Project description:Teaching introductory programming courses is not an easy task. Instructors of introductory programming courses are facing many challenges related to the nature of programming, the students' characteristics and the traditional teaching methods that they are using. Blended learning seems to be a promising approach to address these challenges. Many studies concluded that blended learning can be more effective than traditional teaching and can improve students' learning experience. However, the current state of knowledge and practice in applying blended learning to introductory programming courses is limited. In an attempt to begin remedying this gap, this review synthesizes the different blended learning approaches that have been applied in introductory programming courses. It classifies them into five models then discusses the impact of each of these models on the learning experience of novice programmers. It concludes by providing some recommendations for instructors who want to blend their courses as well as some implications for future research.
Project description:AimTo evaluate the effectiveness on educational and resource outcomes of blended compared to non-blended learning approaches for participants undertaking accredited life support courses.MethodsThis review was conducted in adherence with PRISMA standards. We searched EMBASE.com (including all journals listed in Medline), CINAHL and Cochrane from 1 January 2000 to 6 August 2021. Randomised and non-randomised studies were eligible for inclusion. Study screening, data extraction, risk of bias assessment (using RoB2 and ROBINS-I tools), and certainty of evidence evaluation (using GRADE) were all independently performed in duplicate. The systematic review was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022274392).ResultsFrom 2,420 studies, we included data from 23 studies covering fourteen basic life support (BLS) with 2,745 participants, eight advanced cardiac life support (ALS) with 33,579 participants, and one Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) with 92 participants. Blended learning is at least as effective as non-blended learning for participant satisfaction, knowledge, skills, and attitudes. There is potential for cost reduction and eventual net profit in using blended learning despite high set up costs. The certainty of evidence was very low due to a high risk of bias and inconsistency. Heterogeneity across studies precluded any meta-analysis.ConclusionBlended learning is at least as effective as non-blended learning for accredited BLS, ALS, and ATLS courses. Blended learning is associated with significant long term cost savings and thus provides a more efficient method of teaching. Further research is needed to investigate specific delivery methods and the effect of blended learning on other accredited life support courses.
Project description:IntroductionProspective, population-based studies can be rich resources for dementia research. Follow-up in many such studies is through linkage to routinely collected, coded health-care data sets. We evaluated the accuracy of these data sets for dementia case identification.MethodsWe systematically reviewed the literature for studies comparing dementia coding in routinely collected data sets to any expert-led reference standard. We recorded study characteristics and two accuracy measures-positive predictive value (PPV) and sensitivity.ResultsWe identified 27 eligible studies with 25 estimating PPV and eight estimating sensitivity. Study settings and methods varied widely. For all-cause dementia, PPVs ranged from 33%-100%, but 16/27 were >75%. Sensitivities ranged from 21% to 86%. PPVs for Alzheimer's disease (range 57%-100%) were generally higher than those for vascular dementia (range 19%-91%).DiscussionLinkage to routine health-care data can achieve a high PPV and reasonable sensitivity in certain settings. Given the heterogeneity in accuracy estimates, cohorts should ideally conduct their own setting-specific validation.
Project description:IntroductionSexuality is a multifaceted and makes up part of the lives of all individuals.AimTo evaluate the teaching of sexual health to students in the basic cycle of an undergraduate course in medicine.MethodsA descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted using primary data on the teaching of sexual health in the first 4 years of the course. The students were contacted personally and given a self-administrated questionnaire on the teaching of sexual health. The questionnaire was based on studies conducted with physicians and medical students regarding their educational background in sexual health. The degree of satisfaction regarding the learning process was determined using a ten-point scale; on which, a score of 1 to 5 indicated dissatisfaction and of 6 to 10 satisfaction.Main outcome measuresThe main outcome measure was a self-administered questionnaire addressing the teaching of sexual health in the first 4 years and how this knowledge affected relationships with patients.ResultsA total of 216 students answered the questionnaire. Only 27.27% and 22% of the students in the first and second years, respectively, reported having classes related to sexual medicine, whereas 38.1% (third year) and 54.40% (fourth year) had such classes. Regarding satisfaction, the weighted mean was 4.55 and the modes were 5 and 6. In the evaluation of their expectations about learning sexual health, 46 (67.6%) reported feeling non-confident, 18 (26.5%) did not answer the question, and 4 (5.9%) reported feeling confident.ConclusionThis study revealed a gradual progression in the offer of content related to sexual medicine to students throughout the medicine course, with weighted means of 2.6 (first year), 2.82 (second year), 3.58 (third year), and 4.55 (fourth year). However, the findings indicate that the teaching of this subject remains deficient and students feel unsatisfied and unprepared for their future practice of medicine. Teixeira Santos AU, Fava Spessoto LC, Fácio FN. Sexual Health Teaching in Basic Science Courses Among Medical Students. Sex Med 2021;9:100309.
Project description:Although development of critical thinking skills has emerged as an important issue in undergraduate education, implementation of pedagogies targeting these skills across different science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines has proved challenging. Our goal was to assess the impact of targeted interventions in 1) an introductory cell and molecular biology course, 2) an intermediate-level evolutionary ecology course, and 3) an upper-level biochemistry course. Each instructor used Web-based videos to flip some aspect of the course in order to implement active-learning exercises during class meetings. Activities included process-oriented guided-inquiry learning, model building, case studies, clicker-based think-pair-share strategies, and targeted critical thinking exercises. The proportion of time spent in active-learning activities relative to lecture varied among the courses, with increased active learning in intermediate/upper-level courses. Critical thinking was assessed via a pre/posttest design using the Critical Thinking Assessment Test. Students also assessed their own learning through a self-reported survey. Students in flipped courses exhibited gains in critical thinking, with the largest objective gains in intermediate and upper-level courses. Results from this study suggest that implementing active-learning strategies in the flipped classroom may benefit critical thinking and provide initial evidence suggesting that underrepresented and first-year students may experience a greater benefit.
Project description:ObjectiveUser-generated content (UGC) in online environments provides opportunities to learn an individual's health status outside of clinical settings. However, the nature of UGC brings challenges in both data collecting and processing. The purpose of this study is to systematically review the effectiveness of applying machine learning (ML) methodologies to UGC for personal health investigations.Materials and methodsWe searched PubMed, Web of Science, IEEE Library, ACM library, AAAI library, and the ACL anthology. We focused on research articles that were published in English and in peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings between 2010 and 2018. Publications that applied ML to UGC with a focus on personal health were identified for further systematic review.ResultsWe identified 103 eligible studies which we summarized with respect to 5 research categories, 3 data collection strategies, 3 gold standard dataset creation methods, and 4 types of features applied in ML models. Popular off-the-shelf ML models were logistic regression (n = 22), support vector machines (n = 18), naive Bayes (n = 17), ensemble learning (n = 12), and deep learning (n = 11). The most investigated problems were mental health (n = 39) and cancer (n = 15). Common health-related aspects extracted from UGC were treatment experience, sentiments and emotions, coping strategies, and social support.ConclusionsThe systematic review indicated that ML can be effectively applied to UGC in facilitating the description and inference of personal health. Future research needs to focus on mitigating bias introduced when building study cohorts, creating features from free text, improving clinical creditability of UGC, and model interpretability.
Project description:IntroductionOpen Online Courses (OOCs) are increasingly presented as a possible solution to the many challenges of higher education. However, there is currently little evidence available to support decisions around the use of OOCs in health professions education. The aim of this systematic review was to summarise the available evidence describing the features of OOCs in health professions education and to analyse their utility for decision-making using a self-developed framework consisting of point scores around effectiveness, learner experiences, feasibility, pedagogy and economics.MethodsElectronic searches of PubMed, Medline, Embase, PsychInfo and CINAHL were made up to April 2019 using keywords related to OOC variants and health professions. We accepted any type of full text English publication with no exclusions made on the basis of study quality. Data were extracted using a custom-developed, a priori critical analysis framework comprising themes relating to effectiveness, economics, pedagogy, acceptability and learner experience.Results54 articles were included in the review and 46 were of the lowest levels of evidence, and most were offered by institutions based in the United States (n = 11) and United Kingdom (n = 6). Most studies provided insufficient course detail to make any confident claims about participant learning, although studies published from 2016 were more likely to include information around course aims and participant evaluation. In terms of the five categories identified for analysis, few studies provided sufficiently robust evidence to be used in formal decision making in undergraduate or postgraduate curricula.ConclusionThis review highlights a poor state of evidence to support or refute claims regarding the effectiveness of OOCs in health professions education. Health professions educators interested in developing courses of this nature should adopt a critical and cautious position regarding their adoption.
Project description:BACKGROUND: Systematic-review methodologies provide objectivity and transparency to the process of collecting and synthesizing scientific evidence in reaching conclusions on specific research questions. There is increasing interest in applying these procedures to address environmental health questions. OBJECTIVES: The goal was to develop a systematic-review framework to address environmental health questions by extending approaches developed for clinical medicine to handle the breadth of data relevant to environmental health sciences (e.g., human, animal, and mechanistic studies). METHODS: The Office of Health Assessment and Translation (OHAT) adapted guidance from authorities on systematic-review and sought advice during development of the OHAT Approach through consultation with technical experts in systematic review and human health assessments, as well as scientific advisory groups and the public. The method was refined by considering expert and public comments and through application to case studies. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Here we present a seven-step framework for systematic review and evidence integration for reaching hazard identification conclusions: 1) problem formulation and protocol development, 2) search for and select studies for inclusion, 3) extract data from studies, 4) assess the quality or risk of bias of individual studies, 5) rate the confidence in the body of evidence, 6) translate the confidence ratings into levels of evidence, and 7) integrate the information from different evidence streams (human, animal, and "other relevant data" including mechanistic or in vitro studies) to develop hazard identification conclusions. CONCLUSION: The principles of systematic review can be successfully applied to environmental health questions to provide greater objectivity and transparency to the process of developing conclusions.
Project description:BACKGROUND:While the application of learning analytics in tertiary education has received increasing attention in recent years, a much smaller number have explored its use in health care-related educational studies. OBJECTIVE:This systematic review aims to examine the use of e-learning analytics data in health care studies with regards to how the analytics is reported and if there is a relationship between e-learning analytics and learning outcomes. METHODS:We performed comprehensive searches of papers from 4 electronic databases (MEDLINE, EBSCOhost, Web of Science, and ERIC) to identify relevant papers. Qualitative studies were excluded from this review. Papers were screened by 2 independent reviewers. We selected qualified studies for further investigation. RESULTS:A total of 537 papers were screened, and 19 papers were identified. With regards to analytics undertaken, 11 studies reported the number of connections and time spent on e-learning. Learning outcome measures were defined by summative final assessment marks or grades. In addition, significant statistical results of the relationships between e-learning usage and learning outcomes were reported in 12 of the identified papers. In general, students who engaged more in e-learning resources would get better academic attainments. However, 2 papers reported otherwise with better performing students consuming less e-learning videos. A total of 14 papers utilized satisfaction questionnaires for students, and all were positive in their attitude toward e-learning. Furthermore, 6 of 19 papers reported descriptive statistics only, with no statistical analysis. CONCLUSIONS:The nature of e-learning activities reported in this review was varied and not detailed well. In addition, there appeared to be inadequate reporting of learning analytics data observed in over half of the selected papers with regards to definitions and lack of detailed information of what the analytic was recording. Although learning analytics data capture is popular, a lack of detail is apparent with regards to the capturing of meaningful and comparable data. In particular, most analytics record access to a management system or particular e-learning materials, which may not necessarily detail meaningful learning time or interaction. Hence, learning analytics data should be designed to record the time spent on learning and focus on key learning activities. Finally, recommendations are made for future studies.
Project description:Student anxiety is a growing concern for colleges and universities. As science classrooms transition from traditional lecture to active learning, researchers have sought to understand how active learning affects undergraduate anxiety. However, although community colleges educate nearly half of all undergraduates, no studies have explored the relationship between anxiety and active learning in the context of community college science courses. In this study, we interviewed 29 students enrolled across nine community colleges in the southwestern United States to probe factors that increase and decrease their anxiety in active-learning science courses. Using inductive coding, we identified a set of common factors that affect community college student anxiety in active learning. We found that community college student anxiety decreased when students perceived that active-learning activities enhanced their learning by providing them with multiple ways of learning or the opportunity to learn from others. We also identified fear of negative evaluation as the primary construct underlying student anxiety in active learning and described factors that mediated students' fear of negative evaluation in the community college science classroom. This work highlights how instructors can create more inclusive active-learning science classrooms by reducing student anxiety during active-learning instruction.