I have a question about the scribe service? I am 100% sure I am going to use it but I just wanted to know how it is regulated. Is it just someone in your class copying the notes or is there additional hints and whatnots added to them. Is there only one scribe for each class?
Why are they so great?
The scribe service consists of a scribe and an auditor that each are teamed to cover one lecture hour each week (i.e., 1 pm on Wednesday - if there isn't a class at that time each week, then they don't have a scribe to submit)...There is an elected E-board as well consisting of a president, treasurer, coordinator and IT person and a liaison for each class...The scribe is responsible for the majority of the product (both scribe and auditor attend class) and types up the scribe while watching the MediaSite Live recording...when I scribed, I would take crazy amounts of notes in addition to the those provided in the course pack - you are required to include pretty much everything the prof says of importance...I tried to simplify some of the longer tangents and make things in a very learnable (if that's a word?) fashion...many people (esp those that never attended class) would study strictly from scribes so you need to include anything testable.
The auditor's job is then basically editing - both grammar and content. They are required to watch the MediaSite recording and read through the Scribe's copy, making changes and adding images as necessary. Most scribes are between 4-6 typed pages in outline form (including about 5 practice questions at the end)...
Why are scribes important? I started med school (esp first year) typing notes for each exam straight from the notes I was taking...I found out quickly that I was missing some important points and scribes really helped to fill in the details I couldn't catch (and by the time cardio rolled around 2nd year and we had over 120 lectures on the final exam, I just didn't have the time to summarize lecture notes AND study that much lecture material)..additionally, I found that for certain classes/profs, I would benefit more from just listening to the lecture while in class and then when studying, I would use the scribes...some classes include a review lecture that would emphasize important points for an upcoming exam, and these scribes were usually very concise and helpful!
Another awesome benefit to scribes were the ones for OMM - they were really great to study for practicals because the scribe/auditor pair included lots of pictures of hand placement, patient set-up, etc...
A final benefit is that you are supporting your classmates - both financially for the Service employees but also academically if you are an employee...I think that Scribes really emphasize one thing I love about MSUCOM - the sense of teamwork and lack of academic competitiveness...as a scribe/auditor, you are very aware that your finished product is being used by the other 200 people in your class, and it becomes a big responsibility to try to "teach" the tough concepts through your scribe...plus, if you are the scribe, studying for any topic that your scribe covered is pretty easy because by teaching others you are learning the material in one of the most effective ways...
A final note on regulation...one of the most difficult aspects of being on the E-board is that at times you have to take some disciplinary action which can mean "letting people go" if they don't seem to be giving 100% to their work...we always tried to help employees get through the scribe learning curve, but sometimes you have to keep in mind that people are paying for their work and they expect a quality product - certainly the part that made being on the E-board a challenge...
If you want a sample of a scribe, just PM me...I have a few (hundred) on my computer!
But those weeks are few and far in between and compared to other residencies, Botsford is pretty tame.
