Project description:IntroductionMedical students' attendance at lectures, particularly in the preclinical years, has been steadily declining over the years. One of the many explanations offered for this observation is that students have different learning styles and approaches, such that not all of them benefit from attending lectures; however, no studies have specifically examined this possibility. While there is evidence against learning styles as affecting objective measures of learning, they are associated with subjective measures of learning and may therefore influence student behavior. We hypothesized that students' learning styles and/or approaches influence their views about the value and purpose of lectures and their motivation to attend them, which, in turn will affect their behavior.Materials and methodsA LimeSurvey was distributed to all preclinical students at the American University of Beirut. The survey included questions about demographic data, self-reported attendance rates in Year 1 of medical school, two validated and standardized questionnaires assessing the students' learning styles (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, group, individual) and learning approaches (superficial, deep, strategic), and a series of questions exploring the students' views about the purpose and value of lectures and their motivation to attend lectures.ResultsNo associations were found between learning styles or approaches and attendance rates, but this may have been confounded by the mandatory attendance policy at the time. There were, however, a few positive associations between some learning styles or approaches and the students' views about the value of attending lectures. In particular, students with high scores as auditory learners tended to see absolutely no value in attending lectures, and those with high scores as group, auditory or visual learners, tended to see less value in taking their own notes in lectures. Students with superficial approaches to learning felt that watching videos of a lecture provides equivalent education to attending a lecture. There were no statistically significant associations with either the perceived purpose of lectures or the motivation to attend lectures after correction for multiple testing.ConclusionsThis study reveals that except for some interesting findings related to auditory learners, differences in learning styles or approaches among students cannot adequately explain differences in their attitudes, and likely, behavior, regarding lecture attendance. The idea that learning styles and approaches can influence educational preferences and outcomes, while attractive and intuitive, continues to require supporting evidence.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01362-3.
Project description:Introduction:Triage is the process of determining the priority of patients' treatments based on the severity of their conditions. The aim of the present study was to survey the effect of triage video podcasting on the knowledge and performance of pre-hospital students. Methods:Sixty pre-hospital students were randomly divided into two groups of a 30-subject control group and a 30-subject intervention group. A pre-test was administered among all students. Afterwards, for the first group, triage education was offered through lectures using PowerPoint, while for the second group, audio and video podcasts tailored for this training program were employed. Right after the training as well as one month later, post-tests were run for both groups, and the results were analysed using an independent t-test and covariance. Results:No significant difference was observed between the effects of both types of education on knowledge and performance, either immediately, or one month after training. Discussion:We suggest that video podcasts are ready to replace traditional teaching methods in triage.
Project description:This position paper presents the Microbiology in Nursing and Allied Health (MINAH) Undergraduate Curriculum Guidelines (Appendix 1) that were developed by a committee effort of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). These guidelines differ from the 2012 General Microbiology Undergraduate Curriculum Guidelines presented by a separate ASM taskforce. The fact that some U.S. nursing programs are eliminating microbiology courses from their curriculum prompted the development of curriculum guidelines focused on nursing and allied health. Here we review: 1) factors that have shifted microbiology's place in health professions curricula (with a focus on nursing associate degree programs); 2) resources to support microbiology's inclusion in nursing and allied health programs; and 3) recommendations for maintaining microbiology as a full course (lecture and laboratory) in nursing and allied health undergraduate curricula.
Project description:Declining lecture attendance has been an ongoing concern for educators involved in undergraduate medical education. A survey was developed (a) to gain insight into the reasons students skipped class, (b) to identify the type of study materials they were using, and (c) to determine what they thought would motivate them to come to class. The survey was sent to 317 first-year and second-year medical students, and 145 (45%) responded. Only 63% of first-year students and 53% of second-year students attended any lectures that were not mandatory. The attendance was higher for students who aspired to less competitive specialties such as pediatrics and family medicine. The most popular reasons for not coming to class were related to the efficiency of information intake and instructor or class style. The most heavily used resources (> 60%) were materials or recorded lectures provided by the instructor. The second-year students also heavily used outside study materials for Board exams, such as Pathoma (50%). Students' ideas for what might increase their attendance suggest that they perceive that the lectures may not prepare them for Board exams, and they would like faculty to address Board related content more often in class and on assessments. Respondents also suggested that teaching practices might be improved through faculty development. Faculty awareness of and references to Board exam content, embedded in strong teaching practices, may help students find more value in live lectures. Carefully designed active learning sessions may change students' minds regarding the relevance and value of these sessions.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40670-021-01236-8.
Project description:IntroductionNegative physician attitudes toward people with disabilities create barriers to health care for these individuals. Barriers can include withholding of standard medical and preventive care, provision of inferior treatment, and patient mistrust of the health care system. Thus, preparing medical students to care for people with disabilities is especially important. Educating health care providers early in their careers can shape their interactions while their approach to patients is still deliberate.MethodsWe developed an interactive introductory session for first- and second-year medical students on how to approach individuals with observable disability in clinical settings. In the session, we explored-through a combination of lecture, discussion, and patient perspective-how negative physician behavior can create health care barriers, as well as proposed a framework for approaching patients with disability. We presented this session in two formats: (a) a slide deck with instructions that a presenter can use to deliver the session and (b) a stand-alone video introduction with reflective questions.ResultsThe session was evaluated by 151 first-year medical students, with 79% reporting either somewhat or much more comfort approaching individuals with disability following the session.DiscussionThe integration of patient and physician perspectives, as well as the use of reflective questions, provides the opportunity for students to actively explore reasons for provider discomfort with disability and delineate clinical setting strategies to approach patients with disability.
Project description:Topics related to energy transformation and metabolism are important parts of an undergraduate biology curriculum, but these are also topics that students traditionally struggle with. To address this, we have created a short online Interactive Video Vignette (IVV) called To Ferment or Not to Ferment: That is the Question. This IVV is designed to help students learn important ideas related to cellular respiration and metabolism. Students in various courses across four institutions were assigned the IVV as an out-of-class preinstruction homework assignment. To test the effectiveness of this IVV on student learning, we collected and analyzed data from questions embedded in the IVV, open response reflection questions, and pre- and postassessments from IVV watchers and nonwatchers. Our analysis revealed that students who completed the IVV activity interacted productively with this online tool and made significant learning gains on important topics related to cellular respiration and metabolism. This IVV is freely available via https://www.rit.edu/cos/interactive/MINT for instructors to adopt for class use.
Project description:BackgroundThe effect of availability of lecture recordings on academic outcomes is not clear and it is not known whether these recordings change the association between lecture attendance and academic outcomes. Few surveys of lecture attendance or lecture recordings use by students are linked to academic outcomes. The aims were (i) to determine any association between lecture attendance and academic outcomes for students who had access to lecture recordings, (ii) to determine any association between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes and (iii) to use a survey to determine why students attend lectures and/or access lecture recordings in a course in medical laboratory science.MethodsConsenting students signed in when attending lectures and/or completed an online survey. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated to determine whether there was an association between attending lectures or accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes.ResultsConsent rates were high for both the sign-in (90%) and survey (64%). The main findings were that in 2017 and 2018: (i) the average lecture attendance was 39 and 27%, respectively, (ii) there was no association between lecture attendance and academic outcomes, (iii) there was no association between accessing lecture recordings and academic outcomes. Survey respondents were almost equally divided between those attending lectures weekly, sometimes or not. Reasons for attending lectures included greater perceived learning and interaction with staff and other students, while reasons for not attending related to inconvenience or other commitments. Lecture recordings were accessed to clarify, revise or catch up on content, or as an alternative to attending lectures. One-third of students provided additional feedback on accessing lecture recordings, and the most common themes were 'flexibility' and 'useful'. Lecture slides (PowerPoints), independently of lecture recordings, were used extensively by the students.ConclusionsFrom this study, it does not seem that either lecture attendance or accessing lecture recordings are major determinants of academic outcomes for most students. As students vary in their lecture attendance and use of online resources including lecture recordings and lecture slides, academic staff should continue to provide a range of resources for students.
Project description:PURPOSE:The aim of this study was to confirm the applicability of YouTube as a delivery platform of lecture videos for dental students and to assess their learning attitudes towards the flipped classroom model. METHODS:Learning experiences after using the YouTube platform to deliver preliminary video lectures in a flipped classroom were assessed by 69 second-year students (52 males, 17 females) at Dankook College of Dentistry, Korea, who attended periodontology lectures during 2 consecutive semesters of the 2016 academic year. The instructor uploaded the lecture videos to YouTube before each class. At the end of the second semester, the students were surveyed using a questionnaire devised by the authors. RESULTS:Of the students, 53 (76.8%) always watched the lecture before the class, 48 (69.6%) used their smartphones, and 66 (95.7%) stated that they watched the lectures at home. The majority of the students replied that the video lectures were easier to understand than in-person lectures (82.6%) and that they would like to view the videos again after graduation (73.9%). CONCLUSION:Our results indicate that YouTube is an applicable platform to deliver video lectures and to expose students to increased learning opportunities.
Project description:Scientific practices are the skills used to develop scientific knowledge and are essential for careers in science. Despite calls from education and government agencies to cultivate scientific practices, there remains little evidence of how often students are asked to apply them in undergraduate courses. We analyzed exams from biology courses at 100 institutions across the United States and found that only 7% of exam questions addressed a scientific practice and that 32% of biology exams did not test any scientific practices. The low occurrence of scientific practices on exams signals that undergraduate courses may not be integrating foundational scientific skills throughout their curriculum in the manner envisioned by recent national frameworks. Although there were few scientific practices overall, their close association with higher-order cognitive skills suggests that scientific practices represent a primary means to help students develop critical thinking skills and highlights the importance of incorporating a greater degree of scientific practices into undergraduate lecture courses and exams.
Project description:Although neurotechnology careers are on the rise, and neuroscience curriculums have significantly grown at the undergraduate and graduate levels, increasing neuroscience and neurotechnology exposure in high school curricula has been an ongoing challenge. This is due, in part, to difficulties in converting cutting-edge neuroscience research into hands-on activities that are accessible for high school students and affordable for high school educators. Here, we describe and characterize a low-cost, easy-to-construct device to enable students to record rapid Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) behaviors during optogenetics experiments. The device is generated from inexpensive Arduino kits and utilizes a smartphone for video capture, making it easy to adopt in a standard biology laboratory. We validate this device is capable of replicating optogenetics experiments performed with more sophisticated setups at leading universities and institutes. We incorporate the device into a high school neuroengineering summer workshop. We find student participation in the workshop significantly enhances their understanding of key neuroscience and neurotechnology concepts, demonstrating how this device can be utilized in high school settings and undergraduate research laboratories seeking low-cost alternatives.