19 September 2011

How would you like your children's teachers - Rare, medium-rare, medium-well or well-done? Part 2

The University of Virginia (UVA) revolutionized their medical program. They built a new facility, and the class of 2014 has the privilege of being the first to enjoy them. The link of the article is as follows:
http://uvamagazine.org/features/article/adjusting_the_prescription/

If you are pressed for time to read it, here are some facts:
1. No more hour-long lectures
2. No more waiting 2 years to actually use a stethoscope
3. No more "theatrical" lecture-halls
4. No more coming to class with reading assignments unread because the professors' just not going to summarize it all for you
5. No more being non-participative and silent
6. They actually have a building, resembling a real hospital with a whole bunch of simulations - the "dummies" even exert noises when they are "in pain"!
...and much more (so read the article!!)

To have such institutions, we need money. And not only that, we need dedicated faculty who are willing to let go of their "traditional" teaching behaviors, and step into the current pedagogical definitions.

(One of the comments mentioned that this resembles a medical institution in Singapore.)

I wonder if we could build such facilities in Malaysia. We certainly have the money for it (from what I hear and read and learn, at least), we certainly are overwhelmed with contractors who will die for the project (this I am 300% P.O.S.I.T.I.V.E.), but if it does get built, are our faculty going to use the facility to the max? And how much are we going to charge the rakyat for it, if the government undertakes this project? Or if a private entity were to build it, what would the tuition cost look like? Hmmmmmm....

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