HUGHES AUDITORIUM – Many Feinberg first-year students were still recuperating over the Thanksgiving vacation after the events of a recent “Flash Plenary.” Course directors shocked students with an impromptu plenary during classes the week before the last Foundations exam.

Students who were expecting a second lecture on Anti-Infectives the Friday before the exam were taken aback when the lecturer left Hughes Auditorium. Their shock deepened as Dr. Garcia stood up, microphone in hand, in the middle of the auditorium and announced that an additional plenary would take the place of that day’s final lecture.

Course directors had been scattered throughout Hughes, some pretending to sit in on the previous lectures, others checking Facebook on their laptops to blend in with the crowd.

“I remember wondering why Dr. Garcia was sitting at the front of the lecture hall,” said a traumatized M1. “The next thing I knew I was looking at a PowerPoint slide of the Competency Compass and she had taken the podium.”

A representative from the FSM 3.0 curriculum committee explained this teaching modality will be used to reinforce learning during Phase 1 of the new curriculum. “We really believe shock and surprise will help students internalize the information that is being presented in all threads of the curriculum,” said one Dean. “And I don’t want to give away too much, but it’s possible the ‘Flash Plenary’ technique could make a reprise in later years as well.”

Students will be asked to carry their clickers with them during their clinical rotations in Phases 2 and 3.