Syllabus Med students on warpath after univ alters syllabus Junior Bible Syllabus Quiz 2011

CHENNAI: More than 1,100 students of Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani courses of Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University are planning to boycott classes from Monday as they fear their courses will soon become invalid after portions pertaining to allopathic medicine were removed from their syllabus. The Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM), a regulatory body for the Indian medicine doctors has threatened to withdraw recognition to the state medical university, which removed allopathic content from their syllabus for traditional medicine. The council's one month deadline to withdraw its decision on syllabus revision ends September 17.

Students from Government Siddha College in Palayamkottai, who went on a token fast last week, have threatened to boycott class indefinitely. They argue that the council had allowed students of Indian medicine to also study parts of modern medicine to enable them to become better doctors. The university has deleted surgery, pharmacology and large sections of orthopeadics and ophthalmology.

"If the university is not recognised, we will not be registered as doctors," said Sabari Manikantan, a student at the Government Siddha College, Palayamkottai. Students from seven siddha colleges, six ayurveda colleges, nine homeopathy colleges and a unani college will join the strike, he said. Council member (siddha) Dr B Muthukumar said the association of practitioners of Indian medicine will move the court against the university decision. He said the university did not consider the views of the standing academic board.

Six Indian medicine doctors, members of the board, advised the university not to delete allopathic contents from siddha, unani and ayurveda. But the university chose to go with the views of six allopathic doctors, he said. "The government has allowed us to prescribe allopathic medicines and do some surgeries because our students are trained. The university thinks that if they delete those parts from the syllabus we will be forced to stay away from prescribing certain allopathic drugs," he said.

Associations of doctors in modern medicine including the state wing of the Indian Medical Association and the Tamil Nadu State Medical Council have a different take. "Anatomy and physiology that the Indian medicine students learn may be common to those of MBBS, but pharmacology is not," said state medical council president Dr M Prakasam. "An MBBS student studies modern medicine for five years unlike a student of Indian medicine who has only a few hours of exposure to the subjects. How can they be allowed to prescribe allopathic drugs."

SyllabUS are about more than instruction, expectations

Week 1: The Syllabus

I sometimes imagine reluctant students doing homework as being very similar to young children confronted with a bowl of peas: They’ll fiddle with the offending items, push them to the side, try to clump them into groups to give the impression of being fewer in number, and finally, when confronted by a stern guardian, will reply with a whine of “But I don’t wanna.”

It is also how I imagine reluctant teachers writing their syllabuses (Syllabaries? Syllabi? — I’m sure some conscientious logophile will tell me I’m wrong to use the term “syllabus” in the first place). The syllabus is a rather tedious object most times, full of rules and details we’d rather not spend much time on; we’d rather get to teaching a subject we love. The syllabus is the bureaucracy of the class given physical form so that no one has an excuse for not knowing it. Alas, there are always those students who necessitate each pedantic policy.

And half the time, it feels like no one but the writer bothers with the darn things, anyway; I, for one, am ready to resort to desperate measures if a student asks me when and where my office hours are one … more … time. …

I know some instructors who, when the start of term nears, will dust off last year’s syllabus, meditate on it for a while, then spit and polish and sand down some of its rougher edges, bringing their masterwork all the closer to perfection. Some are so jaded — or confident — they pull out last year’s syllabus, change the title and times around, and don’t bother with any other changes.

In my case, however, I opened my word processor and spent several hours looking dumbly at a page that contained little more than my name, office and email.

I’ve been given the rare opportunity this semester to teach a stand-alone calculus course — stand-alone meaning that I am the instructor, teaching all the classes, not just the discussion section: I’m in charge of every detail of class operation. It is a daunting proposition because there is no set precedent, no long-running standards that I can just apply my own spin to. I’ve been handed a selection of students, a list of required topics, and told to do whatever I want.

Since I’m creating this class from scratch, I also have to create each policy on homework, quizzes, attendance, tests, etc. from scratch too. I already need to start thinking about the sort of questions I want on the final, because I want to emphasize certain homework problems. And the easiest way to do that is to say, “There will be problems like this on your exams.”

One of the first things to stop me and make me really think were midterm exams. How many exams should I have? Three, I decided: Each exam would then be worth less and would reduce the impact of a freshman mistake. What day should exams be held? Tuesday, I decided: Earlier in the week meant fewer days lost to a review fever. What percentage of the total grade should exams account for? How long should they be? Should they be held in class or out? Should make-up tests be allowed?

Most of these answers accounted for less than a handful of words in my syllabus, but each — along with the answers to dozens of other nit-picky questions — required several minutes of hard thinking-time. And each time I decided on one answer, I had to go back and reevaluate several others I’d already made. By Friday, the syllabus was mostly finished, and I was glad for a chance to spend the evening at a friend’s, eating barbecue and playing games.

But when I returned, I realized that one very important thing was still missing from the syllabus, a necessary reminder for the class, but especially necessary for the instructor: “Don’t forget to have fun.”

Press Release: Intellidemia launches a Syllabus-On-The-GoIntellidemia, the self proclaimed syllabus geeks, today announced the latest upgrade to Concourse. The online syllabus solution now extends syllabus access to mobile devices. With a new interface, optimized for a small screen, students, instructors, and administrators can access classroom content as usual with the added benefit of mobile capability. A syllabus-on-the-go satisfies the need for speed and convenience that the academic community demands.

The mobile device is personal and almost always within a users reach, making a syllabus-on-the-go the perfect solution to connect the entire academic community.

“We anticipate that the benefits of a mobile syllabus will enable students and faculty, giving them unparalleled access to syllabi and the ability to view course assignments, office hours, and any course content,” stated Terri Jones, Director, IT Information Services at Webster University. “For the first time students will have the information they need at their fingertips and at no added cost to the University”

Concourse mobile amplifies the benefits of getting syllabi in one place, online. Building upon the core platform, the Concourse syllabus has been automatically formatted for the mobile device and grants students the ability to conduct a full-text keyword search and view syllabi as well as download files. Institutions can now provide their academic community with a platform that creates a mobile presence for their course. Instructors and technologists immediately inherit all the capability of a mobile-friendly syllabus without increasing their workload by a single keystroke.

Dr. Dwayne Harapunik, vice president academic at Concordia University College of Alberta and recognized world leader in mobile learning remarked, “Institutions realize that they need to engage students with dynamic multimedia content. Making the syllabus compatible for a mobile device is the next step in offering students access to their course information. By giving students course information in the way they want to receive it most, they will be better prepared for classes, more productive with their time, and will perform better.”

The Concourse Mobile syllabus reinforces the brand and identity of an institution by capturing their theme and logo on the small screen, providing users with a consistent and seamless experience. Better still, with an interface built for hand held technology, the new interface provides users with a single point of entry to access, find, and view syllabi.

“The criterion for evaluating education technology has evolved to include mobile capability. Making syllabus content available on any mobile device was the next natural step in course accessibility,” said Judd Rattner, CEO of Intellidemia. “Concourse continues to make it effortless for schools to keep up with the trends of a dynamic classroom making it easy to give tech-savvy students the information they need to succeed.”

The Concourse mobile platform is accessible on any internet capable device and available to all new and existing clients at no additional cost. A syllabus-on-the-go eliminates excuses, increases communication channels, and conveniently delivers an entire course straight to the hands of the academic community.

For additional information about Concourse, visit or check out our mobile friendly syllabus right now; get out your mobile device and go to .

About Concordia University College of Alberta Established by the Lutheran church in 1921, Concordia University College of Alberta has grown to become a university focusing primarily on undergraduate education. Concordia offers 27 baccalaureate degree programs in arts, education, environmental health, management and science, as well as master’s degrees in information systems security management and biblical and Christian studies. Concordia’s faculty excel in teaching as well as research. Its 2,000 students enjoy smaller classes and greater access to their professors. Class sizes encourage participation and dialogue with peers and professors which ultimately leads to a more engaging and relevant education. Designed in the liberal arts tradition, Concordia’s programs focus on developing students’ critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, and communication skills. For more information visit www.concordia.ab.ca.

About Webster University

With its home campus in St. Louis, Webster University (www.webster.edu) is a worldwide institution committed to delivering high-quality learning experiences that transform students for global citizenship and individual excellence. Founded in 1915, Webster offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs through five schools and colleges, and a global network of campuses. Its 20,000-plus student population represents almost 150 nationalities. Since opening its first campus overseas in Geneva in 1978, Webster has become a recognized leader and innovator in global education, with an international presence that now includes campuses in London; Vienna; Amsterdam and Leiden, the Netherlands; Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chengdu, China; and Bangkok and Cha-am, Thailand. Webster also has educational partnerships with universities in Mexico and Japan.

About Intellidemia

Intellidemia™, the syllabus geeks and leaders in online syllabus management, partner with schools to streamline workflow and enhance collaboration with smart, bleeding-edge solutions that address accreditation, compliance, and retention. As the experts in syllabus management, Intellidemia supports higher education with Concourse, an easy-to-use to use platform that improves student performance, faculty productivity, and administrative efficiency by getting syllabi online fast, making it easy to organize, share, and analyze course information. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in Troy, NY, Intellidemia maintains the belief in developing technology that will be valuable to the entire academic community. For more information, visit or call 518.444.2060.

Contact

Jennifer Connally
Your Dedicated Syllabus Geek
Intellidemia, Inc.
Telephone: 518.444.2060
Email: jenniferconnally@intellidemia.com

Plea to include Christians’ sacrifices in syllabus

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Monday issued notice to the Punjab government and sought reply on a petition seeking direction to the government to also include the achievements and feats of the Christians of Pakistan in the academic syllabus on every level.

The petitioner, Nathanial Gill advocate, contended that the Christian community had also played an important role in the creation of Pakistan and suffered equally with the Muslims. He said the sacrifices rendered by the Christian community for Pakistan were going unnoticed in the history of Pakistan.

He prayed to the court for direction to the Punjab government to also give space in the educational syllabi on every level so that the sacrifices and struggle of the Christians of Pakistan could also get recognized. After hearing the petitioner at the preliminary stage, the court called the respondent to submit a reply in this regard. The court will resume hearing after the summer vacation.