Evaluation of innovative digital microscopy and interactive team-based learning approaches in histology teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (March) ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
Zeeshan Durrani ◽  
Lucy Pickavance ◽  
Denis Duret ◽  
Sarah Nevitt ◽  
Karen Noble
Keyword(s):  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Student Preferences ◽  
Team Based Learning ◽  
Alternative Approaches ◽  
Tissue Specimens ◽  
Enhanced Learning

Histology teaching in veterinary science and other higher education clinical programmes has traditionally relied on light microscopy in a laboratory setting. However, increasing student numbers, limited flexibility of these tools for learning outside the lab, and, most recently, the COVID-19 pandemic, are driving the search for alternative approaches to delivery and sustaining of learning resources. Improved digital technologies, increasingly available through technology-enhanced learning facilities, can help address these issues. Thus, we created a digitized, interactive library of slide-mounted tissue specimens accessible through our institutional virtual learning environment, piloted its uptake by first-year BVSc students, tested it in combination with a team-based learning/flipped classroom strategy, and compared old and new approaches by evaluating student preferences and histology examination results. Students reported greater engagement with the new resource which appeared to influence exam results positively. We identify future areas of investigation and suggest developments to these approaches to encourage adoption across curricula.

scholarly journals Turning chemistry education on its head: Design, experience and evaluation of a learning-centred ‘Modern Chemistry’ subject

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 179-194
Author(s):  
Ingo Koeper ◽  
◽  
Joe Shapter ◽  
Vanessa North ◽  
Don Houston ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Chemistry Education ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Analytical Techniques ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Initial Assessment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Final Exam

In science courses in general, but especially in first year chemistry classes, the amount of content that is delivered is often overwhelming and too complex for the student to easily cope with. Students not only have to gain knowledge in a variety of different field, they also have to learn new laboratory skills and analytical techniques. Additionally, there is an issue with more and more information being available to everybody through the internet, while our education often still focusses on delivering that knowledge, rather than exploring ways how students can be guided to understanding and using the knowledge provided. There have been different approaches on how to make ‘dry’ scientific concepts more interesting and how enhance student engagement, ranging from problem-based learning approaches, case studies or flipped classroom models. We have recently turned a fairly classic first year chemistry course on its head. In the new structure, students are gaining knowledge and understanding purely through the completion of a range of challenges. We have removed all lectures, tutorials and the final exam, and all interaction with the student happens in the laboratory. Throughout the semester, students attempt to complete a range of challenges, both theoretical and practical, find relevant information, propose approaches to solving the challenges, and discuss these and subsequent outcomes with academic staff. In order to analyse the design, we have conducted structured interviews with students from 2016-2018. Initial assessment of the data suggests a high level of engagement of the students, paired with a better preparation of students for their subsequent studies. Students enjoyed having the freedom to choose and design their own experiments. Additionally, students improved significantly in non-content related aspects such as timemanagement, organisation, planning and self-learning, with notable impact on their learning in higher years.

Competencies Management

2007 ◽  
pp. 120-145
Author(s):  
Miltiadis Lytras ◽  
Maria Mantziou ◽  
Maria Pontikaki
Keyword(s):  
Personal Development ◽  
Business Processes ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Education And Health ◽  
Health Domains ◽  
Learning Management ◽  
Competencies Development ◽  
Enhanced Learning ◽  
Business Challenges

Competencies in the management literature are analyzed from different perspectives. A converging point of the various approaches is the fact that competencies provide a critical context for a unified treatment of business processes and personal development. In other words the achievement of critical business objectives is directly related to knowledge and learning management. The objective of this chapter is to analyze competencies management from a managerial perspective and to develop a set of requirements for new knowledge and learning management systems aiming to capitalize the application of competencies management in to daily business life. The relevant discussion is initiated with the provision of several real world scenarios that summarize the key business challenges of competencies development, management and reuse, in the Education and Health Domains. The resulting list of requirements is used for a critical overview of limitations of current Technology Enhanced learning approaches especially in the context of real businesses. The concluding section of this chapter discusses the new insights that competencies management through SW and TEL approaches bring to well known business problems and reveals several streams of emerging research on the topic.

Teacher and Student Responses to Blended Environments

2011 ◽  
pp. 105-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guglielmo Trentin ◽  
Steve Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Blended Learning ◽  
Social Networking Sites ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Personalised Learning ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Communication Approach ◽  
Enhanced Learning ◽  
British Research

This chapter provides a further two European perspectives on blended learning. The first section is an overview of the ways in which the concept of blended solutions is interpreted in the Italian networkbased education context. Results of research carried out at some Italian Universities about various approaches to technology enhanced learning (TEL) are described which account for an increasing tendency of teachers to choose blended solutions. On the basis of interviews with 250 teachers some important blended solutions sustainability factors are analyzed pertaining to the pedagogical, professional, socio- cultural, informal dimensions as well as the content, organizational, economic and technological. In the second section of the chapter, an overview of blended and personalised learning in the United Kingdom is presented, with a critical review of some of the recent British research into the efficacy of learning management system (LMS) based blended learning approaches. Central to the chapter section is a discussion regarding the future of the LMS and how the network generation is migrating toward social networking sites and mobile technology to connect with their peers. The chapter finishes with the suggestion that personalised learning environments (PLEs) will be their preferred blended learning and communication approach.

A Theory-Practice Research Framework for Video-Enhanced Learning, Assessment, and Feedback

2020 ◽  
pp. 100-126
Author(s):  
James McDowell
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Theory ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Learning Assessment ◽  
Practice Research ◽  
First Year ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Educational Applications ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Enhanced Learning

This chapter discusses a two-year project that explored the impact of video-enhanced learning, assessment, and feedback on undergraduate first-year students in higher education. Underpinned by a pragmatist epistemology, and arguing the case for a design-based methodological approach within a theoretical framework embracing the cognitive theory of multimedia learning, the community of inquiry, and the conversational framework, the chapter explores contemporary research into assessment and feedback, uses of technology-enhanced learning to promote inclusivity, and educational applications of asynchronous video.

scholarly journals Conceptions of learning in technology-enhanced learning environments

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-205
Author(s):  
Chin-Chung Tsai
Keyword(s):  
Learning Environments ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Conceptions Of Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Educational Culture ◽  
Use Of Technology ◽  
Cram Schools ◽  
Future Work ◽  
Enhanced Learning

Purpose The purpose of this papers is to provide an overview of how students and teachers in Taiwan conceptualize learning, especially in technology-enhanced learning environments. Their conceptions of learning reveal the extent to which the prevalence of technological use in education has facilitated students to cultivate a more advanced conception of learning and develop a deeper learning approach. Design/methodology/approach It reviews a total of nine relevant case studies, covering the contexts of conventional schools (from elementary schools to college, and cram schools) as well as technology-enhanced environments (internet-assisted learning and mobile learning); and participants from Grade 2 students to adult learners as well as teachers. Their conceptions of learning and preferred learning approaches are summarized. Findings Results of the studies show the Taiwanese students’ and teachers’ conceptions of learning in general and of technology-enhanced learning in particular. The students tended to be passive learners to receive instructions and considered examinations as a short-term goal for their study, with surface learning approaches commonly adopted. Despite technology may help to promote their cultivation of a more sophisticated conception of learning, many of them still opted for rote memorization and practice as the major ways to study. The potentials of technology in enhancing learning thus have not been fully realized. Originality/value The results shed light on an Asian-specific educational culture which is exam oriented. They reveal the challenges regarding the use of technology in education, which hinder the promotion of students’ advanced conceptions of learning. They also highlight the directions of future work to create a more accessible and gratifying technology-enhanced environment.

scholarly journals Staff experience and attitudes towards Technology Enhanced Learning initiatives in one Faculty of Health & Life Sciences

2014 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Reed
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Technology Enhanced Learning ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Minimum Standards ◽  
Online Submission ◽  
Attitudes Towards Technology ◽  
Enhanced Learning

Further to earlier work carried out by the student union (SU) along with strategic discussions regarding technology-enhanced learning (TEL), this research aimed to identify the attitudes and experience of teaching staff in relation to specific uses of technology in learning and teaching. Data obtained through an online questionnaire (n=100) suggest that teaching staff are generally agreeable to the need for consistency in the virtual learning environment and identify specific criteria to be included within ‘minimum standards’; have some experience and interest in solutions to enable online submission, marking and feedback; and whilst there is more resistance, there was still interest in the provision of recorded lectures. Respondents overwhelmingly identified lack of time as a significant barrier to engaging with TEL, as well as other factors such as lack of skills and support.Keywords: attitudes; experience; TEL; minimum standards; lecture capture; online submission; e-marking(Published: 22 September 2014)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2014, 22: 22770 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v22.22770

scholarly journals Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning: overcoming disciplinary and teaching silos to fix the food system

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Ajates Gonzalez
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Flipped Classroom ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Food System ◽  
Virtual Learning Environment ◽  
First Year ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Face To Face

While inter-university and interdisciplinary research projects are very common in Higher Education (HE), inter-university and interdisciplinary teaching programmes are still very rare. This paper reflects on the first year of the Innovative Food Systems Teaching and Learning (IFSTAL) programme. IFSTAL is a three-year project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) with the aim of bringing together postgraduate students from very different programmes to learn about food and farming beyond their own disciplines. IFSTAL creates learning environments and activities that encourage students to think systemically about the transdisciplinary challenges facing the food system. IFSTAL combines both face to face events and an inter-university virtual learning environment (VLE) that was created from scratch for this project. At the end of its first year, a survey was carried out to evaluate the programme and inform the structure for year two (Y2). Survey data revealed students preferred interacting at face to face events over the shared VLE. The programme for Y2 was re-designed to incorporate more flipped classroom features with an andragogy-based approach.

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