Using Fluent Forever techniques for medical students

I've observed over the years that the first couple of years of medical school are a LOT like a language class! Massive vocabulary increase. Similar to language learning is the sheer number of words and what they mean. Also similar, the concepts in medical school usually aren't terribly complex. Nothing compares to Calc 4/differential equations for example. It's really mostly a volume issue. Different (thank goodness): you don't really have to learn new grammar, sentence constructions. Some different: there isn't really a "translation" into English like for example Green=Verde in English to Spanish. It's more a brand new word for a more-or-less familiar concept. Different: definitions become more location and function-based; for example, anatomy includes which bone is it (good picture) but also what bones does it connect to, what muscles move it, etc. (Image cloze deletion might be interesting to insert here somehow; actually that could be useful for languages too!) Also with volume it's very important to be able to make cards efficiently. The risk is the constant temptation to pack too much information onto one card and thereby make it totally NONmemorable. I'm intrigued by Gabe's 4 level concept of structure/spelling, sound, concepts (abstract and concrete), and personal connection and, as a brand new Medical School professor want to experiment with Anki, study techniques, etc. In my lectures (I've only been teaching 3 months) I strive to put in as many personal, emotional stories as possible to hit level 4. Another thing that might be interesting is figuring out a shortcut like your language shortcuts that bring up definitions, sounds, monolingual, etc. Instead though I'd see how I could put in images, medical dictionaries, that sort of thing. And also we have some library resources, as well as professor's powerpoints that contain hopefully useful information. Any thoughts that might help me with this crazy quest?

* Originally posted by jmsmall.