DOS 731: Research and Methods in Medical Dosimetry II
Course Description
This course helped students take the concepts learned in Research and Methods I last semester and apply them in their own research. Students worked in small groups to gather literature, form outlines and problem statements that would prepare them to write their own scholarly research paper.
Assessment
In their small groups, students found a gap in the literature that they would like to research to help fulfill the gap. Students worked together using conference calls to help make group decisions and SharePoint to exchange and share documents. Throughout the semester various aspects of the outline of the paper were due to keep the students on track to complete their first draft on time at the end of the semester. As a group effort of data collection and analysis a first draft was present and returned with edits and suggestions for the next draft.
Course Project
For the research component of our Master’s Program my partners, Charity, Paul Michael, and I knew of an article that suggested there were “ideal” collimator angles in which 2 arc VMAT prostate plans were found to have better PTV coverage while sparing the organs-at-risk. We took one of the sets of collimator angles that were considered “ideal” in this study and sought to find a better pair of collimator angles for 2 arc VMAT prostate plans. We tested 10 patients and 5 collimator pairs per patient. Our outline and first draft is linked below if you would like to check it out.
Outline
Draft 1
Self-reflection
After each course students are asked to take a moment and self-reflect on what they gained during the course and how it affected their education and growth.
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this course were first an advancement on my group project skills. I’ve worked in groups before but never on a project of this caliper with people who live all over the United States and in various time zones. We had to learn how to work around each other’s lives and schedules and make everything come together to accomplish our goal. It was also the first time I had ever completed a research project which was a learning experience in itself.
The new knowledge and skills benefit me by having helped my communication skills. Also, it made me take a deeper look into plans and what all of the numbers really mean in relation to the true quality of the plan, not just the PTV but the plan as a whole.
I struggled with taking all of the raw data and trying to make numbers into words. This part was the most difficult process. I had looked at these numbers before and thought I knew what they meant but when it came down to explaining them I found myself at a loss of words. It took more research on my behalf to understand the numbers to be able to explain them to an audience.
I feel pretty good about all of the effort we all put into this project. All four of us in our group came together very well and used all of our resources, including each other, to form a very well-rounded paper.
Other reflective thoughts. I am not going to lie at the beginning of this project when I learned we had to not only write a research paper, but with partners that I would never see face-to-face, I was overwhelmed and intimidated. However, those group members ended up being a blessing through this process. They were a sounding board to toss ideas off of and a support system when I felt like things were not going to work out well. We all came together and accomplished a rather large project successfully.
Course Description
This course helped students take the concepts learned in Research and Methods I last semester and apply them in their own research. Students worked in small groups to gather literature, form outlines and problem statements that would prepare them to write their own scholarly research paper.
Assessment
In their small groups, students found a gap in the literature that they would like to research to help fulfill the gap. Students worked together using conference calls to help make group decisions and SharePoint to exchange and share documents. Throughout the semester various aspects of the outline of the paper were due to keep the students on track to complete their first draft on time at the end of the semester. As a group effort of data collection and analysis a first draft was present and returned with edits and suggestions for the next draft.
Course Project
For the research component of our Master’s Program my partners, Charity, Paul Michael, and I knew of an article that suggested there were “ideal” collimator angles in which 2 arc VMAT prostate plans were found to have better PTV coverage while sparing the organs-at-risk. We took one of the sets of collimator angles that were considered “ideal” in this study and sought to find a better pair of collimator angles for 2 arc VMAT prostate plans. We tested 10 patients and 5 collimator pairs per patient. Our outline and first draft is linked below if you would like to check it out.
Outline
Draft 1
Self-reflection
After each course students are asked to take a moment and self-reflect on what they gained during the course and how it affected their education and growth.
The new knowledge and skills I gained during this course were first an advancement on my group project skills. I’ve worked in groups before but never on a project of this caliper with people who live all over the United States and in various time zones. We had to learn how to work around each other’s lives and schedules and make everything come together to accomplish our goal. It was also the first time I had ever completed a research project which was a learning experience in itself.
The new knowledge and skills benefit me by having helped my communication skills. Also, it made me take a deeper look into plans and what all of the numbers really mean in relation to the true quality of the plan, not just the PTV but the plan as a whole.
I struggled with taking all of the raw data and trying to make numbers into words. This part was the most difficult process. I had looked at these numbers before and thought I knew what they meant but when it came down to explaining them I found myself at a loss of words. It took more research on my behalf to understand the numbers to be able to explain them to an audience.
I feel pretty good about all of the effort we all put into this project. All four of us in our group came together very well and used all of our resources, including each other, to form a very well-rounded paper.
Other reflective thoughts. I am not going to lie at the beginning of this project when I learned we had to not only write a research paper, but with partners that I would never see face-to-face, I was overwhelmed and intimidated. However, those group members ended up being a blessing through this process. They were a sounding board to toss ideas off of and a support system when I felt like things were not going to work out well. We all came together and accomplished a rather large project successfully.