Adaptive challenges of curriculum implementation for enhancing medical student resilience at Showa University in Japan

It has been consistently reported that medical students experience a high rate of psychological morbidity, depersonalization, and low personal accomplishment around the world. Under the circumstances, resilience-enhancing programs have been gathering attention and partially implemented even in Japan. However, most of the programs just imitate resiliency programs in North America even though studies have indicated that there are cultural differences between East Asia and North America in the capacity to cope with a stressful situation. The presenters investigated what factors might affect the similarities or differences in the perception of resilience among experienced palliative care physicians in Canada and Japan in 2017-2018. This study showed that Japanese physicians are more likely to rely on “Relationships” with other persons such as family members, friends, mentors or colleagues; in contrast, Canadian physicians tended to be more focused on individual factors such as “Autonomy” and “Confidence”. As a result, the presenters at Showa University School of Medicine in Japan have implemented a progressively advancing resiliency program in a passed manner for the 1st through 6th year medical students as part of a new curriculum. This represents one of the most drastic revisions of curriculum in the school’s history. This presentation will introduce a course for resiliency programs as part of a new curriculum, including course description, course content, educational objectives, instructional strategies and the tips for the classroom teaching and learning.

Teachers and students opinion regarding updated MBBS curriculum 2012 in a teaching hospital.

The modern concept of a curriculum originally derived from the Latin word for a race course. Undergraduate medical education is part of a continuum of education and training.The new curriculum is structured to provide a balance among learning opportunities through integrated teaching system. This study was carried out to explore the views of teachers and students regarding the current undergraduate medical curriculum. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted between October 2019 to October 2020 among the teachers and students of a private medical college and hospital (MH Samorita medical collegesandhospital) in Dhaka Bangladesh. The sample size were 100 in total. Most of the participants suggested for changes in overall existing MBBS curriculum. Highest satisfaction was seen in content related to learning objectives that were 90% and highest dissatisfaction was seen in Phase distribution of subjects that were 89%.However, they were satisfied with present pattern of course content, objectives, evaluation system and carry on system. Teachers and students evaluation may prove useful if analyzed further to overcome the shortcomings of existing MBBS curriculum. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.13(1) January 2022: 27-32

Videos in Online Courses

Many instructors use videos to support their teaching in online courses to convey course content that would normally be taught in a traditional setting. Prior studies have shown some connection between utilizing online videos and student performance but do not always support their finding statistically or consider the nuance of the online videos, such as if the videos are required and how long the videos are. This article uses various quantitative analysis techniques to investigate the relationship between video length, student video viewing patterns, and grades. The findings indicate that videos should stay within a certain length to encourage student engagement with the videos and course assignments. Also, watching online videos is only positively related to grades when students are not required to watch, a result that is consistent across course-level and student-level models. Student viewing patterns also differ for courses that require watching videos versus those that do not. The article concludes by discussing the relevance of these results and how instructors can best utilize online videos in their courses.

The Jigsaw Design Challenge

This article highlights an innovative take on the jigsaw format, an inclusive and cooperative active learning strategy, implemented in an upper-level engineering elective course. After students complete the usual two steps of the jigsaw method—first gaining mastery in “expert groups” and then collaboratively teaching their peers in “jigsaw groups”—they then complete a third step in their jigsaw groups, in which they work together on an authentic design problem, offering a practical take on applying course content. This activity was implemented in three courses offered both in person and remotely (online only). We share how this innovation can promote learning, problem-solving, perspective sharing, and teamwork in contexts with students from different backgrounds and levels of experience.

Usefulness of Digital Serious Games in Engineering for Diverse Undergraduate Students

The use of educational digital games as supplemental tools to course instruction materials has increased over the last several decades and especially since the COVID-19 pandemic. Though these types of instructional games have been employed in the majority of STEM disciplines, less is known about how diverse populations of students interpret and define the value of these games towards achieving academic and professional pursuits. A mixed-method sequential exploratory research design method that was framed on the Technology Acceptance Model, Game-Based Learning Theory and Expectancy Value Theory was used to examine how 201 students perceived the usefulness of an intuitive education game that was designed to teach engineering mechanics used in designing civil structures. We found that students had different expectations of educational digital games than games designed for entertainment used outside of classroom environments. Several students thought that the ability to design their own structures and observe structure failure in real-time was a valuable asset in understanding how truss structures responded to physical loading conditions. However, few students thought the educational game would be useful for exam (14/26) or job interview (19/26) preparation. Students associated more value with engineering games that illustrate course content and mathematical calculations used in STEM courses than those that do not include these elements.

The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Medical Education: A Case Study at a Public University in Romania

The spread of COVID-19 in 2020 forced universities around the world to transfer on-site education to a virtual environment. The main goal of this study was to compare the experiences regarding online learning of students in programs that require clinical experiences with those of students in programs that do not require such experiences. The authors hypothesized that the switch to online instruction has affected medical students more profoundly than other students. Using a convenience sample of students at a Romanian university, the researchers explored differences between the two groups related to technical and personal problems, course quality, and instructional strategies used by faculty. The results indicate that medical students who could not participate in clinical experiences were significantly less satisfied with the transition to online learning than students in other programs. One implication of these results is that faculty teaching in medical schools need to improve in three areas related to online course quality: pedagogy, course content, and course preparation.

Assesing teaching assistant programmes as a tool facilitating the learning process of Physiology / Avaliação do modelo de monitoria como ferramenta facilitadora para o processo de aprendizagem em Fisiologia

A teaching assistant programme is an extracurricular activity in which an advanced student (the assistant) is guided and supervised by the lecturer to provide support to the curricular unit. The aim of the present study was to asses the contribution of teaching assistant programmes based on problem cases towards the acquisition of a medicine course content. The study was cross-sectional and involved 153 students divided into two groups: the present and the absent at teaching assistant sessions. All the participants responded to standardised questionnaires that have been used to analyse their perception of content acquisition, their active participation in learning and the contribution of teaching assistant sessions. The results showed that the perception of complete content acquisition among the present group was at 38.4%, while for the absent group only at 29.7%. The negative perception of content acquisition was at 13.6 % for the absent group and at 6.1% for the present group. Within the present group 73.5% of the students studied the topics covered in lectures within two weeks. For the absent group this number fell to 49.4%. In addition, 86% of the present group said that the teaching assistant sessions contributed towards their learning. As the main reason they pointed to the opportunity to answer questions. On the whole, the results suggest that teaching assistant programmes based on problem cases can be effective in facilitating the perception of learning. The reason appears to be a more intense involvement of the participants in a more active study routine.

Using Action Research to Transform a Traditional Reading Practicum

This chapter describes how faculty from the University of Central Florida collaboratively worked to transform an undergraduate reading practicum course utilizing action research and case study methodology. Seeking to develop preservice educators as teacher researchers, the reading faculty responded by developing and implementing the Action Research Case Study Project. This semester-long project required faculty to redesign the course to reflect this emphasis. This chapter includes the modifications made to the course content, the creation of rubrics for evaluating the project, and feedback mechanisms employed to facilitate student success. The project has been implemented for two semesters; various data sources are shared to document the effectiveness of the project including faculty input, survey data, student work examples, and student reflections.

Instructor Readiness for Open and Distance Learning in Turkey

The main purpose of this study is to examine the readiness of the instructors at universities in Turkey to open and distance learning (ODL) in terms of the ODL factors (distance teaching, technology, communication, and time) regarding competencies (knowledge-skills and attitudes-beliefs) and resources. A multiple case study design was employed, and 36 instructors from four different universities participated. Qualitative data were gathered through personal interviews and analyzed with descriptive analysis. Overall, the results indicate that the instructors in this research have competencies for all the ODL factors. Also, a majority of instructors has given their positive beliefs about ODL, but they all noted their concerns such as lack of interaction with the students and conveying university culture and lifestyle as the disadvantages of ODL. The study has revealed that almost every instructor has enough resources to give distance courses, whereas the problem is with lack of time for updating course content and self-development.

Web-Based Learning for Adolescents

This chapter assesses the innovations and challenges of web-based learning for adolescents. The technology acceptance model (TAM) was used to establish the determinants for the challenges and innovations of web-based learning for adolescents. Challenges coined include virtual engagement, adaptability, motivation, technical issues, time management, learning styles, destructions, communication skills, and the digital divide. Web-based learning is an emerging and innovative approach to teaching and learning that meets the evolving needs of adolescent learning. Adolescents should embrace the transformation from traditional brick-and-mortar classroom practices to a web-based environment. Stakeholders must continuously overcome the challenges of web-based learning. Future research can concentrate on developing well-defined web-based course content that supports the holistic learning needs of adolescents and the development of a web-based learning model for adolescents.