2  Weekly resource log

The one assignment that runs across all four weeks

Each week for three weeks you choose three to five resources on AI in medicine and write a short structured entry on each. In week 4 you write one short synthesis on a theme that came out of your reading and present it in small group. This is the only assignment that runs across the whole course. The chapters are self-paced; the log is where your own reading goes.

The topic is yours. A resource can be learning material (a course module, a tutorial, a textbook chapter, a lecture video), a primary study, a review, a regulatory or policy document, or a piece on a broader question: ethics, bias and equity, environmental cost, economics, the effect on medical training, the history of the field, patient perspectives. Mixing types is encouraged.

Several chapters end with an activity that has you find a paper in your own specialty. A paper you found that way counts toward that week’s log. The two assignments share the work.

2.1 Theme areas (optional guide)

You do not have to follow this list. It exists so that no one lacks a starting point, and so you can see the range of what counts.

• How the technology works (machine learning basics, large language models, foundation models)
• Clinical evidence (validation studies, trials, deployment reports)
• Ethics, bias, and equity
• Regulation and policy (FDA, EU AI Act, institutional governance)
• Environmental and economic impact
• Effects on medical education and the profession
• Patient perspectives and communication
• History and hype cycles

Over the block, try to cover at least two or three areas. Starter resources for each are in the starter resources appendix.

2.2 Weeks 1 to 3

Each week, choose three to five resources. For each one, complete the entry template below. Then add a short AI-use note for the week.

Week 2 suggestion: include at least one resource that connects to, or disagrees with, something from week 1.

Week 3 suggestion: by the end of the week, know which theme you will write about in week 4. Small group that week will ask.

2.3 Entry template (one per resource)

Resource:            (citation, URL, or title and where to find it)
Type:                (tutorial / primary study / review / policy /
                      essay or opinion / other)

1. What it says      The main point, in one or two sentences.
                     What does it show or argue?

2. What it changed   One or two sentences on what this shifted,
                     sharpened, or challenged in how you think
                     about the topic. Be specific.

3. What it left open One question you now have, or one claim you
                     would want to check before repeating it.

Three to five sentences per entry is about right. Longer is fine if you have something to say; longer for its own sake is not.

2.4 AI-use note (one per week, two or three sentences)

Did you use a chatbot this week to find, read, or summarize resources? If so, what for, and did it get anything wrong or invent anything? If not, that is fine. Just say so.

You are welcome to use these tools. Any reference a chatbot gives you must be verified before you list it. Treat an unverified reference as made up.

2.5 Week 4: synthesis

No new resources. Choose one theme that appears across your weeks 1 to 3 entries. Write a short piece (roughly 300 to 500 words) that:

• names the theme and why it interested you,
• draws on at least three of your own earlier entries, noting where they agreed, disagreed, or built on each other,
• ends with what you now think, and what you would still want to know.

Prepare a five-minute version for small group. Slides optional.

2.6 Submission

One document per week, due [day/time]. Plain text or PDF. Templates may be copied verbatim.

2.7 Optional: a reading companion, with less help each week

If you want to use a chatbot alongside your reading, paste the prompt for the current week at the start of a conversation. Any chatbot works. The prompt tells the bot to help you think and not to write for you. Each week the prompt gives the bot less to do, so that by week 4 you decide how to use it, or whether to.

The bot is never the author of your entries. It asks, suggests, and challenges. Verify every reference it gives you. Not using it at all is a legitimate choice; say so in your AI-use note.

2.7.1 Week 1: the bot leads

You are a reading companion for a medical student in an elective on
AI in medicine. The student chooses their own resources on any
topic: technical, clinical, ethical, policy, environmental, or
otherwise. Your job is to help them think, not to write for them.

When the student brings a resource, walk through three questions,
one at a time, asking for their answer before offering your own
view (clearly labeled as yours):
  1. What is the main point? What does it show or argue?
  2. What did this change or sharpen in how you think about the topic?
  3. What question does it leave open, or what would you want to check?

When the student asks for resources: suggest where to look and what
to search for. If you name a specific paper, book, or site, say
clearly that it must be verified, because you may be wrong about
titles, authors, or whether it exists.

Do not draft entries the student can paste. Keep replies short and
end each resource with one thing you are unsure about.

In week 1, try asking the bot for three resources on your topic and check all three. Most people find at least one that does not exist or is misattributed. That is the lesson, and it costs ten minutes.

2.7.2 Week 2: the bot connects

You are a reading companion for a medical student in week 2 of an
elective on AI in medicine. The student already knows the three
questions (main point, what it changed, what it left open); do not
list them unless asked.

This week, when the student brings a resource, ask what they read
last week and help them find a connection or a disagreement between
the two. Prefer disagreements; they are more useful.

Same rules as before: do not draft entries; any specific reference
you name must be verified by the student; end each resource with one
thing you are unsure about.

2.7.3 Week 3: the bot pushes back

You are a discussion partner for a medical student in week 3 of an
elective on AI in medicine. The student will tell you what they have
been reading and which theme they are considering for a short
synthesis next week.

Your job this week is to push back. For each claim the student
repeats from their reading, ask: how do they know that, what kind of
source it came from, and whether any of their other reading cuts
against it. Do not summarize sources for them; ask them to summarize
to you.

Do not write the synthesis or an outline for it. Any specific
reference you name must be verified.

2.7.4 Week 4: no help

You are a general assistant. You have no special instructions about
the student's assignment. Two standing rules: you will not write
their synthesis, and you will not give references they have not
verified.

This week the prompt is deliberately empty. Your AI-use note should say how you chose to use the tool, or not, and why. One sentence in the synthesis on what role AI tools played is enough. That is the same disclosure journals now expect.