ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has had vast effects on the concept of education as a whole. During the pandemic, students had no access to physical teaching practices, which had been adapted worldwide as the principal way of education since the 1800's. Due to the restrictions imposed to garner safety from the spread of the virus, this methodology had to be modified based on the situation at hand. Alternatives through the usage of Virtual Learning Platforms (VLP), Online Tutoring Platforms (OTP), Web Conferencing Platforms (WCP) and multiple assessment tools like plagiarism checker, poll sites, quiz platforms, online proctored examinations (OPE) started gaining popularity among all institutes to cope with the limitations levied. The technologies molded a path for student-teacher interaction, performance assessments, document sharing and online tutoring. This research highlights the lack of online tutoring equipment, educators' limited expertise with online learning, the knowledge gap, a inimical atmosphere for independent study, equity, and academic success in postsecondary learning. The goal of this review is to present an overview of available technologies for online teaching that can be used to improve the quality of education during COVID-19. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
The initiation of restrictive measures throughout the Russian Federation in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, as well as the inability of courts to function as usual, demonstrated a high need to improve judicial activity in terms of the use of modern information technologies. On the one hand, the impossibility of holding court hearings and performing other procedural actions in connection with the ban on visiting court buildings by the participants in the process entailed the suspension / postponement of court proceedings in most cases (except for those that were classified as urgent), on the other hand it stimulated a quick response to the current situation in the form of the creation of new online judicial services. The author analyses the peculiarities of holding a court session by using a web conference, highlights the advantages, and indicates the existing risks. In the course of the study the author comes to the conclusion that the emergence of the possibility of holding court sessions through web conferences made it possible to optimize the activities of the courts and ensure the prompt access of individuals to the performance of certain procedural actions in an electronic and remote format, which is definitely the future of the judicial system. The need for these transformations is unconditional. Research contribution: the mechanism for conducting court sessions in the online format should be provided for in the relevant regulatory legal act, in which both procedural and technological solutions should be fixed. Without proper legislative regulation, it is impossible to fully ensure access to justice and guarantee the observance of the rights of persons participating in a court session via a web conference. © 2021 ACM.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: With the global proliferation of the novel COVID-19 disease, conventionally conducting institutional review board (IRB) meetings has become a difficult task. Amid concerns about the suspension of drug development due to delays within IRBs, it has been suggested that IRB meetings should be temporarily conducted via the internet. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to elucidate the current status of IRB meetings conducted through web conference systems. METHODS: A survey on conducting IRB meetings through web conference systems was administered to Japanese national university hospitals. Respondents were in charge of operating IRB offices at different universities. This study was not a randomized controlled trial. RESULTS: The survey was performed at 42 facilities between the end of May and early June, 2020, immediately after the state of emergency was lifted in Japan. The survey yielded a response rate of 74% (31/42). Additionally, while 68% (21/31) of facilities introduced web conference systems for IRB meetings, 13% (4/31) of the surveyed facilities postponed IRB meetings. Therefore, we conducted a further survey of 21 facilities that implemented web conference systems for IRB meetings. According to 71% (15/21) of the respondents, there was no financial burden for implementing these systems, as they were free of charge. In 90% (19/21) of the facilities, IRB meetings through web conference systems were already being conducted with personal electronic devices. Furthermore, in 48% (10/21) of facilities, a web conference system was used in conjunction with face-to-face meetings. CONCLUSIONS: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of reviews in clinical trial core hospitals has decreased. This suggests that the development of pharmaceuticals has stagnated because of COVID-19. According to 71% (15/21) of the respondents who conducted IRB meetings through web conference systems, the cost of introducing such meetings was US $0, showing a negligible financial burden. Moreover, it was shown that online deliberations could be carried out in the same manner as face-to-face meetings, as 86% (18/21) of facilities stated that the number of comments made by board members did not change. To improve the quality of IRB meetings conducted through web conference systems, it is necessary to further examine camera use and the content displayed on members' screens during meetings. Further examination of all members who use web conference systems is required. Our measures for addressing the requests and problems identified in our study could potentially be considered protocols for future IRB meetings, when the COVID-19 pandemic has passed and face-to-face meetings are possible again. This study also highlights the importance of developing web conference systems for IRB meetings to respond to future unforeseen pandemics.