Increasing student engagement using an Amazing Race–style competition

Background: Game-based learning is a successful strategy for teaching various concepts to students, from general orientations to more in-depth material. Pharmacy students in a first-year lab course were introduced to library and drug information resources through a lecture-style class in their first week of school, which was ineffective in terms of engagement. To combat this issue, the pharmacy liaison librarian advocated for moving this class session later in the semester and proposed a game-based activity to replace the lecture.Case Presentation: “The Amazing Race: Drug Information Edition” was inspired by a well-known TV competition that involves completing several stages (called “legs”) of challenges to finish the race. The librarian developed questions designed to make students use various parts of the library website as well as two drug information databases. Students competed in teams, and the first three teams to complete the race were awarded small prizes. The race was first implemented in 2018, and modifications were made to the 2019 iteration based on student feedback.Conclusions: Despite several challenges, the race was well received by both the students and the course instructors and increased engagement with introductory library and drug information material. The activity has enhanced the librarian’s relationship and collaboration with the course faculty and made a positive impression on the students.

Smart-Hadir – Mobile Based Attendance Management System

Manual time and attendance systems are still being practiced within a considerable number of universities, colleges, government departments and companies. This traditional system requires the user to fill in their timesheets or sign on the attendance sheet manually. The practice inefficient and ineffective for university’s student attendance recording due to, i) lecturer may lose the attendance sheet, ii) student may sign for their friends, iii) student may forget to sign on the attendance sheet, and iv) challenging to monitor attendance rate and analysis. Thus, there is a necessity to change these traditional attendance recording methods to a more efficient one. The attendance rate is significant because students are more likely to succeed in academics when they attend classes consistently. As such, a mobile app, namely Smart-Hadir, is designed to overcome problems as mentioned above. Smart-Hadir is a smartphone application developed by UMS aimed to record student attendance digitally during a class session. The technology used is slightly different from the existing applications, where Smart-Hadir is not using RFID technology but rather covers NFC, QR code, and beacon technologies. Attendance could be taken either using NFC or QR code displayed on the wall using a projector or scan the available beacon. Lecturers can create class session using the Smart-Hadir anywhere and anytime. Students are then required to take their attendance either scan the QR code, search the beacon, or swiped their student card on the lecturer’s phone. The students’ attendance will be immediately captured and saved into the database. Lecturers will be able to view the statistic report, identify and e-mail absentees, as well as monitor students’ attendance behaviour. A statistical report can be generated. It shows the percentages of students’ attendance rate, absent rate, and status. The Smart-Hadir is advantageous as it can be used to capture meeting or event attendance record as well.

Assessing Indigenous Cultural Safety Learning using Modified Reflexive Visual Arts

Objective: Assessing Indigenous cultural safety learning in pharmacy students using modified reflexive visual arts Innovation: Traditional quantitative assessment methods are often ineffective and impractical for the evaluation of Indigenous cultural safety learning. Existing qualitative assessment methods have shown potential in small-class and experiential environments, but evidence to guide the scalability and use in a large lecture format is sparse. An innovative, visual arts-based qualitative assessment of cultural safety learning was developed and deployed to 223 first-year pharmacy students. The assessment was deployed in a pre- and post-term style in a foundational pharmacy module that included content on Indigenous health and cultural safety. The pre-term assessment included two activities for students: 1) a visual art self-reflection requiring students to use any visual art medium to depict what they think it means to practice as a pharmacist with cultural safety, accompanied by a brief written description and (2) an in-class session with a brief lecture component, small and large group sharing of reflections, debrief of experiences, and student peer review of the visual reflections. The post-term portion included a similar self-reflection activity and an in-class session that now asked students in their small groups to: 1) compare their pre/post reflections, and 2) collectively create a new summative visual that depicts the entire group’s thoughts. Surveys and a focus group were used as an additional source of data. Critical Analysis: Survey responses (n=215) indicated that feedback for the assessment was highly positive, with 77% of students recommending the activity for future first-year pharmacy students. Students also validated the utility of the assessment, with 70% strongly or somewhat agreeing that the activity was valuable for their learning, 80% strongly or somewhat agreeing that the activity stimulated their thinking, and 81% strongly or somewhat agreeing the activity accurately reflected their true feelings on practicing cross-culturally.

Blended Learning on Blood Pressure Measurement: Investigating Two In-Class Strategies in a Flipped Classroom-Like Setting to Teach Pharmacy Students Blood Pressure Measurement Skills

For reliable blood pressure measurement, various potential sources of inaccuracies need to be considered to avoid incorrect decision-making. Pharmacy students should be sensitized and taught the skill accordingly. One strategy to teach students’ blood pressure measurement skills might be through a blended learning approach in a flipped classroom-like setting. With a randomized two-arm study among pharmacy students in their eighth semester, the required extent of in-class session in the scope of a blended learning approach in a flipped classroom-like setting was evaluated. Participants’ self-confidence and self-perceived proficiency were evaluated through a survey, and participants’ blood pressure measurement performance was assessed by objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Participants’ satisfaction with, and perception of, the flipped classroom were also surveyed. The extended in-class activities did not result in a significantly higher increase of participants’ OSCE score and self-assessment score when compared to the brief in-class session. Both in-class sessions yielded a significant increase in the OSCE scores as well as in the self-assessment scores. Moreover, the teaching approaches were predominantly well-received by the students. The use of both flipped classroom-like approaches improved pharmacy students’ blood pressure measurement performance, though the brief in-class session was sufficient. Students’ self-confidence/self-perceived proficiency in blood pressure measurement skills increased similarly in both settings.

Developing Students’ Speaking Skills through Flipped Classroom Model

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of implementing flipped classroom model on students’ speaking skills. This research used quantitative method, the number of the sample were 34 of senior high school students which was taken purposively by using quasi-experimental research with before and after design. The whole online flipped classroom model was carried out, since the limitation to hold the actual face-to-face meeting at school, which still allow the students to interact face-to-face with each other and the teacher virtually through a group chat and video conferencing to discuss the material given and practicing to use spoken English during the class sessions. Pre-class activity was held using a group chat by giving instruction to the students to study the material before the actual class session and during the class session the whole class were meet face-to-face through video conferencing. A speaking test was carried before and after the implementation of flipped classroom model to assess the students’ speaking performance. Among the experimental group, the result showed the fully online flipped classroom model not only engage them with the English material but also significantly improved their speaking performance. Furthermore, the students were become more confident to speak in English during the class session.

Epilogue

Part of living at a distance has meant relying on a stream. Today alone, so much information has streamed into my home from so many sources on so many devices I would have trouble accounting for all of it. While my daughter streamed her class session upstairs, a selection of music I would be likely to enjoy streamed on my phone, and my son streamed a movie from one of the services to which I hastily (and regrettably) subscribed when the pandemic began. We streamed a bedtime story read remotely by Dolly Parton, a Shakespearian sonnet read by Patrick Stewart, and a silent film playing on the wall of a New York City apartment. Unlike the tsunami of my emotional state for the past few months, these streams have been rather comforting. But how does the metaphor of the stream hold up to the discourses and dangers of ventriloquism we have been addressing throughout this collection?...

Implementing the Flipped Classroom in an Undergraduate Corporate Finance Course

This study analyzes flipped mode of instruction in Corporate Finance. In the current environment, with many students in quarantine and greater emphasis on self-study, it is even more relevant to understand how students understand and retain concepts derived from online environment. In this study, performance of students in flipped mode is compared with the performance in traditional lecture-style. In flipped class, students watched a brief video-lecture, took an online assessment quiz prior to attending an interactive discussion-based class session, unlike the traditional lecture style. The results of this study suggest that with flipped mode, most students take greater responsibility of their learning, prefer hands-on learning, achieve more and feel more satisfied with their performance. However, there is no statistical difference in the test scores of students in the flipped classroom as compared to the traditional classroom.

Turn-taking in the Classroom Session in the Movie Freedom Writers by Richard La Gravanese (2007)

Speaker (S) and next speaker or hearer (H) requires a turn-taking process in order to obtain the desired information. This study aims (1) to determine the rules of turn-taking used by S and H in Classroom sessions in the film "Freedom Writers" and (2) to explain the intention of turn-taking in the Classroom session done in the film "Freedom Writers". The data of this study were the utterances and action which were taken from activities during the class session in the film "Freedom Writers" by Richard La Gravanese (2007). To analyze the data, the researcher refers to Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson’s (1974) theory about turn-taking rules. The researcher determines the intention by referring Cutting’s theory about pragmatics such as context and conversation analysis. The result of study shows that (1) turn-taking 1A (S chooses H in the speech) is the highest, (2) turn-taking 1B (H is not chosen by S) is the second higher; and turn-taking 1C (S can stop or continue speaking) is the least in frequencies. It can be concluded that the rule 1A is dominant and is often used in turn-taking in classroom session. (2) The researcher found that the intention within the turn taking are ranged from the highest to the lowest respectively : to ask , to clarify, to demand, to inform, to assert, to support, to request, to invite, to threat, to challenge, and to tease. Therefore, it can be concluded that the intention to ask is the most intention used in classroom session.

1121. Implementation and Evaluation of a Virtual Microbiology Laboratory for Pharmacy Students

Background Health professions students learn microbiology concepts during in-person laboratories (labs). While highly rated by students, labs are extremely resource- and time-intensive. A virtual lab may minimize resource use while maintaining educational value. We report on the implementation and evaluation of a virtual lab designed to teach clinical microbiology to pharmacy students during an infectious diseases course. Methods We created a video in our clinical microbiology lab to depict the steps involved in processing and analyzing a patient sample. We also designed 2 web-based, interactive modules for students to practice lab techniques, such as virtually streaking an agar plate. Students viewed the video and completed the modules prior to attending a 2-hour in-person, case-based, small group discussion on higher-order clinical microbiology concepts. All students were invited to complete a post-session evaluation that assessed achievement of session objectives. Results Sixty-nine students (65%) completed the survey. Students highly rated the video, modules, and in-class cases (Table 1). Fewer students felt confident explaining the clinical microbiology process, compared to selecting antibiotics, interpreting cultures, explaining Gram stains, and interpreting an antibiogram (Table 2). Student comments highlighted the value of the video, modules, and instructor facilitation during the in-class session. Students also suggested improvements with the module user interface and reinforcement of certain topics (e.g. clinical breakpoints) during the in-class session. Table 1: Student Ratings of the Quality of Instructional Materials Table 2: Student Self-Reported Agreement with Achievement of Session Objectives Conclusion We demonstrated successful implementation a virtual microbiology lab within a pharmacy course. Overall student ratings of materials were favorable. We plan to refine and re-offer the virtual micro lab next year and measure its association with student performance. To facilitate the adaptation of this virtual lab by other schools, our teaching materials are available for use via https://vimeo.com/390087512 (video) and http://tiny.ucsf.edu/atlas (modules). Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

The Effects of Different Instructional CPR Method on the Acquisition and Retention of CPR Skills in Soldiers: A Controlled Randomized Trial

Background: The mortality rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is high and it's shown that bystander CPR increases the survival rate of these patients by two to three-folds. Several methods are introduced to improve the acquisition and retention of CPR-related knowledge learned in courses. Objectives: The current study aimed to compare three different methods of teaching CPR in terms of primary acquisition and retention of such skills in soldiers. Methods: This study was performed from November 2019 to February 2020 on selected duty male soldiers doing their military service. Participants were randomized into 1 of the following 4 groups: (1) A lecture-based, 30-minute class session followed by a one-hour practice on a manikin; (2) a 20-minute instructional video followed by a one-hour practice on a manikin; (3) a 20-minute instructional video without practice on a manikin (video only); and (4) no intervention. The performance and retention of CPR skills were assessed using a checklist by two referees. The preparation score, ABC score, and total score were assessed using this checklist. Results: Fifty male participants with a mean age of 22.44 ± 2.08 years were included. The median score of groups 1 - 3 increased significantly after the intervention compared to the pre-test results. Group 3 (video only) experienced the highest increment in the preparation score (2.30). Concerning the ABC and total scores, group 1 (class session) showed the highest increment of scores (22.70 and 24.82, respectively). Group 3 (video only) showed the most sustained results compared to groups 1 and 2 one month after the intervention. Conclusions: According to the results, the classroom session teaching with a manikin practice accompanied better acquisition of CPR skills. However, the retention of CPR skills is better maintained with a simple video-only method.