Response to letter that comments on published paper: The use of stimulant medication to improve neurocognitive and learning outcomes in children diagnosed with brain tumours: A systematic review

Abstract Background: Although simulation-based education (SBE) has become increasingly popular as a mode of teaching in undergraduate nursing courses its effect on associated student learning outcomes remains ambiguous. Educational outcomes are influenced by SBE quality that is governed by technology, training, resources and SBE design elements. This paper reports the protocol for a systematic review to identify, appraise and synthesise the best available evidence regarding the impact of SBE on undergraduate nurses’ learning outcomes. Methods: Databases to be searched from 1st of January 1990 include the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), American Psychological Association (APA) PsycInfo and the Education Resources Information Centre (ERIC) via the EBSCO host platform. The Excerpta Medica database (EMBASE) will be searched via the OVID platform. We will review the reference lists of relevant articles for additional citations. A combination of search terms including ‘nursing students’, ‘simulation training, ‘patient simulation’, and ‘immersive simulation’ with common Boolean operators will be used. Specific search terms will be combined with either MeSH or Emtree terms and appropriate permutations for each database. Search findings will be imported into reference management software (Endnote© Version.X9) then uploaded into Covidence where two reviewers will independently screen titles, abstracts and retrieved full text. A third reviewer will be available to resolve conflicts and moderate consensus discussions. Quantitative primary research studies evaluating the effect of SBE on undergraduate nursing students’ educational outcomes will be included. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT) will be used for quality assessment of core criteria, in addition to the Cochrane RoB 2 and ROBINS-I to assess risk of bias for randomised and non-randomised studies, respectively. Primary outcomes are any measure of knowledge, skills, or attitude. Discussion: SBE has been widely adopted by healthcare disciplines in tertiary teaching settings. This systematic review will reveal (i) the effect of SBE on learning outcomes, (ii) SBE element variability, and (iii) interplay between SBE elements and learning outcome. Findings will specify SBE design elements to inform the design and implementation of future strategies for simulation-based undergraduate nursing education.Systematic Review Registration: PROSPERO CRD42021244530

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The Impact of Gamified Instruction on Students’ Learning Outcomes: Systematic Review of Experimental Studies

International Journal of Education ◽

10.5296/ije.v13i4.19193 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (4) ◽

pp. 55

Author(s):

Nevena Jaftha ◽

Marouska Zahra-Micallef ◽

Tatjana Chircop

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Digital Libraries ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Intervention Design ◽

Assessment Instruments ◽

Learning Technology ◽

Content Type ◽

Replication Studies ◽

The Impact

This systematic review critically explores the intervention design and findings of the experimental studies that were published between January 2012-December 2020 in a number of digital libraries and databases and had the effect of a gamified instruction on students’ learning outcomes in their focus, with the aim of identifying what constitutes success or the lack thereof in the given context. The found effect(s) of gamified instruction on students’ learning engagement and achievement are discussed in relation to the a) intervention design, its flaws and their potential impact on reported outcomes and b) prevalent practice in gamification research. The discussion is structured around data collection sources, sample size, and intervention duration, but also the characteristics of learning technology, learning approach, course content, type of games and game elements. This study proposes a list of categories to be included in the description of a study context so that it is possible to a) systematically organise research findings, b) filter the variety of findings via means of replication studies. c) recognise the variant effect on different sub-populations, and d) suggest the way forward when designing and implementing gamified instruction within specific conditions. Furthermore, the study highlights the necessity of approaching the topic through a mixed-method approach involving a more intensive tracking schedule with new assessment instruments and a larger number of participants that are longitudinal or at least of a longer duration in order to obtain more comprehensive findings.

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Detecting Emotions through Electrodermal Activity in Learning Contexts: A Systematic Review

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21237869 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (23) ◽

pp. 7869

Author(s):

Anne Horvers ◽

Natasha Tombeng ◽

Tibor Bosse ◽

Ard W. Lazonder ◽

Inge Molenaar

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Learning Outcomes ◽

Educational Research ◽

Electrodermal Activity ◽

Physiological Arousal ◽

Strong Increase ◽

Guidelines And Standards ◽

Methodological Aspects ◽

Insight Into

There is a strong increase in the use of devices that measure physiological arousal through electrodermal activity (EDA). Although there is a long tradition of studying emotions during learning, researchers have only recently started to use EDA to measure emotions in the context of education and learning. This systematic review aimed to provide insight into how EDA is currently used in these settings. The review aimed to investigate the methodological aspects of EDA measures in educational research and synthesize existing empirical evidence on the relation of physiological arousal, as measured by EDA, with learning outcomes and learning processes. The methodological results pointed to considerable variation in the usage of EDA in educational research and indicated that few implicit standards exist. Results regarding learning revealed inconsistent associations between physiological arousal and learning outcomes, which seem mainly due to underlying methodological differences. Furthermore, EDA frequently fluctuated during different stages of the learning process. Compared to this unimodal approach, multimodal designs provide the potential to better understand these fluctuations at critical moments. Overall, this review signals a clear need for explicit guidelines and standards for EDA processing in educational research in order to build a more profound understanding of the role of physiological arousal during learning.

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