scholarly journals Factors Affecting Access to E-Learning during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic Among Rural-Based Pharmacy Students in Zambia: A Qualitative Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-34
Author(s):  
Kennedy Mwila ◽  
◽  
Steward Mudenda ◽  
Martin Kampamba ◽  
Webrod Mufwambi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Internet Connectivity ◽  
Western Province ◽  
Academic Activities ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Performance

Background The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has negatively affected the education sector globally. This has resulted in learning institutions adopting e-learning techniques. E-learning implementation in higher education continues to gain prominence in both developed and developing countries. Most universities are exploring different ways of using information and communications technology (ICT). However, ICT remains a challenge more especially for students who come from rural areas. Aim This study was aimed at exploring the factors that affect access to e-learning among rural-based pharmacy students in Zambia. Methods A qualitative case study was conducted among ten (10) purposively sampled pharmacy students at the University of Zambia. The study participants were from the Manying, a district of North-Western Province, the Sinda district of Eastern Province, the Nalolo district of Western Province, the Chipili district of Luapula Province and the Mbala district of Northern Province. Semistructured interviews were used to collect data from the respondents. Data were analyzed using the framework analysis. The sociodemographic characteristics indicate that ten (10) respondents were drawn from Zambia’s five (5) provinces. Six qualitative themes were generated these included devices used for e-learning; the effectiveness of the devices; student performance; internet connectivity; and electrification of the houses. Key findings suggest that the most commonly used device was a smartphone, which posed challenges to effective learner participation in e-learning. Poor internet connectivity, non-electrification of students’ houses, electricity outages, and costs-associated with internet use negatively affected students in accessing online learning and could adversely affect their academic activities and performance. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected access to e-learning among rural pharmacy students in Zambia. The implications of the challenges faced by the rural pharmacy students are that their academic activities and performance were negatively affected. Therefore, this posed a threat to the rights to universal access to education of the rural students who were mostly venerable.

Validation of E-Learning Courses in Computer Science and Humanities

2009 ◽  
pp. 151-169
Author(s):  
Robert S. Friedman ◽  
Fadi P. Deek ◽  
Norbert Elliot
Keyword(s):  
Computer Science ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Learning Style ◽  
Assessment Model ◽  
Asynchronous Learning ◽  
Unified Framework ◽  
Depth Of Knowledge ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
E Learning ◽  
And Performance

In order to offer a unified framework for the empirical assessment of e-learning (EL), this chapter presents findings from three studies conducted at a comprehensive technological university. The first, an archival study, centers on student performance in undergraduate computer science and humanities courses. The second study, a survey given three times within EL classes, investigates the variables of learning style, general expectation, and interaction in student performance. The third study investigates student performance on computer-mediated information literacy. Taken together, these three studies—focusing on archival, process, and performance-based techniques—suggest that a comprehensive assessment model has the potential to yield a depth of knowledge allowing shareholders to make informed decisions on the complexities of asynchronous learning in post-secondary education.

scholarly journals The Influence of E-Learning and Emotional Intelligence on Psychological Intentions: Study of Stranded Pakistani Students

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fahad Alam ◽  
Qing Yang ◽  
Muhammad Yaseen Bhutto ◽  
Nadeem Akhtar
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Emotion Regulation ◽  
International Students ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Online Classes ◽  
Academic Activities ◽  
Psychological Pressure ◽  
E Learning ◽  
The Government ◽  
And Performance

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the government to close the educational institutions globally, to contain the infection of the disease, which has affected the academic activities of local and international students significantly. This unexpected shift from offline classes to online learning has created psychological disruption among the students. At that backdrop, this study aims to investigate the influence of e-learning and emotional intelligence (EI) on the study stress, burnout, and performance of Pakistani students by applying emotion regulation theory. The data (N = 387) is based on international students, enrolled in 10 different universities in China. The results indicate that both e-learning and EI have significantly affected perceived study stress, burnout, and performance of students. These findings have provided evidence that online classes and EI can influence study stress, burnout, and performance of students. The study concludes that EI has significant impact on the psychological pressure of a student.

scholarly journals Canada Must Make Broadband Infrastructure a Priority

2002 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggie Matear
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Broadband Access ◽  
Large Bande ◽  
Implementation Barriers ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Internet Connectivity ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Essential Service

Abstract: This article argues that just as universal access to traditional communications media, such as the post office and the telephone, is considered an essential service, so also should access to high-speed Internet, particularly in areas that currently lack the infrastructure to make this possible. This paper illustrates the need for high-speed Internet connectivity, or broadband access, in remote and rural areas of Canada. The article outlines the rationale for establishing high-speed access throughout Canada and provides an overview of infrastructure implementation barriers faced by the private and public sectors. It concludes with a discussion of the ways in which community-based networks could play a role in the strategic planning, implementation, and application of broadband infrastructure. Résumé : Cet article soutient que, de la même manière que l'on en est venu à considérer comme essentiel l'accès universel aux médias de communication traditionnels comme la poste et le téléphone, on devrait considérer comme essentiel l'accès à Internet à haute vitesse, particulièrement dans les régions qui n'ont pas encore une infrastructure de base pour Internet. Cet article explique le besoin d'une connectivité Internet à haute vitesse ou à large bande dans les régions isolées et rurales du Canada. Il justifie pourquoi il est raisonnable d'établir l'accès à haute vitesse partout au Canada et offre une vue d'ensemble sur les barrières que les secteurs public et privé doivent surmonter avant de pouvoir instaurer une infrastructure. Il conclut en discutant comment les réseaux communautaires pourraient jouer un rôle dans la planification, l'établissement et le maintien d'une infrastructure à large bande.

Understanding and promoting students’ well-being and performance in university studies – effects of a 7-week Acceptance and Commitment Therapy based course (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henna Asikainen ◽  
Nina Katajavuori ◽  
Kirsikka Kaipainen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Illness ◽  
University Students ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment Therapy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Reflective Journal ◽  
Reflective Journals ◽  
Commitment Therapy ◽  
Acceptance And Commitment ◽  
And Performance

BACKGROUND Internationally there have been many studies showing that the number of university students suffering from mental illness is growing and this problem should be addressed OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to examine 41 pharmacy students’ experiences of a small Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) -based intervention that was implemented as a 7-week course with weekly online modules. METHODS Students’ well-being, experiences of stress, organised studying and psychological flexibility were measured with questionnaires at the beginning and end of the course. Students’ experiences of the effectiveness of the course and were analysed from open-ended responses and a reflective journal. RESULTS The results show that students’ well-being and ability to manage time and effort increased during the course(p≤0.003). In their reflective journals, students described how their ability to manage stress in their studies, cope with their thoughts and feelings, focus on the things that are more important to them, and manage their time in studying and their well-being had improved. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that it is possible to foster students’ well-being in their studies. More research is needed to identify the long-lasting effects of these kind of interventions.

scholarly journals Clustering Techniques for Secondary Substations Siting

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1028
Author(s):  
Silvia Corigliano ◽  
Federico Rosato ◽  
Carla Ortiz Dominguez ◽  
Marco Merlo
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Agglomerative Clustering ◽  
Clustering Techniques ◽  
Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering ◽  
Efficient Planning ◽  
Target Set

The scientific community is active in developing new models and methods to help reach the ambitious target set by UN SDGs7: universal access to electricity by 2030. Efficient planning of distribution networks is a complex and multivariate task, which is usually split into multiple subproblems to reduce the number of variables. The present work addresses the problem of optimal secondary substation siting, by means of different clustering techniques. In contrast with the majority of approaches found in the literature, which are devoted to the planning of MV grids in already electrified urban areas, this work focuses on greenfield planning in rural areas. K-means algorithm, hierarchical agglomerative clustering, and a method based on optimal weighted tree partitioning are adapted to the problem and run on two real case studies, with different population densities. The algorithms are compared in terms of different indicators useful to assess the feasibility of the solutions found. The algorithms have proven to be effective in addressing some of the crucial aspects of substations siting and to constitute relevant improvements to the classic K-means approach found in the literature. However, it is found that it is very challenging to conjugate an acceptable geographical span of the area served by a single substation with a substation power high enough to justify the installation when the load density is very low. In other words, well known standards adopted in industrialized countries do not fit with developing countries’ requirements.

scholarly journals Job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students in China: a discrete choice experiment

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ping Liu ◽  
Shimeng Liu ◽  
Tiantian Gong ◽  
Quan Li ◽  
Gang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Discrete Choice Experiment ◽  
Discrete Choice ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Choice Experiment ◽  
Job Characteristics ◽  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Preference Heterogeneity ◽  
Short Supply ◽  
Job Preferences ◽  
Open Management

Abstract Background Pharmacists are a crucial part of the health workforce and play an important role in achieving universal health coverage. In China, pharmaceutical human resources are in short supply, and the distribution is unequal. This study aimed to identify the key job characteristics that influence the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students and to elicit the relative importance of different job characteristics to shed light on future policy interventions. Methods A discrete choice experiment was conducted to assess the job preferences of undergraduate pharmacy students from 6 provinces in mainland China. A face-to-face interview was used to collect data. Conditional logit and mixed logit models were used to analyse data, and the final model was chosen according to the model fit statistics. A series of policy simulations was also conducted. Results In total, 581 respondents completed the questionnaire, and 500 respondents who passed the internal consistency test were analysed. All attributes were statistically significant except for open management. Monthly income and work location were most important to respondents, followed by work unit (which refers to the nature of the workplace) and years to promotion. There was preference heterogeneity among respondents, e.g., male students preferred open management, and female students preferred jobs in public institutions. Furthermore, students with an urban background or from a single-child family placed higher value on a job in the city compared to their counterparts. Conclusion The heterogeneity of attributes showed the complexity of job preferences. Both monetary and nonmonetary job characteristics significantly influenced the job preferences of pharmacy students in China. A more effective policy intervention to attract graduates to work in rural areas should consider both incentives on the job itself and the background of pharmacy school graduates.

scholarly journals The Influence of Video Format on Engagement and Performance in Online Learning

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 128
Author(s):  
Sergej Lackmann ◽  
Pierre-Majorique Léger ◽  
Patrick Charland ◽  
Caroline Aubé ◽  
Jean Talbot
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Cognitive Engagement ◽  
Emotional Engagement ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Lecture Capture ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Subject Experiment ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Video Format

Millions of students follow online classes which are delivered in video format. Several studies examine the impact of these video formats on engagement and learning using explicit measures and outline the need to also investigate the implicit cognitive and emotional states of online learners. Our study compared two video formats in terms of engagement (over time) and learning in a between-subject experiment. Engagement was operationalized using explicit and implicit neurophysiological measures. Twenty-six (26) subjects participated in the study and were randomly assigned to one of two conditions based on the video shown: infographic video or lecture capture. The infographic video showed animated graphics, images, and text. The lecture capture showed a professor, providing a lecture, filmed in a classroom setting. Results suggest that lecture capture triggers greater emotional engagement over a shorter period, whereas the infographic video maintains higher emotional and cognitive engagement over longer periods of time. Regarding student learning, the infographic video contributes to significantly improved performance in matters of difficult questions. Additionally, our results suggest a significant relationship between engagement and student performance. In general, the higher the engagement, the better the student performance, although, in the case of cognitive engagement, the link is quadratic (inverted U shaped).

scholarly journals Rural–Urban Disparities in Access to Improved Sanitation in Indonesia: A Decomposition Approach

SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110299
Author(s):  
Sri Irianti ◽  
Puguh Prasetyoputra
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Universal Access ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
Multivariate Regression Analysis ◽  
Probit Regression ◽  
Decomposition Approach ◽  
Explanatory Variables ◽  
Improved Sanitation ◽  
The Government

One of the targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is Target 6.2, aims to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation. The Government of Indonesia targets universal access to improved sanitation in 2019. However, almost two out of five households in Indonesia are without access to improved sanitation. Moreover, access to improved sanitation is lower in rural areas than that in urban areas. Studies examining the drivers of the disparity in Indonesia are also limited. Therefore, this study was aimed at assessing the characteristics associated with the rural–urban disparity in access to improved sanitation facilities among households in Indonesia. We employed data from the 2016 Indonesian National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) comprising 290,848 households. The analysis was twofold. First, we fitted multivariate probit regression models using average marginal effects as the measure of association. We then conducted a detailed non-linear decomposition of the rural–urban disparity attributable to all the explanatory variables. The multivariate regression analysis suggested that households living in rural areas were 11.35% (95% confidence interval = [10.97, 11.72]) less likely to have access to improved sanitation facilities than those residing in urban areas. The decomposition analysis suggested that 48.78% are attributable to spatial, demographic, housing, and socio-economic factors, which meant that almost half of the inequalities could be reduced by equalizing these factors. The results provide a decomposition of factors amenable to curtail urban–rural inequalities. Hence, equity-oriented approaches to increasing access to improved sanitation should be prioritized to achieve universal access in 2030 in line with SDG Target 6.2.

scholarly journals Van earthquakes (23 October 2011 and 9 November 2011) and performance of masonry and adobe structures

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3337-3342 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Güney
Keyword(s):  
Local Time ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Unreinforced Masonry ◽  
Natural Phenomena ◽  
Loss Of Life ◽  
Eastern Turkey ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Social Disaster ◽  
Van Earthquakes ◽  
The Town

Abstract. Earthquakes, which are unavoidable natural phenomena in Turkey, have often produced economic and social disaster. The latest destructive earthquakes happened in Van city. Van, Turkey, earthquakes with M = 7.2 occurred on 23 October 2011 at 13:41 (local time), whose epicenter was about 16 km north of Van (Tabanlı village) and M = 5.6 on 9 November 2011 epicentered near the town of Edremit south of Van in eastern Turkey and caused the loss of life and heavy damages. Both earthquakes killed 644 people and 2608 people were injured. Approximately 4000 buildings collapsed or were seriously damaged. The majority of the damaged structures were seismically insufficient, unreinforced masonry and adobe buildings in rural areas. In this paper, site surveys of the damaged masonry and adobe buildings are presented and the reasons for the caused damages are discussed in detail.

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