Harnessing Social Media to Improve Educational Performance of Adolescent Freshmen in Universities

Social media use in different industries and commerce is high. Little exists on harnessing Facebook and YouTube to improve the educational performance of adolescent students. Researchers support that the use of social media has a positive correlation with educational performance. However, ‘little' or ‘no' research has been done on how social media platforms are customized to improve the academic performance of adolescents. Data was collected using interviews in the qualitative case study. The chapter proffers solutions like coming up with a private resource center hosted by university departments. The resource center is solely accessible for accessing research content and making contributions by academics, students, and industry. Further research might include a framework for the coalition of universities in sharing educational content on a global scale and designing local social media platforms.

Scientific Publishing Differences between Sexes in Cardiology, Cardiac, and General Surgery

Background Research and scientific publications are important for the advancement of science but also for the individual career development. While women have become the majority of students in medicine we do not know about female presence and scientific activity in cardiac surgery. We thus aimed to compare scientific output of women and men in German University departments of cardiac surgery with cardiology departments focusing on the same organ and surgical departments not addressing the heart (general surgery) of 34 universities in Germany. Methods Personnel working at University departments was identified on the institutions internet homepage in 2014. Publications in 2011 to 2013 on PubMed were identified. Author and manuscript characteristics were determined. Results A lower proportion of women were working in cardiac surgery (25%) compared with cardiology (35%) and general (32%) surgery independent of executive function or academic degree. Scientifically active women published fewer manuscripts per capita than men both, in total and as first author. Additionally, the mean and the cumulated journal impact factor of the journals chosen was lower for women compared with men in cardiology but not in cardiac and general surgery. Conclusion We conclude that the differences in scientific activity between women and men are more pronounced in cardiology compared with general and cardiac surgery, indicating that a higher proportion of women in a field does not result in reduced differences between sexes. The low number of women together with the lower number of manuscripts in cardiac surgery may render the appointment of women as directors challenging.

Structure, Process and Outcomes in Patient Engagement

Although patient engagement in research is gaining acceptance by researchers and funding bodies, descriptions of implementation options and associated outcomes are limited. In this appreciative inquiry of the 12 institutions involved in the Great Plains Collaborative of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Network (PCORnet), we interviewed patient engagement officers and patient partners to enhance understanding of approaches to organizational structure, research engagement processes, and associated outcomes of the engaged research. Multiple structures have been identified including operational affiliations in both hospital and multiple university departments. Professional affiliations of patient engagement officers vary widely, including nurses, social workers, and public health professionals, among others. Patient engagement processes also vary, but with the majority using forms of advisory boards. All sites reported outcomes of their work including completed and/or ongoing research and co-authored publications.

Decolonization of Petroleum Education and Training in the Indonesian Oil Industry, 1950-1968

The article explores the decolonization of education within the Indonesian petroleum industry. The Netherlands Indies had one of the largest petroleum industries in the world with many major petroleum players involved. Despite this there was a lack of investment in training and schooling of engineers and workers in the Netherlands Indies. The article showed that the development of training and tertiary education in the 1950s was conducted by both the major oil companies and Indonesian government which invested in creating vocational training schools and university departments to meet industry needs. This development allowed for the creation of a government-run national education and research institute based in Java. The article shows that the role of the oil companies was still indispensable for the decolonization gap before the development of state-owned education institutes and the inclusion of Indonesian participation in the industry during the 1950s and 1960s. The active participation of the foreign oil industry in the Indonesianization of the industry was part of its ‘exceptionalism’ and the specific role oil played in the Indonesian economy.

Citation analysis of Ph.D. theses with data from Scopus and Google Books

This study investigates the potential of citation analysis of Ph.D. theses to obtain valid and useful early career performance indicators at the level of university departments. For German theses from 1996 to 2018 the suitability of citation data from Scopus and Google Books is studied and found to be sufficient to obtain quantitative estimates of early career researchers’ performance at departmental level in terms of scientific recognition and use of their dissertations as reflected in citations. Scopus and Google Books citations complement each other and have little overlap. Individual theses’ citation counts are much higher for those awarded a dissertation award than others. Departmental level estimates of citation impact agree reasonably well with panel committee peer review ratings of early career researcher support.

Practice in the system of training the future educator

A cross-cutting program is an educational document that regulates the purpose, content, the chain of practices. Teachers of the university departments develop the work programs on the basis of a cross-cutting program since it contains recommendations on the types and forms of control over the level of knowledge, skills, and abilities that students should acquire. The authors studied training of the future teachers in the course of educational-productive practice in secondary schools and estimated its effectiveness. During the study, research and empirical methods were used, as well as methods of mathematical statistics. The link between the educational process of higher educational institutions and pedagogical practice in general secondary educational institutions was analyzed. The peculiarities of pedagogical practice and its influence on the formation of general and professional competences were revealed. It was concluded that practical training is an important component in teachers’ preparation and their self-affirmation.

Coverage Competence via Collaboration: Overcoming Political Journalism Challenges in Local Television

Recent national media surveys point to relatively high levels of public trust in local political reporting. The problem, however, is that challenges with reporter training and experience mean that local television is not as equipped as it might be to provide quality political coverage. We assess how professional journalists and college students majoring in political science or journalism view their reporting competences. We find mixed results, including lower confidence across all groups in performing data and statistical analysis. These results drive our recommended collaboration strategies for local television newsrooms and university departments to improve training and experiential opportunities.

Health Students’ Attitudes towards Disability

Background: Individuals with disabilities remain one of the most socially excluded segments of the population, constantly fighting for equal rights and social inclusion. Disability is not an easy subject for health professionals to deal with, in part because it crosses many professional and cultural boundaries.Objective: The aim of this research is to analyze and understand the various attitudes toward people with disabilities, amongst the final year medical, midwifery and nursing students and to compare the three health departments on their students’ attitudes.Methods: A questionnaire-based electronic survey was directed to all medical, midwifery and nursing students registered at two big universities in Athens, Greece (n=190). The time frame was decided to encompass a month window (from 2nd May to 2nd June 2021).Results: The Nursing students in the study showed overall a better attitude towards disabled people. Our research mainly indicates the fact that in general, there is need to prioritize training in both theoretical and practical fields through alterations in all three university departments’ curricula.Conclusions: Undergraduates Health Students (of Nursing, Midwifery and Medicine) generally present a lack of awareness, familiarity and experience towards disabled people. Numerous reasons seemed to influence health professional’s attitudes to people with a disability including their age, gender, nationality, education, years of experience, general knowledge regarding a disability and the level and nature of their training. This research clearly illustrates the importance of improving how universities’ undergraduate curricula address disabilities in an effort to inspire upcoming health professionals.

Organization of Educational Environment at Pedagogical University: Concepts and Scenario of Changes

The subjects of education satisfaction analysis with the teacher training results at the University was carried out. The training deficiencies and new challenges were identified, which made it possible to determine the guidelines for the development of pedagogical university. A variant to transform the organizational scheme of communications between university departments was presented to increase the efficiency of educational environment organization for professional training of future teachers.