Accepted Type
Oral
Code
OH1-2-3
Was this work accepted for CCME 2020?
no
Category
General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
Type
Oral
Sub Type
Education Innovation
Will the presenter be a:
Other
Presenter Other
Faculty
Affiliation
Considered for Poster
no
Title
Flexing Creative Muscles in Medical School.
Length of Presentation
Background/Purpose
FLEX is a multi-year course at UBC that promotes personalized clinical/basic science research and educational scholarship for medical students. Offering arts/humanities FLEX projects, however, provides students with an alternative, but no less important, scholarly opportunity.
At the onset of the COVID19 lockdown, I advertised a general FLEX ARTS opportunity. Three students signed up and created two very different projects.
Summary of the Innovation
• Two students working together composed and produced an album containing 12 original pieces of music that explored their responses (both adaptive and introspective) to the COVID lockdown and isolation. The album, including detailed liner notes, was posted to Bandcamp.com and received 2200 streams. Subsequently, they were invited to an interview with the CBC host of "Q", a national arts magazine show.
• One student explored the ramifications of contemporary pandemic movies, through a medical/public health, as well as a film studies lens. Her richly reflective essay, informed by an extensive literature review, was subsequently published in the national online "CMAJ Blogs".
Conclusion
In contrast to educational innovations with a defined intervention, these FLEX ARTS projects involved a metaphorical space where students could exercise their creative scholarship. The students conceived of and implemented their own projects. They required only regular check-ins and a sounding board, off which to bounce their thoughts, progress, and in the case of written work, a willingness to read and edit drafts. What I learned as faculty was that medical students benefit from encouragement to apply their research skills broadly, and with an aim for creative and scholarly growth.
Keyword 1
Arts/Humanities
Keyword 2
creative scholarship
Keyword 3
medical education
Level of Training
Undergraduate
Abstract Themes
Teaching and learning
Teaching and Learning
Humanities
Additional Theme (First choice)
Physician & Medical Student Health and Well-being
Additional Theme (Second Choice)
Undergraduate
Additional Theme (Third Choice)
Postgraduate
Authors
Presenter
Carol-Ann Courneya
Term 1
Yes
Term 2
Yes
Term 3
Yes
Term 4
Yes
Term 5
Yes
