Semester Review- Yr2 Sem 1| Online Learning is Pace...

 

The only typical thing about this semester is that it started in early September and finished in late December, usual Mo. This semester started as a breath of fresh air and served as a much-needed revival of my passion for medicine. 

During the two month break after Yr1 Sem 2, I jumped at an opportunity to become more financially literate. The need to develop those skills as early as possible can only be an asset to a young person, therefore, I try to cultivate that knowledge whenever I have free time on my hands (which in med gets lesser and lesser as time goes by). Any investment in yourself pays more dividends than you can ever imagine at that moment and may be as simple as reading a book. To be quite frank as much as I see the importance of doing these things and being intentional about it, it still requires tons of discipline and self-motivation because it’s not my passion. Medicine is where my heart is and I couldn’t wait for this break to be over.

This momentum followed me well into the semester and made even the most menial tasks worthwhile. Bright-eyed and full of passion I would go to each lecture, ready to tap into deeper levels of understanding the human body. By now I’ve gotten acclimatized to the online learning environment, seeing that we’ve transitioned since March 2020. However, it seemed that only the students were properly adjusted and the two-month break facilitated regression on the part of some administrators. To summarize my sentiments I use the words of Max McKeown “Adaptability is about the powerful difference between adapting to cope and adapting to win”. 

The first course was Respiration and was projected to last four weeks. There were some hoops the administrators had to jump through to facilitate our classes especially Anatomy as time zone clashes were a major obstacle for some lecturers. Luckily there’s always a silver lining and we were able to interact with a seasoned giant in the field of Anatomy, someone I am so grateful to have been taught by. Despite being accustomed to the teaching methods of lecturers you interact with consistently whenever I am privy to get a new lecturer I always await new perspectives and styles of doing things with bated breath. There were many attempts by lecturers to facilitate holistic learning given the circumstances and included videos covering realistic anatomical features and relations (Acland’s Video Atlas of Human Anatomy).

But the kink in the road came when there was a series of miscommunications between the convenor and the persons setting our Spotters (Anatomy quizzes) which lead to many students being unprepared and unfortunately surprised by the content on the quiz. However, the physiology quiz followed the outline of the material which was to be covered, and came like a speeding bus right after the final Spotter. But our troubles didn’t stop here, there was a biochemistry lab that seemed to effectively confuse the entire year group when writing it up. Let’s just say my bad luck with biochem labs didn’t improve this semester but I am grateful that I passed that assignment nonetheless. Generally speaking, the content of this course was stimulating and PBL helped tremendously in developing our investigative skills and the direct application of the theory to clinical scenarios. 

Without taking a breath to catch one’s self we dived into the next course, Neuroscience and Special Senses, another 12-week course. Immediately we were greeted with salutations that this course is going to be the best course we'll ever do and reassured that it will be nothing but “FUN”. I must admit it did live up to that promise. Neuroscience was one of my favorite courses and due to the nature of Anatomy and Physiology going hand in hand, both the material and assessments were favorable. I honestly felt like a detective when doing PBL and applying knowledge gained to questions. Striking differences and similarities of neurological disorders piqued my interest and the childhood dream of becoming a neurosurgeon was awakened. The only downside for the pessimist is that many areas in this field are still not understood completely however this may be a glamor of encouragement for the optimist. 

When it came to the Special Senses aspect of the course, the lecturers did make attempts to give us a wealth of resources by putting together a playlist on YouTube but ultimately the material just needed to be learned. Some concepts required visualization and explanations from multiple sources but it came down to what worked for you. The Special Senses and Somatosensory Labs allowed us to be hands-on at home in a space without the pressure of marks hanging over our heads. 

I appreciated the slots in the timetable which allowed students to do independent study and not be too overwhelmed with the volume of the work, which was a lot in itself. Similarly, it was very helpful that each PBL problem was orchestrated to be based on the lecture material the week before. That made everything smoother and facilitated the consolidation of the information with time. 

Whilst academics did take center stage this semester, I was able to be a part of the Executive Team of an extracurricular club also. Through this experience, I learned how to better prioritize, micromanage, delegate, and trust those on my team. Moreover, this club was a catalyst for organic human interaction and paved the way for many lifelong friendships. One thing this pandemic took from many people was the ability to have genuine human interactions where it doesn’t feel like you are merely talking to a screen. Being a part of IVCF did not just allow me to grow in faith but also was a beacon of hope to navigate the rough waters of anxiety, fear, isolation, family problems, discouragement and so much more.

 

            

 

 

The journey is just as important as the destination. Learning to pace yourself, assume new responsibilities, and fine tune your skills is crucial. Amid the storm, do not focus on the adverse conditions but rather the Creator of the elements. God did not bring you this far to only get you this far, charge up your faith, and keep going! 

SPOILER: It gets better.