We’ll be using Yellowdig Engage, a discussion forum which will be graded on your participation. Posts should be at least 50 words and comment/reply posts should be at least 30 words. This is a collaborative point-earning assignment- you will earn points not just for posting substantive articles and topics, but for commenting on others. If you write a post that generates discussion and reactions, you’ll earn even more points!
Note: You must interact with YellowDig through this assignment post at least once for your points to connect to the gradebook!
How to earn points:
Creating a new post with minimum 50 words: 50 points
Commenting on another user’s post with minimum 30 words: 25 points
Receiving a comment from another user: 10 points
Receiving a Reaction from another user: 5 points
It’s important to be respectful and use evidence-based articles and data in your posts. Inappropriate posts or disrespectful behavior will lose points.
What to Post:
Posts should include a link to a peer-reviewed article, a relevant breaking news story from a reputable source, or any other reputable or authoritative source.
Tag with the relevant topic tag, or ask Shannon to add a new category if needed!
Topics should be related to the topics we cover in the course, issues related to Human Anatomy and Physiology, and pertinent current events.
Topics might include: ischemic heart disease, stroke, respiratory disorders, liver disease, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the COVID-19 pandemic, inequity and bias in medicine, new medical technology, or other relevant topics that interest you.
When posting your article, include a brief discussion/introduction to provide context, giving your thoughts or insight on what you are sharing. Your comments and intro to your article must be substantive to earn points.
Why are we doing this?
To demonstrate and discuss how the course topics are relevant to you and your career aspirations. Seeing how these topics arise in research and in general media is instructive and illuminating.
It is a device designed to (hopefully) restore some of the sense of community that we lose by not being physically together in the classroom.
This isn’t meant to be an onerous assignment. It is meant to introduce you to the concept of respectful discussion of topics in medical science (disagreeing agreeably at times), as well as using both lay and scientific articles to discuss a topic.
This is a single assignment intended to be ongoing throughout the class. You can’t earn all the points in one week. You can earn up to 150 points per week, and the entire assignment is worth 700 points.
