last) medical grand round. It was the rare occasion when our weekly presentation had a full-house of audience.
The topic was so so. I stood at the back of the lecture theatre and was engaged in some casual conversation with LS and SN.
All of a sudden, LS said, "Look what our students bring for the grand round - they are taking notes by laptop computers !"
"That's been going on for a year or two already." I pointed out, "Now many doctors could not practice without referring to the book and on-line resources."
The three of us fell silent for a while, and I moved on, "In fact I suspect we will eventually have to do open book examination for our medical students - written and clinical alike."
The two ladies starred at me. On their face I could see the question plainly: Aren't you against the idea ?
"Oh, I'm all for an open book examination. To say the least it simulates real life practice. It would also alleviate their anxiety and our blame for putting up too much information for them to memorize ..." I said. My angle of mouth obviously twitched.
"Eh ... ?" My audience were puzzled.
"I tell you, even if we do not change the questions, open book does not help their result." I could not stop putting up a wicked smile.
PS. You think my proposal outrageous? Many other professions - for example, lawyers - have their formal examination in the open book format.
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
2 comments:
Support! Shall we add this as part of the final MB this year?
Who else need a walking Harrison nowadays when anyone can just get the most updated information at the tip of the finger from the internet? (even the patient can do this! )
But memorizing the principles (not mere facts) is still important for learning a subject.
Post a Comment