Living the Virtual Life: Transitions in Teaching and Research

[...]after many such changes, relearning and reentering information into new profiles and management systems lost its luster. While believe that lecture course content can be delivered effectively online, there is an undeniable need for extensive hands-on laboratory experimentation in a physical science curriculum. [...]it provides more opportunities to reiterate key points to the students.

Research in phonetics and teaching prosody online: Podcasts and videos in GFL lessons

This article deals with German phonetics and prosody in research and teaching in view of the strong digital orientation to which Covid19-bound lockdown has forced researchers and teachers since spring 2020. Phonetic and phonological theory and the practice of German as a Foreign Language (DaF)-teaching addressed to Italian learners form the basis of the observation: first, the paper presents phonetic and prosodic characteristics of adult Italian learners' oral production in L2 German, then it discusses how public speeches can be used in online DaF-courses in order to correct and eliminate the typical foreign accent shown by Italian learners of German. An outline of relevant aspects of German prosody for this specific group of learners is performed on the basis of authentic speech material. © 2022 EDUCatt. All rights reserved.

Editorial: Reflecting on the implementation of teaching and learning strategies for sustainability

LMS use and the academic performance of undergraduate students In our first Refereed Article Odekeye, Fakokunde, Metu and Adewusi investigated the perception of undergraduate students on the use of a Learning Management System (LMS) in the learning process. researchers employed a descriptive survey design and administered an online questionnaire among undergraduate students at Osun State University. Using digital tools for social engagement in remote learning The authors note that digital tools have evolved into a way of life, and as a result, they have become a growing area of interest for academics who research teaching and learning. The section closes with two studies that present use cases that may be of interest to readers on resource availability and creative use of digital tools to enhance teaching and learning in resource strained contexts. Reflections on teaching and learning post COVID-19 In this article Tiyamike Ngonda reflects on teaching and learning at two universities in Africa, considering evidence from the literature on the challenges of transition to online teaching and learning and the affordances of the learner management systems they adopted.

Multimedia Pedagogy among Literature Lecturers in Two Universities in Uganda post COVID-19

Multimedia pedagogy embodies the use of text materials, photography and other still images, audio files, video presentations and forms of animation, which are all excellent vehicles for Literature teaching. Prior to COVID-19, most lecturers in the selected universities had used multimedia to watch literature films but not to conduct entire lectures. After that pandemic, when schools reopened, the ODEL (Online Distance Education Learning) department's pleas to lecturers to continue with some online courses fell on deaf ears. This study undertook ethnographic research to establish the reasons for the apparent reluctance by both lecturers and students to interface using multimedia during creative writing classes. The observations and interview findings revealed that subject specifications and psychological factors influenced the lecturer and student more than the economic factors against the use of multimedia during lectures. The study recommended retooling teacher trainers in multimedia pedagogy because a person cannot effectively conduct online lectures unless taught how to. The study concluded that human beings are social beings drawn to learning using methods that involve close interaction between the teacher and the taught, and the elaborateness of literature with its genres consists of the teaching of intangible interactions between words and listener, demand for physical interface between teacher and teacher trainee to chisel and polish the genre specifications.

Using Python and AWS for NoSQL in a BI Course

This article presents a multi-stage guided technical project coding Python scripts for utilizing Amazon Web Services (AWS) to work with a document-store database called DynamoDB. Students doing this project should have taken an introductory programming class (ideally in Python) and a database class to have experience with Python coding and database manipulation/querying in a relational environment. Students learn new data formats (Python dictionaries, JSON text data, keyvalue storage structures) and learn how to transform data from one format to another. They also gain experience with data visualization. The project was first carried out in a business intelligence (BI) course during Spring 2020 semester in the midst of COVID and included video tutorials. Since then, it has been refined and used each semester the BI course is taught.

A review of lecture capture research in business education

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review of empirical lecture capture (LC) research in business education from the last ten years. Lecture capture was selected as it is a common delivery tool in both online and blended learning courses. By summarizing extant empirical LC research in business education, we lay the foundation for future (post-COVID-19) research in online and blended learning. We believe it is important for future research to meaningfully integrate past empirical results in order to fully assess, understand, and predict the learning modalities that will best serve business education stakeholders in a post-COVID world. To that end, we provide a compilation of empirical lecture capture results by theme that is useful for both research and teaching purposes. We also provide a condensed summary of empirical findings and recommendations that can be easily disseminated to faculty in order to facilitate instructor preparedness for teaching in this modality and as well as inform pedagogical decision-making.

Why Did the Scientist Cross the Road? A Case Study on Using Science Comedy to Improve Communication Skills in the Healthcare Science Workforce

The COVID-19 pandemic put a spotlight on healthcare in a way that had never been seen before in the UK. Scientists and their role in developing policy was the focus of the media for the first time making effective public engagement from healthcare scientists more important than ever before. While completing science communication activities is now mandatory for trainees and researchers, there is no communication training as part of the formalised training pathway. In the most recent Public Attitudes to Science report 38% of respondents felt scientists were poor communicators and 49% felt that scientists did not put enough effort into showing their work. This demonstrates that providing communication skills training for healthcare scientists is vital to support engagement and build trust with the public and patients. A 3250 outreach and engagement grant was received from the Society for Applied Microbiology (SfAM) to commission at science comedy training session and put on two 'Stand up for Healthcare Science' comedy shows. The fully booked training was run by Dr Steve Cross who helped the participants define what made comedy funny to them and developed comedy sets about their work using emotion to engage audiences. The two Stand up for Healthcare Science shows were performed online each featuring six healthcare scientists and receiving over 670 views on YouTube. Four of the participants have gone onto perform at additional science comedy events as a direct result of attending the SfAM funded science comedy training sessions. Additional participants have reported that the sessions gave them more confidence in their communication and public speaking skills that they would continue to use in future outreach work. This was a highly unusual outreach and engagement project that gave healthcare scientists new skills to effectively engage (and entertain!) their audiences.

Impact of Face-to-Face Interactions and Digital Learning Platforms on Learning Motivation, Learning Achievements and Peer Interaction in After-School Activities

[LANGUAGE=”English”] With modern technological advancements, the rise of digital learning has helped teachers and students in many ways;for example, learning is becoming increasingly learner centric. In recent years, learning has been compromised because of school suspensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital learning has helped to reduce the negative impacts on students' learning, and most students have shown a positive attitude toward digital learning. A learning management system provides a platform for learners to learn and interact with teachers or peers without time and space constraints. Moodle is one of the most popular and widely-used learning management systems. It is open source, offers different functional modules, and is available free of charge. However, according to recent literature, Moodle has several disadvantages. First, the topics discussed by students in the Moodle platform are not focused enough and not easy to be discussed in depth. Second, the interaction is not immediate because of a lack of instant notifications. Third, the interface is not user friendly and is thus difficult to operate. These drawbacks can hinder students' learning. Office 365 is another digital system that assists students' learning. Various functions of Office 365, such as Teams's real-time notifications and OneNote's recording function, complement Moodle. This study investigated the effects of after-school activities conducted through different media on students' motivation, learning achievement, and peer interaction.In present study, after-school activities were conducted face-to-face or via two learning platforms, Moodle and Office 365;the learning platform was considered the independent variables. In total, 143 middle school students were recruited as participants for an after-school activity and distributed into the face-to-face, Moodle, or Office 365 group. The quantitative data of three scales concerning with learning motivation, learning achievement and peer interaction were collected to represent their learning performance. Qualitative data were collected through textual analysis based on student responses to open-ended questions. The quantitative and qualitative data were then statistically analyzed with SPSS Statistics 23.The results of the quantitative analysis revealed the following results: (1) No significant difference was observed in learning motivation among the different groups. The reasons for the result may be that students were not familiar with learning management systems, the interface and function of the learning systems were complex, or student motivation to learn English was low. (2) The learning achievement of the face-to-face group was significantly higher than that of the Office 365 group. Office 365 has many functions, but it also increases the cognitive load on students. Additionally, middle school students in Taiwan are inexperienced with using learning management systems because of the lack of opportunities to do so. Furthermore, the focus of this research was not the formal school curriculum but after-school activities;therefore, gauging learning effectiveness was challenging. Finally, students are more familiar with face-to-face discussions, and this comfort increases the effectiveness of this mode of learning. (3) Students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than those in the face-to-face group. Interacting through Office 365 (as it provides voice and text input for discussions) removes the stress of public speaking, such as that experienced in face-to-face classes, thus increasing participation. However, the peer interaction in the Office 365 group was not significantly higher than that in the Moodle group because the students using Office 365 mainly used text input, which decreased the efficiency of their discussion. (4) Some groups of students using the learning management system (no matter Moodle group or Office 365 group) posted the answers to assignments in the chat room even before much group discussion, or they divided th work among themselves, and not discussing the assignment at all. The students seemed to be unfamiliar with the way in which group discussions are conducted through digital learning platforms. This inexperience was reflected in their lack of teamwork. (5) The ratio of discussions students posted on the Moodle platform (Moodle group) was positively correlated with their learning achievement and interaction with peers. The ratio of discussions students posted on the Office 365 platform (Office 365 group) was positively correlated with their learning achievement and learning motivation.The results have several implications. First, teachers should consider the most appropriate form of discussion for middle school students when planning group discussion activities during and after lessons. Second, although middle school students are better at learning through face-to-face discussion, the demand for distance learning and the use of digital platforms are increasing. Teachers should encourage the use of digital platforms by planning more exercises to implement through these platforms, thus improving students' learning performance as well as their efficiency in using these platforms. Third, the students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than did those in the face-to-face group. Thus, teacher may use Office 365 initially to make students willing to use digital platforms and for them to get familiar with its usage. Once students are comfortable using the platform, teachers can shift the focus to enhancing the effectiveness of learning. Fourth, when students are engaged in group discussions in after-school activities, only a limited number of students may participate, or students may directly provide answers without discussing them with their peers. Providing students with instructions and training on conducting group discussions may help them make more effective use of learning management systems. Finally, regarding the design of learning management systems, the registration and login procedures should be simplified, and the platform interface and operating functions should be more effectively integrated to make them user friendly. Doing so may enable novices to start and consistently use these systems more easily and reduce the time required by users to familiarize themselves with such systems.[LANGUAGE=”Chinese”] 本研究目的在比較以面對面、Moodle、Office 365進行課後活動，對學生英文的學習動機、學習成效與同儕互動之影響。以課後活動形式為自變項，分成面對面組、Moodle組、Office 365組，分別以三種不同方式進行英文課程之課後活動，如課後分組討論、課後作業等，並探討其在不同層面之差異。本研究採量化為主、質化為輔的分析方式，以六班143位國中三年級學生為研究對象進行實驗，每種課後活動形式各兩個班級參與。研究結果顯示：一、不同課後活動形式對學習動機無顯著差異；二、面對面組之學習成效顯著優於Office 365組；三、Office 365組之同儕互動有高於面對面組之傾向；四、針對討論歷程分析發現，透過Moodle、Office 365之學習平台進行討論，會出現特定組員直接貼出解答、各組員直接任務分工等未進行小組討論之情況發生；五、對Moodle組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、同儕互動為正相關；對Office 365組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、學習動機為正相關。Alternate abstract:”English”] With modern technological advancements, the rise of digital learning has helped teachers and students in many ways;for example, learning is becoming increasingly learner centric. In recent years, learning has been compromised because of school suspensions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Digital learning has helped to reduce the negative impacts on students' learning, and most students have shown a positive attitude toward digital learning. A learning management system provides a platform for learners to learn a d interact with teachers or peers without time and space constraints. Moodle is one of the most popular and widely-used learning management systems. It is open source, offers different functional modules, and is available free of charge. However, according to recent literature, Moodle has several disadvantages. First, the topics discussed by students in the Moodle platform are not focused enough and not easy to be discussed in depth. Second, the interaction is not immediate because of a lack of instant notifications. Third, the interface is not user friendly and is thus difficult to operate. These drawbacks can hinder students' learning. Office 365 is another digital system that assists students' learning. Various functions of Office 365, such as Teams's real-time notifications and OneNote's recording function, complement Moodle. This study investigated the effects of after-school activities conducted through different media on students' motivation, learning achievement, and peer interaction.In present study, after-school activities were conducted face-to-face or via two learning platforms, Moodle and Office 365;the learning platform was considered the independent variables. In total, 143 middle school students were recruited as participants for an after-school activity and distributed into the face-to-face, Moodle, or Office 365 group. The quantitative data of three scales concerning with learning motivation, learning achievement and peer interaction were collected to represent their learning performance. Qualitative data were collected through textual analysis based on student responses to open-ended questions. The quantitative and qualitative data were then statistically analyzed with SPSS Statistics 23.The results of the quantitative analysis revealed the following results:(1) No significant difference was observed in learning motivation among the different groups. The reasons for the result may be that students were not familiar with learning management systems, the interface and function of the learning systems were complex, or student motivation to learn English was low. (2) The learning achievement of the face-to-face group was significantly higher than that of the Office 365 group. Office 365 has many functions, but it also increases the cognitive load on students. Additionally, middle school students in Taiwan are inexperienced with using learning management systems because of the lack of opportunities to do so. Furthermore, the focus of this research was not the formal school curriculum but after-school activities;therefore, gauging learning effectiveness was challenging. Finally, students are more familiar with face-to-face discussions, and this comfort increases the effectiveness of this mode of learning. (3) Students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than those in the face-to-face group. Interacting through Office 365 (as it provides voice and text input for discussions) removes the stress of public speaking, such as that experienced in face-to-face classes, thus increasing participation. However, the peer interaction in the Office 365 group was not significantly higher than that in the Moodle group because the students using Office 365 mainly used text input, which decreased the efficiency of their discussion. (4) Some groups of students using the learning management system (no matter Moodle group or Office 365 group) posted the answers to assignments in the chat room even before much group discussion, or they divided the work among themselves, and not discussing the assignment at all. The students seemed to be unfamiliar with the way in which group discussions are conducted through digital learning platforms. This inexperience was reflected in their lack of teamwork. (5) The ratio of discussions students posted on the Moodle platform (Moodle group) was positively correlated with their learning achievement and interaction with peers. The ratio of discussions students posted on the Office 365 platform (Office 365 group) was positively correlated with their lea ning achievement and learning motivation.The results have several implications. First, teachers should consider the most appropriate form of discussion for middle school students when planning group discussion activities during and after lessons. Second, although middle school students are better at learning through face-to-face discussion, the demand for distance learning and the use of digital platforms are increasing. Teachers should encourage the use of digital platforms by planning more exercises to implement through these platforms, thus improving students' learning performance as well as their efficiency in using these platforms. Third, the students in the Office 365 group had a higher tendency to interact with peers than did those in the face-to-face group. Thus, teacher may use Office 365 initially to make students willing to use digital platforms and for them to get familiar with its usage. Once students are comfortable using the platform, teachers can shift the focus to enhancing the effectiveness of learning. Fourth, when students are engaged in group discussions in after-school activities, only a limited number of students may participate, or students may directly provide answers without discussing them with their peers. Providing students with instructions and training on conducting group discussions may help them make more effective use of learning management systems. Finally, regarding the design of learning management systems, the registration and login procedures should be simplified, and the platform interface and operating functions should be more effectively integrated to make them user friendly. Doing so may enable novices to start and consistently use these systems more easily and reduce the time required by users to familiarize themselves with such systems.Alternate abstract:”Chinese”] 本研究目的在比較以面對面、Moodle、Office 365進行課後活動，對學生英文的學習動機、學習成效與同儕互動之影響。以課後活動形式為自變項，分成面對面組、Moodle組、Office 365組，分別以三種不同方式進行英文課程之課後活動，如課後分組討論、課後作業等，並探討其在不同層面之差異。本研究採量化為主、質化為輔的分析方式，以六班143位國中三年級學生為研究對象進行實驗，每種課後活動形式各兩個班級參與。研究結果顯示：一、不同課後活動形式對學習動機無顯著差異；二、面對面組之學習成效顯著優於Office 365組；三、Office 365組之同儕互動有高於面對面組之傾向；四、針對討論歷程分析發現，透過Moodle、Office 365之學習平台進行討論，會出現特定組員直接貼出解答、各組員直接任務分工等未進行小組討論之情況發生；五、對Moodle組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、同儕互動為正相關；對Office 365組而言，各組員之發言比例與學習成效、學習動機為正相關。

Teaching And Learning Economics Online: Classroom Experiences: Journal of Management & Research

The pandemic forced the learners and the teaching community to shift to the online mode. There were many common challenges that were faced by the entire student and teaching community irrespective of the subjects that they dealt with. This study attempts to identify the key challenges faced by the learners and the facilitators in the online learning of Economics. Data was collected from classroom discussions on online as well as offline modes. The main factors that were covered were course content, ease of communication, drawing of graphs, ability to understand quantitative as well as theoretical topics. The sudden lockdown of physical classroom teaching in educational institutions due to covid pandemic had resulted in a complete shift of education on the online platform. It has thrown open questions about the preparedness of the education infrastructure to handle such a situation now and in the future. The pandemic forced the learners and the teaching community to adapt to this new environment. There were many common challenges that were faced by the entire student and teaching community irrespective of the subjects that they dealt with. However, given the nature of each subject the challenges faced could have been different.

A Decade with DYSS: Lessons Learned and Looking Forward

Each summer over the past decade, the Chemical Engineering Department at the University of Washington has hosted the "Distinguished Young Scholars Seminar" (DYSS) series, bringing outstanding research trainees from top-tier programs around the country for day-long campus visits filled with student discussions, faculty meetings, mock interview questioning, and a research seminar. Here, we discuss the history and evolving structure of DYSS, highlighting prior successes and lessons learned, as well as opportunities for ongoing improvement.

Exploring Data from Lived Experiences: A Pandemic Case

Data reasoning and digital literacy skills, especially the ability to find, represent, and accurately interpret the relevant data, are critical in workplaces and lifetime experiences. Given the importance of developing data reasoning skills from learners' experiences, this article aims to describe teacher and student actions that contributed to the student explorations of data from life experiences. The authors share a COVID-19 lesson as an example of how a framework that can be used to support student exploration of current issues and represent them mathematically might be applied to support students as they explore data. The authors focused on COVID-19 because it has tremendously affected the world and their students' lives. Disinformation (i.e., misleading information that deliberately circulated) and misinformation about COVID-19 were widely disseminated across the internet, endangering lives and hampering recovery. The student autonomy allowed in this exploration (e.g., the choice of topics and mathematical questions, collaborators, and presentation modalities) enables the inspiration and diverse perspectives shared by students. [Note: The page range (122-129) shown on the page is incorrect. The correct page range is 122-130.]

Public Speaking in a Pandemic: A Situational, Compensatory, and Resilient Undertaking

The introductory public speaking class includes topics such as audience analysis, credibility, organization, visual aids, and delivery. While the pedagogy I employ in this class tends to be very interactive and require a lot of group work, 2020 will forever be known as the year of the COVID19 global pandemic, which produced social distancing, stay-at-home-orders, and mask wearing. This study examines the impacts of pandemic precautions on public speaking practice, specifically situational communication apprehension. In addition to recording my own observations throughout my face-to-face public speaking class, I also periodically interviewed students about their experience taking the course during a pandemic. The paper ends with a discussion of a situational approach to public speaking, with pedagogical possibilities for instructors.

Change Happened: Innovative Teaching in a New Virtual-Only Environment

The purpose of this article is to illustrate an innovative teaching and learning method developed to address the limitations of 'normal' classroom instruction during the unprecedented health crisis of 2020. The course redesign for the digital classroom discussed in this paper details one instructor's journey of adjusting to a new way of teaching, like most other teachers across the globe, with only a moment's notice. With the help of an on-campus teaching and learning center, discussions with colleagues, and previous knowledge of online learning, the instructor delivered an online learning experience for students that proved more efficient and effective than the previous traditional offline course formats. Specifically, the instructor was able to capitalize on the successes of two redesigned projects for the digital classroom and ultimately develop a redesigned curriculum for a Public Speaking course that replaced the pre-COVID-19 course curriculum. The rewritten projects for the Public Speaking course detailed in this article not only met the course's learning goals but allowed students to thrive in a virtual-only environment carefully created to invite engagement and participation at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite being pandemic-driven, this revised class format and accompanying lessons learned for the digital classroom have been adopted across all the instructor's classes. The course updates are a superior method of engaging students and motivating them to prepare more, as evidenced by student feedback and assessments.

The Utilisation of Peer-Assisted Learning/Mentoring and Translanguaging in Higher Education

The use of peer-assisted learning/mentoring (PALM) and translanguaging (TRL) as inclusive learning strategies to support students' transition into Higher Education and enhance their wellbeing in the post-Covid era has not been widely explored. Lecturers express their deep concern about the mental health issues and lack of confidence an increasing number of learners have faced lately in the UK due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In terms of the present study, 80 undergraduate multilingual students were involved in PALM tasks during which they could use their first language through translanguaging and English, the target language, for one academic semester. The main goal was to ensure they had equal opportunities to develop their oral fluency while preparing group presentations. Paired T-tests were used to compare students' pre- to post-tests scores. In terms of this mixed-methods case study, the researcher also analyzed students' reflective reports and the anonymous feedback learners provided thematically to explore their attitudes. Findings indicated that these two approaches enabled students to improve their academic performance significantly although learners felt uneasy at the beginning. The combination of these two methods created a psychologically safe space as learners gradually developed a personal relationship with their peers. In response to the need for more information, as regards the use of PALM activities and TRL with multilingual learners, this study intends to contribute student voice since the inclusion of learner opinion has been minimal. Recommendations for the successful implementation of these two instructional approaches in undergraduate courses and suggestions for further research are provided.

What's COVID-19 Got to Do with My Communicative Competence? Self-Reflections of Pre-Service English Language Teachers in Turkey

With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly all theoretical and practical classes and methods of assessment had to be delivered on digital platforms. This paper reports the use of task-based assessment of the communicative competence of first-year pre-service English language teachers. The aim was to explore the role of the platform where the tasks were held on the students' self-assessment of their spoken performances. The participants (n=50) evaluated their linguistic, discourse, strategic and sociolinguistics competence on two public speaking tasks. The face-to-face speaking task required elaborating on two famous quotes, whereas the online speaking task had to do with the semiotic analysis of a TV commercial which was decided upon by the teacher candidate. Student evaluations of their communicative competence ranged on a scale from one to five, where one meant very poor and five meant very good. The results indicated that the only component of communicative competence that was viewed to be good was discourse competence in the face-to-face task, however, all the elements of communicative competence were considered to be good except for the sociolinguistic competence in the face-to-screen task. The main findings were (i) that the students had a more positive evaluation of their communicative competence when making online presentations and (ii) that they mostly attributed the differences in their self-evaluations either to the platform or to a combination of the platform and the nature of the task. Yet, face-to-face interaction seems to act as a requirement to improve the sociolinguistic competence of foreign language teacher candidates.

Transformation of geological sciences and geological engineering field methods course to remote delivery using manual, virtual, and blended tools in fall 2020

Geological (Engineering) Field Methods (GEOE/L 221) is a core course for two programs at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where students learn foundational knowledge, skills, and methods to conduct fieldwork that is used to investigate geological and geological engineering aspects of the Earth. Typically, this fall-term course involves weekly field trips in the Kingston area to visit a variety of rock outcrops to learn and practice methods of field navigation, observation, and measurement. Remote delivery of this course in fall 2020 due to COVID-19, without in-person field trips, required a significant transformation, which included creating field and demonstration instructional videos, using 3D digital photogrammetry models of rock samples and outcrops, developing independent outdoor activities for pace and compass navigation, manual sketching, and graphical measurements on paper, and utilizing a culminating immersive 3D video-game-style geological field mapping exercise. This paper examines these new course elements, how well the course learning objectives were achieved in a remote setting, and the successes and limitations of remote delivery. Although many new virtual elements enhance the course, and some have been incorporated into subsequent in-person offerings, a return to in-person teaching for geological sciences and geological engineering field methods courses is strongly recommended.

Digital Spinning Wheel for Just-a-Minute Session: A Pedagogical and Assessment Tool

In the present digital era, technology is being extensively used as an aid to teach different skills in a language teaching course. With the sudden outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, where technology that was being used for peripheral tasks and activities in education so far, has now become pervasive in the learning spaces. Tech aids such as audio, video, internet, educational tools, etc. are the popular ones among teachers at all levels. The present study aims to explore the use of one such tool - Digital Spinning Wheel that has been used as a tool for conducting Just-a- Minute sessions in the Effective Public Speaking course being offered at Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, one of the premier engineering institutes of India. The study also makes an attempt to understand students' perceptions about the appropriacy of the choice of the tool and the effectiveness of the instructional tool as used by the course instructors. For the study, a questionnaire was designed and circulated through Google Form among all the students of the course. The findings of the study suggest that the Digital Spinning Wheel makes the classroom activity interesting and dynamic and also ensures objectivity and fairness during the conduction of the evaluative component, Just-a-Minute. © 2022 IEEE.

Three-years real-world evidence of adjuvant dabrafenib plus trametinib (DT) in patients with resected melanoma in Spain (GEM 1901 - DESCRIBE-AD)

Background: DT combination has shown efficacy in the adjuvant setting for BRAF-mutated melanoma (BMM) patients (pts) in clinical trials. Previous reports from DESCRIBE-AD resulted in promising overall survival (OS) rates at 12 months. Methods: An observational retrospective study was carried out in 25 GEM sites in Spain. Histologically confirmed and resected BMM pts previously treated with DT according to standard clinical practice in the adjuvant setting were included. Only surgical resection was allowed as a prior treatment to DT. DT discontinuation rate and time to treatment discontinuation were the primary objective. Secondary objectives included safety and efficacy of the combination. Here, we report 3-year results for OS. Results: From 10/2020 to 03/2021, 65 pts were included. Median age was 58 years, 55% were male and 60%, 25%, and 14% had an ECOG PS 0/1/Uk respectively, one patient presented ECOG 3. Allocation of stage IIIA, IIIB and IIIC according to TNM AJCC 7th edition was 29%, 26% and 32%, respectively. There were 3 pts diagnosed at stage I/II but considered of risk, and 2 pts with stage IV but completely resected, all considered for adjuvant DT. Ulceration was present in 40%, Breslow ≥2 mm in 71%, and nodes were microscopically and macroscopically affected in 39% and 22% of pts, respectively. Only 9.2% of pts discontinued DT prematurely due to toxicity and 21.2% had dose reductions to manage toxicity. After a median follow-up of 36.2 m (range: 13-51.1), the overall OS rate at 3-years was 83.5% (95% CI: 74.5-93.5). According to AJCC 7 stage at diagnosis, the 3-years OS rate was 95.2% (95% CI: 86.6-100), 75% (56-100), and 76.8% (60.7-97.2) for stage I-II-IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC-IV respectively. Throughout the study period 11 (16.9%) pts died, of which 10 died due to disease progression and one due to COVID-19 infection. Conclusions: Adjuvant treatment with DT for melanoma achieved good treatment compliance and has proven efficacy in the real world. Adjuvant DT has a clinical impact in survival in line with previous clinical trial COMBI-AD. Editorial acknowledgement: We acknowledge Mfar Clinical Research staff for their assistance in the development of this . Legal entity responsible for the study: Grupo Español Multidisciplinar en Melanoma (GEM). Funding: Grupo Español Multidisciplinar en Melanoma (GEM) as Sponsor with Industry partner NOVARTIS. Disclosure: P. Cerezuela-Fuentes: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Consultancy, conference,congress attendance/infrastructure: BMS, MSD, Pierre Fabre, Roche, Sanofi, SunPharma. J. Martín-Liberal: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Lecture fees: Astellas, MSD;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Lecture fees, advisory fees: Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, Pierre Fabre, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi;Non-Financial Interests, Personal, Member, membership or affiliation: ASCO, ESMO, SEOM, GEM, EORTC, SOGUG, GEIS. L.A. Fernández-Morales: Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Speak at sponsored meetings: BMS, MSD, Pierre-Fabre, Roche;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speak at sponsored meetings and advisory role: Novartis. J. Medina Martinez: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker, consultancy or advisory role or similar activity: Novartis, Roche, Pierre Fabre, BMS, MSD, Sanofi. M. Quindós: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, speaker, consultancy and advisory: AstraZeneca, GSK, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Novartis, PharmaMar, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb, Pierre Fabre;Financial Interests, Institutional, Other, Clinical trials: Merck Sharp & Dohme, Roche, Bristol Myers Squibb. A. García Castaño: Non-Financial Interests, Advisory Role: Bristol, MSD, Novartis. T. Puértolas: Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Speaker and advisory role: BMS, Novartis;Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker: Roche, MSD, Sun-Pharma;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker and advisory role: Pierre-Fabre;Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Role: Sanofi;Financial Interests, Institutional, Other, Clinical trial: Roche, BMS, Apexi en Inc, Aduro Biotech, Alkermes Inc;Non-Financial Interests, Institutional, Other, congresses inscriptions: Lilly, Sun-Pharma, Novartis, Roche, MSD;Non-Financial Interests, Institutional, Leadership Role, Vocal: GEM (Grupo Español Multidisciplinar de Melanoma);Non-Financial Interests, Institutional, Affiliate: SEOM (Sociedad Española de Oncología Médica), GEM (Grupo Español Multidisciplinar de Melanoma). P. Ayala de Miguel: Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Public speaking: Novartis, Merck Sharp & Dohme, Sanofi, Pierre-Fabré. B. Campos: Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker or advisory role: Roche, BMS, Sanofi, Novartis, Pierre-Fabre, Sun Pharma;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Speaker role: AstraZeneca, Merck, ROVI, Leo Pharma. E. Espinosa: Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Role, Advisory: BMS, MSD;Financial Interests, Personal, Other, Advisory, educational activities: Novartis;Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Advisory, educational activities: Pierre Fabre;Financial Interests, Personal, Funding, Funding for translational investigation: Roche;Non-Financial Interests, Personal, Member, Vicepresident: Grupo Español Multidisciplinario de Melanoma. A. Rodríguez-Lescure: Financial Interests, Personal, Advisory Role: Pfizer, Novartis, ROCHE, AstraZeneca, Daiichi Sankyo, Seagen;Financial Interests, Personal, Invited Speaker, Public speaking: Pierre-Fabre;Financial Interests, Institutional, Research Grant, Grant for Clinical Trials: BMS, Lilly, Roche, Novartis, Amgen, Pzifer, Zimeworks, AstraZeneca, G1 Therapeutics, Bayer. L. Espasa Font: Financial Interests, Personal, Full or part-time Employment: Novartis. G. Belaustegui Ferrández: Financial Interests, Personal, Full or part-time Employment: Novartis. All other authors have declared no conflicts of interest.

University learners’ utilisation of online videos in a general chemistry course: Association for Learning Technology Journal

The effectiveness of course videos needs to be analysed, and in doing so, it is important to consider the utilisation behaviours and opinions of learners. In this regard, this study was primarily conducted to analyse Kyrgyz learners’ utilisation of videos in a general chemistry course provided at the university level. This study was conducted during the 2019–2020 spring term at a state university in the Kyrgyz Republic and was structured using a mixed-method approach. The total number of participants was 105 Kyrgyz learners studying at the undergraduate level. Quantitative data were collected through an online survey, which consisted of demographic questions and items related to the utilisation of chemistry videos. Qualitative data were obtained through in-depth interviews with 13 learners. It was demonstrated through the data that learners used chemistry videos for 1–2 h per week. Also, the learners’ utilisation did not change with regard to their success from watching the videos. Learners’ utilisation of the chemistry videos was based on five factors: intrinsic motivation, self-concept of ability, self-perception of conscientiousness, video use and expectations of an online video library. This study also provided results regarding Kyrgyz learners’ problems and suggestions related to their utilisation of the videos.

A Modular Approach to the Teaching of Mathematical Content at Technical Universities

A new approach to dividing the mathematical content into partial modules is presented. This allows to compose subjects with mathematical content from such partial modules and flexibly adapt these subjects to the needs of specific study programs at technical universities. The consistent and systematic implementation of this approach in a typical learning management system is described in detail. This approach means significant changes in the massive (or bulk) delivery of knowledge using available information technologies. The main benefits of the presented system consist in the increase the resulting level of knowledge of students along with their satisfaction with the results and the form of their study. The most important changes arising from our approach are the following. First, the study process became distributed in space and in time. Second, it can be piecewise continuous in time, and, since all students can study at their own pace, it runs in multiple individual time scales. The most important change, however, is the shift of the paradigm the educational process from transmissive “teach–learn” to active “study”.