Do proctored online University exams in Covid-19 era affect final grades respect face-to-face exams?

The Covid-19 pandemic forced universities to convert their traditional faceto-face exams to online exams with doubts as to whether student cheating or technical difficulties would affect their final grades. After taking three of these exams online, we considered comparing their grades with those of previous years on traditional exams. The average mark of the traditional exams before the pandemic was 6.95 over 10, while the average mark of the three exams carried out in the Covid-19 era is 6.64. The student's t test indicated that there are no significant differences between the two types of exams in the mean (p = 0.408), the median (p = 0.378), the range (p = 0.307), the minimum (p = 0.410) and the maximum (p = 0.072). Taking online exams did not modify the exam grades compared to previous years. There is a lot of variability in similar studies in the literature due to cheating that can be performed in online exams. A proctoring system, good question design, and limited exam time can minimize these differences.

Mobility strategies based on percolation theory to avoid disease spread: COVID-19

Human mobility is an important factor in the spatial propagation of infectious diseases. On the other hand, the control strategies based on mobility restrictions are generally unpopular and costly. These high social and economic costs make it very important to design global protocols where the cost is minimized and effects maximized. In this work, we calculate the percolation threshold of the spread in a network of a disease. In particular, we found the number of roads to close and regions to isolate in the Puebla State, Mexico, to avoid the global spread of COVID-19. Computational simulations taking into account the proposed strategy show a potential reduction of 94% of infections. This methodology can be used in broader and different areas to help in the design of health policies.

Surveys for assessing satisfaction with the distance learning courses of the Master’s Degree in Atherosclerosis Research

Introduction: COVID-19 caused the Ministry of Higher Education to indicate the interruption of face-to-face teaching activities. Subsequently, the master's degree in Atherosclerosis Research had to continue in the virtual modality. Objective: To validate survey design for assessing the satisfaction of master's degree students and professors with the virtual courses of the master's degree in Atherosclerosis Research. Methods: A qualitative research was conducted consisting of a review of the published literature to analyze the grounded theory in survey design and validation. Publications from 2017 were reviewed using the search, in which the following text chain was entered: design and validation of instruments to assess satisfaction with virtual courses. A documentary analysis was also conducted to analyze key concepts and ideas about the methods used for the development of this type of instrument, to consider problem situations and challenges of this design in other studies, as well as to learn about the different ways of approaching the research problem. For the design of the instruments, a pilot study was carried out with selected students and teachers. Results: The survey for the students consisted of twelve questions, while the professors had ten. The latter ones considered its quality as satisfactory. In the analysis of the results by authors and the overall assessment of both surveys carried out by the research group, two recommendations for improvement emerged, then included to make the final version of each instrument. Conclusions: Both surveys are easily adaptable for use in other virtual courses and in different virtual learning environments. Both instruments provide general data, information about the teacher, course content, bibliography and technological assurance. © 2022, Editorial Ciencias Medicas. All rights reserved.