ABSTRACT
This letter discusses the use of digital tools to support psychiatry residency training in Singapore during the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Psychiatry Residency Program is a five-year program accredited by the US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-International (ACGME-I) and Joint Committee on Specialty Training (JCST), Singapore. The pandemic infection control measures, including social distancing and cross hospital movement restrictions, have created unprecedented challenges to training. Psychiatry residents cannot meet in groups, go outside of their current sites to do clinical work or attend educational activities, and ambulatory teams have halted home visits and day treatment programs. However, in the process, other clinical learning opportunities have unexpectedly arisen. To help with shifting demands, some psychiatry residents have been assigned to different services than the ones belonging to their rotations. Several residents have volunteered for deployment to medical facilities which are set up in the community, and are assisting medical teams in managing clinically ill patients. There are ongoing discussions between the residency program committee, central educational office and health authorities to ensure that requisite training rotations are being fulfilled as best as possible at the respective training sites. Although the disruption to psychiatry residency training in the midst of the pandemic is severe, the innovative use of digital platforms is coming of age. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Disinfection is one of the most effective ways to block the rapid transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). Due to the prolonged coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, disinfectants have become crucial to prevent person-to-person transmission and decontaminate hands, clothes, facilities and equipment. However, there is a lack of accurate information on the virucidal activity of commercial disinfectants. AIM: To evaluate the virucidal efficacy of 72 commercially available disinfectants constituting 16 types of ingredients against SARS-CoV-2. METHODS: SARS-CoV-2 was tested with various concentrations of disinfectants at indicated exposure time points as recommended by the manufacturers. The 50% tissue culture infectious dose assay was used to calculate virus titre, and trypan blue staining and CCK-8 were used to assess cell viability after 3-5 days of SARS-CoV-2 infection. FINDINGS: This study found that disinfectants based on 83% ethanol, 60% propanol/ethanol, 0.00108-0.0011% sodium dichloroisocyanurate and 0.497% potassium peroxymonosulfate inactivated SARS-CoV-2 effectively and safely. Although disinfectants based on 0.05-0.4% benzalkonium chloride (BAC), 0.02-0.07% quaternary ammonium compound (QAC; 1:1), 0.4% BAC/didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC), 0.28% benzethonium chloride concentrate/2-propanol, 0.0205-0.14% DDAC/polyhexamethylene biguanide hydrochloride (PHMB) and 0.5% hydrogen peroxide inactivated SARS-CoV-2 effectively, they exhibited cytotoxicity. Conversely, disinfectants based on 0.04-4% QAC (2:3), 0.00625% BAC/DDAC/PHMB, and 0.0205-0.14% and 0.0173% peracetic acid showed approximately 50% virucidal efficacy with no cytotoxicity. Citric acid (0.4%) did not inactivate SARS-CoV-2. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that most commercially available disinfectants exert a disinfectant effect against SARS-CoV-2. However, re-evaluation of the effective concentration and exposure time of certain disinfectants is needed, especially citric acid and peracetic acid.
ABSTRACT
The 2020 COVID-19 shook up a lot of different industries, not the least of which higher education, where physical distancing drove an uptake of many new online/distance teaching and collaboration initiatives anchored in technology enhanced learning (TEL). Moving forward from COVID-19, this may drive us to reposition our academic roles in higher education, forcing us to reset and rethink on whether teaching is a solo duty or it could be team work—more than just contributing to a shared resource pool, and instead actually working together on individual courses. Specifically, TEL could encourage a new space where learning and teaching workload (moved online due to disruptions) could be shared, providing a stronger sense of collaborative spirit in the teaching space and enhanced pedagogical and scaffolding experiences for students. This is particularly pertinent due to the rush to transfer teaching and learning resources and practices online, as we have tended to concentrate so far on synchronous delivery method—‘online distance education’. However, TEL has so many more affordances in enhancing pedagogy/scaffolding and now is the time to discuss these as higher education institutions worldwide settle into a long haul with online content. Specifically, the authors will use their experiences running a community mentoring programme for academics to advocate that the ‘sage’ is still the key but we need to reframe the ‘stage’: to enable a ‘futurist’ voice of academia, we should reframe the roles of technologies as a tool in education as well as our roles as academics in higher education institutions. © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This editorial is in support of an issue of the Journal that has a focus on educational technology (EdTech). With this in mind, this editorial will provide advice on how the editorial team for this section feels that educational technology will evolve into the latter part of the 2020’s, especially given the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Examples are given of how writing in this space has changed over the years of the pandemic, with a history of EdTech given, followed by an argument for the need for technology to be used in context. This is followed by descriptions of good practice around theoretical framing, methodology rigour, inclusion of the people element, and the need for the technology to serve a purpose. The piece concludes with a summary of where the editorial teams feels the field will go from here into the future. Throughout, practical examples of submissions made over the last few years are given to help illustrate a coherent direction. It is anticipated that this editorial will serve as a guide for future authors to use in service of better educational technology outputs in the future. Practitioner Notes 1. The use of technology in education needs to serve a purpose. 2. Theoretical framing is an essential underpinning of any EdTech practice. 3. EdTech research needs to ensure it embodies valid and reliable research methods and measures for evaluation. 4. Technology needs to enhance learning in all contexts, regardless of mode of learning. 5. EdTech researchers need to ensure that people and their behaviours are reflected in the technology-based processes. © 2022, University of Wollongong. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
Distance or online learning is more than simply uploading and delivering learning resources to learners but in fact, it is a process that provides learners with autonomy, responsibility, flexibility and choice. This can be a challenge for many academic teachers. In 2020, as universities globally shifted to online learning, in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of staff have supported colleagues to develop e-learning techniques 'just-in-time' for effective delivery to students in fully online platforms. This has required a transformation of educational development and faculty support globally. This paper will reflect on mechanisms of support demonstrating tailored staff support to transform education in three case scenario contexts, during the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in three different countries. Our case studies illustrate that support lies beyond technological capability building to also incorporate the essentials of holistic well-being and resilience reinforcement. This paper demonstrates temporary solutions to a global crisis in online education and reflects on lessons learnt and how e-teaching and e-learning support may transform beyond the pandemic.