Does social media usage boost career prospects of women: an exploratory study in the academia

PurposeThis paper draws on the affordance perspective, to explore the social media (SM) usage experiences that might render valuable for academic women professionals, for knowledge exchange, networking and success. Owing to the increased SM usage during COVID-19 pandemic, this paper tries to find out that in what ways do SM affordances facilitate the underprivileged group of women professionals to grow in their careers in a masculine, conservative society through knowledge exchange.Design/methodology/approachBy utilizing qualitative study design, the authors collected data from 31 women employed in Pakistani universities, through unstructured questionnaires. The responses were analyzed through Nvivo.FindingsThe generated themes suggested that women in Pakistan are aware of SM's potential for knowledge exchange among fellow professionals. They use it to aid them in communication, collaboration and networking. Additionally, they utilize it to share knowledge and build networks that are vital for career progression and success.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper concludes with the implications for practitioners that would aid them in boosting career prospects for women academicians through SM usage in a developing country Pakistan;where women's career outlooks are not as promising as for men;or as bright as for women working in the developed economies.Originality/valueThis a unique attempt to explore knowledge exchange dimensions with the help of SM in the context of working women by the deploying the phenomenological approach.

Getting the most out of maths: How to coordinate mathematical modelling research to support a pandemic, lessons learnt from three initiatives that were part of the COVID-19 response in the UK.

In March 2020 mathematics became a key part of the scientific advice to the UK government on the pandemic response to COVID-19. Mathematical and statistical modelling provided critical information on the spread of the virus and the potential impact of different interventions. The unprecedented scale of the challenge led the epidemiological modelling community in the UK to be pushed to its limits. At the same time, mathematical modellers across the country were keen to use their knowledge and skills to support the COVID-19 modelling effort. However, this sudden great interest in epidemiological modelling needed to be coordinated to provide much-needed support, and to limit the burden on epidemiological modellers already very stretched for time. In this paper we describe three initiatives set up in the UK in spring 2020 to coordinate the mathematical sciences research community in supporting mathematical modelling of COVID-19. Each initiative had different primary aims and worked to maximise synergies between the various projects. We reflect on the lessons learnt, highlighting the key roles of pre-existing research collaborations and focal centres of coordination in contributing to the success of these initiatives. We conclude with recommendations about important ways in which the scientific research community could be better prepared for future pandemics. This manuscript was submitted as part of a theme issue on "Modelling COVID-19 and Preparedness for Future Pandemics".

Videos and podcasts for delivering agricultural extension: achieving credibility, relevance, legitimacy and accessibility

PurposeTo explore the perceived credibility, relevance, legitimacy and accessibility of videos and podcasts in farm extension.MethodsA two-phase mixed methods approach consisting of a pre-COVID online survey of farmers (n = 221), farmer telephone interviews (n = 60) and in-person focus groups of farmers (n = 4) followed by an analysis of how viewers interact with Agricology videos and podcasts, a further online survey (n = 141) and online farmer focus groups (n = 4) during the COVID-19 pandemic.FindingsIf they are to be perceived as effective extension methods, videos should be short, concise, practical, advert-free and visualise how to implement a practice. Podcasts can be longer, more detailed, and allow multitasking. Both should use farmer-friendly language, be easily accessible, high quality, non-biased, and be created by someone whom farmers respect.Practical implicationsHelps policy-makers and extensionists understand the potential of videos and podcasts and the trade-offs in using them with other forms of extension. The findings are also of use to global advisory services seeking to offer hybridised advice as a result of the ongoing COVID pandemic.Theoretical implicationsElucidates the trade-offs of using videos and podcasts when face-to-face extension is not possible and develops the CRELE framework.OriginalityDiscusses the role of podcasts in farm extension and re-evaluates the role of videos when face-to-face extension is impossible.

Analysing Shifts in Perceptions of Indians during COVID-19 Pandemic by Mining Tweets

Current pandemic situation has a significant impact affecting human life not only socially and economically, but emotionally and psychologically as well. This impact can be easily observed on social media platforms. Along with the knowledge exchange related to Covid-19 pandemic on social media, there is an emotional trauma wave that can be felt by carefully analyzing the activities of this social media. Keeping this view in thought, we analyze around 12000 tweets of Indian people to find out whether there is a trend shift of thinking pattern and mindset of Indian people as the pandemic progresses. The study is bifurcated into stages to clearly see the paradigm shift. We use tweets since twitter is a rich medium that can be leveraged to its optimum to have a good amount of understanding of the sentiments of the people. Analyzing the twitter dataset, we derive results and find out whether the amount of negative tweets v/s positive (or motivational) tweets have increased or not as the pandemic progresses. The study is supported by graphical visualizations of the polarity of the tweets month wise. Further, Wordmap approach is used to perform qualitative mining analysis in addition to the sentiment score based calculation. This work helps us to understand how the public opinions are changing with the changes in the spread dynamics of the virus. This kind of mood mining helps in identifying the Covid-19 situation from the psychological perspective that whether there is a sense of fear among people or they are quite optimistic of the situation. It can help in a great extend to the strategic and decision making bodies to plan out for future decisions. Further, such kind of studies can be used as reference to provide insights about mental health of people for any future incident or event of such nature. © 2023 IEEE.

Bridging the Gap Between Academia and Business

The tertiary education sector in all countries has been affected by the social impact of the COVID-19 era. The provision of ‘on-line' or ‘hybrid' teaching has enabled some education to continue but other aspects of campus life, such as postgraduate and other laboratory-based research activities, have been curtailed. The public hygiene strategy of cutting back some businesses through the COVID ‘lockdown' has also interrupted some of the links between industry and universities, although some universities have expanded collaboration with local government and other agencies to work for recovery. Despite the effect of COVID, the demand for premium knowledge by individuals on which to build their careers has not diminished. In many countries both government and society have intensified their interest in universities with the view to them taking an increasingly active role in economic and social development. This expanded activity is now commonly described as a ‘third mission' (TM). The development of TM has been growing across the whole of the international tertiary education spectrum for more than fifty years. Individual universities have developed deeper working relationships with industry, business, and the public sector. One of the consequences of COVID on universities has been to accelerate the need to put in place TM related activities, thus bridging the gap between academia and business. This chapter explores the issues and reflects on some aspects of the third leg mission for universities in an international context and particularly in the Arab World. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

COVID-Vis: Visualizing knowledge exchange on scientific software development in the COVID-19 era

As the world is still recovering from the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, one key aspect of the pandemic era were the global efforts for containment, case tracking and several other factors. While the scientific and governmental initiatives were largely successful and effective, a notable surge was observed in contributions from individuals and programming communities that developed their own software for COVID-19 by using data retrieval and analysis along with visualization methodologies. To achieve their goals, they turned their attention to knowledge exchange portals and asked questions regarding technological queries. In this paper, we present a collective platform that retrieves such questions from a well-known Q&A portal and visualizes the contained information. This platform serves as a useful tool for assessing programming and technological interest in COVID-19 related software development efforts while also promoting the open science principles. © 2022 ACM.

Unlearning in crisis: Forces of change in unlearning

The study of unlearning continues to be important, not only due to the relevance of the concept itself, but in light of current strong, unforeseen forces, knowledge change opportunities have been created beyond our prediction. A knowledge exchange is often needed to revise processes, use new technologies, or due to forces that stem from catastrophic situations. Examples include economic, such as in business failures or the recent public health concerns from the COVID-19 pandemic. Building from new insights using the typological model from Rushmer and Davies (2004), deep unlearning may the end result of catastrophic forces of change. First, deep unlearning occurs with striking events, or yield change that adds anxiety, psychological, or technological upset. Second, inherent in many catastrophic changes are rapid interruptions in the trajectory of "previous” actions and unique processes toward recovery where knowledge base may be forever altered. We address the following question: "Is Rushmer and Davies' deep unlearning typology exhibited during catastrophic situations?” This theoretical paper examines the concept of deep unlearning, the process of replacement or lack of use of a belief, action, or process in a context of an emergency situation where little is currently known. What type of agent for change would be needed? Will unintended consequences not be identified by individuals and organizations;what may be the cost to future learning skills when deep unlearning of current tasks occurs? Third, some insights and directions for future research are presented. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Developing a Capability Maturity Model for Knowledge Exchange Dynamics Among Stakeholders and Universities: Evidence From Morocco Higher Education Institution

With the advent COVID-19 pandemic, it has been proved that we live in a VUCA world. However, humanity was able to sustain the pandemic through knowledge sharing with their peers. This proves that the organization needs to engage effectively with its stakeholders to maintain itself in the VUCA world. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are no exception in such a scenario. However, there are various enablers and inhibitors in knowledge exchange dynamics (KED) in a university setting. So based on this, the study develops an inhibitor-based model for implementing KED in university projects. The inhibitors are identified through a systematic literature review and validated by experts, such as academicians and their stakeholders. Prioritizing these inhibitors allowed the expert to concentrate on the most critical inhibitors using the Orders of Magnitude-Analytic Hierarchy Process. Using the priority weights obtained from the model, a capability maturity model is developed to assess a university's capability and maturity level for a successful KED. From the capability maturity model results, one can understand the specific inhibitors that act as a hindrance to KED and set agenda for improvement for HEIs. IEEE

Teaching Interchange – An Interactive Online Event for Peer Learning Among Educators

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally challenged the educational approaches in Higher Education. Educators have adapted to the highly uncertain situation by developing emergency remote teaching scenarios. Real-time knowledge exchange between educators is crucial for transitioning these improvised teaching practices to professional online or blended learning scenarios. Thus, the online event "Teaching Interchange” was developed as a catalyst for peer learning among practitioners in the field of engineering education. It is a customized event considering the current needs and interests of the participants and consists of interactive online sessions. The two editions described in this paper successfully connected educators from various universities and equipped them with tangible ideas for their next steps. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

A scoping review of international virtual knowledge exchanges for healthcare professionals.

International knowledge exchanges within healthcare have historically been a popular method to provide exposure to practice in other national and international healthcare settings. As the COVID-19 pandemic forced many countries into lockdowns, knowledge exchanges in healthcare were forced into a period of suspension. This provided an opportunity to consider alternative methods of delivery. This scoping review explores virtual knowledge exchanges in healthcare professional education, including their format and related outcomes. Thirty-four virtual knowledge exchanges were identified. These demonstrated viability and subjective participant satisfaction. Virtual methods removed barriers of time, distance and finance associated with traditional exchanges, while still facilitating engagement with other international healthcare colleagues. However these exchanges were heterogeneous in their aims, structure and theoretical underpinnings. An understanding of educational outcomes and their measurement was not always obvious. Applying an overlay of robust pedagogical theory would strengthen and provide structure to the clearly well valued activity of international exchange.

Advancing the Contributions of European Stakeholders in Farming Systems to Transitions to AgroecologyForderung der Beitrage von europaischen Beteiligten der landwirtschaftlichen Systeme zum ubergang zur Agrarokologie

The concept of a 'just transition' is gaining traction in international policy discourses. It has particular significance in relation to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions and the need for ensuring rights and responsibilities of all actors in transitions to agroecological farming systems. Research plays an important role in accompanying this transformation. It explores pathways for more sustainable and fair food systems, barriers to them being achieved, and where and what risks arise for communities of interest and of place. Researchers and practitioners across levels and sectors were brought together in H2020 projects LIFT and UNISECO using processes of stakeholder engagement. Both projects analysed the perceptions of actors towards agroecological farming, and their active involvement in the transitions required. This article summarises lessons learnt regarding multi-actor engagement in different participatory settings in both projects, including a Multi-Actor Platform approach, Q method, DELPHI and Hybrid forum workshops. The interactions involved several hundred actors from 18 countries across Europe. The article reflects on implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on the processes and effectiveness of multi-actor engagement, and assessments of the impacts on the empowerment of the actors. The findings are contextualised by contemporary European Union and national policy objectives of tackling climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and inequalities.

Influential factors in knowledge management in the acceptance of M-learning in university students

The purpose of the research was to establish the influence of the factors in knowledge management in the acceptance of M-learning in university students in times of covid-19. The study consisted of two stages;the first was an exploratory factor analysis, which allowed the instrument to be validated and homologated. The second stage consisted of carrying out a confirmatory analysis by validating a structural model based on variances called modelling of structural equations of partial minimum squares PLS-SEM, whose results determined that the most influential factors in the application of knowledge are perceived ease of use, knowledge sharing, and perceived utility of the model (TAM);not like this, the intention of behavioural use, that does not influence the application of knowledge. This hypothesis would not be tested regarding the level of influence that the application of knowledge would have on the actual use of the system. The research was carried out with 150 students from a private university in Peru. © 2022 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

Stimulating CSR learning collaboration by the mentor universities with digital tools and technologies – an empirical study during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: The research aims to measure the effectiveness of collaborative learning exchanges transpired through digital tools and technologies (DT&Ts) employed by the mentor universities during the COVID-19 pandemic by conducting an empirical study on undergraduate students in Indian higher educational institutions (HEIs) under the mentorship program based on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative. The pandemic scenario, its impact on the mentor university's social responsibility and the way DT&Ts can assist are investigated in this article. Design/methodology/approach: The interactions with experts and students were conducted to explore the DT&Ts for learning exchanges. Next, structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed to validate the model and perform regression analysis. The quantitative data collection was made through questionnaires during the second deadly wave of COVID-19 that hit India. Findings: The independent variables (IVs) such as the IT infrastructure support (IT_IS), virtual collaborative tools (VCTs) and future-oriented technologies (FOTs) have a significant impact on the CSR learning outcomes (CSR_LOs) of undergraduate students under the mentorship program. However, IV research instruments for innovation could not make a significant effect. Research limitations/implications: The IVs IT_IS, VCTs and FOTs influence the CSR_LOs, while RII does not have an influential impact. Practical implications: As the online learning environment is expected to stay at least in a blended form, adequate CSR funding in infrastructure is necessitated to harness the full potential of this important resource, technology. The results of this empirical investigation affirm that IT_IS, VOTs and FOTs significantly impact CSR_LOs during the crisis. The study findings would encourage the mendtor universities and their stakeholders, including the mentee universities, to evolve and create an ecosystem for effective management of these resources to attain positive outcomes. The study findings can guide the mentor universities in managing uncertainties like pandemics and effectively using the earlier-mentioned critical resources for social responsibility. This research also allows the development of future applications adnd models in mentor-mentee universities for social responsibility, post-pandemic transformation and resilience. Social implications: The DT&Ts came to the immediate rescue during the pandemic and positively affected collaborative CSR_LOs by the mentor universities, but they have not evolved to a level where offline learning can be replaced entirely. Hence, it can be inferred that a hybrid model is preferable. The study also improves the understanding of how DT&Ts are being harnessed to aid collaborative learning in fulfilling the mentors' CSR in fatal emergencies. The purpose is to equip the education system through mentorship so that universities can sustain, innovate and grow even in trying times. Also, it discusses the dynamics of various DT&Ts for creating a sustainable learning environment and utilizing them to make the teaching prolific and influential. Originality/value: There is a scarcity of literature regarding the learning outcomes realized through CSR initiatives and collaboration between mentor-mentee institutions. There is a need to understand how these knowledge exchanges continued despite the physical restrictions during the pandemic. In this direction, this study helps to understand how the DT&Ts played a critical role in continuing learning and keeping abreast in a knowledge society from the perspective of resource-based view (RBV) in these precarious situations. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Fed2KD: Heterogeneous Federated Learning for Pandemic Risk Assessment via Two-Way Knowledge Distillation

The world has suffered a lot from the COVID-19 pandemic. Though vaccines have been developed, we still need to be ready for its variants and other possible pandemics in the future. To provide people with pandemic risk assessments without violating privacy, a Federated Learning (FL) framework is envisioned. However, most existing FL frameworks can only work for homogeneous models, i.e., models with the same configuration, ignoring the preferences of the users and the various properties of their devices. To this end, we propose a novel two-way knowledge distillation-based FL framework, Fed2KD. The knowledge exchange between the global and local models is achieved by distilling the information into or out from a tiny model with unified configuration. Nonetheless, the distillation cannot be conducted without a common dataset. To solve this bottleneck, we leverage the Conditional Variational Autoencoder (CVAE) to generate data that will be used as a proxy dataset for distillation. The proposed framework is firstly evaluated on benchmark datasets (MNIST and FashionMNIST) to test its performance against existing models such as Federated Averaging (FedAvg). The performance of Fed2KD improves by up to 30% on MNIST dataset, and 18% on FashionMNIST when data is non-independent and identically distributed (non-IID) as compared to FedAvg. Then, Fed2KD is evaluated on the pandemic risk assessment tasks through a mobile APP we developed, namely DP4coRUna, which provides indoor risk prediction. © 2022 IFIP.

Does social media usage boost career prospects of women: an exploratory study in the academia

Purpose This paper draws on the affordance perspective, to explore the social media (SM) usage experiences that might render valuable for academic women professionals, for knowledge exchange, networking and success. Owing to the increased SM usage during COVID-19 pandemic, this paper tries to find out that in what ways do SM affordances facilitate the underprivileged group of women professionals to grow in their careers in a masculine, conservative society through knowledge exchange. Design/methodology/approach By utilizing qualitative study design, the authors collected data from 31 women employed in Pakistani universities, through unstructured questionnaires. The responses were analyzed through Nvivo. Findings The generated themes suggested that women in Pakistan are aware of SM's potential for knowledge exchange among fellow professionals. They use it to aid them in communication, collaboration and networking. Additionally, they utilize it to share knowledge and build networks that are vital for career progression and success. Research limitations/implications The paper concludes with the implications for practitioners that would aid them in boosting career prospects for women academicians through SM usage in a developing country Pakistan;where women's career outlooks are not as promising as for men;or as bright as for women working in the developed economies. Originality/value This a unique attempt to explore knowledge exchange dimensions with the help of SM in the context of working women by the deploying the phenomenological approach.

Cross-functional teams: Central research avenues in management

The search for alternative forms of employment amid social perturbations (the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences), as well as technical (total digitalization) and organizational-managerial factors has increased the interest of Russian companies in cross-functional teams (CFTs). However, forming CFTs is accompanied by various obstacles associated primarily with the fragmentation and inconsistency of ideas about their essence and management methods. The paper analyses the central avenues for studying CFTs and regulating their activities. Methodologically, the study rests on the principles of the managerial approach to team-building, as well as knowledge and knowledge-intensive capital management. The methods of expert (selective) systematic, terminological and comparative analysis were used. The information base includes 79 publications released in 2011-2021 and indexed in the Google Scholar and eLibrary scientific databases. The works under consideration focus on trends and management practice in the sphere of CFTs, analyze their essence and control methods applied by the team leaders. The present research forms the relevant systematized idea about the nature of CFTs and the specifics of their activities in the context of company management transformation. The performed terminological analysis allowed establishing the attributes inherent in cross-functional teams and the advantages of this type of teams when dealing with various challenges. As indicated by the findings, the level of cross-functionality affects the integration ability of team members and the choice of management tools. The research identifies situational and contextual variables that determine CFTs' effectiveness: internal team environment, effective exchange of knowledge, clear team goals, shared vision, etc. The data obtained can be used to conduct further empirical study of CFTs' management and activities.

RemoteForensicCSI: Enriching teaching, training and learning through networking and timely CPD.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about rapid, transformational change to pedagogic practice on a global scale. During this time, educators across all levels needed to significantly broaden and upskill their digital skills and competence to instantaneously turn face-2-face content into remote, online provision, particularly during periods of national lockdown. Whilst there was significant e-content available in some subject domains, there were limited e-resources available to those working within the criminal justice sector. The #RemoteForensicCSI network was established in attempts to fill this gap and support both practitioner and learner transition within further and higher education and industry. This article evaluates the value and impact that the #RemoteForensicCSI initiative had on the personal development of network participants, their peers and learners, whilst considering, reflecting on and recommending how remote delivery may influence the future of teaching, training and learning within education and the wider criminal justice sector.

Medical and Health-Related Misinformation on Social Media: Bibliometric Study of the Scientific Literature.

BACKGROUND: Social media has been extensively used for the communication of health-related information and consecutively for the potential spread of medical misinformation. Conventional systematic reviews have been published on this topic to identify original articles and to summarize their methodological approaches and themes. A bibliometric study could complement their findings, for instance, by evaluating the geographical distribution of the publications and determining if they were well cited and disseminated in high-impact journals. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to perform a bibliometric analysis of the current literature to discover the prevalent trends and topics related to medical misinformation on social media. METHODS: The Web of Science Core Collection electronic database was accessed to identify relevant papers with the following search string: ALL=(misinformati* OR "wrong informati*" OR disinformati* OR "misleading informati*" OR "fake news*") AND ALL=(medic* OR illness* OR disease* OR health* OR pharma* OR drug* OR therap*) AND ALL=("social media*" OR Facebook* OR Twitter* OR Instagram* OR YouTube* OR Weibo* OR Whatsapp* OR Reddit* OR TikTok* OR WeChat*). Full records were exported to a bibliometric software, VOSviewer, to link bibliographic information with citation data. Term and keyword maps were created to illustrate recurring terms and keywords. RESULTS: Based on an analysis of 529 papers on medical and health-related misinformation on social media, we found that the most popularly investigated social media platforms were Twitter (n=90), YouTube (n=67), and Facebook (n=57). Articles targeting these 3 platforms had higher citations per paper (>13.7) than articles covering other social media platforms (Instagram, Weibo, WhatsApp, Reddit, and WeChat; citations per paper <8.7). Moreover, social media platform-specific papers accounted for 44.1% (233/529) of all identified publications. Investigations on these platforms had different foci. Twitter-based research explored cyberchondria and hypochondriasis, YouTube-based research explored tobacco smoking, and Facebook-based research studied vaccine hesitancy related to autism. COVID-19 was a common topic investigated across all platforms. Overall, the United States contributed to half of all identified papers, and 80% of the top 10 most productive institutions were based in this country. The identified papers were mostly published in journals of the categories public environmental and occupational health, communication, health care sciences services, medical informatics, and medicine general internal, with the top journal being the Journal of Medical Internet Research. CONCLUSIONS: There is a significant platform-specific topic preference for social media investigations on medical misinformation. With a large population of internet users from China, it may be reasonably expected that Weibo, WeChat, and TikTok (and its Chinese version Douyin) would be more investigated in future studies. Currently, these platforms present research gaps that leave their usage and information dissemination warranting further evaluation. Future studies should also include social platforms targeting non-English users to provide a wider global perspective.

Closing the Virtual Gap in Health Care: A Series of Case Studies Illustrating the Impact of Embedding Evaluation Alongside System Initiatives.

Early decisions relating to the implementation of virtual care relied on necessity and clinical judgement, but there is a growing need for the generation of evidence to inform policy and practice designs. The need for stronger partnerships between researchers and decision-makers is well recognized, but how these partnerships can be structured and how research can be embedded alongside existing virtual care initiatives remain unclear. We present a series of case studies that illustrate how embedded research can inform policy decisions related to the implementation of virtual care, where decisions are either to (1) discontinue (red light), (2) redesign (yellow light), or (3) scale up existing initiatives (green light). Data were collected through document review and informal interviews with key study personnel. Case 1 involved an evaluation of a mobile diabetes platform that demonstrated a mismatch between the setting and the technology (decision outcome: discontinue). Case 2 involved an evaluation of a mental health support platform that suggested evidence-based modifications to the delivery model (decision outcome: redesign). Case 3 involved an evaluation of video visits that generated evidence to inform the ideal model of implementation at scale (decision outcome: scale up). In this paper, we highlight the characteristics of the partnership and the process that enabled success and use the cases to illustrate how these characteristics were operationalized. Structured communication included monthly check-ins and iterative report development. We also outline key characteristics of the partnership (ie, trust and shared purpose) and the process (ie, timeliness, tailored reporting, and adaptability) that drove the uptake of evidence in decision-making. Across each case, the evaluation was designed to address policy questions articulated by our partners. Furthermore, structured communication provided opportunities for knowledge mobilization. Structured communication was operationalized through monthly meetings as well as the delivery of interim and final reports. These case studies demonstrate the importance of partnering with health system decision-makers to generate and mobilize scientific evidence. Embedded research partnerships founded on a shared purpose of system service provided an effective strategy to bridge the oft-cited gap between science and policy. Structured communication provided a mechanism for collaborative problem-solving and real-time feedback, and it helped contextualize emerging insights.

Virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: a turning point in neurosurgical education.

OBJECTIVE: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused dramatic changes in medical education. Social distancing policies have resulted in the rapid adoption of virtual learning (VL) by neurosurgeons as a method to exchange knowledge, but it has been met with variable acceptance. The authors surveyed neurosurgeons from around the world regarding their opinions about VL and how they see the future of neurosurgical conferences. METHODS: The authors conducted a global online survey assessing the experience of neurosurgeons and trainees with VL activities. They also questioned respondents about how they see the future of on-site conferences and scientific meetings. They analyzed responses against demographic data, regions in which the respondents practice, and socioeconomic factors by using frequency histograms and multivariate logistic regression models. RESULTS: Eight hundred ninety-one responses from 96 countries were received. There has been an increase in VL activities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most respondents perceive this type of learning as positive. Respondents from lower-income nations and regions such as Europe and Central Asia were more receptive to these changes and wanted to see further movement of educational activities (conferences and scientific meetings) into a VL format. The latter desire may be driven by financial savings from not traveling. Most queried neurosurgeons indicated that virtual events are likely to partially replace on-site events. CONCLUSIONS: The pandemic has improved perceptions of VL, and despite its limitations, VL has been well received by the majority of neurosurgeons. Lower-income nations in particular are embracing this technology. VL is still evolving, but its integration with traditional in-person meetings seems inevitable.