Sidelined during COVID-19: a narrative inquiry into how simulationists experienced the pandemic

Background In the simulation community, colleagues who are no longer clinically practicing were often proximal to the COVID-19 response, not working in the frontlines of patient care. At the same time, their work as simulationists changed dramatically or was halted. This research explored the experiences of those simulationists who have clinical backgrounds but did not provide direct patient care during the initial pandemic response. The aim of this study was to allow those simulationists to share and have their stories heard. Methods This qualitative research used a narrative approach to answer the research question: What were the experiences of those in the simulation community who did not contribute to the frontline patient care response during the early stages of the pandemic? A semi-structured questionnaire aimed at eliciting a story was disseminated through online simulation discussion boards. Data was collected through PHONIC with options to type or speak responses. Responses were analyzed using an inductive analytical process to identify themes or patterns in the narratives. Results Thirty-six respondents completed the survey between August 1, 2020 and November 30, 2020. Narrative arcs were identified that illustrated the events, actions, thoughts and feelings representative of experiences shared by many simulationists. Two major themes emerged: Challenges and Opportunities. Challenges included feelings of guilt; frustration; overwhelmed, stressed and exhausted; being away from the action, being unused and underappreciated. Opportunities included leadership (evolution and innovation), personal development, and being a part of something. Conclusions The findings reflect a snapshot in time of how simulation was viewed and used in the world during a pandemic through the personal stories of simulationists with clinical backgrounds who did not provide direct patient care. Sharing these narratives may inform future simulation development; however, it is vitally important that the emotions are recognized and acknowledged. Managers should ensure mental health resources and support are available to all staff, including those not deployed to the frontline.

Enhancing the student experience through sustainable Communities of Practice

Introduction: The switch to online off-campus teaching for universities worldwide due to COVID-19 will transform into more sustainable and predictable delivery models where virtual and local student contact will continue to be combined. Institutions must do more to replace the full student experience and benefits of learners and educators being together. Methods: Our centre has been delivering distance blended and online learning for more than 40 years and has over 4000 alumni across five continents. Our students and alumni come from varied healthcare disciplines and are at different stages of their career as educators and practitioners. Whilst studying on the programme students work together flexibly in randomly arranged peer groups designed to allow the establishment of Communities of Practice (CoP) through the use of online Discussion Boards. Results: We found Discussion Boards encouraged reflection on learning, sharing of ideas with peers and tutors, reduce anxiety, support progression, and enable benchmarking. This led to a highly effective student sense of belonging to each other, our educators, and the wider University, with many highlighting an excellent student experience and maintaining a thriving CoP within the alumni body. Conclusion: Despite being based on one large postgraduate programme in medical education, our CoP approach is relevant to any undergraduate programme, particularly those that lead to professional qualification. With our mix of nationalities, we can ‘model the way’ for enabling strong CoP’s to share ideas about best practice with a strong student and alumni network which can be shared across the international healthcare community.

Innovative Gerontology in Higher Education: Transformative Effects of the Pandemic

Gerontology in higher education is experiencing an exciting inflection point rising from the COVID pandemic pushing us to adapt our teaching modalities. Many educators have developed innovative learning experiences making use of creativity, virtual reality, online discussion boards, virtual tours, Jam Boards, videos, and breakout rooms. This symposium will bring together gerontologists and educators to discuss their educational innovations. Dr. Saunders will discuss the use of virtual reality in a Geriatrics clerkship experience to enhance knowledge, empathy, and attitudes towards older adults. Dr. Hanna and Ms. Kim will present the use of a virtual avatar to explore aging identity. Professor Barsness will discuss the participation of older adults from the community as subject matter experts. Ms. Redlich will share her virtual internship experience of exploring the intellectual and social benefits of adult study abroad. Although the pandemic was challenging to gerontological education, substantial transformations have been accomplished. The innovations described in this session broadened engagement of students with older adults to identify their strengths and challenges to flourish in the "New Normal."

The Effects of Media Literacy-Based Activities on Writing Skills in the EFL Classroom

This study explores the effectiveness of media literacy-based activities on writing proficiency and affective domains in the EFL setting. A quasi-experiment was conducted during the 2021 academic year with 148 college EFL students selected as participants from three classes from a private university in Seoul, South Korea. Participants were divided into three groups based on proficiency levels: upper proficiency, intermediate proficiency, and lower proficiency. The assigned activities included four steps: (1) watching video clips made by a teacher, (2) group discussion, (3) individual presentation, and (4) individual writing. For these activities, participants used multimedia like YouTube, Fanfiction.net, Reddit discussion boards, and blogs to understand the topic, evaluate the content, and express their thoughts. Popular franchises, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), the Potterverse, and the Twilight saga provided material for the activities. The study’s results reveal that students significantly increased their writing skills, regardless of proficiency level. Moreover, the higher the linguistic ability, the more the writing ability improved. In a survey, students also showed significant changes in all affective domains (anxiety, interest, confidence, and engagement), except for the lower proficiency group’s confidence domain. The study presents a detailed summary of the activities and derives meaningful implications.

490 Hiflex Delivery: How Do You Turn It Around When Things Go Bad?

Upon return to classrooms in Fall 2020, University policy required every class delivered in person also offer an online option, resulting in hiflex delivery of a careers preparation course that traditionally relied on student interaction and in-person opportunities for knowledge application to teach soft skills. Early in the semester, the class experienced a dramatic decline in physical attendance as well as engagement across all platforms, resultantly substantial real-time changes were necessary. The first step in increasing student engagement was to dedicate a single course period to candidly discuss the decline in class quality and invite participants to take an active role in improving the course and facilitating learning. Concurrently, an anonymous survey was administered to gauge interest in remaining topics, anticipated method of attendance, and incentives to engagement. Student feedback was used to adapt lesson plans and class structure moving forward. These plans were shared with students, implemented, and resulted in increased engagement and performance. Active curriculum adjustment based upon honest feedback and increased student agency improved content retention and application based upon assessment. This presentation will provide an overview of methods utilized including: student surveys, transparency of course scaffolding, small stakes assignments, adaptation of a group project to focus on application, scheduled instructor interaction and feedback on assignments and discussion boards, and intentional creation of an online learning community. Adaptations were effective for improving performance toward course learning outcomes – every student that completed all small stakes assignments and remained actively engaged in class material for the remainder of the semester earned a high scoring grade. Acknowledging a lack of success with implementation of traditional teaching strategies in a non-traditionally delivered course was necessary and enabled the instructor to engage in active dialogue with students, which created opportunities for student-supported and informed adjustments for achievement of learning outcomes.

A Replication and Extension of the Use of On-Line Discussion Boards: Teaching Chronic Pain to Health Psychology Students

Background Case studies are often used to supplement lecture material to students of psychology. Recent research on the use of online support forums has been shown to be more effective in increasing student attainment of course learning objectives than the use of case studies. Objective The current research replicated two studies on the use of online support forums and extended this work to chronic pain and compared midterm exam scores from two different semesters when case studies and online support forums were used as a supplementary learning exercise. Method Following a lecture on chronic pain students were randomly assigned to either the case study or online support forum condition and asked to rate their experience based on four learning objectives. Results Students who took part in the online support forum learning exercise rated the four learning objectives higher and obtained higher marks on a midterm exam than students in the case study exercise. Conclusion Reading people’s personal accounts of their experience with chronic pain through online support forums is more effective in increasing student understanding of the effects of chronic pain than the traditional case study. Teaching Implications Implications for teaching material that is highly emotional are discussed.

Impacts of genre and access on science discussions: ‘The New Reddit Journal of Science’

Which genre of science writing contributes most to public understanding, and how does that understanding happen? Working within a science in society approach, this paper examines public engagement with science as it occurs in the comments and discussion boards of r/science. Researchers use content analysis to identify relevant concept categories and code comments for interaction with science content. The resulting data are analyzed by genre (scientific news journalism, press release, and research article) and open access status, revealing differences in public engagement with implications for science communicators and scholars seeking to understand how the public interacts with science news.