ABSTRACT
The sustainable development of human society and economy needs the support of senior talents. Postgraduate teaching is one of the crucial components of higher education, and the priority method to cultivate senior talents. The 7th United Nations STI Forum in 2022 will focus on open science and postgraduate teaching;the theme of the forum is "While comprehensively implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, strengthen science, technology, and innovation, and promote the world's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic". Therefore, the analysis of the field of postgraduate teaching is of great theoretical and practical significance to the cultivation of postgraduate students, the research of researchers, and the management of postgraduate teaching by the education sector. This research has carried out a bibliometric analysis to better obtain the knowledge structure in the field of postgraduate teaching and research, and help other researchers obtain the characteristics of the field of postgraduate teaching and research. VOSviewer and CiteSpace are used to analyze 4816 scientific core collection articles related to postgraduate teaching. These publications are from the Web of Science database. The dates of the articles range from 1995-2022. This research intuitively introduces a systematic overview of postgraduate teaching literature research, covering a number of publications, major categories, the most significant nations, groups, publications, writers, significant literature, and academic trends. The goal of this article is to create a map of the postgraduate teaching knowledge structure, while also examining the research collaboration across organizations, authors, nations, and areas. For scholars and practitioners in the field of graduate education, objective advice and helpful ideas are given through the analysis and discussion of the data acquired.
ABSTRACT
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the world to change its approach to medical education with most of the undergraduate (UG) teaching shifting to online mode. As in other colleges in India, we also switched to online classes for both UG and postgraduate (PG) students in April 2020. We intend to share our preliminary experience about the acceptance and performance of these online classes in Pediatrics. Methodology: For UGs, we studied the attendance and marks of term ending summative assessment of batch of 2020 who attended online classes and compared them to the attendance and marks of the term ending summative assessment of the previous three batches (2017, 2018, and 2019). We also obtained a feedback on a prevalidated questionnaire from the UG as well as PG students. Results: The mean +/- standard deviation (SD) attendance of the batch of 2020 was 81.6 +/- 16.2%, while that of the 2017, 2018, and 2019 batch during the same period was 84.9 +/- 10.9%, 92.6 +/- 4.8%, and 83.0 +/- 7.6% respectively. Similarly, the mean +/- SD marks for the batch of 2020 was 74.8 +/- 6.5% while it was 66.9 +/- 9.4%, 58.6 +/- 10.1%, and 60.9 +/- 9.7% for 2017, 2018, and 2019 batches, respectively. The feedback obtained from both UGs and PGs was satisfactory in relation to the acceptance of the online mode. Conclusion: The online classes in Pediatrics are a reasonable alternative to the onsite classes in the prevailing situation.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic adversely affected the conventional teaching mode, resulting in an exponential rise in online modalities such as webinars. Simultaneously, the lockdown provided substantial time to pursue potential academic content on the web. It is known that newly admitted postgraduate students of Physiology require a structured program that can guide them to conduct research for the completion of the course. METHODS: Gauging the opportunity, a webinar series was conducted on basic research methodology and thesis writing in Physiology. The series comprised hourly lectures delivered between 4:00 and 5:00 pm for seven consecutive days. Suggestions for future topics for webinars were sought through open-ended questions. Additionally, feedback for increment in students' knowledge at the end of the webinar was also inquired on a Likert scale. Open-ended answers were pooled into fields, and Likert scale scores were evaluated. RESULTS: There were 364 (35.8%) postgraduate students who registered for the webinar. The remaining were faculty (51.6%), research scholars (8.8%), and senior residents (3.8%). Among the postgraduate students who submitted the feedback, a majority (98.4%) of them agreed that their knowledge was enhanced at the end of the series. Most of the postgraduate students (31%) chose Biostatistics for future webinars. CONCLUSION: Webinars are a useful tool for postgraduate teaching. They should be constructed with engaging infrastructure and relevant examples. The availability of recorded content on the online forum is beneficial for asynchronous learners. Having an idea about students' choice for essential topics helps in the advanced planning of a demanding webinar.
ABSTRACT
Consequent to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, pedagogic changes were introduced in postgraduate courses in Physiology, where face-to-face teaching was replaced with synchronous virtual mode for leader-centered (seminar, symposium) and participant-centered (journal club, group discussion) academic activities. We hypothesized that the effectiveness of virtual and face-to-face modes as perceived by postgraduate students in terms of facilitating their overall learning may differ across the spectrum of leader-centered and participant-centered activities. To assess the same, we designed and administered a comprehensive, structured, and validated feedback questionnaire. Postgraduate students (n = 29) rated virtual sessions significantly more convenient, but less attentive and comprehensible, and reported better audiovisual experience during face-to-face sessions. Students rated flexibility to attend, self-paced learning, ability to revise, lookup for information in real time, and accessibility to distant expertise as important features of virtual sessions and instant feedback, eye-to-eye contact, and ability to interact in the group for face-to-face sessions. Virtual and face-to-face sessions were perceived as equally effective in facilitating their overall learning for the conduct of leader-centered seminars and symposia. However, face-to-face sessions were considered more effective for the conduct of participant-centered group discussions and journal clubs. During the pandemic, students perceive the synchronous virtual mode as an equally effective alternative for the conduct of leader-centered academic activities, but face-to-face teaching is still preferred for the conduct of participant-centered academic activities.