Welcome-3

Welcome to the first course in Medical Microbiology, brought to you by FreeMedEd Links to an external site.. This course will concentrate on the first, and arguably most intriguing, section of medically relevant microbes: bacteria. The next set of courses to complete the series will include; virology, mycology, and parasitology.

Course Overview

Unlike most courses in microbiology, this course is designed in tiers. This helps to chunk different categories into related and manageable bits of information. We also use spaced repetition to encourage memory of not only the most recently covered material, but the entire course as a whole. This means it may be helpful, though not required, to complete the 10 Modules in order. Alternatively, you may wish to complete all of the A-series lectures from each module, then B-series, and so on, but may have to wait for later content to be released first. As such, you can expect between 1-4 hours for most modules depending on which certificate you are attempting to attain.

Since we cannot fit all relevant material into our short lecture series, there are "Optional Resources" attached to each module section. These include external videos/links from mostly very well-respected educational resources (as well as some for humor), and add artistic and graphic information to aid in learning the material.

Awards and Achievements 

For this first release, we will not release Certificates or Badges (though they are in the works for future releases). Don't worry. If you complete this course we will work to get you any required Awards when those are released. Check back, and send us an email if this is a concern.

Recommended course completion levels (and potential future Award levels):

• 1. (Certificate of) Completion: Watch all video lectures and finish quizzes with >70%.

• 2. (Certificate of) Accomplishment: Also complete the assignments and pass all quizzes with >80% (excluding Mini-Board Exam).

• 3. (Certificate of) Mastery: Finish all materials above, make a good-faith attempt to utilize relevant Optional Resources, AND score 90% or greater on all quizzes INCLUDING passing the Mini-Board Exam with >70% (Mini-Board Exam will not be available on first release).

You can always start with the material that interests you most, and come back to finish the other tasks later if you wish. Please make sure to fill out the Welcome Survey which helps us as well as Canvas Network better understand the audience we aim to serve. If you have any questions, the Help section can guide you as well.

Resources

The Supplemental Textbook for this course can be found at:

• Microbiology and Immunology Online Textbook Links to an external site.

Special thanks to Dr. Richard Hunt for his hard work on this free, online resource! It is going through updates currently, so check back often for the latest information.

You may also wish to use these free resources:

• Oregon State Open Library: Microbiology Links to an external site.
• OpenStax Open Library: Microbiology Links to an external site.

Or simply search your local public Links to an external site.or university library for a Medical Microbiology textbook to follow along with each module. It is highly recommended you utilize multiple learning paths (ie: lectures, texts, assignments) in order to improve retention of material.

To get started, simply click on the Modules tab to the left for a Course Outline.