Experience with Online Learning in the Subject ʻMathematics in Primary Education'

A spread of COVID-19 has significantly influenced teaching methods at universities all over the world. In 2020, face-to-face lectures at our university were banned, or were allowed only with limited number of students. Thus, in an effort to keep high academic standards, teachers had to rely on synchronous and asynchronous forms of online learning. The paper analyze our experience with online learning of the subject Mathematics in Primary Education. We focus on several problems: an influence of a ban of face-to-face lessons to students' ability to pass the final test, difference in level of knowledge of full-time and part-time students, correlation between an average study mean and results in a final test, impact of online learning on the satisfaction of students with their results, students' preference of face-to-face lessons to online learning. The paper expands the results presented on the international conference XXXV DIDMATTECH 2022, published in the collection of abstracts © 2023, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Online Learning of Basics of Graph Theory

As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, the methods of teaching at Slovak universities have significantly changed. Before 2019, majority of subjects was taught by face-to-face instruction. Despite positive experience with utilization of modern technologies in education, only a little number of subjects was taught bye-learning or blended learning. In the paper, we summarize our experience with teaching the subject Basics of Graph Theory. In the winter term of the academic year 2021/2022, due to restrictions caused by COVID-19, full-time students had to be taught by a combination of pre-recorded video lessons, synchronous online lessons, and e-learning course, while part-time students were taught only by video lessons and e-learning course. A comparison of students' results in the final test reveals that online learning is a suitable method to teach Basics of Graph Theory, as there is no significant difference compared to the results of the students taught by blended learning two years ago. Further, this method is equally suitable for both full-time and part-time students, since there is no significant gap in the level of their knowledge. Moreover, answers of students in a questionnaire reveal other benefits of this method. © 2022 IEEE.

E-learning in manipulative geometry teaching

In the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 pandemic changed the way of teaching methods at universities in Slovakia. In a very short time, the traditional lectures had to be replaced by on-line lessons, often without any preparation of teachers to such a form of lectures. Although teachers were able to teach at the faculty, the students watched their lessons in the comfort of their homes. In the present paper, we focus on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the level of students’ knowledge from the subject Manipulative Geometry. We analyse the results of the experiment, which was conducted on a sample of 249 students of the Pre-School and Elementary Pedagogy at Trnava University, Faculty of Education. We compare the results of three groups of students: external students taught by a blended learning, daily students taught by a combination of video-lessons and e-learning course, and external students taught by a combination of video-lessons and e-learning course. The way of teaching of the second and the third group was influenced by a ban of a face-to-face lessons as a result of the pandemic situation in Slovakia. Using statistical hypothesis testing, we prove that there is no significant difference in the results of the groups in the final test, from which follows that the restrictions connected with the COVID-19 had no negative impact on the level of students’ knowledge. Thus, the results of our research reveal that thanks to a proper use of digital technologies it is possible to eliminate the negative effect of the ban of face-to-face lessons. © 2021, National Defence University - Carol I Printing House. All rights reserved.

Video Lessons and E-learning Can Overcome Ban of Face-to-face Lessons in Teaching Mathematics

A pandemic situation connected with a spread of COVID-19 has significantly changed methods of teaching at universities. Previously unimaginable ban on face-to-face teaching has become a reality overnight. At best, a number of students present in a class was significantly limited, at worst, face-to-face lessons were completely banned. Naturally, there was a danger of significant decrease of student's knowledge. The paper deals with efficient utilization of e-learning in teaching Combinatorics and Data Processing at the Facuity of Education, Tmava University. We compare two different methods of learning: blended learning and e-learning. The results of the experiment prove that the ban of face-to-face lessons does not automatically mean the decrease of student's knowledge. Thus, e-learning has potential to overcome problems associated with COVID-19 pandemic situation at universities. © 2021 IEEE.

Development of a blood inventory management dashboard for inventory and usage monitoring in response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Background/Case Studies: One of the essential tasks of operating a transfusion medicine service is the management of blood inventory. In response to the uncertainty in blood use and blood supply brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, a Blood Inventory Management Dashboard (BIMD) for the University Hospitals Healthcare System (UHHS) was developed and implemented. Study Design/Methods: A multidisciplinary working group consisting of blood bank medical directors, laboratory managers, and information technology specialists were involved in the design of the BIMD. Hospital IT resources were prioritized to develop the dashboard. The dashboard informatics design pulls data from our blood bank information system (HCLL version 2015, SP1, WellSky® (pka Mediware®) (Overland Park, KS)). Reports are then generated using Microsoft SQL ServerData Tools 2015 (Redmond, WA). Data elements include: available blood components, total number of uncrossmatched red blood cells (RBC) divided based on ABO group and Rh type, patients who are high-volume users, and number of blood components issued and used. Inventory was trended over 7 and 30 days and graphically displayed. As a refinement, the dashboard was modified to display color coded inventory per level status (adequate, guarded, and critical). The dashboard display is configured in a tabular and graphical format via Microsoft Excel 2016 (Redmond, WA). Results/Findings: Beginning on March 22, 2020, the dashboard has been automatically distributed prior to 8 AM daily via email to the health system Incident Command Center, Blood Bank medical directors, and other organizational leadership. It immediately became a crucial tool for planning and served as a mechanism to identify the need to move blood inventory throughout the system over the course of the pandemic and permitting identification of high volume users for interventions of ordering additional inventory based on anticipated needs. The number of blood component units are now tracked across all the hospitals within our system. The breakout by ABO and Rh type is a novel and valuable feature of the dashboard and presents valuable summary data that are not available in the laboratory information system. Conclusions: The development of an automated dashboard enables monitoring blood inventory levels across a multiple-hospital health system. The dashboard provides data broken down by ABO and Rh type, data not readily retrievable in the laboratory information system. The dashboard provides tracking of blood product utilization, and the ability to respond dynamically to blood needs throughout the system over the course of the pandemic. The BIMD has proven to be a key tool to inform decision making by organizational and blood bank leadership in the COVID-19 pandemic and in developing future contingency plans in managing blood bank inventory during unforeseen emergencies.

Experience with e-learning in teaching combinatorics and data processing

Young people widely use their mobile phones, tablets and notebooks. So it is natural to use modern technologies also in teaching mathematics. Blended learning represents a combination of e-learning and face-to-face instruction. In the ISET 2019 conference in Hradec Králové, we presented that blended learning had improved the results of our students in Combinatorics and Data Processing. In this paper, we continue the research and compare the results of students from three academic years. Moreover, we compare the results of external students who have to be taught only by e-learning due to restrictions caused by COVID-19. © 2020 Croatian Society MIPRO.