Web Enhanced Flipped Learning: A Case Study

This research study is a technology-enhanced flipped learning pilot to observe the students’ engagement and learning in a self-regulated class through their individual feedback. Flipped learning was applied to a segment of the Study Skills course for more than two weeks to 129 students in the foundation year of a Teachers’ College in Bahrain. Divided across four sections, the students worked in small groups, prepared an assigned portion of the course content provided through a Learning Management System (LMS), and presented it to the rest of the class. Students used posters, flash cards, and digital technology in different forms such as PowerPoint slides, mobile phones, and Kahoot!. The reflective individual student responses on this experience were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings show a favourable response to group work, sharing ideas, saving time through collaboration, and use of technology. It is recommended that the study be extended to a larger sample group, to a larger number of the course topics, and include the use of different technology forms.

Understanding procrastination: A case of a study skills course

Procrastination is consistently viewed as problematic to academic success and students’ general well-being. There are prevailing questions regarding the underlying and maintaining mechanisms of procrastination which are yet to be learnt. The aim of the present study was to combine different ways to explain procrastination and explore how students’ time and effort management skills, psychological flexibility and academic self-efficacy are connected to procrastination as they have been commonly addressed separately in previous studies. The data were collected from 135 students who participated in a voluntary time management and well-being course in autumn 2019. The results showed that students’ ability to organize their time and effort has the strongest association with procrastination out of the variables included in the study. Psychological flexibility also has a strong individual role in explaining procrastination along with time and effort management skills. Surprisingly, academic self-efficacy did not have a direct association with procrastination. Interestingly, our findings further suggest that time and effort management and psychological flexibility are closely related and appear to go hand in hand and, thus, both need to be considered when the aim is to reduce procrastination. The implications of the findings are further discussed.

A study skills course for First-Year Medical Students: Experience of a Private Medical School in Pakistan

Objectives: To share the experience of study skill module development and implementation for first year MBBS students at Liaquat National Hospital and Medical College (LNH&MC). To compare the change in students’ self- assessment of their knowledge of study skills before and after the course. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted from November 2019 to April 2020. A structured study skills course was offered to 100 first year MBBS students of Liaquat National Hospital & Medical College, Karachi. Steps involved in the development included identification of outcomes, instructional objectives, content and instructional strategies. Students were given two questionnaires. In the first questionnaire, students rated their interest in implementing the learning techniques learnt. In the second questionnaire, students rated their level of knowledge of effective study skills before and after the course. Analysis included computing percentages for students’ preferred study skill technique. Change in knowledge was assessed by comparing retrospective pre-post self-rating using Wilcoxon Signed Ranks Test (two-tailed). Results: Analysis of survey forms showed that more than 50% of the students were willing to implement active listening techniques, metacognitive note taking and writing reflections in their future study practice.There was also a statistically significant change in students’ self-rating of their knowledge about study skills (pre-test median 3, post-test median 4, p0.00). Conclusion: This study provides an insight of structured study skills course development and implementation in early medical college studies that could help them in combating academic stress. In addition, students’ response about their preferred technique and their feedback comparison concluded their positive attitude towards the course. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.1.2772 How to cite this:Ali S, Tabassum A, Hashmi MSS, Huda N. A study skills course for First-Year Medical Students: Experience of a Private Medical School in Pakistan. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(1):65-70. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.1.2772 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Communication Challenges in the Military Institution

This paper examines communication challenges within the military institution in Botswana. There seems to be rigid ways of delivering messages which in the end impede smooth communication practices between senior personnel and their subordinates within the institution. This study adopted the qualitative analysis to interrogate issues underlying communication practices from military classrooms for three years. The target group was middle ranking officers in institution who take Communication and Study Skills course as a requirement for their study at the University of Botswana. Data were collected using open ended questionnaires, interviews and group discussions in the classrooms. The model of communication process and new media were used to benchmark the practices within the institution against what the concepts say. The findings indicated that indeed communication processes were marred with problems that hinder smooth transition of messages from the sender to the receiver and ended up frustrating the subordinates. The study concluded that revamping and sanitizing communication practices within the military institution was necessary through educating the leadership to address the barriers encountered.

A Web-enhanced Course in Foundation Program at Bahrain Teachers College: A Case Study

The purpose of a web-enhanced course in Study Skills at Bahrain Teachers College (BTC) was to reduce the time consumed in teaching, learning and assessing while dealing with large classes. Thus, the current study is a case in exploring the effectiveness of using different aspects of technology in teaching. Conceptualized by Stella Cottrell, the APT-S framework of study skills focuses on Academic skills, People’s, Task and Self-management skills, and that formed the basis of the Study Skills course. The technology engaged in this investigation consisted of BTC’s Learning Management System-Moodle, computer labs, and students’ personal mobile devices. Through the e-content on Moodle, the course incorporated technology with online activities, online quizzes, QR codes, active excel sheets and optical answer sheets. Emails and WhatsApp groups formed the medium of communication with students. A variety of online teaching strategies included video lectures, flipped class model, live Instagram session, online discussion forums, and several interactive in-class fun activities. Periodic assessments of small portions of the content and reflective learning tasks that promoted critical thinking were the other highlights of the course. The sample for the current case study comprised of 366 Foundation program students at BTC. The qualitative data was collected in the form of the students’ reflections and feedback on the open-ended questions as well as the insights from the 3 course instructors. Unstructured interviews were also conducted with 14 students. Overall, the case study concluded that the blended/online learning for Study Skills course made the teaching and learning process more efficient and ensured a larger number of online participation from students than in a normal classroom. The effectiveness in the use of technology, through a flip classroom, a live Instagram session and video lectures, wasclearly evident. Due to the challenges posed by the logistics of conducting frequent assessments and recording video lectures without professional support, it is recommended that BTC should be equipped with sufficientcomputer labs and professional recording equipment. Keywords: web-enhanced, study skills, online teaching strategies, foundation program, online learning

Incorporating Digital Technology in the General Education Classroom

The implementation of technology-based pedagogic practices is becoming increasingly significant in higher education as the admission of digital natives increase. This generation of students, so defined as digital natives because they grew up using computers, tablets, smart phones and other digital technology, show a high level of technological competence, but exhibit deficiencies in competencies related to digital academic tools. A group of activities which supports learning, and facilitates student academic success, were compiled in a 28-item challenge for beginning General Education students, as a part of a Life and Study Skills course. Each challenge invited students to access some aspect of digital technology which has the potential to increase their academic competence. The main aim of the exercise was to increase students’ digital academic literacy, exposing them to applications and ICT skills which would increase their efficiency, self-efficacy and accuracy in executing academic tasks. The technology tools used were aimed at accomplishing tasks such as group formation and communication, notetaking, information capture, summarization, synchronous and asynchronous collaboration on tasks, referencing, formatting, grammar check, plagiarism and assessment. Students were challenged to complete particular tasks using specific applications. A screenshot of each completed activity was submitted as evidence of task completion. Students were given 28 days to complete the tasks, after which they were required to do two quizzes, using learning platforms they were exposed to in the challenge, demonstrating their new found proficiencies.