scholarly journals TRANSLATOR AND INTERPRETER TRAINING DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PROCEDURAL, TECHNICAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL FACTORS IN REMOTE TRAINING

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 276-312
Author(s):  
Emília Perez ◽  
Soňa Hodáková

The main focus of the study lies on the challenges in translation and interpreting university training in the changed environment of the COVID-19 pandemic. It reflects the significant changes in training and learning in Slovakia after shifting from campus-based training to remote training, investigating the key factors influencing the learning process of students from their perspective. Based on the results of a focus group discussion with students, their qualitative analysis and quantitative verification via an online survey at all Slovak universities that provide translation and interpreting study programme, three types of factor were identified. The first category – procedural factors – relates to the training process itself; technical factors relate to technical aspects and limitations influencing the education of students; and psychosocial factors reflect intra- and interpersonal aspects affecting students in either a positive or negative way. Investigation of these factors provides useful findings on the learning experience of students during the current crisis. Key words: university training, translation and interpreting, COVID-19, learning experience, remote training, students’ perspective

2013 ◽  
pp. 343-370 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Li ◽  
Dora Wong ◽  
Dean A. F. Gui ◽  
Gigi Au Yeung

This chapter demonstrates how Second Life (SL) is used to enhance collaborative language learning on a virtual campus of a Hong Kong university. The case study reports on the learning experience of a number of undergraduate students as they navigated through a virtual task in an existing course: English for Technical and Web-Based Writing. Student avatars assessed each other’s work and shared learning experiences and comments via SL-enabled tools such as voting bars and note cards. To determine if this practice was more effective as a learning tool than a traditional classroom or two-dimensional discussion on the Internet, the students’ feedback on SL was collected through the university’s online survey system (i-Feedback), camera recorded focus group discussion and audio recorded tutor feedback. The findings suggest that different tasks in a virtual learning environment may stimulate students’ interest in their learning process, even though the technical complexities might frustrate them. The possibilities, shortcomings, and technical challenges of cultivating a community of collaborative language learning are also discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 82-93
Author(s):  
Gugulethu Shamaine Nkala ◽  
Rodreck David

Knowledge presented by Oral History (OH) is unique in that it shares the tacit perspective, thoughts, opinions and understanding of the interviewee in its primary form. While teachers, lecturers and other education specialists have at their disposal a wide range of primary, secondary and tertiary sources upon which to relate and share or impart knowledge, OH presents a rich source of information that can improve the learning and knowledge impartation experience. The uniqueness of OH is presented in the following advantages of its use: it allows one to learn about the perspectives of individuals who might not otherwise appear in the historical record; it allows one to compensate for the digital age; one can learn different kinds of information; it provides historical actors with an opportunity to tell their own stories in their own words; and it offers a rich opportunity for human interaction. This article discusses the placement of oral history in the classroom set-up by investigating its use as a source of learning material presented by the National Archives of Zimbabwe to students in the Department of Records and Archives Management at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). Interviews and a group discussion were used to gather data from an archivist at the National Archives of Zimbabwe, lecturers and students in the Department of Records and Archives Management at NUST, respectively. These groups were approached on the usability, uniqueness and other characteristics that support this type of knowledge about OH in a tertiary learning experience. The findings indicate several qualities that reflect the richness of OH as a teaching source material in a classroom set-up. It further points to weak areas that may be addressed where the source is considered a viable strategy for knowledge sharing and learning. The researchers present a possible model that can be used to champion the use of this rich knowledge source in classroom education at this university and in similar set-ups. 


2021 ◽  
pp. 105566562198912
Author(s):  
Morgan Wishney ◽  
Aziz Sahu-Khan ◽  
Peter Petocz ◽  
M. Ali Darendeliler ◽  
Alexandra K. Papadopoulou

Objectives: To (1) survey Australian orthodontists about their involvement with a government-funded scheme for patients with clefts, the Medicare Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate Scheme (MCLCPS) and (2) investigate their attitude toward treating patients with clefts and their training in this respect. Design: A 13-question online survey was distributed to members of the Australian Society of Orthodontists. The survey gathered information regarding respondent demographics, the number of MCLCPS-eligible patients seen in the past 12 months and usual billing practices. Results: A total of 96 complete responses were obtained. About 70% of respondents had treated MCLCPS-eligible patients in the past 12 months and 55% saw between 2 and 5 patients during this time. The likelihood of treating patients with clefts increased by a factor of 4.8 (95% CI: 1.2-18.9) if practicing outside of a capital city and 1.5 times for each decade increase in orthodontist’s age (95% CI: 1.0-2.2). The MCLCPS was utilized by 81% of orthodontists with 26% of these respondents accepting rebate only. Most orthodontists felt their university training could have better prepared them to treat patients with clefts. A minority of orthodontists felt that a rebate increase would make them more likely to treat these patients. Conclusions: Australian orthodontists who treat patients with clefts tend to be older and work outside of capital cities. The decision to treat these patients tends to not be financially motived. Specialty orthodontic training programs could improve the preparedness of their graduates to treat patients with clefts.


2020 ◽  
pp. 237337992097842
Author(s):  
Rimante Ronto ◽  
Alexandra Bhatti ◽  
Josephine Chau

Twitter has gained attention in recent years as a tool to use in higher education to enhance students’ learning, engagement, and reflective writing. This study explored public health students’ perceptions on the usefulness of Twitter as a learning tool, engagement with their peers, staff, and the broader public health community. Participants were Master of Public Health students from a public university based in Sydney, Australia. A mixed methods approach was used combining content analysis of tweets, an online survey and two focus groups. Students were asked to engage with Twitter by reflecting on each week’s teaching content and by liking and replying to their peers’ tweets. Participation and engagement in this task were high initially and declined toward the end of semester. Most student tweets aligned with topics taught during the semester. Survey and focus group data indicated most students had positive views on using Twitter and reported finding engagement with Twitter beneficial in obtaining current information on health promotion news and trends, increasing their professional networks and allowing them to connect with their peers and teaching staff. Results indicate Twitter is a promising interactive approach to enhance public health students’ engagement and overall learning experience, as well as being useful for professional networking. Larger scale empirical studies are needed to investigate the impact of the use of social media platforms such as Twitter to various learning outcomes longitudinally and beyond this course.


2021 ◽  
pp. 251610322110148
Author(s):  
Franziska Köhler-Dauner ◽  
Vera Clemens ◽  
Katherina Hildebrand ◽  
Ute Ziegenhain ◽  
Jörg M. Fegert

The SARS-CoV-2-pandemic is associated different challenges, especially for families. The disruption and challenges require parents to develop strategies to cope with the current situation. One factor that may influence how parents deal with pandemic-associated stressors are experiences of parental childhood maltreatment (CM), which represent a high risk of engaging in endangered parenting. A decisive candidate for the connection between parental CM and the transgenerational transmission could be the parental ability to employ coping strategies. Mothers of a well-documented birth cohort for investigating the pathways leading to resilience or vulnerability in the transgenerational transmission of CM were imbedded in an online “SARS-CoV-2 pandemic survey” assessing maternal ability for coping strategies and the dimension of endangered maternal parenting behavior. 91 mothers completed the online survey. To describe the maternal CM, data from a longitudinal survey were used. Our mediation analysis shows a significant positive relationship between the sum of maternal CM experiences, lack of coping strategies and endangered parenting behavior. This suggests a partial mediation of the association between CM and endangered parenting behavior as the direct effect remained significant when the maternal lack of coping strategies was included as the mediator. Parental CM is a risk factor for coping with stressful situation as well as for endangered parenting behavior. The ability to deal with stress seems to have a significant influence on the context of a possible transgenerational transmission of CM. The results underline the need to consider the unique needs of families with children and to support them as to how to overcome the current crisis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilya M. Veer ◽  
Antje Riepenhausen ◽  
Matthias Zerban ◽  
Carolin Wackerhagen ◽  
Lara M. C. Puhlmann ◽  
...  

AbstractThe SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is not only a threat to physical health but is also having severe impacts on mental health. Although increases in stress-related symptomatology and other adverse psycho-social outcomes, as well as their most important risk factors have been described, hardly anything is known about potential protective factors. Resilience refers to the maintenance of mental health despite adversity. To gain mechanistic insights about the relationship between described psycho-social resilience factors and resilience specifically in the current crisis, we assessed resilience factors, exposure to Corona crisis-specific and general stressors, as well as internalizing symptoms in a cross-sectional online survey conducted in 24 languages during the most intense phase of the lockdown in Europe (22 March to 19 April) in a convenience sample of N = 15,970 adults. Resilience, as an outcome, was conceptualized as good mental health despite stressor exposure and measured as the inverse residual between actual and predicted symptom total score. Preregistered hypotheses (osf.io/r6btn) were tested with multiple regression models and mediation analyses. Results confirmed our primary hypothesis that positive appraisal style (PAS) is positively associated with resilience (p < 0.0001). The resilience factor PAS also partly mediated the positive association between perceived social support and resilience, and its association with resilience was in turn partly mediated by the ability to easily recover from stress (both p < 0.0001). In comparison with other resilience factors, good stress response recovery and positive appraisal specifically of the consequences of the Corona crisis were the strongest factors. Preregistered exploratory subgroup analyses (osf.io/thka9) showed that all tested resilience factors generalize across major socio-demographic categories. This research identifies modifiable protective factors that can be targeted by public mental health efforts in this and in future pandemics.


2021 ◽  
pp. bmjspcare-2020-002797
Author(s):  
Hanan Al-Mohawes ◽  
Madelaine Amante ◽  
Breffni Hannon ◽  
Camilla Zimmermann ◽  
Ebru Kaya ◽  
...  

ObjectivesInternational medical graduates (IMGs) who pursue additional training in another country may encounter unique challenges that compromise their learning experience. This paper describes the development of an Online Bridging Program in the Division of Palliative Care at the University Health Network Toronto and examines its effectiveness in improving IMGs’ readiness for Canadian fellowship training.MethodsThe annual Online Bridging Program was developed to help new IMGs transitioning to Canadian palliative fellowship using Kern’s framework for curriculum development. Following a needs assessment, eight online modules with weekly live sessions were developed and underwent external content validation and usability tests. After each iteration, the programme was improved based on participant feedback. Evaluation was conducted first through an online survey immediately on completion of the programme and then through qualitative interviews 6 months into the fellowship. The interviews were analysed using Braun and Clarke’s model for thematic analysis.ResultsNine IMGs participated in the Online Bridging Program from 2018 to 2020. All nine participated in the survey and eight in the interviews. Responses to the online survey were almost unanimously positive, suggesting its effectiveness in assisting the IMGs’ transitions into fellowship. The interviews revealed four major themes: the importance of combining online modules and live sessions, reducing the fellows’ anxiety and easing the transition into their new role, an improved overall learning experience and recognising online format limitations.ConclusionThe Online Bridging Program effectively eased IMG palliative medicine fellows’ transition into training and enhanced their learning experience.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 72
Author(s):  
Lina Martínez ◽  
Valeria Trofimoff ◽  
Isabella Valencia

COVID-19 pandemic is harming many social and economic spheres beyond physical health. The subjective well-being of the population (positive emotions and life satisfaction) and the prevalence of stressors affecting good mental health like worry, depression, and anxiety are increasing worldwide. This analysis presents evidence of subjective well-being and mental health in Colombia, South America, during the current crisis. The data for this analysis comes from an online survey released after one month of quarantine. In total, 941 adults participated in the study. Results show that women are more affected by their well-being and experience more often worry, depression, and anxiety than males. In particular, younger women and from the lower socioeconomic strata. Respondents identify three primary concerns because of the pandemic: i) financial consequences, ii) health (personal and loved one&#39;s health), and iii) productivity. Respondents are, on average, more concerned for the health of loved ones than their health. 49% of study participants report having an income reduction as a consequence of the pandemic, but women in all subgroups analyzed are more affected than males. In terms of productivity &ndash;working remotely-, educated people, and from 50+ age range, feels more productive working from home. Evidence from this analysis contributes to the broader research of the consequences of COVID-19 on the well-being of the population. Evidence comes from a country in the global South with high population ratings of subjective well-being, happiness, and life satisfaction before the pandemic.&nbsp;


2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-432
Author(s):  
Veronica I. Kabalina ◽  
◽  
Anna V. Makarova ◽  
Kira V. Reshetnikova ◽  
◽  
...  

Motivating the working population to master digital skills is an important condition for the digital transformation of the Russian economy and companies. The article examines the relationship between the general level of motivation for learning digital skills and a number of factors, assesses the average level of motivation for four groups of skills, and compares the level of motivation between groups of workers and their motives. Empirical data were obtained by conducting an online survey of the working population in March 2020, the target sample was 116 respondents. It was revealed that the general level of motivation of workers to learn decreases with the increasing complexity of digital skills. The hypotheses about the relationship between the level of motivation and the perceived difficulty of using information and communication technologies and previous learning experience were confirmed. Differences between the groups of workers in the level of motivation and the degree of mastering specialized digital skills, related to the nature of the work were revealed. A higher interest in mastering this group of skills, as well as the degree of mastering them, was demonstrated by the group of managers. The strongest motive for acquiring digital skills is the need to use them at work.


10.28945/4212 ◽  
2019 ◽  

[This Proceedings paper was revised and published in the 2019 issue of the journal Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology, Volume 16] Aim/Purpose: The flipped classroom approach is one of the most popular active learning approaches. This paper explores the effectiveness of a new pedagogy, known as FOCUSED, for postgraduate students. Background: The flipped classroom approach is a trendy blended learning pedagogy which capitalizes on the flexibility of online learning and the stimulating nature of face-to-face discussion. This article describes a pilot study involving post-graduate students who experienced the flipped classroom approach in one of their courses. Methodology: In additional to online activities, students adopted a newly learned approach to solve a related problem that was given by another group of students during classes. Quantitative data were collected from pre- and post-tests for both self-learned online materials and group discussion during classes so that the effectiveness of the flipped classroom pedagogy could be examined from the perspective of a holistic learning experience. Findings: It was found that the average scores for the post-test for the self-learned online video were much higher than for pre-test, even though the post-tests for both online and face-to-face learning were higher than the respective pre-tests. The qualitative data collected at the end of the flipped classroom activities further confirmed the value of the flipped classroom approach. Even though students could self-learn, more students valued peer interactions in the classroom more than the flexibility of online learning.


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