Teachers' role in digitalizing education: an umbrella review.

As teachers are central to digitalizing education, we summarize 40 years of research on their role in that process within a systematic umbrella review that includes 23 systematic reviews with a total of 1062 primary studies focusing technology integration and aspects of digital literacy. Our findings highlight the international acceptance of the TPACK framework as well as the need for a clear concept of digital literacy. It is unique that we identify and discuss parallels in developing teachers' digital literacy and integrating digital technologies in the teaching profession as well as barriers to those goals. We conclude by suggesting future directions for research and describing the implications for schools, teacher education, and institutions providing professional development to in-service teachers.Kindly check and confirm whether the corresponding author is correctly identified.Olivia Wohlfart is correctly identified as corresponding author.

[Holistic school development in the implementation of educational technologies in times of digital transformation-a case study on the self-evaluation tool SELFIE]. / Ganzheitliche Schulentwicklung zur Implementierung von Educational Technologies in Zeiten der digitalen Transformation ­ eine Case-Study zum Selbstevaluationstool SELFIE.

The digital transformation is increasingly shaping the education system and school development. In this context, the implementation of educational technologies in schools and classrooms plays a critical role. In systemic terms, this is a school development task that involves sustainable and continuous changes at all levels of school and poses (new) challenges for the groups of school stakeholders. In addition to the development of organizational, teaching and personnel dimensions, this also requires changes in the technology and cooperation mechanisms specific to the needs of individual schools. By means of a case study, this study analyzes the implementation and execution of the self-evaluation tool SELFIE at a school using a multimethodological approach. The results of the self-evaluation (n = 265) as well as findings from multi-episodic interviews (n = 11) with various school actors are presented and interpreted in consideration of the school development dimensions. In the discussion, SELFIE is first critically reflected as an eligible digital tool for self-evaluation in relation to the implementation of educational technologies. Second, its effects on the school development dimensions are discussed. Finally, an outlook on the potentials as well as critical challenges of SELFIE with regard to school development for research and practice is given.

Effects of Different Types of High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) on Endurance and Strength Parameters in Children and Adolescents.

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) promises high training effects on aerobic fitness in children, adolescents and adults in a relatively short time. It is therefore well-established in professional training settings. HIIT methods could also be suited to Physical Education (P.E.) lessons and contribute to students' health and fitness. Since HIIT sessions need little time and equipment, they can be efficiently implemented in P.E. However, there are few studies which have examined non-running-based HIIT programs in the school sport setting. We therefore conducted an intervention study including 121 students aged 11−15 attending a secondary school in Baden Württemberg, Germany. The effects of three different forms of HIIT training varying in duration and content (4 × 4 HIIT, 12 × 1 HIIT, CIRCUIT) were analyzed. The training was conducted twice a week over 6 weeks (10−12 sessions). Strength and endurance performances were determined in pre- and posttests prior to and after the intervention. Results verified that all three HIIT programs led to significant improvements in aerobic fitness (p < 0.001; part ŋ2 = 0.549) with no significant interaction between time x group. In contrast to the running-based HIIT sessions, CIRCUIT training also led to significant improvements in all of the measured strength parameters. Retrospectively, students were asked to assess their perception of the training intervention. The HIIT sessions were well-suited to students who considered themselves as "athletic". Less athletic students found it difficult to reach the necessary intensity levels. The evaluation showed that endurance training conducted in P.E. lessons needs a variety of different contents in order to sufficiently motivate students. Students perceiving themselves as "unathletic" may need additional support to reach the required intensities of HIIT. Circuit training sessions using whole-body drills can be efficiently implemented in the P.E. setting and contribute to students' health and fitness.

Causes, prevention, and interventions regarding classroom disruptions in digital teaching: A systematic review.

Digitization and the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic are accelerating the use of digital tools in teaching. Therefore, this systematic literature review offers an overview of international studies with a particular focus on classroom disruptions and their causes, as well as on prevention and intervention strategies in digital settings. Selecting out of over 700 published articles from the last 20 years, the results show that, although the research on classroom management in general is numerous, the connection between digitization and classroom disruptions has received little attention so far. Studies of different methodological orientations have been conducted, but strongly teacher-focused. Also, there are conceptual inaccuracies leading to a variety of different findings and interpretations. Thus, this article provides a definition of the term digital teaching and critically discusses the classification of new findings, their emplacement in existing research, as well as their potential to expand existing models. Furthermore, the results summarize causes of disruptions in digital teaching, their possible prevention and intervention strategies.

The unique effects of Covid-19 - A qualitative study of the factors that influence teachers' acceptance and usage of digital tools.

The objective of this study is to examine the factors that influence teachers' acceptance of digital tools for undertaking distance teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the variables of the technology acceptance model, we have conducted interviews with 15 secondary school teachers with varying degrees of professional experiences and combinations of subjects, from the federal state of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Germany and analyzed the same. The results indicate that, other than user motivation, three areas, namely "regulations and specifications," "technological infrastructure," and "heterogeneity of students and teachers," affect the adoption of digital tools. The Covid-19 pandemic, which inevitably led teachers to embrace digital tools, positively influenced the perception and immediate usefulness of digital tools. We assert that no other variable would have been able to universally influence technology usage and acceptance to such an extent as to replicate the findings of our study and simultaneously highlight the uniqueness of the current situation and the necessity for examining its impact.

Factors of influence upon overall survival in the treatment of intracranial MPNSTs. Review of the literature and report of a case.

BACKGROUND: Intracranial malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors are rare entities that carry a poor prognosis. To date, there are no established therapeutic strategies for these tumors. METHODS: We review the present treatment modalities and present the current therapeutic dilemmas. We perform a statistical analysis to evaluate the prognostic factors for Overall Survival of these patients. Additionally, we present our experience with a 64-year-old man with a MPNST of the left cerebellopontine angle. RESULTS: To our best knowledge, forty three patients with intracranial MPNSTs, including our case, have been published in the international literature. Our analysis showed gross total resection, radiotherapy and female gender to be beneficial prognostic factors of survival in the univariate analysis. Gross total resection was recognized as the only independent predictor of prolonged Overall Survival. In our case, we performed a gross total resection followed for the first time by stereotactically guided radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: Considering the results of the statistical analysis and the known advantages of the stereotaxy, we suggest aggressive surgery followed by stereotactically guided radiotherapy as therapy of choice.

Ex vivo evaluation of force data and tissue elasticity for robot-assisted FESS.

The objective of this study was to describe and evaluate soft tissue and bone properties of nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses in ex vivo preparations for a safe robot-assisted endoscope movement during functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS). In a first experiment we measured forces exerted by the endoscope during FESS with a force/torque sensor. In a second experiment we used a purpose built device to exert forces on chosen tissue structures. The experiment was monitored by a custom software, which records force of the endoscope and the deformation and the breaking point of tissue. All tests were performed on five formalin fixed cadaver heads. In the first experiment we found that the average force during FESS is 2.21 N and the maximal force is 7.96 N. The force-way-ratio measurement shows highest elasticity for the ethmoidal bulla, followed by the lamina papyracea; however, they break at low forces (> or =6 N). Furthermore the carotid canal seems to have the lowest elasticity but it can tolerate forces up to 30 N. Based on these measurements force thresholds can be defined for robot-assisted endoscope guidance. All thresholds have to be assigned to subregions of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.

Analysis of manual segmentation in paranasal CT images.

Manual segmentation is often used for evaluation of automatic or semi-automatic segmentation. The purpose of this paper is to describe the inter and intraindividual variability, the dubiety of manual segmentation as a gold standard and to find reasons for the discrepancy. We realized two experiments. In the first one ten ENT surgeons, ten medical students and one engineer outlined the right maxillary sinus and ethmoid sinuses manually on a standard CT dataset of a human head. In the second experiment two participants outlined maxillary sinus and ethmoid sinuses five times consecutively. Manual segmentation was accomplished with custom software using a line segmentation tool. The first experiment shows the interindividual variability of manual segmentation which is higher for ethmoidal sinuses than for maxillary sinuses. The variability can be caused by the level of experience, different interpretation of the CT data or different levels of accuracy. The second experiment shows intraindividual variability which is lower than interindividual variability. Most variances in both experiments appear during segmentation of ethmoidal sinuses and outlining hiatus semilunaris. Concerning the inter and intraindividual variances the segmentation result of one manual segmenter could not directly be used as gold standard for the evaluation of automatic segmentation algorithms.

Numerical simulation of the casting process of titanium removable partial denture frameworks.

The objective of this work was to study the filling incompleteness and porosity defects in titanium removal partial denture frameworks by means of numerical simulation. Two frameworks, one for lower jaw and one for upper jaw, were chosen according to dentists' recommendation to be simulated. Geometry of the frameworks were laser-digitized and converted into a simulation software (MAGMASOFT). Both mold filling and solidification of the castings with different sprue designs (e.g. tree, ball, and runner-bar) were numerically calculated. The shrinkage porosity was quantitatively predicted by a feeding criterion, the potential filling defect and gas pore sensitivity were estimated based on the filling and solidification results. A satisfactory sprue design with process parameters was finally recommended for real casting trials (four replica for each frameworks). All the frameworks were successfully cast. Through X-ray radiographic inspections it was found that all the castings were acceptably sound except for only one case in which gas bubbles were detected in the grasp region of the frame. It is concluded that numerical simulation aids to achieve understanding of the casting process and defect formation in titanium frameworks, hence to minimize the risk of producing defect casting by improving the sprue design and process parameters.