The purpose of this session was to discuss issues related to "Information Overload". The amount of content available to today’s medical students is significantly greater than it was just a few years ago. Over 500,000 journal articles are published in the medical sciences each year. Several projects at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine designed to address this curricular challenge were presented. The use of the content management systems to deliver on-line self-assessment examinations, interactive slides, and streaming lectures (all first and second year medical school lectures are taped and made available on line) were discussed. Issues related to possible reductions in class attendance resulting from these resources was addressed – the consensus of those attending this IAMSE forum was to minimize the concern for this potential problem. Group discussions on technology led to conversations focusing on the use of student-faculty contact time that extended beyond lecture. At Hopkins, these interactions include clinical correlations, discussions on medical ethics, and the review of journal articles and experimental design. More attention is also being directed to bioinformatics and genetic medicine as a topic for small group discussion. An approach that has been carefully explored at Hopkins is the use of on-line lectures to provide students with core content before class and as preparation for a thoughtful classroom discussion designed to help broaden a student’s understanding and appreciation for the content. This approach has been met with considerable student enthusiasm as long as it is used judiciously (students would be required to spend more time preparing for class) and not as a replacement to class. The key questions that were addressed in this IAMSE forum were:
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