Congratulations! As a Course Director you have assumed responsibilities central to the education mission of the school. The information below is designed to make your job easier by anticipating and answering some frequently asked questions and pointing you toward useful resources. It is essential reading for Course Directors and may be useful for your students and instructors as well. It should be read in conjunction with the official Policies and Procedures Manual of the School found on the web. There should be no inconsistencies between the information in this Course Directors Handbook and in the Policies and Procedures. If there are, please let us know. The Policies take precedence. If you don't find what you need to know, please get in touch with Dr. Schiavone or Dr. London in the Office of Medical Education (OME)(4-1030) or Dr. Williams in the Office of Academic Affairs (4-3084).

Introduction

Who runs the curriculum?

There are three major "players" in curricular planning: the Curriculum Committee (a committee of the Faculty Senate), the Office of the Dean, and the Course Directors. The Curriculum Committee (chaired by Peter Williams) meets on the first Monday of each month and has primary responsibility for designing and evaluating our curriculum. It has three important subcommittees: 1st and 2nd Year Course Directors (Thomas O'Riordan, chair), Clinical Course Directors (Peter Halperin, chair), and the Outcomes & Assessment (Sidonie Morrison, chair). You should plan to attend your Course Directors' committee. The Dean has delegated his authority over educational matters to the Office of Academic Affairs led by Vice Dean for Academic & Faculty Affairs, Peter C. Williams, J.D., Ph.D. Dean Williams leads a team of four Associate Deans: Jack Fuhrer, M.D. (Admissions), Aldustus Jordan, E.D. (Student Affairs), Fred Schiavone, M.D. (Medical Education) and Latha Chandran, MPH, MD (Academic Advising) and one Assistant Dean, Elza Mylona (Faculty Development). These deans are responsible for administering the educational program. Finally and most important are the Course Directors, who carry the primary responsibility for teaching and evaluating students.

At the recommendation of the Curriculum Committee, the Dean of the School of Medicine appoints Course Directors, usually for three years, with renewable terms. Dean Williams should have sent you a letter of appointment with a copy to your chair and Marilyn London in the Office of Medical Education. This letter triggers a very important event: Dr. London adds you as a Course Director in CBase, our web-based curriculum management program, and sends you your username and password. Bookmark the URL for CBase.

What you will need to do in CBase is detailed below. CBase is the essential locus of your course’s schedule, syllabus, course and teacher evaluations, student records, and links to all course materials. OME will give you and your administrator, if you have one, as much hands on training as you need.

What does our curriculum look like?

The Mission of the Stony Brook School of Medicine is broad and the curriculum is designed to meet it. The first two years of medical school is comprised primarily of a set of required basic science courses. The elements are represented in schematics of the first, the second, the third and the fourth years. In the latter two years students must take nine clerkships (medicine, family medicine, ob/gyn, pediatrics, psychiatry, surgery, neurology, emergency medicine and radiology), a sub-internship (medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, or surgery), a month studying surgical sub-specialties, a month long didactic course (laboratory medicine, surgical anatomy, clinical pharmacology, or emergency medicine) and must satisfy a requirement in Medicine in Contemporary Society.  Currently they must also complete 20 weeks of elective work.

The articulated mission of the medical school is to improve the quality of health care to the citizens of New York and the nation and demonstrate national leadership in education, research, patient care and community service. The more specific goals below should be read with this mission in mind. You are given these objectives because helping to meet them should be a primary purpose of your course.

A.   Educational Goals

The competent physician should possess the medical knowledge, judgment, professionalism and clinical and communication skills to provide high quality patient care. The Stony Brook School of Medicine aims to achieve excellence in the preparation of students for careers in medical practice or research and to foster their continuous professional growth. The goals of the educational programs are to provide broad knowledge and skills in the life sciences and clinical sciences, nurture appropriate professional behavior and attitudes, and emphasize commitment to continued learning. Similar goals apply to the education and training of resident physicians. Indeed, the committee strongly supports the General Competencies initiative of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, and has consciously incorporated these principles in its present review of the objectives of the Stony Brook School of Medicine. The Educational Mission and Competencies for our medical school are found on the web at http://www.uhmc.sunysb.edu/som/academics/missioncomp.html. Specific course objectives must be related to these overall objectives. In this regard it is very important that you pay particular attention to the timing of events. As an example, course objective must be posted well in advance of administering examinations.

B.  Research Goals

The School of Medicine conducts active research programs in the basic and applied medical sciences. Research activities are an integral component of the medical school mission since it is essential to achieve our educational goal and to advance medical knowledge.

Underlying Research Objectives

1. Facilitate the development of vigorous programs in basic and clinical research by providing recognition and support for research activities of faculty and students;
2. Conduct strong graduate and post-graduate research training programs;
3. Teach research methodology to enable students to develop a scientific approach to clinical medicine and attain an appropriate level of knowledge to critically evaluate medical research publications, provide opportunities for furthering such knowledge;

The provision of high quality medical care is inherent to the School of Medicine's educational role. The School has the mission of addressing the health and educational needs of the community at the local, national and international levels.  To fulfill this mission the School will:

1. Provide comprehensive patient care services that are responsive to community health problems and provide leadership to address these problems;
2. Conduct public education and other programs to meet community health needs;
3. Serve the educational needs of health professionals in the community by conducting medical and other continuing education programs;
4. Participate in local, national and international activities to promote medical teaching, research and service;

The mission and original list of objectives for the School of Medicine were adopted in 1970 when the school accepted its first class. They have been revised periodically since, at approximately five year intervals. The list above was specified in 1996 and modified in 2002.

Some other starting considerations

1. Teaching is an obligation of everyone with a faculty appointment and an explicit part of the Hippocratic Oath. More, it is an honor for all at an academic institution and can be one of the most personally and professionally gratifying things we do.
2. Expect excellence from yourself, your colleagues and your students. Setting high standards encourages better performance.
3. You have been given primary responsibility for running a course but you are not expected to work alone. Being a Course Director give you an opportunity to create a collaborative team consisting of your teaching faculty, school administration (deans, IT, media services, etc.), department administration, student teaching assistants, and the students who take your course. Your cultivating this group of collaborators is likely to be one of the most challenging and enjoyable parts of your job. Please read the appended list of Responsibilities of the Course Director. This will clarify the tasks done in your departmental office and those handled by the Dean’s Office. 
4. Familiarize yourself with and make use of the local electronic resources provided for you: CBase, EZexam, the OME Web pages, the academic calendars, this handbook, etc. Learn what other professionals who teach parallel courses do at other medical schools by looking on the Web and what we do here by participating in our faculty development meetings periodic retreats and symposia, and monthly Course Director committee meetings.
5. Read the Policies and Procedures of the School of Medicine.  Knowledge of the policies will make you a resource for the students and will help you avoid spreading or relying on incorrect information.
6. Deadlines are set as a result of past experience and proactive planning. Adhering to deadlines both serves as a model of professionalism and also manifests respect for your colleagues and your students.
7. Candor in evaluation is critical to growth and change. Feedback to and from colleagues and students should be a regular part of your course, not just something that occurs when the course is over. When you evaluate anyone - school administrators, your colleagues, your students - address specific behaviors and offer ideas for improvement. Encourage others to give you feedback and model constructive responses to it.
8. Enjoy yourself. Be positive and optimistic. Your energy is contagious and by itself can make our environment better (or worse!).

Scheduling and the Academic Calendars

The number of hours allocated to each course and the Curriculum Committee in consultation with the Course Directors and Dean’s Office determines its place in the academic calendar. The Office of Medical Education maintains and controls the official academic calendar for each academic year as well as the calendar for all non-academic events for the School of Medicine. These five calendars are available on the Web. Please bookmark this link. Your knowledge and use of these calendars is important for several reasons. Coordinating activities is essential to avoid conflict between courses and with other school events. Moreover our policies stipulate that, except in extraordinary circumstances, any required course activity must appear in the appropriate calendar at least a 6 weeks before the event or beginning of the course in which it is required. The inclusion of any mandatory activities in this calendar is not only designed to minimize conflicts between courses but also to help student organize their lives. You may be surprised how many trips; weddings, family reunions and even births are planned by students months ahead of time on the basis of the information in the calendar.

Scheduling didactic courses: The preliminary calendar for the next academic year is completed by OME in early spring and available to each Course Director. It is usually based on the calendar of the prior year with adjustments as required by the Curriculum Committee, changing holiday dates and other contingencies. School policy permits no more than five hours of classes a day. The Calendar stipulates when and where classes will be held and lists any mandatory activities - labs, CPC's, case conferences, discussion groups, exams, papers, case reports, et al. Before the calendar is finalized, you will be given an opportunity to request needed adjustments. Requests for changes are made to Lorraine Reeve in the OME at 4-1030 or by e-mail lreeve@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.  She will try to accommodate your request to the extent possible and, if there are conflicts, help broker resolution with other Course Directors. Course Directors share common problems and have a history of working collaboratively to resolve scheduling conflicts.

Below are instructions about scheduling space - OME usually does it for you - but for one aspect of that task should be mentioned here, namely scheduling labs. Time and assistance in the Multidisciplinary Labs (MDL) are organized not only through OME but also with the assistance of Lana (Svetlana.Ovtcharneko@stonybrook.edu) (444-9715). If you have labs in your course it is imperative that you arrange the timing with her well ahead of time. It is easy to forget that first and second year courses both require laboratory time, so looking at the calendar only for your year won't assure that the Multidisciplinary Labs are available to you. Call Lana and lock them up before you plan a lab in your syllabus.

Once the final, official calendar is set in late Spring, changes become much more difficult because quickly other courses, School of Medicine organizations, other HSC schools, UH, clinical departments, and main campus constituencies quickly fill the available gaps. Failure to plan well ahead has traditionally hindered, if not precluded, changes.

Finally, we all know that not everything is predictable. Your visiting lecturer may cancel or be trapped in the OR or in Chicago.  All of us - even the students! - understand this.  If there are unanticipated changes in scheduling you must notify OME - Lorraine Reeve and Dean Schiavone - as well as the students.  OME will help rearrange the event.

Scheduling Clinical Courses:Third year courses run from two to twelve weeks, depending on the course. The schematic of the third year calendar indicates the start and end date for each clerkship as well as the periods in which students may take electives. Which students take which clerkship when and at what site is determined by the students during spring of second year. Students are given state holidays off as well as time during the end of year holidays. 

The fourth year courses are scheduled in two or four week blocks as indicated in the course calendar.  . Electives start any Monday of the academic year. In January, course directors notify the OME of the start and end dates of electives for the next academic year. Starting in April 2006, electives registration for courses at UH will also occur online. There are no regular breaks in the calendar for the 4th year students. Students are required to complete 36 weeks of study in their fourth year.

For details about required course work, please refer to the description of the curriculum provided on the Admissions website.

In December, the clinical Course Directors provide OME a list of the numbers of spots and the sites where their rotations will be offered. Third and fourth year registration are determined on the basis of the information that is provided by the Course Directors. During this time, clinical and elective Course Directors (or their designees) are also expected to update their course descriptions in CBase so that the course descriptions are ready for the students to see on the Web prior to the registration period. Meeting deadlines for submitting information is crucial since registration cannot occur until accurate information is available. Deadlines are announced at committee meetings and via email.

The first responsibility of a Course Director is organizing the structure and content of your course. A complete and accurate Course Syllabus is the key to students understanding what your course is designed to accomplish, what you expect of them and what they can expect of you. Each course MUST have a syllabus.  Here are some essential elements:

The course title

A list of course objectives

List your objectives for the course as a whole. List the objectives for each class. Objectives are what you expect the students to be able to DO at the end of the course ‑ is the indispensable starting place in curricular design. Objectives drive course content, determine the appropriate teaching techniques and control modes of evaluation. Specifying objectives is probably the single most important (and difficult) task of a Course Director.

Objectives are traditionally classified by their focus on knowledge, on skills, and on student attitudes, but all are expressed in terms of behavioral objections. The students will do such and such to demonstrate their knowledge, skills or attitudes.  There is a substantial literature on the language of objectives and how to write them which, if you are not yet familiar with it, can be obtained in the OME.

• Required texts, web sites, and other materials.
  Ideally students should have access to materials used by faculty ‑ PowerPoint presentations, lecture notes, slides, et al. - before each class. They can be posted on the web (CBase) with the understanding that they are available only to students taking the course and must not be shared, downloaded or copied without authorization from the creator. Moreover these materials can be protected from “outsiders,” i.e. those not students or faculty here.  You determine the level of access when you enter the material.
• Required class activities - seminars, labs, clinical activities, lectures, et al.
  Unless approved by OME, any required activity must be posted in the official calendar at least six weeks before the event or the beginning of the course in which it is required.  Dean Schiavone must approve excused absences from a mandatory exercise or exam though the required remediation is at the discretion of the Course Director.  For obvious reasons we discourage listing an activity and required and not requiring remediation for those who miss it.

• When and where course activities will occur
• What will occur, e.g. a lecture, laboratory, small group discussion, CPC, patient interview or examination, etc?
• Why it will occur, i.e. the particular objectives for each class.
• Who is responsible for the class, e.g. the lecturer, discussion leaders, panelists, lab director, etc. Be certain to tell the students the name of their instructor.
• Whether the activity is mandatory and the consequences of missing it.  To be mandatory the activity must also appear in the school's academic calendar at least a month before the beginning of the course. If an activity is truly mandatory, there must be a penalty for missing it or a designated remediation. It cannot be excused.
• A specification of any reading, writing or other assignment, which is to have been completed before class and/or is due in class that day.
• If your course is offered at more than one site, please enter all site information into the database. This information should include,

  The name of the site.
  The name of the site director.
  Contact information for the site director (phone, beeper, email, address).
  Directions to the site by car, by train.
  Any specific orientation instructions for the specific sites.

What grades are to be given (the default is Honors, High Pass, Pass, Low Pass, Fail) and how will grades be determined. Indicate the process for appealing a grade or asking for reconsideration. Refer to the appeal process described in the Academic Policies and Procedure manual. See also the discussion of Grades and Evaluation below.

Miscellaneous:

Your requirements regarding course material (e.g. no downloading exam questions; no distribution of digital images; etc.) Students are bound by their Honor Code to respect your rules, but they must be specified, not "presumed."

A list of course faculty and how they can be contacted.

The following statement:

If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may affect your course work, please contact Dean Al Jordan who will help you with Disability Support Services (631) 632-6748. They will determine with you what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential. Students who have been cleared for accommodations must self-identify to their professors before the beginning of the course. Students requiring emergency evacuation are encouraged to discuss their needs with their professors and Disability Support Services.

Finally you are responsible for placing your course syllabus on CBase (see discussion below), though you may also distribute a paper or CD version. Beginning in the academic year 2006-7, the costs of duplicating paper versions of course materials will not be covered by OME.  If you need help creating or duplicating an electronic syllabus, please contact OME for assistance. Please file an electronic copy with the OME. Your course, including your syllabus, will be reviewed every third year by the Curriculum Committee. If you wish to distribute a printed syllabus, be advised that it is at your own expense.

Reserving Rooms

Once the academic calendar is set, OME forwards it to Burke Kincaid, our Registrar and the Medical School liaison with Media Services. Media Services will assign classrooms for the first and second year as well as for the fourth year didactic courses. You can see the room assignments online. Courses are generally listed by course number, which you can find in CBase or from Burke Kincaid (4-7542, ekincaid@notes.cc.sunysb.edu).

When you need to schedule space for an academic activity not in the regular course calendar, you must do so through one of the Dean's offices. Please see the following individuals for the following functions:

• Scheduling a classroom or seminar room: Burke Kincaid (444-7542, ekincaid@notes.cc.sunysb.edu, Level 4 Dean's Suite, Students Affairs Office)
• Scheduling time in the MDL (Multidisciplinary Labs) is coordinated through Lana Ovtcharneko (Svetlana.Ovtcharneko@stonybrook.edu)
• Scheduling an EZexam: Neill Clenaghan (4-2837, nclenaghan@notes.cc.sunysb.edu) in Media Services who will work with Andrew White 444-3102 Asst. Director of Library Information Systems, HSC Library awhite@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. At least a month lead time is essential.
• Scheduling an activity (other than an exam) in the Library Computer Classrooms.  See, Andrew White 444-3102 Asst. Director of Library Information Systems, HSC Library awhite@notes.cc.sunysb.edu.

Please remember that many schools share our educational facility and compete for classroom space and that there are deadlines for securing space. Please contact Burke directly and not the Media Services office when you request a room.

OME asks each Course Director in the spring to submit a budget for course related expenses that are covered by the Dean. Allowable expenses include but are not limited to: distributing your syllabus on disk (it must also be on the web), purchasing software for your course, media services, laboratory supplies and other course related materials. Students, departments and the dean's office share a desire to shift costs to someone - anyone - else and, though there is no algorithm, there are some practices that control who pays for what. Supplies and equipment not primarily for course use are left to departments to buy. The costs of ordinary course materials (texts, etc.) fall on students. Annual, recurring course expenses are paid by OME. Some special rules:

• Computers, office furniture, or a Xerox machine are departmental expenses.
• Big ticket, course related items - cadaver tables are a good example - are negotiated. Academic Affairs will likely buy many, but needs some lead-time!
• Before Academic Affairs will by a computer program, it must be evaluated by Medical Informatics (Moshe Eisenberg).

We are all becoming much more dependent on electronic media and IT in the classroom. Media Services (Kathy Gebhart) and Medical Informatics (Moshe Eisenberg) are the administrative units to help with each. Media Services provides equipment and expertise for AV classroom equipment and a number of other services listed in their website. These services are billed, but course-related ones come out of your course budget and are paid directly by OME. Medical Informatics supports CBase, EZexam, and other important programs. MI is available to assist with all computer-based instruction and provides a number of other services listed in their website.

Below is a list of the responsibilities of Course Directors. Most staff support for Course Directors comes from departments, but OME has someone whose job it is to help make your life as a Course Director easier by assisting in course administration.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A COURSE DIRECTOR

• Read this document thoroughly!
• Write the overall course objectives, description, grading policy, make-up policy and penalties.  Enter these into CBase as described in the Handbook.
• Sequence the outline of the course.
• Enlist faculty and assign their teaching responsibilities.
• Prepare a course budget in consultation with Stephanie Davis in the Office of Medical Education.  (stephanie.davis@sunysb.edu or 4-1035)
• Select the textbook and inform Stephanie Davis in the Office of Medical Education.
• Check the calendar, and submit to the Curriculum Office the requirements for rooms and other facilities (AV, labs etc).  Be aware of holidays in planning mandatory sessions.
• Ensure that the teaching faculty submits the following items in a timely fashion.
• A worksheet may be useful for this purpose.  Set deadlines for completing each item:
  • Lesson objectives
  • Reading assignments (with approx page limits)
  • Class presentation materials (lecture slides, case presentations, etc)
  • Special instruction needs (labs, overheads, etc)
  • Quiz and exam questions.
• Compile the syllabus and review it for consistency and organization
• Remind the faculty to be cognizant of the following in planning the content of their talk:
  • Presentations by other teaching faculty whose content may overlap with their own, both within the course and in related courses (first or second year)
  • How it integrated or might integrate with other classes or courses
  • Opportunities for additional integrative sessions
  • The student’s medical knowledge base at the time of their presentation
• Review the faculty’s presentation materials in advance:
  • Meet with them to critique it.
  • Check that other faculty members participating in the lesson know the lesson-plan in advance of the session (e.g. small group leaders).
  • Encourage the use of techniques in class that allow student participation
• Assist in planning the content of other courses running concurrently with their own
• Attend as many lessons as possible
• Respond promptly to correspondence from the student course reps before, during and after the course.
• Compile the final exam.  Ask the faculty to take the exam before it is administered.
• Review the results of quizzes and final exam, to assess the validity of questions.  Discard invalid questions.  Curve the raw scores as appropriate.
• Provide to the dean’s office the quiz and exam results in a timely fashion, with the standards for judging grades.
• Review the results of your assignments and exams to improve next year’s product.
• Review the performance of faculty at the end of the course.
• Attend the 1st and 2nd year Course Directors meeting.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DEAN’S OFFICE

• Provide educational sessions for faculty to enhance teaching skills.
• Arrange room assignments and the provision of media and lab services.  This will require coordinating the efforts of student affairs (Burke Kincaid), labs (Lana O.) and media services (AV office).
• If asked by the course director, enter into CBase the lesson objectives, reading assignment, instructor names, competencies, mandatory designation, syllabus materials, etc.
• Send a letter to each instructor about 2 months prior to the course thanking them for their commitment to teach, stressing the importance of their role in the school’s mission and reminding them of deadlines outlined by the Course Director.  This letter should include:
• A link to instructions on how to prepare Lesson Objectives.
• A reminder to identify themselves at the start of the lecture and to provide contact information for follow-up questions by the students.
• Order texts from the bookstore.
• Scan or download course materials and put them in CBase.  If asked, duplicate CDs of electronic materials for the students and distribute them.
• Divide students into sections as needed, assign sections to rooms and notify the students of these assignments.
• Manage the students’ interface with the cps system, and inform them of its function in the course.  Use the cps records to track and compile attendance records.
• Remind the students periodically to fill out evaluations of both the lessons and the faculty as the course proceeds
• Enter numerical grades into CBase

OME has administrative help for Course Directors to supplement departmental support. Moreover some courses have student assistants assigned to help with course administration, tutoring and grading. Student assistants are arranged through the office of Academic Affairs (Peter Williams),Office of Academic Advising (Latha Chandran ) and Office of Student Services (Al Jordan).

CBase allows you to manage your course, allows students to input course related data, and allows us all to keep student records. Each Course Director's ID and password permits unique access to manage his or her course, including the following elements:

1. To describe your course, its schedule and components.
2. To set up discussion sections within the course.
3. To add and update links to course related web pages.
4. To enter all grades and comments for your course.
5. To refine course and faculty evaluations. There is a set of questions asked about every course and faculty member. You may add/edit optional questions to the evaluations.
6. To download a list of all students registered to take your course.
7. To "see" individual students - pictures, schedules, contact information ‑ email addresses, phone numbers, mailing addresses.
8. To access information, e.g. patient logs, that your students have entered into CBase from the student "side" in satisfaction of course requirements.
9. To write comments about students, both for the student's public record and for the Dean's office only regarding a special insight or concern about a particular student. Keep in mind that these latter comments are accessible to students who request them.
10. To see a list of all Course Directors with their contact information

Marilyn London will send you your username and password when you are appointed a Course Director. If you lose it, please call Marilyn London at 4-8316

CBase course lists and are up-to-date and show students who are registered for your course (see "Manage my Students"). Be aware that class lists are more comprehensive and may include students of the Class of 300N who are not registered for your course. They may be on leave or suspended. If you have any questions about whether a student will appear on the first day of class, please contact the Marilyn London 444-8316 or the Burke Kincaid, the Registrar, at 444-7542.

Reporting grades and evaluative comments

Course Directors are responsible for evaluating students and assigning grades. The official grades are H, HP, P, LP, F, I, W, and PO. Incomplete, Withdraw and Pass Out are described in the Policies and Procedures. In courses long enough and structured to make it meaningful, students should be evaluated during the course (formative evaluation) and at the end (summative evaluation). The former is intended to inform a student of his or her weaknesses while there is still an opportunity to improve. The summative or final evaluation indicates the student's overall performance in a completed course. The final evaluation is entered in the student's permanent record in CBase. Please refer to the Policies & Procedures manual for a more detailed discussion of grade policy. Note that examinations of the objective multiple-choice type are automatically graded. You may review dropped questions.  The Course Director is responsible for assigning course grades in accord with policies described in the course syllabus.

Once the Course Director determines final grades, he or she or a designated support staff must enter the grades comments into CBase. This is to be done within two weeks after a course in the first two years is completed. Clinical course grades are due within one month of the end of the rotation and comments are due within two months of the end of the rotation. CBase provides a drop down list of grades from which to choose. Honors, Pass, Incomplete, and Fail appear on the transcript although High Pass and Low Pass may also be included in the Medical Student Performance Evaluation ("Dean's Letter").

Course Directors can enter evaluative comments into CBase to accompany the grades. There are two areas in which comments may be written: comments for the record and confidential comments. The former will automatically be downloaded to the Medical Student Performance Evaluation ("Dean's Letter) sent to residency programs.

The latter give you an opportunity to alert the Associate Dean for Medical Education about an issue that you feel might require follow up in other courses related to a particular student. The student can access these confidential comments, but they do not form part of the student's public record.

Course Directors are responsible for determining the tools used to evaluate students - exams (local or standardized), papers, recitations, etc. - and determining their weight. 20% of a course grade must be derived from some form of evaluation other than multiple-choice questions.  Using attendance alone as a criterion for grading is discouraged.  Many course directors now use more advanced students to help grade written assignments -- essays or short answer or homework assignments.  Student Assistants can be arranged through Dr. Latha Chandran’s Academic Advising Office, Jennifer Kowalewski (444-1025, jkowalewski@notes.cc.sunysb.edu).

Unless an exception is granted by OME, all written exams – MCQ, short answer, essay, et al. – are to be administered using eZexam. How you get an exam into eZexam is described in the website. All on-line exams will be managed and administered by the Medical Informatics (MI) Department. Each exam must be delivered to the Medical Informatics staff, in one of the several formats prescribed, at least 5 days before the exam's date. MI staff will then load the exam onto the server within two days, and the Course Director will be responsible for reviewing it and approving the final version, with all necessary corrections, at least 48 hours before the actual exam time. Furthermore, the Course Director's on-line exam review must be done under conditions closely analogous to the ones that students will be subjected when taking the exam. Failure to meet these deadlines will result in the cancellation of the exam. On the dates established by the Dean's Office, the Deans' Office with input from the course director determines the timing of the exam - both the number of hours of the exam itself and temporal window (10-12 a.m., 1 day, 1 week) during which students may log on and take it. The Course Director has the choice of where the exam is to be taken: in the Library's computer classrooms, in any HSC classroom with wireless configuration, or from any computer with web access. The Course Director also decides whether the exam is to be proctored, recognizing that proctoring is only possible when the exams are taken on campus.  Because students are on an Honor Code, some faculty feel proctors are not necessary and even allow students to take the exams wherever they choose during a "window" of availability and this has become the standard procedure in almost all courses and examinations.  If you need proctors, you must make a request 4 weeks in advance of the exam date. Please contact Lorraine Reeve (444-1285 Lreeve@notes.cc.sunysb.edu )

Make-up exams must be scheduled through the Office of Medical Education which sets the dates for exams and helps arrange them.  Contact Marilyn London, 444-8316  The rules above for other examinations apply here as well, e.g. all written exams are to be administered using eZexam, but the nature of the exam is determined by the course director. Grades from make-up exams do not supplant the earlier exam or course failure but are added separately to CBase and the official transcript. A student is allowed only one make-up of course exams.

National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) Exams

NBME subject exams are required in some basic science courses: anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, microbiology, neurosciences, and pharmacology. The Course Director determines whether and to what degree student performance on a subject exam affects their course grade. The OME orders the exams for these courses, provides proctors, and processes the return of the exams. The Course Director and OME receive the scores.  These exams not only offer a way to evaluate the effectiveness of your course but also give students some practice on the kinds of questions asked by the NBME, author of the Step 1, 2, and 3 licensure exams.

Clinical Clerkships in Family Medicine, Medicine, OB/GYN, Pediatrics, Surgery, Neurology and Psychiatry require that students take and pass the NBME subject exams at the 7th percentile level.  Clinical departments order the exams using forms obtained from and returned to OME 4 to 6 weeks prior to the test date. The forms are then processed in the OME and returned to the departments for mailing. Departments reserve rooms and give and proctor their own exam, and return the exams directly to the NBME for scoring. The Course Director and OME receive the scores.

The NBME now offers the possibility of creating "customized" exams in which a course director selects a set of questions from their pool of validated questions.  Good practice for the students.  Good questions.  If you think you might like to use one of these exams (they are proctored and of limited duration), contact Dr. London in OME.

When a student fails an NBME exam, the Course Director notifies the student and refers the student to the Associate Dean for Academic Advising. The Course Director should also meet with the student to discuss deficiencies and ways to prepare for the retake exam if necessary. The Course Director, student and OME coordinate the time and place of the retake.

According to our Policies and Procedures, students must alert a Course Director at the start of a course if they require special accommodations for exams or other exercises. Please read the Policies and Procedures regarding the Disabilities Act. If you have questions regarding a student's request, please contact Dr. Al Jordan at 444-2340 for additional information regarding accommodation requirements for individual students. If you need help accommodating a student, contact the OME at 444-1030. Advanced notice is necessary to find proctors when needed and to reserve rooms when additional exam time is requested. Please make these requests as soon as the student makes his/her request to avoid difficulties with the arrangements.

Academic dishonesty and discipline

Though the actual incidence of cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty among our students is unknown, two things can be said with some confidence. First, there have been almost no reported cases of dishonesty among medical students. Second, some dishonesty surely occurs. The absence of reports may reflect the infrequency of misbehavior, an understandable reluctance to deal with academic misconduct and/or a preference for dealing with it informally. However it is imperative that Course Directors deal with suspected misconduct directly and promptly. Our school policy dictates that Course Directors report such instances to the Deans. Though addressing suspected students directly is advisable, don't just "handle it" yourself, because a failure to report suspected occurrences may result in our school being left unaware of a pattern of conduct far more serious than a single instance of wrongdoing. Since the adoption of their Honor Code, students have committed themselves to identifying and reporting academic dishonesty by their peers but also have a procedure for investigating and addressing it. Course Directors have a responsibility to inform the student Honor Code Committee of their suspicion, but may also inform the Dean’s Office.

Once reported, the incident will be investigated by the Course Director, by the Deans' Offices and possibly by the student Honor Code Committee. When appropriate the case will be referred to the Committee on Academic Standing (CAS) for action. CAS enforces the Policies and Procedures of the School of Medicine, a document in which various acts of academic dishonesty are defined and sanctions described.

Some Course Directors structure assignments to minimize the opportunity for cheating - alternate seating during proctored tests, different forms of examinations, etc. Other Course Directors, comfortable relying on the integrity of our students coupled with the influence of the student Honor Code, allow unproctored exams, take-home exams, open exam periods, etc. Each Course Director may determine his or her attitude toward and approach to the students in this regard, but Course Directors must specify their policy in the course syllabus. What little data we have so far indicates that the performance of students in proctored settings is indistinguishable from that of students taking exams on-line from home.

Web Assistance

For assistance in creating a Web page or other online resources for your course, contact Moshe Eisenberg in Informatics (444-3091).

Any time a student is having academic difficulty; the Course Director should contact the Associate Dean for Academic Advising, Latha Chandran, for immediate follow up. (lchandran@notes.cc.sunysb.edu, 444-1025). Prompt reporting of students with marginal or failing performance of any kind to Dr. Chandran will help immensely. Tutors are available to help students. Some may be assigned to first year courses, but Dr. Chandran has a group of student tutors who can assist students in years two, three and four.

The Curriculum Committee meets on the first Monday of every month at 8AM in the OVP Conference room on Level 4 in the Dean's Suite. Breakfast is provided. Chair: Peter Williams, J.D., PhD, pwilliams@notes.cc.sunysb.edu (444-3084)

The Clinical Course Directors meet the first Monday of every month at noon in the Dean's Small Conference room on Level 4 in the Dean's Suite. Lunch is provided. Chair: Peter Halperin, MD, phalperin@notes.cc.sunysb.edu

The Basic Science or Didactic Course Directors meet the third Thursday of every month at noon in the Basic Science Tower T5 Room 140. Lunch is provided. Chair: Thomas O'Riordan, MD Thomas.O'Riordan@stonybrook,edu (444-1757)

To put your name on the email distribution list to be notified in advance of all meetings, contact Jean D’Andraia (444-1098, dandraia@notes.cc.sunysb.edu )