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Dr. John (Winter, 2022)

I really enjoyed this course. This course is solely creating presentations as a group for assigned disorders, with a focus on the genetics. Everytime their is a presentation, it is followed up with a feedback quiz due a few days later. This feedback quiz simply asks you to rate how well the group did in different areas and provide critique on what they did good and bad. It is followed with a series of questions the prof makes that are supposed to have been answered in the group’s presentation. That’s important, as that means that it may have not even been covered in the presentation (though the prof does like to at the end of the presentation, ask the group about topics covered in the feedback quiz that weren’t mentioned in the presentation and even explain it himself). Attendance is mandatory for each presentation and its free marks. Also, you must participate during the presentation. This may mean anything from asking the group questions (sometimes difficult) to just simply answering the questions posed by the group (in our case, that meant writing in the chat in zoom the answer to a multiple choice question). I recommend doing more than simply answering multiple choice questions as that may not give you full participation marks (ask a question time to time or answer a short answer question posed).

Its confusing at first because the course outline is vague and instructions are also vague and there is alot of freedom. However, after a few presentations, you get the hang of what the prof is looking for and what to include in your presentation and what not to include (very important as time is short for the presentation and you get deducted points for going overtime). Overall, I wouldn’t say its an easy course. It requires effort, but it was an amazing experience. I got to make new friends with my group members and it was fun making creative powerpoints with engaging questions. Also, if you listen carefully, you will learn alot about the various disorders and the prof is well versed in all the disorders, so there’s a plethora of knowledge. Finally, it helped hone my research skills as I learned where I should look for for reliable information and how to phrase what I want so that I get that info. If you love doing presentations like me, you will find it tasking, but fun.

Textbook: Not Required

Methods of Evaluation: Group presentations and feedback with small quiz