Distance Learning in an Inclusive Preschool Focused on Autism During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Mixed-Methods Multiple Case Study of Four Children

Despite the widespread use of distance learning during the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, little is known about the developmental appropriateness of this instructional format for preschoolers, particularly when implemented in inclusive settings. The current research was implemented in a university-affiliated, state-funded inclusive preschool classroom focused on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) where parents were given the option to enroll in a full distance program (FDP) during the first 9 weeks of the 2020/21 school year. Parents of four children, including two children with ASD, selected the FDP option. Synchronous whole group, small group, and individual online sessions were recorded using screen capture and coded for children's maintained attention and directed communication. Further, parents and teachers completed exit interviews or a focus group, which were transcribed and analyzed using qualitative research methods. This is the first study to use observational methods to measure child engagement during preschool FDP sessions. Results from this mixed-method multiple case study paint a rich picture of both opportunities and limitations inherent in distance learning when implemented in inclusive preschool settings. General conclusions, future directions, and study limitations are discussed.

Non-traditional Security: A Risk-Centric View

As described in Saha and Chakrabarti (South Asian Survey 28(1):111-132, 2021: 112), "COVID-19 has firmly established itself as the single largest security disrupter of this century in the non-traditional sense. It has necessitated a recalibration of securitisation framework.…" The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic certainly illustrates the transnational nature of today's security landscape. Similarly, events such as the WannaCry cyber-attack, global terrorism, serious and organized crime, disease vectors, and natural disasters create challenges that affect both global and national security interests. Such events are shaping the security calculus across dimensions such as health security, economic security, food security, and energy security emerging as interrelated concepts that characterize the security landscape as complex. The increased transnational flow of people, goods, money, and information as products of "globalization” has also changed the security landscape in terms of the "globalization” of risks. This transnational/transborder nature of security challenges our traditional views of national security characterized by state-based, military dimensions. The non-traditional security calculus thereby emerges as part of the security landscape that can often have significant national security impacts through the implications associated with systemic risks. Outstanding scholarly work has been presented on the topic of non-traditional security through the lens of International Relations and Contemporary Security Studies (e.g., see Collins, Contemporary security studies. Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013). This chapter presents non-traditional security through a risk-centric lens and explores the notion of systemic risk as part of the security calculus. COVID-19 will be used as an illustrative example of a shock to societal systems that reveals systemic risks, vulnerabilities, and impacts across the non-traditional security domains. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

Applications of Machine Learning in Viral Disease Diagnosis

Viral diseases are common and natural in human it spreads from animals and other humans. It seeks to identify the proper, reliable, and effective disease detection as quickly as possible so that patients can receive the right care. It becomes vital for medical field searches to have assistance from other disciplines like statistics and computer science because this detection is frequently a challenging process. These fields must overcome the difficulty of learning novel, non-traditional methodologies. Because so many new techniques are being developed, a thorough overview must be given while avoiding some specifics. In order to do this, we suggest a thorough analysis of machine learning which is used for the diagnosis of viral diseases caused in humans as well as plans. Predictions are made which is not obvious at the first glance does machine learning will be more helpful in making decisions. The study focuses on the machine learning algorithms for diagnosis of viral diseases for early diagnosis and treatment of viral diseases with greater accuracy. The work helps the researchers and medical professionals for learning and to give treatment for determining the applications of different machine learning techniques run to evaluate the parameters. Through examination of various parameters new machine learning model is proposed understanding the applications of machine learning in viral disease diagnosis like imaging techniques, plant virus diagnosis and the solution for the problem, Covid 19 diagnosis. © 2023 Bharati Vidyapeeth, New Delhi.

Educator perspectives on non-technical, discipline-independent skill acquisition: An international, qualitative study.

Gross anatomy education utilizing body donors and human specimens assists the acquisition of non-traditional, discipline-independent skills (NTDIS) such as teamwork, communication, and leadership. Alterations to anatomy curricula, such as those resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, likely impact NTDIS acquisition, yet how this manifests is unclear. This study, therefore, explored anatomy educator perspectives on NTDIS acquisition as a response to changes in teaching delivery. Gross anatomy educators across different countries were recruited and took part in one-on-one, semi-structured interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed. Data were analyzed using the framework method. Basic statistical analyses were performed on demographic and categorical data. Fifteen educators from five continents were interviewed (average length 32.5 min, range 17-51 min). Educator experience ranged from 0-4 years (n = 3) to 20+ years (n = 7). Most taught using dissection (n = 14) with prosection use (n = 13) also common. Themes relating to NTDIS included expected content (respect for donors, teamwork, communication skills, humanistic values), assessable content, assessment challenges, and impact of curriculum changes; NTDIS unique to anatomy education included cultural, ethical, and social considerations around dead bodies, including boundaries, and social norms. Informed by curriculum alterations during the COVID-19 pandemic, this first empirical study of anatomy educator perspectives on NTDIS highlights the potentially adverse educational impacts of decreased interaction with body donors and human specimens on NTDIS acquisition and difficulties with NTDIS assessment. Findings support gross anatomy education as unique in providing NTDIS that cannot easily be replicated elsewhere. Recommendations around NTDIS-specific educator competencies and promoting NTDIS are provided.

When "Time Is Not Your Own": Experiences of Mothering Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

As COVID-19 reached pandemic levels in March 2020, schools shifted to remote learning. Student parents in higher education had to adapt to their own remote learning and assume responsibility for childcare and their children's education. Few studies have explored the impact of COVID-19 on mothers who are also full-time students. This study utilized a phenomenological approach to understand the lived experiences of mothering students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Student mothers were recruited from a large, public, Hispanic-serving university in a Southern state. We conducted interviews with 15 student mothers who had at least one child under the age of 18 during the first six months of the pandemic. Three main themes emerged from the analyses: (1) successfully meeting educational requirements;(2) dealing with the mental health impact of the pandemic;and (3) changing the institutional structure. The first theme captured strategies mothering students implemented to ensure their own or their children's educational goals were met. The second theme encompassed how mothers handled the stress caused by the pandemic. The third theme explored ways that mothers resisted gendered expectations and norms around care. Implications for policy and social work practice include changing institutional structures to enhance support for mothering students.

Understanding risk for stroke within the context of COVID-19

Early in the Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, frontline clinicians provided anecdotal observations there was an increase in the number of individuals presenting with a stroke who did not have traditional stroke factors. Current tools to evaluate stroke risks are based on decades of research-all conducted prior to COVID-19 pandemic and before the SARS-CoV-2 was in existence or circulating widely. Accurate stroke assessment is predicated on accurate identification of stroke risk factors. Little attention has been paid to re-examining stroke risk tools to consider the influence of COVID-19. This Quality Improvement (QI) project aimed to answer the question: Do established stroke tools capture factors that increase stroke risk during COVID and post-COVID illness? First, a review of literature was conducted to identify stroke risk assessment tools. Second, emerging risk factors for stroke related to COVID-19 were extracted from a literature search. Third, a survey, which included traditional and non-traditional risk factors found in the literature review, was developed and administered to 35 front-line clinical experts;this survey aimed to understand the reliability and content validity of stroke risk factors as they occur within the context of COVID-19. The clinical experts identified 23 traditional and 29 non-traditional risk factors as being highly associated with increased odds of stroke. The top traditional risk factors were atrial fibrillation, smoking (current or history), 2nd TIA in less than seven days, age > 74, hypertension (> 140/90 mmHg or SBP > 140 or DBP > 90). Non-traditional risk factors were metabolic syndrome, ipsilateral > 50% carotid stenosis of the internal carotid artery and/or major cerebral artery, active COVID-19 infection that has lasted more than eight days, D-dimer > 920 ng/m, and C-reactive protein > 10.0 mg/L. This project provides a foundation for future QI projects and research with the goal of reducing risk for stroke within the context of COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Work-in-Progress TO2 YS – Teaching Online with Objects from Youth to Seniors

The Covid-19 pandemic precipitated a major disruption in pedagogy, especially for classes with a significant hands-on, interactive component. This work-in-progress describes using physical objects to revamp a computer literacy course for non-computing students from in-person interactive to online compatible. Since our objects span the ages of both traditional and non-traditional students we call the individual objects initiating classroom discussion TO2 YS, Teaching Online with Objects from Youth to Seniors. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

The school-life balance effect on acquiring cross-disciplinary competences in VET: disruption or continuity during COVID-19?

Considering that teleworking and online training are on the rise following the pandemic, studying how school-life balance affects the development of VET competences in online learning during COVID-19 can provide relevant information to enhance educational equity in the future. A longitudinal study was conducted employing an on-line questionnaire to meet the following aims: to explore the development of cross-disciplinary competences in VET during COVID-19; to identify different students' profiles according to their school-life balance during the pandemic; and, to analyse whether the school-life balance was affecting competency development and propose improvements to training as a result. Results show that cross-disciplinary competences did not undergo important changes between the pre-pandemic scenario and during it, except for a decrease in metacognitive self-regulation. Similarly, most students reported having spent the same time studying before and during the pandemic. However, three main profiles of students are revealed, highlighting certain school-life imbalances. While all agree that remote teaching was critical in coping with the situation, differences were found by age and gender, with some participants experiencing more challenging situations. These results provide a fertile context for VET designers and teachers to generate new learning scenarios that meet all students' potential needs. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12186-023-09314-1.

Physical home learning environments for digitally-supported learning in academic continuing education during COVID-19 pandemic.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, digital technologies for distance learning have been used in educational institutions worldwide, raising issues about social implications, technological development, and teaching and learning strategies. While disparities regarding access to technical equipment and the internet ('the digital divide') have been the subject of previous research, the physical learning environment of learners participating in online learning activities has hardly been investigated. In this study, the physical-spatial conditions of learning environments, including technical equipment for distance learning activities and their influence on adult learners in academic continuing education during initial COVID-19 restrictions, were examined. Data were collected with an online survey sent to all students enrolled in an Austrian continuing education university, together with a small number of semi-structured interviews. A total of 257 students participated in the survey during the 2020 summer semester. Our findings provide insights in two infrequently-studied areas in learning environment research: the physical learning environment for online learning and the learning environment in academic continuing education. The study illustrates that students in academic continuing education have spacious living conditions and almost all the equipment necessary for digitally-supported learning. According to gender and household structure, significant differences were found regarding technical equipment, ergonomic furniture and availability of a dedicated learning place. In their learning sessions during the restrictions, students reported low stress levels and positive well-being. The more that they perceived that their physical learning environment was meeting their needs, the higher were their motivation and well-being and the lower was their stress. Their learning experience was further improved by the extent to which they had a separate and fixed learning place that did not need to be coordinated or shared with others. The study contributes to the literature on creating conducive learning environments for digitally-supported online learning for adult learners.

Measures to Ensure the Sustainability of Information Systems in the COVID-19 Environment

National defense requires uninterrupted decision-making, even under direct or indirect impacts of non-traditional threats such as infectious diseases. Since all work utilizes information systems, it is very important to ensure the sustainability and availability of information systems. In particular, in terms of security management, defense work is being performed by dividing the network into a national defense network and a commercial Internet network. This study suggests a work execution plan for sustainability that takes into account the efficiency of work performed on the Internet and the effectiveness of security through effective defense information system operation. It is necessary to minimize the network contact points between the national defense network and the commercial Internet and to select high-priority tasks from various tasks and operate them efficiently. For this purpose, actual cases were investigated for an institution, "Organization A”, and characteristics were presented. Through the targeted tasks and operation plans presented in this paper to improve the effectiveness of defense tasks and ensure security, it will be possible to increase the sustainability and availability of task performance even under non-traditional threats such as infectious diseases. © 2022 by the authors.

Physical home-learning environments of traditional and non-traditional students during the COVID pandemic: exploring the impact of learning space on students' motivation, stress and well-being

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced higher education institutions to implement their programs in an online setting, different groups of students were influenced to different extents. In many cases, the main locus of learning moved to students' homes, and their learning experiences were suddenly contextualized in their residential situation and immediate physical learning environment. The present study consequently examines the role of physical learning environments on different factors influencing students' learning when pursuing their study from at home. It contrasts the situation of traditional students in a higher education institution and non-traditional students in an academic continuing education institution, which address target groups with different living conditions and needs in learning support. Data were collected via an online survey sent to students enrolled in these two institutions, with a total of 353 students participating during a timeframe impacted by COVID-related lockdowns. We found that stress and well-being is strongly linked to the quality of the surrounding environment of the learning place, whereas perceived motivation is more strongly related to the quality of the learning place itself. How strongly students are affected by these factors is moderated by their overall socio-spatial context. Academic continuing education students are more resilient to sub-optimal physical learning environment than traditional students. Altering the design of the immediate learning environment consequently can help to mitigate factors that negatively impact students' well-being and learning motivation, which is particularly important for traditional students, who primarily dedicate their time to pursuing their studies. © 2023, The Author(s).

Non-traditional students' preferences for learning technologies and impacts on academic self-efficacy.

Blended Learning (BL) as a pedagogical approach has increased in significance during the COVID-19 pandemic, with blended and online learning environments becoming the new digital norm for higher educational institutions around the globe. While BL has been discussed in the literature for thirty years, a common approach has been to categorise learner cohorts to support educators in better understanding students' relationships with learning technologies. This approach, largely unsupported by empirical evidence, has failed to adequately address the challenges of integrating learning technologies to fit with non-traditional students' preferences, their BL self-efficacy and the associated pedagogical implications. Focusing on student preference, our study presents findings from a pre-COVID survey of undergraduate students across four campuses of an Australian regional university where students shared their learning technology preferences and the self-regulated learning that influenced their academic self-efficacy in a BL context. Findings show students want consistency, relevance, and effectiveness with the use of BL tools, with a preference for lecture recordings and video resources to support their learning, while email and Facebook Messenger were preferred for communicating with peers and academic staff. Our study suggests a quality BL environment facilitates self-regulated learning using fit-for-purpose technological applications. Academic self-efficacy for BL can increase when students perceive the educational technologies used by their institution are sufficient for their learning needs.

E-Learning Fatigue and the Cognitive, Educational, and Emotional Impacts on Communication Sciences and Disorders Students During COVID-19

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate e-learning fatigue;the cognitive, educational, and emotional impacts on university students;and attitudes toward different course delivery modes after more than a year of COVID-19--mandated distance education in the United States. Method: A survey consisting of 25 Likert items was conducted with a total of 50 graduate and undergraduate students, mostly women between the ages of 18 and 45 years, majoring in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) at a Historically Black College/University (HBCU). Results: Younger, undergraduate, and Black/African American students reported being most unfavorably impacted by the e-learning requirements of COVID-19. Students without a prior history of online and hybrid learning also reported unfavorable effects, but not as consistently. Participants reporting higher levels of e-learning fatigue noted the greatest difficulties across all major areas of the study: learning, mental health, and attitudes toward e-learning. Higher e-learning fatigue was correlated with a higher negative impact on perceptions of future clinical effectiveness. Conclusions: Results show e-learning fatigue and the educational and emotional challenges of mandated e-learning during COVID-19 disproportionately affected certain groups of students, and they reported unfavorable views of elearning and future clinical ability. This is the first study to examine how CSD students were affected by required distance learning during the pandemic. Future investigations may examine the long-term effects of the pandemic on students and their clinical skills, groups most susceptible to the negative impacts of e-learning, and ways to mitigate these effects to improve students' educational experiences and emotional well-being.

COVID-19 Pandemi Döneminde Hemşirelik Öğrencilerinin Uzaktan Eğitim Sürecine Ílişkin Görüş ve Tutumlarının Değerlendirilmesi

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the views and attitudes of undergraduate nursing students regarding the distance education process during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Materials and Methods: The research was conducted between 16-25 July 2020 as a descriptive study. The research sample group consists of 434 nursing students. In the collection of data;"Personal Information Form" and "Online Learning Attitude Scale (OLAS)" were used. In the analysis of data;numbers, percentage distributions, mean and standard deviation values were calculated, and independent sample t test, oneway analysis of variance and Pearson correlation analysis were used for comparisons. Results: The mean score of the students participating in the research was 54.81±16.63, and it was found that the majority of the students were satisfied with distance education (75.6%) during the COVID-19 pandemic, received timely feedback about exams and homework in distance education (81.5%), and did not experience connection problems in distance education (81.5%). Among the students participating in the research, it was determined that the fourth grade students had a higher mean score of OLAS compared to the first grade, while those who preferred face-to-face education had a lower mean score of OLAS than those who preferred other education methods. It was determined that there was a positive correlation between the mean score of OLAS and age (r=0.153, p<0.05). At the same time, a significant negative correlation was found between the academic average of the students and the mean score of the OLAS (r=-0.159, p<0.05). Conclusion: Even though nursing students show an indecisive attitude towards online learning, it is seen that they want the hybrid education system. In further studies, it is recommended to evaluate students' views on both education systems together with their education outcomes.

Using Mixed Exam Methods to Enhance Students Learning for Electronics Courses

This paper presents several non-traditional exam methods that serve both introductory analog electronics and advanced electronics courses in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department at the University of Evansville (UE). The study is focused on classes from Fall 2019 - Fall 2020. Despite the COVID disruption in 2020, students' outcomes and final course survey indicated that these methods enhanced their understanding, promoted their interest and motivation in transistor topics. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

Non-traditional Delivery of Hands-on Manufacturing Courses

Due to recent COVID-19 social distancing policies and procedures, there was no way to offer hands-on courses in an on-site format for many education institutions. The solution employed by many educators was to find new ways to implement web-based delivery tools and technologies in order to maintain course learning outcomes and help students successfully grasp course content. In this review paper, a number of innovative practices is highlighted used to deliver course content in several ways. Overall, the paper reports a number of available delivery mechanisms that could be implemented for several manufacturing courses and programs. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.

Exploratory Data Analysis of the Tourist Profile: Case Study in Loja-Ecuador

The determination of the profile of the tourist who visits the destinations arises as a proposal for the improvement of the competitiveness of the territories;data collected is to know the characteristics of the tourists who arrive at the destination, the type of accommodation used, the way of traveling and the main motivation for the trip, the most visited tourist attractions, the tourist expenditure, and the overall rating of the destination. The main aim of this study is to apply a non-traditional methodology composed of data mining methods such as: DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis) and PCA (Principal Component Analysis) to investigate past statistics. Based on these results, the sustainable operation strategies are made to prepare the destination and diversify the offer, to it can be used by the most important managers in the tourism industry to reactivate the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.

Business exit during the COVID-19 pandemic: Non-traditional measures in historical context.

Lags in official data releases have forced economists and policymakers to leverage "alternative" or "non-traditional" data to measure business exit resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. We first review official data on business exit in recent decades to place the alternative measures of exit within historical context. For the U.S., business exit is fairly common, with about 7.5 percent of firms exiting annually in recent years. The high level of exit is driven by very small firms and establishments. We then explore a range of alternative measures of business exit, including novel measures based on paycheck issuance and phone-tracking data, which indicate exit was elevated in certain sectors during the first year of the pandemic. That said, we find many industries have likely seen lower-than-usual exit rates, and exiting businesses do not appear to represent a large share of U.S. employment. As a result, exit appears lower than widespread expectations from early in the pandemic.

Critical success factors and methods to increase persistence for non-traditional online students

With changes in technology, the needs and expectations of learners, and a number of environmental factors, enrollment in online courses continues to increase. Additionally, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, institutions have recognized the importance of having a learning management system in place, online courses that provide academic rigor comparable to classroom-based courses, and instructors who are trained and prepared to teach in a virtual environment. It is equally important to ensure that students who are planning to participate in online learning possess characteristics that will allow them to be successful. A student who does not possess these characteristics can still become an online learner but may require additional support or resources to encourage success and persistence. This chapter discusses the success factors for online traditional and nontraditional students and the differences that exist among the success factors for each group as well as solutions and recommendations for higher education institutions to encourage persistence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)