Courses in health care innovation are short and intense, and they require timely engagement with course material and your classmates. This page introduces strategies and considerations for staying engaged and up to date in order to get the most out of your experience.


Understand Course Expectations

Health care innovation courses begin on Tuesdays. The first day of the course, we recommend taking the following steps:

  • Read the welcome email from your course instructor.
  • Read the course homepage and the material in the Before You Begin module.
  • Download the PDF syllabus from the course homepage and keep it for reference. You may want to print it out.
  • Note key dates on your personal calendar and explore the calendar feature in Canvas. This will help you plan ahead.
  • Check the Modules page to see how many lectures and readings are required for each week of the course.
  • Check your Canvas notifications settings and be sure that you are receiving course announcements via email.
  • Participate in the Introduce Yourself forum.


Get the Most Out of Video Segments

When watching video segments, use these tools and strategies to help you better comprehend and remember course content:

  • Pause and rewind videos and watch multiple times. This will improve your retention and allow you to take accurate notes. This is especially useful when you encounter information-rich slides.
  • Use the closed captions feature in the video player. Reading along with a lecture or an interview often helps students better understand the materials being presented.
  • Download and review transcripts of video segments. These are not a substitute for notes. Instead, view them as a valuable study aid that allows you to clarify aspects of the lectures you may have misunderstood or misremembered.
  • Take screenshots of key slides and add them to your notes. Here are instructions for doing this using Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android.


Take Frequent Breaks

Although competing obligations can sometimes mean leaving coursework to the last minute, we strongly recommend pacing yourself. Most people learn better when they watch video segments and read assigned materials in smaller chunks. 30 minutes of coursework followed by a 5-minute stretch break can help you better reflect and process what you have just read or seen. And starting a graded activity earlier in the week can provide time to take a break, come back to it with fresh eyes, and proofread one last time before submitting.

You can improve your information retention by pausing after each chunk of content and jotting down a list of the 3 or 4 most important things you have just encountered. If you organize your lists well, this can serve as an index of course content to which you can refer after the course is done.


Stay in Contact with the Course Team

The course team are here to help you get the most out of your learning experience. If you have questions about content, activities, due dates, etc., do not hesitate to reach out to the course assistants. And if you have technical questions about Canvas or other learning technologies used in the course, please contact course support. Emails with the course assistants and course support usually have a turnaround of less than 1 business day. Please do not contact the course team using the Canvas Inbox feature.


Stay Respectful

Courses in health care innovation require a lot of interaction, sometimes on sensitive subjects, with colleagues with whom you may have some deep-seated disagreements. But this is a feature, not a bug. Spirited and civil disagreement and debate are excellent avenues through which to learn, assuming you approach them with an open mind and a sense of collaboration. As you participate in the collaborative activities in these courses, please do argue about the issues, please stay away from ad hominem attacks, and please consider: when was the last time you let someone convince you to change your mind about an important issue?


Be Mindful of Time Management

Between video segments, readings, interactions, and other activities, courses in health care innovation require a significant investment of time. There will be some weeks—as you prepare final projects, for example—where you may spend a little more time, and some weeks where you spend a little less. But if you find that you regularly exceed the number of hours suggested on the homepage of your course, you may wish to reexamine your study habits: consider whether you are spending too much time taking notes, or making too many discussion forum responses. Courses in health care innovation can be demanding. Pace yourself.


Be Careful of Procrastination

In a 4- or 6-week course, once you get behind, it can be exceedingly difficult to catch up. Missing even one week’s worth of activities can leave you with more work to make up than can reasonably be spread over the remainder of the course. We very strongly recommend not leaving work to the last minute and not missing deadlines. Completing your work on time will help you have an enriching, satisfying learning experience.