Browsing by Author "LeClair, Renee J."

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    Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students
    LeClair, Renee J. (Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine in association with Virginia Tech Publishing, 2021)

    Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students is an undergraduate medical-level resource for foundational knowledge across the disciplines of genetics, cell biology and biochemistry. This USMLE-aligned text is designed for a first-year undergraduate medical course that is delivered typically before students start to explore systems physiology and pathophysiology. The text is meant to provide the essential information from these content areas in a concise format that would allow learner preparation to engage in an active classroom. Clinical correlates and additional application of content is intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. This resource should be assistive to the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation given the material is presented in a succinct manner, with a focus on high-yield concepts. The 276-page text was created specifically for use by pre-clinical students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and was based on faculty experience and peer review to guide development and hone important topics. Available formats
    ISBN (PDF): 978-1-949373-42-4
    ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-949373-43-1
    ISBN (print): 978-1-949373-41-7
    Click here to purchase a print copy
    ISBN (Pressbooks): 978-1-957213-05-7
    Pressbooks
    Also available via LibreTexts Report errors How to adopt this book
    Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting parts or the whole of the text are requested to register their interest by filling out this form. Instructors and subject matter experts interested in and sharing their original course materials relevant to pre-clinical education are requested to join the instructor portal. Features of this book - Detailed learning objectives are provided at the beginning of each subsection - High resolution, color contrasting figures illustrate concepts, relationships, and processes throughout - Summary tables display detailed information - End of chapter lists provide additional sources of information - Accessibility features including structured heads and alternative-text provide access for readers accessing the work via a screen-reader Table of contents 1. Biochemistry basics 2. Basic laboratory measurements 3. Fed and fasted state 4. Fuel for now 5. Fuel for later 6. Lipoprotein metabolism and cholesterol synthesis 7. Pentose phosphate pathway (PPP), purine and pyrimidine metabolism 8. Amino acid metabolism and heritable disorders of degradation 9. Disorders of monosaccharide metabolism and other metabolic conditions 10. Genes, genomes, and DNA 11. Transcription and translation 12. Gene regulation and the cell cycle 13. Human genetics 14. Linkage studies, pedigrees, and population genetics 15. Cellular signaling 16. Plasma membrane 17. Cytoplasmic membranes 18. Cytoskeleton 19. Extracellular matrix Suggested citation
    LeClair, Renée J., (2021). Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students, Roanoke: Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.21061/cellbio. Licensed with CC BY NC-SA 4.0. Other titles in this series - LeClair, R., (2022) Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students - Binks, A., (2022) Cardiovascular Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students - Binks, A., (2022) Pulmonary Physiology for Pre-Clinical Students  - Binks, A., (2022) Pulmonary Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students About the author
    Renée J. LeClair is an Associate Professor in the Department of Basic Science Education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, where her role is to engage activities that support the departmental mission of developing an integrated medical experience using evidence-based delivery grounded in the science of learning. She received a Ph.D. at Rice University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in vascular biology. She became involved in medical education, curricular renovation, and implementation of innovative teaching methods during her first faculty appointment, at the University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine. In 2013, she moved to a new medical school, University of South Carolina, School of Medicine, Greenville. The opportunities afforded by joining a new program and serving as the Chair of the Curriculum committee provided a blank slate for creative curricular development and close involvement with the accreditation process. During her tenure she developed and directed a team-taught student-centered undergraduate medical course that integrated the scientific and clinical sciences to assess all six-core competencies of medical education. Accessibility note
    The University Libraries at Virginia Tech and Virginia Tech Publishing are committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The HTML (Pressbooks) and ePub versions of this book utilize header structures and include alternative text which allow for machine-readability.
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    Changing Medical Education, Overnight: The Curricular Response to COVID-19 of Nine Medical Schools
    Binks, Andrew P.; LeClair, Renee J.; Willey, Joanne M.; Brenner, Judith M.; Pickering, James D.; Moore, Jesse S.; Huggett, Kathryn N.; Everling, Kathleen M.; Arnott, John A.; Croniger, Colleen M.; Zehle, Christa H.; Kranea, N. Kevin; Schwartzstein, Richard M. (2021-02)
    Issue: Calls to change medical education have been frequent, persistent, and generally limited to alterations in content or structural re-organization. Self-imposed barriers have prevented adoption of more radical pedagogical approaches, so recent predictions of the 'inevitability' of medical education transitioning to online delivery seemed unlikely. Then in March 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic forced medical schools to overcome established barriers overnight and make the most rapid curricular shift in medical education's history. We share the collated reports of nine medical schools and postulate how recent responses may influence future medical education. Evidence: While extraneous pandemic-related factors make it impossible to scientifically distinguish the impact of the curricular changes, some themes emerged. The rapid transition to online delivery was made possible by all schools having learning management systems and key electronic resources already blended into their curricula; we were closer to online delivery than anticipated. Student engagement with online delivery varied with different pedagogies used and the importance of social learning and interaction along with autonomy in learning were apparent. These are factors known to enhance online learning, and the student-centered modalities (e.g. problem-based learning) that included them appeared to be more engaging. Assumptions that the new online environment would be easily adopted and embraced by 'technophilic' students did not always hold true. Achieving true distance medical education will take longer than this 'overnight' response, but adhering to best practices for online education may open a new realm of possibilities. Implications: While this experience did not confirm that online medical education is really 'inevitable,' it revealed that it is possible. Thoughtfully blending more online components into a medical curriculum will allow us to take advantage of this environment's strengths such as efficiency and the ability to support asynchronous and autonomous learning that engage and foster intrinsic learning in our students. While maintaining aspects of social interaction, online learning could enhance pre-clinical medical education by allowing integration and collaboration among classes of medical students, other health professionals, and even between medical schools. What remains to be seen is whether COVID-19 provided the experience, vision and courage for medical education to change, or whether the old barriers will rise again when the pandemic is over.
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    An integrated pre-clerkship curriculum to build cognitive medical schema: It’s not just about the content
    LeClair, Renee J.; Cleveland, Jennifer L.; Eden, Kristin; Binks, Andrew P. (Frontiers, 2023-03-16)
    Both physiology and pathophysiology are essential disciplines in health professional education however, clinicians do not use this knowledge in isolation. Instead, physicians use inter-disciplinary concepts embedded within integrated cognitive schema (illness scripts) established through experience/knowledge that manifest as expert-level thinking. Our goal was to develop a pre-clerkship curriculum devoid of disciplinary boundaries (akin to the physician’s illness script) and enhance learners’ clerkship and early clinical performance. As well as developing curricular content, the model considered non-content design elements such as learner characteristics and values, faculty and resources and the impact of curricular and pedagogical changes. The goals of the trans-disciplinary integration were to develop deep learning behaviors through, 1) developing of integrated, cognitive schema to support the transition to expert-level thinking, 2) authentic, contextualization to promote knowledge transfer to the clinical realm 3) allowing autonomous, independent learning, and 4) harnessing the benefits of social learning. The final curricular model was a case-based approach with independent learning of basic concepts, differential diagnosis and illness scripting writing, and concept mapping. Small-group classroom sessions were team-taught with basic scientists and physicians facilitating learners’ self-reflection and development of clinical reasoning. Specifications grading was used to assess the products (written illness scripts and concept maps) as well as process (group dynamics) while allowing a greater degree of learner autonomy. Although the model we adopted could be transferred to other program settings, we suggest it is critical to consider both content and non-content elements that are specific to the environment and learner.
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    Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students
    LeClair, Renee J. (Virginia Tech Publishing, 2022)

    Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students covers neuroenergetics, neurotransmitters, neuropeptides, and selected amino acid metabolism and degradation. This USMLE-aligned text is designed for a first-year undergraduate medical course and is meant to provide the essential biochemical information from these content areas in a concise format to enable students to engage in an active classroom. Hence, it does not cover neurophysiology and neuroanatomy; and clinical correlates and additional application of content are intended to be provided in the classroom experience. The text assumes that the students will have completed medical school prerequisites (including the MCAT) in which they will have been introduced to the most fundamental concepts of biology and chemistry that are essential to understand the content presented here. With its focus on high-yield concepts, this resource will assist the learner later in medical school and for exam preparation. The 49-page text was created specifically for use by pre-clinical students at Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine and was based on faculty experience and peer review to guide development and hone important topics. Available formats
    ISBN (PDF): 978-1-949373-80-6
    ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-949373-81-3
    ISBN (print): 978-1-949373-84-4
    Click here to purchase a print copy
    ISBN (Pressbooks): 978-1-949373-82-0
    Pressbooks
    Also available via LibreTexts Report errors How to adopt this book
    Instructors reviewing, adopting, or adapting parts or the whole of the text are requested to register their interest by filling out this form. Instructors and subject matter experts interested in and sharing their original course materials relevant to pre-clinical education are requested to join the instructor portal. Features of this book - Detailed learning objectives are provided at the beginning of each subsection; - High resolution, color contrasting figures illustrate concepts, relationships, and processes throughout; - Summary tables display detailed information; - End of chapter lists provide additional sources of information; and - Accessibility features including structured heads and alternative-text provide access for readers accessing the work via a screen-reader. Table of contents 1. Neuron and astrocyte metabolism 2. Neurotransmitters — ACh, glutamate, GABA, and glycine 3. Neuropeptides and unconventional neurotransmitters 4. Amino acid metabolism and specialized products Suggested citation
    LeClair, Renée J., (2022). Neuroscience for Pre-Clinical Students, Roanoke: Roanoke: Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.21061/neuroscience. Licensed with CC BY NC-SA 4.0. Other titles in this series - LeClair, R., (2021) Cell Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry for Pre-Clinical Students - Binks, A., (2022) Cardiovascular Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students - Binks, A., (2022) Pulmonary Physiology for Pre-Clinical Students  - Binks, A., (2022) Pulmonary Pathophysiology for Pre-Clinical Students About the author
    Renée J. LeClair is an Associate Professor in the Department of Basic Science Education at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, where her role is to engage activities that support the departmental mission of developing an integrated medical experience using evidence-based delivery grounded in the science of learning. She received a Ph.D. at Rice University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in vascular biology. She became involved in medical education, curricular renovation, and implementation of innovative teaching methods during her first faculty appointment, at the University of New England, College of Osteopathic Medicine. In 2013, she moved to a new medical school, University of South Carolina, School of Medicine, Greenville. The opportunities afforded by joining a new program and serving as the Chair of the Curriculum committee provided a blank slate for creative curricular development and close involvement with the accreditation process. During her tenure she developed and directed a team-taught student-centered undergraduate medical course that integrated the scientific and clinical sciences to assess all six-core competencies of medical education. Accessibility note
    The University Libraries at Virginia Tech and Virginia Tech Publishing are committed to making its publications accessible in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The HTML (Pressbooks) and ePub versions of this book utilize header structures and include alternative text which allow for machine-readability.
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    Open Education Forum 2022: Connecting the Opens: Open Access, Open Educational Resources, and Open Data
    Walz, Anita R.; Young, Philip; Petters, Jonathan L.; McNabb, Kayla B.; Surprenant, Aimée ; Binks, Andrew P.; LeClair, Renee J. (Virginia Tech, 2022-02-21)
    Join the University Libraries and invited guests for a panel discussion for future professors regarding open access, open educational resources, and open data. University Libraries’ faculty, Philip Young, Anita Walz, and Jonathan Petters will provide a brief overview of each of the three topics. Selected Virginia Tech faculty will be invited to share about their career development and how they have incorporated open practices into their teaching and scholarship. And, we will moderate a robust conversation among attending graduate students.
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    Open Education Week 2022 Open Course Tours Event
    Thompson, Liz; Finlayson, Caitie; LeClair, Renee J.; Binks, Andrew P.; Goodwin-Jones, Robert; Leek, Danielle; Westcott, Stephanie; Ghaphery, Jimmy; Thomas, Judith (Virginia Tech, 2022-03-09)
    This event sponsored by SCHEV-Open Virginia Advisory Committee (OVAC) provides four virtual tours of courses utilizing Open Education Resources (OER) and/or Open Pedagogy. These course tours are designed to move beyond the basics of OER to show how OER are being implemented in actual courses by colleagues in Virginia, in a variety of educational contexts. A summary of the Virginia Course Materials Survey and information on VIVA Open Grants available for OER is also presented.
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    Unbound education: Curriculum no longer confined by time and space
    LeClair, Renee J.; Binks, Andrew P. (Chandos Publishing, 2022-04-01)
    Academia's Digital Voice: A Conversation on 21st Century Higher Education provides critical information on an area that needs particular attention given the rapid introduction and immersion into digital technologies that took place during ...