A meme-based approach for enhancing student engagement and learning in renal physiology.

As educators around the world are exploring new approaches to keep students involved in remote learning during the pandemic, we investigated the utility of memes in promoting engagement in the online environment. Medical students enrolled in a human physiology course at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sohar, Oman were provided with an option to create memes related to the learning outcomes in renal physiology. One hundred forty-six of 280 students chose to create memes (52%), and the remaining students chose to submit either a labeled diagram or a concept map. Students uploaded their work in the discussion forum of the learning management system. All students enrolled in the course were given an opportunity for interaction with the uploaded content by commenting and upvoting thereafter. Students were requested to give anonymous feedback on their experience specifically on the activity related to memes. Feedback received from 142 of 280 students through anonymous comments was subjected to thematic analysis. Based on the analysis of the data, we found that memes elicited interest in the topic, facilitated peer interaction, simplified complex ideas, enhanced retention of associated concepts, and fostered a positive learning environment.

Switching from face-to-face to an online teaching strategy: how anatomy and physiology teaching transformed post-COVID-19 for a university preprofessional program.

The College of Science and Health Professions offers a university preprofessional program. Like most medical schools in Saudi Arabia, the teaching delivery strategy in the university preprofessional program is on campus and face-to-face. During the month of March 2020, teaching activities of the spring semester were proceeding as normal; however, the sudden emergence of COVID-19 disturbed routine activities and compelled authorities to switch all teaching activities from face-to-face to online. Training sessions and workshops for all stakeholders on online delivery methods were arranged. Blackboard and other online facilities were utilized. All teaching materials, including newly made video clips for anatomy and physiology practicals, were uploaded on Blackboard and discussed online with students. Students' anxiety related to the exam was reassured by giving them the option of open book quizzes during summative continuous assessment. All scheduled teaching sessions, lectures, and practicals were conducted proficiently. Revision sessions and assessment quizzes were conducted with students' satisfaction. At the end of the semester, a final exam was conducted online as an open book exam. Students with technical issues while attempting the exam were given an opportunity to make up for it. After a successful final exam, the cumulative block grades showed students secured higher grades in the open book exam. Following that, the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences has managed to conduct on-campus close book exams that abide by self-distancing and standard operating procedure policies.

Flipped teaching eased the transition from face-to-face teaching to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Rice University canceled classes for the week of March 9-13, 2020 and shifted all instruction to online only following spring break. For the second half of the semester, animal physiology was taught exclusively over Zoom. Here we describe how a flipped teaching format that was used before the pandemic eased the transition from face-to-face teaching to online instruction. The preclass preparation resources and the active learning materials that were already in place for flipped teaching were helpful in the transition to solely online teaching. Therefore, the focus during the transition was to reconfigure active learning and examinations from the face-to-face format to the online platform. Instead of small group discussions in the classroom, teams interacted in Zoom Breakout Rooms. Rather than taking exams in-person during scheduled class time, students submitted exams online. Additionally, students prerecorded their project presentations instead of presenting them "live" during the last week of classes. Overall, students felt that the class smoothly transitioned to a remote only format. These and other changes to the instructional methods will be implemented during the Spring 2021 semester when the course is taught fully online.

International educators' attitudes, experiences, and recommendations after an abrupt transition to remote physiology laboratories.

The COVID-19 pandemic triggered university lockdowns, forcing physiology educators to rapidly pivot laboratories into a remote delivery format. This study documents the experiences of an international group of 10 physiology educators surrounding this transition. They wrote reflective narratives, framed by guiding questions, to answer the research question: "What were the changes to physiology laboratories in response to the COVID-19 pandemic?" These narratives probed educators' attitudes toward virtual laboratories before, during, and after the transition to remote delivery. Thematic analysis of the reflections found that before COVID-19 only a few respondents had utilized virtual laboratories and most felt that virtual laboratories could not replace the in-person laboratory experience. In response to university lockdowns, most respondents transitioned from traditional labs to remote formats within a week or less. The most common remote delivery formats were commercially available online physiology laboratories, homemade videos, and sample experimental data. The main challenges associated with the rapid remote transition included workload and expertise constraints, disparities in online access and workspaces, issues with academic integrity, educator and student stress, changes in learning outcomes, and reduced engagement. However, the experience generated opportunities including exploration of unfamiliar technologies, new collaborations, and revisiting the physiology laboratory curriculum and structure. Most of the respondents reported planning on retaining some aspects of the remote laboratories postpandemic, particularly with a blended model of remote and on-campus laboratories. This study concludes with recommendations for physiology educators as to how they can successfully develop and deliver remote laboratories.

Relating human physiology content to COVID-19: a strategy to keep students in touch with physiology in times of social distance due to pandemic.

In 2020 universities had to quickly implement remote education alternatives as a result of the social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. To keep students engaged with the university, we implemented a teaching-learning model that relates physiology contents to the COVID-19 pandemic using online educational platforms. A 1-mo web course was proposed for health sciences students from the Federal University of Pampa. It included synchronous meetings twice a week and asynchronous activities using scientific articles, case studies, and interactive online tools. The students approved the methodology developed, assessing it as dynamic and innovative. They reported that the activity helped to better understand the relations between COVID-19 and physiological systems. The web course also contributed to the identification of reliable sources of news and stimulated the sharing of scientific content with their families. We concluded that the use of online platforms contextualizing the physiology content considering current events helps students in learning human physiology and improves their abilities to apply this information to their daily life, in this specific case, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adaptive strategies to conduct participant-centric structured virtual group discussions for postgraduate students in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the wake of COVID-19, the postgraduate activities in physiology were shifted from live (face-to-face teaching) to virtual mode. This transition posed a challenge to postgraduate students and faculty moderators, especially for participant-centric group discussion, wherein face-to-face interaction contributes significantly to active learner engagement. To bridge the gap between live group discussion (GD) and virtual GD in the conventional format (VGD), we implemented an innovative yet feasible multistep approach of conducting structured virtual group discussion (sVGD). It involved priming of students during the preparatory phase and incorporation of the Tuckman model of group dynamics, which consists of sequential substages of forming, storming, norming, and performing into the virtual format. Unsupervised synchronous and asynchronous, as well as supervised synchronous interactions within and in between the minigroups in a structured way, led to active engagement of students with one another and the moderator, despite the constraints imposed by the virtual format. After establishing the feasibility of the approach during the first GD (sVGD-1), sVGD-2 was conducted, further refining the approach, and feedback was obtained from the postgraduate students. Pre-GD feedback revealed that the live session was preferred over virtual for the conduct of GD, whereas both live GD and sVGD were perceived to be more effective than VGD in the post-GD feedback. Such pedagogical innovations may also help to address the challenges posed in traditional teaching across the undergraduate and postgraduate courses in medical education and beyond during such unforeseeable circumstances.

Benefits behind barriers in physiology education.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced academics to switch to online teaching whether they were prepared or not. The speed and enthusiasm with which educators embraced online teaching suggest that challenges change the perspective for the better. The teaching challenges with the current coronavirus situation mimic the poliovirus attack Dr. Arthur C. Guyton encountered. Dr. Guyton was forced to switch his career from becoming a cardiovascular surgeon to a physiology educator and a researcher. His immense contributions to the field of physiology is an example of how challenges can bring benefits. Flipped teaching has been gaining attention among educators because of its ability to engage students in learning. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed educators to adopt this instructional design based on its conduciveness to technology, as well as its blend of both asynchronous and synchronous components of online teaching. Just like Dr. Guyton's enormous impact on medical education and research in spite of the challenges he faced, we must be creative during this pandemic through innovative teaching methods, which will serve as a gift for the future of physiology education.

Student assessment of online tools to foster engagement during the COVID-19 quarantine.

As a result of the installation of the COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 19) pandemic, online education has become an important teaching alternative, and new challenges about how to teach were found. Here we report our experience in offering an online course to review Human Physiology. We proposed synchronous and asynchronous activities using different online tools to address topics considered key to understanding the different systems of human physiology. The students considered important the use of this type of methodology, which uses different online tools to help understand the Human Physiology contents. The students highlighted the use of the Lt platform, Zoom, Mentimeter, and YouTube as the preferred online tools to use in physiology learning.

Tackling acid-base disorders, one Twitter poll at a time.

Understanding and interpretation of acid-base disorders is an important clinical skill that is applicable to the majority of physicians. Although this topic is taught early in medical school, acid-base disturbances have been described as challenging by postgraduate trainees. We describe the use of Twitter, an online microblogging platform, to augment education in acid-base disturbances by using polls in which the user is shown laboratory values and then asked to select the most likely etiology of the disorder. The answer and a brief explanation are then shared in a subsequent tweet. Both polling questions and answers are shared from the account for the online, mobile-optimized, nephrology teaching tool NephSIM (https://www.nephsim.com/). An anonymous survey was administered to assess attitudes toward these polls. Using Twitter as an approach to enhance teaching of acid-base disturbances was both feasible and an engaging way to teach a challenging topic for trainees and physicians. Moreover, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has demonstrated the importance of incorporating virtual learning opportunities in all levels of medical education.

Smartphone-assisted experimentation as a didactic strategy to maintain practical lessons in remote education: alternatives for physiology education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online and distance education may be dismissed by educators who argue that these methods are not equivalent to traditional face-to-face education due to the lack of laboratory classes. However, smartphone-assisted experimentation is an innovative and powerful didactic tool that helps educators in the teaching process of physiology, particularly in situations with a lack of financial support for purchasing laboratory equipment, or lack of support for homework and assignments, distance learning courses, and emergency remote education, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, we present the concept of the mobile learning laboratory (MobLeLab), which is a collection of smartphone applications that allow scientific data collection, such as physiological variables, for educational purposes. The three types of MobLeLabs (simulators, built-in, and plug-in) are presented, as well as ideas on how to use smartphone sensors to collect physiological data. Additionally, we elaborate on the principles of the protocols for physiology education with MobLeLabs and discuss their importance to fostering scientific method reasoning by students.

Opportunistic physiology: inserting physiology and pathophysiology content into virtually delivered clinical rotations.

It is important to reinforce physiology and pathophysiology concepts during clinical rotations, which traditionally occur after the foundational sciences in the US medical school system. We took an opportunistic approach when the COVID-19 pandemic forced our content into virtual delivery mode, as clinical medical education required a shift to nonpatient contact. We describe our experience in building a 2-wk course that consisted of online small groups during week 1 and panels and cases during week 2. The physiology content involved faculty-vetted resources, along with both discrete and open-ended focus questions for each learning objective. The course also included mechanical ventilation, and the physiologist utilized discussion points and developed a formative quiz to emphasize the physiology correlates, in addition to the very clinical aspects of mechanical ventilation. There were pathophysiology opportunities with pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, systemic inflammatory response syndrome, and multiple-organ system dysfunction among the clinical correlates. Review and recall of the foundational sciences occurred, allowing links between the pre-clerkship and clerkship years that were previously undiscovered in our institution. This virtually delivered medical curriculum related to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and COVID-19 is timely, carries high student interest, and can benefit medical students and the communities they serve.

Zooming past the coronavirus lockdown: online spirometry practical demonstration with student involvement in analysis by remote control.

This paper describes the process involved in conducting an online spirometry practical through Zoom. The teacher demonstrated the practical from the medical school, and the students observed the procedure from the comfort of their own homes. Students were able to analyze the graphs captured in the teacher's laptop by remotely controlling the teacher's laptop. This method may be useful for places where face-to-face classes are suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.