Using Digital Learning Platforms to Enhance the Instructional Design Competencies and Learning Engagement of Preservice Teachers

Given the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated radical changes to the teaching landscape, employing digital learning platforms in the professional training of teachers has become imperative. The instructional design competencies are among the most important competencies for today's teachers. Therefore, it is necessary to test the effectiveness of digital learning platforms to provide teachers with the required competencies, both cognitive and practical, and to help them improve these competencies. Accordingly, in this study, we aimed to measure the effects of using the Google Classroom platform to develop instructional design competences and learning engagement among preservice teachers in Saudi Arabia. We used a quasi-experimental approach, with a one-group design (pre- and posttest) in this study, which included 61 female student teachers. Three measurement instruments were utilised, namely, the achievement test, the product evaluation card, and the learning engagement scale. The results of our study showed that using Google Classroom as a digital learning platform was effective in helping the preservice teachers acquire and develop their cognitive and practical competencies in instructional design. Our results further revealed high levels of learning engagement at cognitive, behavioural, and social levels among the preservice teachers who participated in learning instructional design through the Google Classroom platform. Our findings emphasise the need for greater investment in digital learning platforms to support preservice teachers' professional training, as these students can benefit from the potential these platforms offer in developing their instructional design competencies.

Extended Kit-Build Concept Mapping Tool to Facilitate Online Teaching and Learning in Post-COVID-19 Era

Extended Kit-Build is an extension concept mapping tool that has been proven to improve student understanding. It provides an approach to broadening knowledge and enhancing meaningful learning. Several early studies have proven the positive effects of implementing the Extended Kit-Build. However, previous studies have focused on the impact of Extended Kit-Build on student achievement. There is no information regarding the suitability of the Extended Kit-Build to facilitate teaching and learning, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era. Therefore, the present study is intended to reveal the extent to which the extended kitbuild supports learning activities after the COVID-19 pandemic. Questionnaires of teachers and university students were involved in measuring their level of agreement. The results highlighted that the extended-kit-build could be applied to support post-covid-19 learning and teaching activities. © 2022 IEEE.

Online argumentation-based learning aided by digital concept mapping during COVID-19: Implications for health management teaching and learning

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, forcing them to abruptly shift from face-to-face to online teaching and learning. This case study illustrates how a traditional lecture-based activity for undergraduate students in a Management of Health Service Organizations program was transformed into an argumentation-based learning activity using the technique of digital concept mapping and was deployed in an online format during the COVID-19 lockdown. Design/methodology/approach: The students were tasked with solving an ill-structured problem bearing significance for their future professional lives and connected to the contents of their course (entitled "Assimilation of service quality in health systems"). The activity was composed of two phases. In Phase 1, participants were asked to provide five arguments to establish their proposed solution to the problem by using a concept map on a digital platform (Mindomo). In Phase 2, they were asked to substantiate their arguments. Reflective journals were used to ascertain how the participants viewed the activity. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data by searching for themes demonstrating different epistemological positions. Findings: Six themes were inductively derived from the students' reflections: (1) transitioning from passive to active learning;(2) generating epistemic change;(3) social perspective-taking;(4) domain-based knowledge;(5) prior knowledge and experience;and (6) online collaboration with other students. Episodes, thoughts and feelings expressed by the students were reported so as to increase the reliability of the recurrent and common themes. Originality/value: This study mainly shows that combining constructivist teaching and learning tools with advanced technology in an online course enables the development of lifelong learning capabilities among students in the health management professions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Synergistic triad of crisis management: leadership, knowledge management and organizational learning

Purpose>The prevalence of instability and crises in organizational ecosystems seems to be on the increase, with an upward trend in the occurrence of, for example, natural disasters, such as tornadoes in America, bushfires in Australia and the widespread outbreak of diseases, e.g., Covid-19. As contexts of crisis increase in frequency, the ability of organizations to adapt and effectively respond to crises has become a key necessity for organizational survival and continuity. The purpose of this paper is to explore how the repercussions of crises may be curtailed through a multidimensional crisis management approach.Design/methodology/approach>This paper applies a narrative literature review and concept mapping to synthesize and establish relationships between the literature in the domains of leadership, knowledge management, learning and contexts of crisis. The output of this methodological orientation is the Integrated Crisis Management Framework, presenting a conceptualized overview of the symbiotic and intertwined manner through which leadership, knowledge management and learning contribute towards effective crisis management.Findings>According to the analysis and the conceptual underpinnings of this paper, in contexts of crisis, leadership is generally responsible for aggregating crisis management strategies and establishing employee motivation. Knowledge management, on the other hand, provides the infrastructure necessary for calculated yet rapid decision-making. Similarly, in times of crisis, learning is a prerequisite for the development of a "learningful” organization, which contributes towards crisis management by serving as the organization's "memory” – where lessons learned from previous crises suffice to guide future crisis response.Originality/value>The literature in crisis management reveals that existing crisis management models and frameworks generally consider crisis from a unidimensional perspective, neglecting to account for the multifaceted nature of crises, and the numerous attributes necessary to overcome contexts of crisis. To address this gap in the literature, this paper proposes a multidimensional conceptualization of crisis management through combining three core elements, including leadership, learning and knowledge management. The novelty of this paper is an Integrated Crisis Management Framework, and eight empirical propositions, which act as an impetus for future research.

MAPAS CONCEITUAIS NO ENSINO DE CIÊNCIAS: ESTAGNAÇÃO OU CRESCIMENTO?

As origens históricas dos mapas conceituais se localizam na área de Ensino de Ciências. Em 1972, Joseph Novak criou esta técnica de representação do conhecimento para identificar mudanças conceituais sobre temas da Biologia. Passados 50 anos, os mapas conceituais se aproximam da maturidade num momento de enormes transformações sociais provocadas pela pandemia de Covid-19 que impactam a Educação. Os autores aproveitam a celebração dos 50 anos de criação dos mapas conceituais para refletir sobre a estagnação ou crescimento das pesquisas sobre os mapas conceituais, considerando a produção específica da área de Ensino de Ciências. O objetivo do artigo é refletir sobre o atual momento das pesquisas sobre mapas conceituais a partir da análise da literatura acadêmica e de uma perspectiva histórica do desenvolvimento e da aplicação dos mapas conceituais. As perspectivas que se encontram no horizonte sugerem que o crescimento é mais provável do que a estagnação, desde que duas condições sejam observadas por pesquisadores e professores: (1) a ampliação das perspectivas teóricas que informam o uso dos mapas conceituais e (2) a adoção de um novo conjunto de valores que enfatizem a práxis educativa como um processo, evitando o foco no produto que caracteriza um ponto de chegada no processo de aprendizagem.Alternate : The historical origins of concept maps are in Science Education. In 1972, Joseph Novak created this knowledge representation technique to identify conceptual changes in topics in Biology. After 50 years, concept maps are approaching maturity at a time of enormous social transformations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic that impact Education. The authors take advantage of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of concept maps to reflect on the stagnation or growth of research on concept maps, considering the specific production in Science Education. This paper aims to reflect on the current moment of research on concept maps from the analysis of academic literature and a historical perspective of the development and application of concept maps. The perspectives on the horizon suggest that growth is more likely than stagnation if two conditions are fulfilled by researchers and professors: (1) the expansion of theoretical perspectives that inform the use of concept maps and (2) the adoption of a new set of values that emphasize educational praxis as a process, avoiding the focus on the product that characterizes a final point in the learning process.

SUCCESSFUL TRANSFER OF FACE-TO-FACE ACTIVE LEARNING INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN TO ONLINE SYNCHRONOUS FORMAT DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Before the pandemic, an introductory pharmaceutics course was redesigned to integrate active deep-learning tasks. Due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the instructor decided to implement a fully synchronous online course format. The primary objective of this study was to analyze the effectiveness of the transfer to the online synchronous context by monitoring its impact on students' performance, perceptions, and beliefs. Findings from this study indicated that highly integrated active learning tasks successfully transferred to the online format. That is, student performance, perceptions, and opinions were similar or slightly better when compared with the face-to-face format of the course.

A concept mapping study of service user design of safer supply as an alternative to the illicit drug market.

BACKGROUND: Within North America and worldwide, drug-related overdoses have increased dramatically over the past decade. COVID-19 escalated the need for a safer supply of illicit substances to reduce overdoses with hopes of replacing substances obtained from the illicit drug market. Drug users 1 should be at the centre of program and policy decisions related to the development and implementation of safer supply. Yet, there is little empirical research that conceptualizes effective safer supply from their perspectives. METHOD: Within a community based participatory approach to research, we conducted a concept mapping study to foreground the perspectives of drug users and develop a conceptual model of effective safer supply. Our team was composed of researchers from a local drug user organization, a local harm reduction organization, and academic researchers. The focused prompt developed by the team was: "Safe supply would work well if…" Sixty-three drug users participated in three rounds of focus groups as part of the concept mapping process, involving brainstorming, sorting, rating and naming of themes. RESULTS: The concept mapping process resulted in six clusters of statements: 1) Right dose and right drugs for me; 2) Safe, positive and welcoming spaces; 4) I am treated with respect; 5) I can easily get my safer supply; and 6) Helps me function and improves my quality of life (as defined by me). The statements within each cluster describe key components central to an effective model of safer supply as defined by drug users. CONCLUSION: The results of this study provide insights into key components of effective safer supply to inform planning and evaluation of future safer supply programs informed by drug user perspectives.

Exploring Representations for Singular and Multi-Concept Relations for Biomedical Named Entity Normalization

Since the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, peer-reviewed biomedical repositories have experienced a surge in chemical and disease related queries. These queries have a wide variety of naming conventions and nomenclatures from trademark and generic, to chemical composition mentions. Normalizing or disambiguating these mentions within texts provides researchers and data-curators with more relevant articles returned by their search query. Named entity normalization aims to automate this disambiguation process by linking entity mentions onto their appropriate candidate concepts within a biomedical knowledge base or ontology. We explore several term embedding aggregation techniques in addition to how the term's context affects evaluation performance. We also evaluate our embedding approaches for normalizing term instances containing one or many relations within unstructured texts. © 2022 Owner/Author.

Development of a Quality Management Model and Self-assessment Questionnaire for Hybrid Health Care: Concept Mapping Study.

BACKGROUND: Working with eHealth requires health care organizations to make structural changes in the way they work. Organizational structure and process must be adjusted to provide high-quality care. This study is a follow-up study of a systematic literature review on optimally organizing hybrid health care (eHealth and face to face) using the Donabedian Structure-Process-Outcome (SPO) framework to translate the findings into a modus operandi for health care organizations. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to develop an SPO-based quality assessment model for organizing hybrid health care using an accompanying self-assessment questionnaire. Health care organizations can use this model and a questionnaire to manage and improve their hybrid health care. METHODS: Concept mapping was used to enrich and validate evidence-based knowledge from a literature review using practice-based knowledge from experts. First, brainstorming was conducted. The participants listed all the factors that contributed to the effective organization of hybrid health care and the associated outcomes. Data from the brainstorming phase were combined with data from the literature study, and duplicates were removed. Next, the participants rated the factors on importance and measurability and grouped them into clusters. Finally, using multivariate statistical analysis (multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis) and group interpretation, an SPO-based quality management model and an accompanying questionnaire were constructed. RESULTS: All participants (n=39) were familiar with eHealth and were health care professionals, managers, researchers, patients, or eHealth suppliers. The brainstorming and literature review resulted in a list of 314 factors. After removing the duplicates, 78 factors remained. Using multivariate statistical analyses and group interpretations, a quality management model and questionnaire incorporating 8 clusters and 33 factors were developed. The 8 clusters included the following: Vision, strategy, and organization; Quality information technology infrastructure and systems; Quality eHealth application; Providing support to health care professionals; Skills, knowledge, and attitude of health care professionals; Attentiveness to the patient; Patient outcomes; and Learning system. The SPO categories were positioned as overarching themes to emphasize the interrelations between the clusters. Finally, a proposal was made to use the self-assessment questionnaire in practice, allowing measurement of the quality of each factor. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of hybrid care is determined by organizational, technological, process, and personal factors. The 33 most important factors were clustered in a quality management model and self-assessment questionnaire called the Hybrid Health Care Quality Assessment. The model visualizes the interrelations between the factors. Using a questionnaire, each factor can be assessed to determine how effectively it is organized and developed over time. Health care organizations can use the Hybrid Health Care Quality Assessment to identify improvement opportunities for solid and sustainable hybrid health care.

Medical Students' Perceptions of Patient-Doctor Relationship in South Korea: Concept Mapping Analysis.

Introduction: The patient-doctor relationship has evolved from early paternalism to a consumerism and partnership model that emphasizes cooperation. Patient-doctor relationships might vary with the socio-cultural environment, because the medical environment affects such relationships. Method: We investigated the patient-doctor relationship among medical students through concept mapping analysis. Twenty-six fourth-grade Korean medical students wrote a reflection journal and participated in the concept classification and the importance evaluation of the derived concept. ALSCAL multidimensional scaling and Ward hierarchical cluster analysis were performed. Also, the 5-point Likert scale was used to evaluate the importance of the concept. Results: Sixty-six statements about the patient-doctor relationship were extracted and grouped into six clusters. The x-axis is the dimension of "Information-Respect," and the y-axis is "Changeability-Persistence." Six patient-doctor concepts were derived and students evaluated "Patient-centered" as the most important. Conclusions: Medical students express various concepts of the patient-doctor relationship. Considering that they may encounter various medical conditions and patients, it is necessary that they understand deeply the complex patient-doctor relationship.

Role and Usage of Social Media in COVID-19: An Analysis of Vaccination-Related Conspiracy Theories

There are various misconceptions related to the COVID-19 and the vaccine. This study attempts to identify the role of social media in spreading the misinformation related to COVID-19 and Vaccination. This study will help the agencies to identify the categories of misconceptions and the vaccination-related conspiracy theories dispersed in the social media. In the analysis, seven clusters were found, and the concept map presents seven general misconceptions categories, similarly six subcategories under vaccination related conspiracy theories were found. This study concludes that vaccination related misconception circulated in social media is a serious issue which could affect the vaccination rate severely. Hence a multipronged tactic should be adopted having the components of counter-information strategy, sharing information from authentic sources, educating the general population to go for rigorous review of the information, and improving the health literacy level.

Unpacking the Trend of the Belt and Road Initiative Narratives in Australian Media from 2013 to 2020

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a central policy of the Chinese government. This paper analyses the trend and evolution of the BRI narratives from 2013 to 2020 in Australian print media. By using Leximancer and NVivo Analysis, and frame analysis, this paper selects works from five Australian mainstream print media: The Sydney Morning Herald (The SMH), The Age, The Australian, The Australian Financial Review (The AFR) and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It identifies that the BRI has been gradually politicised and ideologized in Australian print media and these narratives shifted in tone from mostly positive to highly critical. Also, the BRI media narratives have been not about the BRI, but the Chinese government as a whole.

Automated Transformation from Competency List to Tree: Way to Competency-Based Adaptive Knowledge E-Evaluation

Featured ApplicationThe proposed model for competency list transformation to competency tree can be applied in e-learning and e-evaluation systems to ensure integration between systems, using competency lists and competency trees and, at the same time, providing some additional adaptability for the existing e-learning systems.E-learning is rapidly gaining its application. While actively adapting student-oriented learning with the competency evaluation model, the standard of competency support in existing e-learning systems is not implemented and varies. This complicated integration of different e-learning systems or transfer from one system to another might be challenging if the student had his or her competency portfolio in list form, while another system supports tree-based competency portfolios. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a transformation model dedicated to converting the competency list to a competency tree. This solution incorporates text processing and analysis, competency ranking based on Bloom’s taxonomy, and competency topic area clustering. The case analysis illustrates the model’s capability to generate a qualitative tree from the competency list, where the average accuracy of competency assignment to appropriate parent competency is 72%, but, in some cases, it reaches just 50%.

Guest editorial: Health education's response to the COVID-19 pandemic: Global challenges and future directions

The paper presents findings from focus groups and personal reflections with pre-service teachers majoring in health and physical education who were required to adapt a four-week high school health education unit for online delivery. In their article entitled “Online argumentation-based learning aided by digital concept mapping during COVID-19: Implications for health management teaching and learning,” Alt and Naamati-Schneider draw upon a management of health service organization case study to describe how traditional lecture-based activities for undergraduate students were transformed into argumentation-based learning activities during the COVID-19 lockdown. Analyzing undergraduate student responses to a digital concept mapping exercise, the authors argue that combining constructivist teaching tools with advanced technology can improve the development of lifelong learning capabilities of students. Ucuk and Yildirim's paper, “The effect of COVID-19 prevention methods training given through distance learning on state anxiety level: the case of private sector,” explores the impact of COVID-19 prevention training on the anxiety levels of workers in a communication sector company in Turkey.

Co-creating a Teaching Module on the Impacts of COVID-19 on Various Transportation Systems and Stakeholders

COVID-19 has affected all aspects of life, including how we travel. As faculty members responsible for teaching infrastructure courses across four universities, the authors collaborated on creating a teaching module addressing this critical issue. The module focuses on the impacts of COVID-19 on different transportation systems from various stakeholder perspectives. The module was implemented in two universities (n = 25): Southern Methodist University (SMU) and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (New Mexico Tech, NMT) in fall 2020 and will be implemented again at other schools in fall 2021. This paper presents the results obtained during the first implementation of the COVID-19 teaching module during the fall semester of 2020 and addresses how instructors can enhance the module for future offerings. Findings from the module's implementation demonstrate increased knowledge and understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on different transportation systems from various stakeholder perspectives. SMU students' mean scores showed high post-evaluation scores, and NMT students' scores increased from pre to post evaluation. Additionally, the reflective writing assignment revealed students' awareness of various issues, including operational and economic impacts on operators and users. This paper offers contributions to our engineering community by focusing on lessons learned from the COVID-19 experience while providing recommendations for improving this co-create module. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2021

Molecular Orbital Theory--Teaching a Difficult Chemistry Topic Using a CSCL Approach in a First-Year University Course

Collaboration is regarded as one of the core competences of the 21st century when it comes to complex problem solving. In response to high dropout rates among STEM students, we developed a digital-collaborative intervention on a difficult topic, MO theory, for first-year chemistry students. First, students work independently in a Digital Learning Environment (DLE). Afterwards, they collaborate in small groups and create Concept Maps on MO theory. We evaluate this intervention through knowledge tests, tests of attractiveness, cognitive load, and usability during the DLE and concept mapping process, as well as audio and screen recordings during the collaborative group processes. This paper presents the detailed study design together with results from a first study in January 2021, focusing on the practicability of the intervention and students' feedback. Overall, each small group succeeded in creating a Concept Map. Students rated all phases of the intervention as attractive, with high usability and low cognitive load, although the interactive videos scored better for attractiveness and usability than the concept mapping process. On that basis, first adjustments for a second cycle of the intervention, which will be conducted in January 2022, were derived.

Exploring the perceptions of Malaysian Gen Z towards the impact of COVID-19 on sustainable development.

COVID-19 has affected the pursuit of sustainable development in multifaceted ways; this study investigates Malaysian Gen Z perceptions of the COVID-19 pandemics' disruptions to sustainable development. The exploratory research began with brainstorming from Malaysian Gen Z individuals with the following excerpt, 'The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the world and led to unprecedented change. How do you believe this has impacted either positively or negatively, the global pursuit of sustainable development?' Ninety-eight unique statements were generated with subsequent participants sorting these statements into thematic groups before rating each of them on impact and duration. Subsequently, multi-dimensional scaling and cluster analysis was performed with eight-cluster solution being proposed. This study suggests that the pandemic has contributed both positively and negatively to sustainable development, while also highlighting the duration of these impacts. This community-based participatory research provides a guide for policy to mitigate negative impacts whilst also attempting to fully realise the positive impacts in response to managing the unprecedented effects of the pandemic.

Conceptualizing Vulnerability for Health Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Associated Measures in Utrecht and Zeist: A Concept Map.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the associated measures have impacted the health of many. Not all population groups are equally vulnerable to such health effects, possibly increasing health inequalities. We performed a group concept mapping procedure to define a common, context-specific understanding of what makes people vulnerable to health effects of the pandemic and the measures. We organized a two-step, blended brainstorming session with locally involved community members, using the brainstorm focus prompt 'What I think makes people vulnerable for the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures is…'. We asked participants to generate as many statements as possible. Participants then individually structured (sorted and ranked) these statements. The structuring data was analysed using the groupwisdomTM software and then interpreted by the researchers to generate the concept map. Ninety-eight statements were generated by 19 participants. Sixteen participants completed both structuring tasks. The final concept map consisted of 12 clusters of vulnerability factors, indicating a broad conceptualization of vulnerability during the pandemic. It is being used as a basis for future research and local supportive interventions. Concept mapping is an effective method to arrive at a vulnerability assessment in a community in a short time and, moreover, a method that promotes community engagement.

Staying safe while staying together: the COVID-19 paradox for participants returning to community-based sport in Victoria, Australia.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the challenges adult community sport participants anticipate when returning to sport in Victoria, Australia, post a COVID-19 shutdown. METHODS: Using online concept mapping, participants brainstormed challenges to returning to community sport, sorted them into groups and rated them for impact and ability/capacity to overcome. Analysis included multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis. RESULTS: Forty-five community sport participants representing 24 sports identified 69 unique challenges to returning to sport. Eight clusters/questions participants need answered emerged from the sorting data (mean cluster impact and ability/capacity rating out of 5): Will we have enough participants? (3.32, 2.89); How do we stay safe? (3.31, 3.35); How will our sport change? (3.17, 2.85); How can we stay together? (3.15, 3.01); Will I be physically ready? (3.15, 3.05); What about the money? (2.86, 2.53); What about me? (2.65, 3.13); and What about the facilities? (2.49, 2.45). CONCLUSIONS: Participants perceived paradoxical challenges to returning to sport after COVID-19 shutdown, which revolved around staying safe, staying connected and accessing meaningful sport activities. Implications for public health: Sport organisations and public health practitioners should address the participant-centred challenges identified in this study to maximise the public health benefits of participants returning to community sport.

Piloting the Use of Concept Mapping to Engage Geographic Communities for Stress and Resilience Planning in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The physical and social characteristics of urban neighborhoods engender unique stressors and assets, contributing to community-level variation in health over the lifecourse. Actors such as city planners and community organizations can help strengthen resilience in places where chronic stress is endemic, by learning about perceived stressors and assets from neighborhood users themselves (residents, workers, business owners). This study piloted a methodology to identify Toronto neighborhoods experiencing chronic stress and to engage them to identify neighborhood stressors, assets, and solutions. Crescent Town was identified as one neighborhood of interest based on relatively high levels of emotional stress in Twitter Tweets produced over two one-year periods (2013-2014 and 2017-2018) and triangulation using other neighborhood-level data. Using concept mapping, community members (n = 23) created a ten-cluster concept map describing neighborhood stressors and assets, and identified two potential strategies, a Crescent Town Residents' Association and a community fair to promote neighborhood resources and build social networks. We discuss how this knowledge has circulated through the City of Toronto and community-level organizations to date, and lessons for improving this methodology.