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Background: The pandemic of Covid-19 impeded all socio-economical, pedagogic, and recreational activities. Pakistan is facing an intensified educational crisis due to previous educational differences, so the era of the pandemic has shown difficulties in the educational framework. Aim(s): Awareness among parents and students to combat challenges of pandemic. Method(s): The current study is based on random quantitatively study which gathered data from 300 respondents assembled from different areas of Lahore, Pakistan from June 2020 to July 2021. The responses were collected from students, teachers, and parents that how homeschooling compromises student's physical, psychological, and emotional health. Result(s): About 76% of the students favoured traditional classes over online classes whereas only 20% of the students found the online session interactive. In the other section, only 15.33% of the teachers were satisfied by the online results and they complained about the poor performance and interaction with the students. Overall, 81.67% parents agreed that there is a decline in the physical activity of their children. The results of this study suggested that social distancing and the emerging challenges associated with Covid- 19 have entirely changed the education system that has caused number of problems for children, parents, and teachers in Pakistan. Practical implication: This study highlights pros and cons of online study;such studies give students and teachers a way to prepare for future challenges. Conclusion(s): Considering all outcomes of study, it is highlighted that policy-level interventions were needed, along with well-designed interactive courses. Hence, integrated approaches based on the mental as well as physical capabilities of the students must be executed, and e-tools must also be practiced in traditional classes to fill the gap of homeschooling.Copyright © 2023 Lahore Medical And Dental College. All rights reserved.
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A comprehensive graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training program in mathematical sciences designed at one institution is being adapted and replicated at two peer institutions. Using a case study approach, this paper outlines the development of the program components, which include a first-year teaching seminar, peer mentoring and support from a peer TA Coach, a Critical Issues in STEM Education seminar, and K–12 outreach to inform understanding of the pipeline. Additionally, adaptations due to institutional context and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic are described. Implications for components of the comprehensive program, based on GTA-provided feedback, are discussed. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Primus: Problems, Resources & Issues in Mathematics Undergraduate Studies is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
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This study depicts the narrative of Noelle, a 22-year-old student teacher from a state university in a large Southeastern U.S. community amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. During Noelle's student teaching experience in the Fall 2020 semester, educators and students were returning to formal teaching and learning in a variety of face-to-face, virtual, and hybrid configurations. Classroom teachers turned to digital technologies to overcome the barriers presented by virtual student attendance and social distancing. At the same time, student teachers like Noelle were entering classrooms to develop their burgeoning teaching skills. Noelle's narrative was constructed and analyzed with respect for the inner dialoguing in which she engaged as she developed her digital pedagogy and digitally-mediated teaching approaches. Findings from Noelle's narrative of digital pedagogy are presented thematically and conclusions and implications for teacher education programs and future research are disseminated.Copyright © 2023, Pharmaceutical Association of Serbia. All rights reserved.
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E-teaching/leaming methods have replaced classroom teaching during COVID-19 pandemic. Medical Teachers are the key stakeholders of medical education and their perception to ETL and their attitude towards it has a significant impact on education. Aim was toAssess the attitude and perception of medical teachers of SHKM, GMC, Mewat, Haryana towards ETL. This was a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey from 50 medical faculty members. Scoring was done according to five point Likert scale. 68%faculty was not happy about student teacher interaction,82%felt students are more attentive in classroom;were not motivated during online lectures;82%responded that students are more disciplined during classroom lectures.92%Faculty had sufficient computer knowledge and IT skills to conduct lectures,80%stated they could have flexible hours, 60%faced technical difficulties, 78%got difficulty conducting practical /clinical teaching;50%experienced ETL reduces the power of teacher in front of students;77%responded ETL reduces the skills of students in learning;68%felt would not help students in writing exams better;84%faculty agreed that they should have ETL training;84% felt ETL has limited application in medical education;78%felt ETL would slow down the curriculum;94%responded classroom lectures should not be replaced by online teaching but can be used as a supplementary tool especially during the emergency. Concluded thatETL can be an aid during an emergency such and blended learning is more acceptable. There is need to develop and implement innovative solutions in response to this present demand of use of technology to prepare for future. Training for medical teachers is required in regard to newer teaching learning technologies.
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Introduction. The introduction of COVID-19 screening through rapid antigen tests has become a key mechanism to ensure the continuity of the learning process and safety of school environment during pandemic. The objective of the study was to investigate and analyse the attitudes and beliefs of students, teachers, and parents regarding the rapid antigen test as a method to limit COVID-19 spreading in school environment. Material and methods. An online anonymous survey was conducted among 228 participants, 11th and 12th grade high school students (n=114), teachers (n=44) and parents (n=70) in November 2021. Results. 43.9% of students and 52.9% of parents agree with rapid antigen testing for COVID-19, while over 63.3% of teachers disagree with it. Students (45.6%) and parents (48.6%) shared optimistic expectations that testing for COVID-19 would reduce the spread of the virus in schools, while 59.1% of the teachers surveyed remained sceptical about this prevention measure. The interruption of school classes does not find support among students and parents, as well as among members of the teaching staff. Conclusions. According to students and parents, rapid antigen testing for COVID-19 seems a more acceptable solution than closing school completely. Given the concern of teachers to conduct antigen tests in the school environment, it is necessary to adequately plan the participation of medical professionals in this process, instead of delegating these activities to teachers.Copyright © 2022 Balkan Medical Union.
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Introduction: Hybrid Problem-Based Learning (h-PBL) is a type of teaching-learning technique that incorporates both in-person learning and virtual learning via hybrid classroom tools. It reportedly increases student engagement, positively impact their learning process and improve communication skills. During Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) times, its applicability was further enhanced as it allowed the flexibility of teaching as well as learning from home to both teachers and students. Aim: To assess the perception and experience of 2nd phase MBBS students after undergoing training by the h-PBL method. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 2nd phase MBBS students in the Department of Microbiology at College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital, Kolkata from 15th March to 14th April 2022. A total of 111 students of 2nd phase MBBS of the college gave an informed consent to be part of the study. All inductees underwent a structured training by h-PBL technique following which their perception and experience about the exercise was sought via questionnaire. Data were presented in frequency and percentage. Association between mean scores of male and female participants was calculated by Chi-square test. Results: Out of the 111 participants, 58 (52.2%) were male and 53 (47.8%) were female with mean age of 19.5±0.5 years (range 18-22 years). The h-PBL technique was perceived to be motivating for self-directed learning by 97 (85.6%) of the respondents. A total of 107 (96.4%) students agreed that h-PBL is more effective than traditional teaching for acquiring both theoretical and practical knowledge, learning and understanding topics correctly and also identifying and rectifying their deficiencies in knowledge and skills. More than 90% participants (102 of 111) felt that h-PBL has more potential than traditional teaching to establish fruitful student-teacher interaction and provide better feedback opportunities. Overall student satisfaction in our study showed 96.4% agreement (107 of 111). Conclusion: The students considered h-PBL model to be better than traditional teaching to help them acquire theoretical knowledge and practical skills. They also felt that it improved their communication skills, teamwork ethics and motivated them to undertake self-directed learning.
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Learning Assistants (LAs) are undergraduate students that serve as course assistants in STEM courses to facilitate the learning of their near-peers. This paper explored the perspectives of LAs at four institutions with respect to mentoring and their personal outcomes. Interviews with program coordinators revealed different goals and implementation of the LA programs at each institution. Survey responses from the LAs revealed differences by school in the percentage who felt that they had been mentored as well as how the LA's perceived that they had mentored others. The most common outcomes from serving as an LA were teaching skills, communication skills, confidence, and satisfaction from giving back. Statistically significant correlations were found between some mentoring attributes and outcomes, such as perceiving that their mentoring included listening was correlated with the outcomes of satisfaction from giving back (phi 0.323) and communication skills (phi 0.134). The results may be impacted by COVID-related online instruction. This preliminary study is laying the groundwork for a larger study to examine the ties between different LA program characteristics and the outcomes for LAs. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2022.
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In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the higher education institutions to adapt to a new form of teaching and learning, from presential to full remote, blended and hybrid environment. This challenge had a particular impact in the life sciences field where the courses have a high content of laboratorial classes. The main issue was how to transition from hands-on practical classes to remote instruction, assuring that our students continued engaged and acquiring the necessary skills, in a short amount of time. To address this, we took advantage of already available digital tools that facilitated the interface with the students such as Moodle, Skype, Teams and ZOOM and explored online resources such as virtual labs, simulations and video demonstrations. Additionally, several classes and laboratorial experiments were recorded by the teachers in the school labs and the research labs where we develop our research activity. The creation of teachers' work groups to share experiences and tools was key in the success of this process. To ensure the students evaluation we used preferentially Moodle platform which allowed the used of digital tools to control and prevent fraud by copying, plagiarism or false identity. Despite all efforts from teachers and students, crucial elements of the high education experience, particularly for undergraduates, were disrupted. Namely the student-teacher and student-student contact and interaction and the integration in the academic setting, resulting in stress and feeling of isolation and overwhelm. Even with the difficulties faced by all the academic community, we observed no major changes regarding the academic success reflected in the final grades, comparing with previous years. In our understanding the core skills proposed for these courses were acquired successfully and the digital tools used with exception for the student's evaluation, are now considered an added value and bring flexibility to the teaching-learning process.
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Introduction: Consequent upon continued nationwide lockdown to check the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching and learning has emerged as a new mode to continue the regular educational programs in India. It is vital to assess the perception of this new method by various stakeholders of educational sector. Objectives: The objectives included identification of the problems and benefits felt by medical students and college teachers about online classes and to assess its effectiveness on attendance and academic performance of students. Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted during March-October 2021 among 150 first MBBS students admitted in 2020 in a medical college at Udaipur, Rajasthan. The participants who gave informed consent and attended three online and offline monthly tests were included and the rest were excluded. The quantitative techniques included frequency tables, mean, standard deviation and ‘t-test’. Results: Among 100 respondents, 48% were male and 52% were female. The major problems faced by students included lack of space at home to attend class (71%), interrupted internet connectivity (42%), missing interaction with stakeholders (>70%) and mismatch in theory and practicals (69%). The benefits included homemade food, family care, risk minimization of COVID-19 and regular parental monitoring. The major advantages felt by teachers included continued teaching (90.90%) and saving time (100%) in taking attendance in online mode. The average attendance for online classes was significantly higher over offline classes (p<0.0001), whereas the average retention of knowledge level as evidenced by average marks was significantly lower for online class tests compared to offline class tests (p<0.0001). Conclusion: The higher attendance does not reveal higher knowledge retention during online mode of classes.
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Introduction: In order to halt the progression of COVID-19, governments of many countries including India implemented national lockdown. In view of the sudden closure of educational institutions, remote teaching was implemented with the help of online learning or E-learning. Thus, the aim of the study was assessing the attitudes and perceptions of MBBS students regarding the effectiveness of e-learning and the impact of COVID-19 on the student’s mental wellbeing and learning. Methods: The survey instrument was a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 17 close ended questions and 3 open ended question. It has 3 sociodemographic questions, 13 questions assessing their attitudes and perceptions regarding the effectiveness of e-learning and 4 questions investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the student’s mental wellbeing and learning. The data obtained was analyzed using SPSS (version 20). Results: A total of 404 undergraduate students studying in FMHS, SGT University, Gurugram participated in the survey. A major part of the students (57.1%) was using their Mobile phones for e-learning followed by 24.6% using their Personal computer or Laptop, 12% were using combination of these devices and 6.3% using tablets. Due to inconsistent internet connection, most of the students (71.5%) were facing challenges. 64.9% of the respondents faced distraction during the class such as lack of audio clarity, internet connection problems, lack of environment, concentration issues, notifications and social media, student teacher interactions, practical aspect not covered and lack of physical interaction with the teacher. The continuous screen time posed a major problem for students who suffered from strain in the eyes (58.3%), headache (18.7%), neck pain (8.8%), back pain (6.3%) or all of the above problems (7.7%). Thus, 84.1% of the undergraduate students preferred conventional Classroom learning to e-learning. Conclusions: Implementation of strict social distancing and lockdown in COVID-19 era, has mandated the pedagogy of remote learning which remains the only viable option for teaching and learning in these difficult times. The students should be advised to follow good ergonomic practices to maintain their ocular health and should be motivated to enhance their mental well-being and learning amid COVID-19 pandemic.
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In March 2020, TTUHSC opened a new 20,000sf Institute of Anatomical Sciences for human gross anatomy. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck and many schools shifted from in person to online teaching, we hypothesized that if safety measures were used, in person cadaveric anatomy could be safely taught without a decrease in student performance. To test this, we reduced onsite attendance to less than 25% of room capacity. Masks were required at all times and students were instructed to social distance. Six students were assigned per cadaver, but only two students dissected at a time. The other four students reviewed and completed dissections and/or reviewed in groups of two at other allotted times. Thus, students dissected only every third lab. Dissection and lab review attendance was mandatory and students were nearly 100% compliant. Teaching assistants recorded dissected prosections reviews, and these videos were uploaded to password protected course files for independent learning. Students were provided iPads in the laboratory and access to three software packages for use on and off site. All students had access to multiple formative quizzes and exams, and three new online practice practical exams were created. To help reduce testing anxiety, a pass/fail system replaced categorical grading. However, all written and practical exams were conducted on site and in person. At TTUHSC, we have developed an exam question database to track historical student performance including a 25-question optional pre-block practice exam used to assess incoming student anatomical aptitude. In 2020, 90% of incoming students (93% in 2019) took the pre-block exam and scored an average of 28% (24% in 2019). In 2020, despite vastly different content delivery approaches (>80% of lectures were on Zoom) and reduced in-person dissection requirements, students modestly outperformed their 2019 counterparts. Overall exam averages were 89% in 2020 compared to 87% in 2019. If a categorical system was in place, 66% of students would have earned Honors or High Pass in 2020 compared to 61% in 2019. Our formative assessments were highly predictive of summative exam performance, and students reported that they reduced exam stress. Furthermore, summative exam averages correlated strongly with NBME performance (p<0.0001, r =0.63). TTUHSC medical students estimated that a majority of their peers at other medical schools did not have any in person dissection in 2020. Our students ranked in person laboratory dissection as the most useful learning activity, 88% reported that our COVID-19 preparations were very good to outstanding, and 97% were satisfied with the quality of their anatomy education. We conclude that 1) When using appropriate precautions, in person cadaveric anatomy can be taught safely during a pandemic;2) cadaveric dissection is essential for mastery of anatomical concepts;and 3) coupling online learning modalities with rigorous formative assessments prevented a modest reduction in cadaveric dissection opportunities from negatively impacting student performance. 2.
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Objectives: The objective of the School Transition After Traumatic Brain Injury (STATBI) project is to rigorously evaluate the impact of BrainSTEPS, a formal return-to-school (RTS) program, on academic, social, and health outcomes for students in grades K-12 who have experienced TBI of any severity, compared to students who have no formal RTS programming. In 2020, the study shifted to examine the effects of COVID-related educational changes on students who experienced a TBI prior to the pandemic. Methods: STATBI uses a mixed method, cohort-controlled research design. The IRB-approved protocol includes electronic survey administration and virtual interviews with parents and children. The data included in this presentation is crosssectional, although the full STATBI protocol is longitudinal. Measures include standardized assessments of executive function, participation, social, and cognitive abilities, in addition to semi-structured interviews with parents, students, teachers, and BrainSTEPS team members. Between 11/2020 and 1/ 2021, 250 families were invited to participate in this portion of the study. Results: Of the 46 families that completed majority of the protocol, the average student age was 14.2 years (SD = 3.3). The sample included students with mild (n = 19), moderate (n = 12), and severe (n = 13) TBI. The average age at injury was 11.8 years (SD = 4.3) and average time since injury was 2.7 years (SD = 2.1). A total of 44 families completed the COVID questionnaire with 6.8% (n = 3) reporting that their students had been diagnosed with COVID, though none required hospitalization. Students with COVID missed 5 or more days of school. 13.6% (n = 6) of families reported a household family member having a diagnosis of COVID. Most families reported that their students were attending school in either a hybrid model (40.9%, n = 18) or fully remote (45.5%, n = 20). Families reported the following areas of accommodation were needed: physical accommodations (25%, n = 11), learning/thinking (36.4%, n = 16), and behavioral/social (22.7%, n = 10). Additional interview data regarding COVID, barriers and facilitators of COVID-related school changes for children with TBI, and performance across all measures in the protocol are currently being analyzed and will be available by the time of presentation. Conclusions: The STATBI project is unique in its focus on RTS for youth with TBI, and this data is particularly pertinent as it highlights the impact of COVID-related school changes on students who experienced a TBI prior to the beginning of the pandemic. Our sample included many students who reported having mild injuries but who continued to have academic needs that warranted a referral to the BrainSTEPS program. Majority of the enrolled participants were engaged in school via hybrid or remote options with a consistent minority requiring academic supports. Implications of COVID-related school changes on students with TBI based on data collected during the first - unique and challenging - year of a longitudinal study will be discussed.
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Background: COVID 19 pandemic has almost curtailed the traditional classroom teaching of the medical students. In order to fulfill the educational needs of the medical students and to complete their prescribed syllabi, most of the Medical institutions have adopted online teaching using various online teaching platforms. In this study we intended to know the perception of students regarding online education and various attributes which could make the online learning more effective and successful. Aim: The study aimed to determine the attitude and perception of medical undergraduate students towards online learning and to study the advantages and disadvantages of online learning. Settings and design: A cross sectional study was conducted in a private medical institute among the undergraduate medical students Methods and material: After taking Ethical Approval from the Institutional Ethical Committee, the study was carried out among the undergraduate MBBS students of tertiary care institute. Study was conducted by distributing the online questionnaire to the students. The questionnaire was circulated amongst the medical students through Google forms and the students were asked to answer them with a single most appropriate response. Statistical Analysis: Data was analysed using SPSS software version 18.0.Chi-square tests was used to find association of gender and year of MBBS with perception of students towards online learning. Results: A total of 239 medical students participated in the questionnaire survey of all the phases of MBBS. The students underwent their regular academic sessions through online teaching. Out of 239, 125 were female students and 114 students were male. Most of the students are comfortable with smart phone(n=185), 52 were using laptops and 29 use tabs for online teaching.95 students from phase 1,79 students from phase 2 and 65 students from phase 3 participated in the study. Conclusion: The study showed that e-learning is the effective method in teaching medical students. Majority of the students has positive perception towards e-learning. However there are also some limitations of e-learning and effective strategies should be made to overcome the limitations.
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Introductory hands-on courses such as our smartphone-based coding course, SuaCode require a lot of support for students to accomplish learning goals. Online environments make it even more difficult to get assistance especially more recently because of COVID-19. Given the multilingual context of SuaCode students—learners across 42 African countries that are mostly Anglophone or Francophone—in this work, we developed a bilingual Artificial Intelligence (AI) Teaching Assistant (TA)—Kwame—that provides answers to students’ coding questions from SuaCode courses in English and French. Kwame is a Sentence-BERT (SBERT)-based question-answering (QA) system that we trained and evaluated offline using question-answer pairs created from the course’s quizzes, lesson notes and students’ questions in past cohorts. Kwame finds the paragraph most semantically similar to the question via cosine similarity. We compared the system with TF-IDF and Universal Sentence Encoder. Our results showed that fine-tuning on the course data and returning the top 3 and 5 answers improved the accuracy results. Kwame will make it easy for students to get quick and accurate answers to questions in SuaCode courses. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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BACKGROUND: The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic is great not only on general health but also on regular learning worldwide. AIM: This study analyzed medical undergraduate students’ feedback about online education at Taif University during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Five hundred undergraduate medical students from the four medical colleges at Taif University participated in the current study. They were requested to give their feedback about online medical education through an online questionnaire. The questionnaire was prepared and administered to the medical students at different academic levels through Google forms. The current study is a cross-sectional study. RESULTS: The respondents who can ask questions during e-classes were significantly higher than those who had not this opportunity. A significantly higher number of students reported that the shared material was useful. In addition, the study results indicated significantly poor student-teacher interaction during the e-classes. Finally, about 231 of the respondents (46.2%) preferred physical classes over e-classes and 140 of respondents (28%) preferred online classes over physical classes, and the remaining number, 129 (25.8%), mentioned that online and conventional education are both the same. CONCLUSION: Most students said that conventional education is better than online education. The combination of online and formal education can be implemented after the COVID-19 pandemic to satisfy all parties.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to far-reaching restrictions of social and professional life, affecting societies all over the world. To contain the virus, medical colleges had to restructure their curriculum by switching to online learning. This study was conducted to find out the faculty’s perception about these live online classes conducted for 1st year MBBS students in lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic in India. This is questionnaire-based study. Questions were prepared with help of Google forms. The google forms were sent to 90 faculties of different medical colleges. Faculties were involved in online teaching classes during COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period. Questions asked to the faculties regarding online teaching included various E learning tools and methods used, teachers perspective on advantages and disadvantages of E learning. Methods used for online classes were Zoom, Google classroom, Live webex, Whatsapp group, discussion, Telegram App, Microsoft Teams, Skype. Advantages of online classes were its best alternative for physical mode classes, Ability to stay at home in pandemic, Comfortable surroundings, Teacher centered teaching. Disadvantages of online classes were technical problems, Lack of Student –Teacher interaction, Lack of proper students assessment, Difficult to demonstrate practicals, Lack of Students Discipline. E-learning is a powerful tool for teaching medical students. However, successful implementation of online learning into the curriculum requires a well-thought-out strategy and a more active approach.