Academic Experiences of “Zoom-Fatigue” as a Virtual Streaming Phenomenon During the COVID-19 Pandemic

This phenomenological exploratory multiple-case study design was conducted at an open distance e-learning university and a traditional contact residential university and it was found that the participants viewed video conferencing under the COVID-19 lockdown period as an exhausting experience. A second major finding revealed that the participants were empowered with digital literacy skills to use video conferencing effectively. The current findings add to a growing body of literature on video conferencing with a focus on Zoom fatigue. Further research might explore the lived zoom experiences of administrators, students and a larger group of faculties over a longer period. The study findings must be considered when planning and implementing video conferencing for academics and students in open distance e-learning contexts. This study showed that video conferencing is one tool in the emergence of a digital zoom revolution that has radically changed the workspace. The evidence from this study suggests that zoom fatigue is a reality check for work-related health management.

Key Considerations for Traditional Residential Universities Intending to Offer Bachelor of Laws (LLB) through the Distance Mode of Tuition: A Case Study

This case study aims to provide key considerations that traditional residential universities should consider when deciding to offer a distance tuition programme alongside an existing contact tuition programme. The University of the Free State is the only residential university to offer the Bachelor of Laws through both contact and distance modes of tuition. Therefore, an evaluation of this programme serves as an ideal case study to extract specific and essential considerations that other institutions, faculties or departments may use when deciding to offer a distance tuition programme in addition to its contact programme. The case study suggests that it is not feasible to merely duplicate an existing contact tuition programme and present it as a distance programme. A distinct pedagogical approach must be followed. It entails training, redesign of material, and rethinking assessment policies. Faculties should weigh the potential benefits of presenting a distance LLB against the labour-intensive nature of distance tuition and its probable limited success in realising broader access and student success. The funding model for distance tuition remains problematic and is financially unfeasible and unsustainable for many higher education institutions. Rethinking the funding model will be one step closer to achieving the objectives set out in the distance tuition policy framework.

Program-Based Construction of Scientific Visualization

Scientific Visualization remains an integral and inevitable part of every meaningful scientific, industrial and academic research. The focus of this study is to demystify the evolution, design and programmatic construction of scientific visualizations. Real life demonstrations have been achieved in this work using Python Programming Language. This work begins by exploring the programming environment based on a Python Integrated Development Environment (IDE) – the Anaconda. The IDE usage was shown in a chronological sequence with accompanying visual outcomes. The use of plot libraries was discussed, and implemented in real life. One of the demonstration projects is the Zig-Zag plot. Studies were also done on sub-plotting, and how it is used in scientific visualizations, especially where there is necessity to generate variations of outputs originating from a singular dataset. The work also explores the use of pie charts for presentations. A real-life case of how this could be used to visualize the halls of a residential university was demonstrated, with each of the data components labelled in distinct colours. It is hoped that this work will serve as a foothold and useful guide to researchers and other practitioners involved in real life scientific visualization.

Suddenly Apart, Yet Still Connected: South African Postgraduate Journalism Students’ Responses to Emergency Remote Teaching and Learning

Qualitative interviews with postgraduate journalism students at a South African residential university inform this exploratory study on emergency remote teaching (ERT) during the Covid-19 national lockdown. The aim of the study was to interrogate and describe the students’ personal experiences related to ERT and the way their initial expectations for the academic year were disrupted. The findings indicate that students struggled to adapt to ERT due, in part, to unequal access to infrastructure and an inability to regulate their home environment. A key finding of the study is that students relied heavily on peer support to encourage and motivate them during this period of disruption.

Threshold analyses on combinations of testing, population size, and vaccine coverage for COVID-19 control in a university setting

We simulated epidemic projections of a potential COVID-19 outbreak in a residential university population in the United States under varying combinations of asymptomatic tests (5% to 33% per day), transmission rates (2.5% to 14%), and contact rates (1 to 25), to identify the contact rate threshold that, if exceeded, would lead to exponential growth in infections. Using this, we extracted contact rate thresholds among non-essential workers, population size thresholds in the absence of vaccines, and vaccine coverage thresholds. We further stream-lined our analyses to transmission rates of 5 to 8%, to correspond to the reported levels of face-mask-use/physical-distancing during the 2020 pandemic. Our results suggest that, in the absence of vaccines, testing alone without reducing population size would not be sufficient to control an outbreak. If the population size is lowered to 34% (or 44%) of the actual population size to maintain contact rates at 4 (or 7) among non-essential workers, mass tests at 25% (or 33%) per day would help control an outbreak. With the availability of vaccines, the campus can be kept at full population provided at least 95% are vaccinated. If vaccines are partially available such that the coverage is lower than 95%, keeping at full population would require asymptomatic testing, either mass tests at 25% per day if vaccine coverage is at 63–79%, or mass tests at 33% per day if vaccine coverage is at 53–68%. If vaccine coverage is below 53%, to control an outbreak, in addition to mass tests at 33% per day, it would also require lowering the population size to 90%, 75%, and 60%, if vaccine coverage is at 38–53%, 23–38%, and below 23%, respectively. Threshold estimates from this study, interpolated over the range of transmission rates, can collectively help inform campus level preparedness plans for adoption of face mask/physical-distancing, testing, remote instructions, and personnel scheduling, during non-availability or partial-availability of vaccines, in the event of SARS-Cov2-type disease outbreaks.

Exploring Formative Assessment Possibilities: Building a 'Teamwork Discourse' with First-Year Engineering Students Online

Effective teamwork is one of the Engineering Council of South Africa’s (ECSA) exit-level outcomes. To achieve this outcome, one has to learn specific discourses and behaviours related to teamwork. Professional Orientation is a first-year engineering module offered in an extended engineering degree programme at a residential university in South Africa. This module assists students in developing a ‘teamwork discourse’, using engineering-based projects that follow the CDIO framework. In 2020, these projects transitioned fully to a virtual environment due to Covid-19 restrictions. The iPeer Learning Management System tool for peer- and self-assessment was used in this research to investigate whether first-year students were able to apply the teamwork discourses taught to them when completing the projects online. A quantitative analysis of the iPeer results reflected that while 54% of the students remained consistent in the two projects, 16% showed an improvement, and 30% showed a decrease. The reasons for these results could be varied. Thus, a qualitative analysis of the students’ comments for increased and decreased marks was also conducted to assess how the relevant teamwork discourses were applied and to what extent. These findings confirmed that teamwork discourses could effectively be applied by a smaller percentage of first-year students.

Exploring the quality of pre-service teachers’ critical analysis of cartoons within environmental contexts in the Life Sciences

The world is presently facing a myriad of environmental challenges. One way to address these challenges is through the development of cognitive abilities to analyse environmental issues and respond to them appropriately. There are a number of approaches used in education processes to develop the cognitive abilities of students; one of them is the use of conceptual or reasoning cartoons. This article reports on an exploratory study of the quality of pre-service teachers’ cognitive abilities in the analysis of three conceptual cartoons depicting real environmental challenges. The study was interpretivist in nature and followed a case study design. The participants were a convenient sample of students (n = 32) at year level three, at a Southern African residential university, doing a Life Science’s teaching methods module. Students were required to analyse three environmental cartoons which they had not previously seen or discussed. The responses were coded according to the basic analytical steps of critical thinking and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. The results showed that most responses were framed as descriptions of the cartoon rather than higher order analytical thinking; most students were unable to follow a sequence of analytical thinking; presentation of cognition was textual; and most pre-service teachers’ responses were phrased in a way that made it seem as if they were not part of the environmental issue. It is recommended that Life Sciences’ methodology pre-service teachers be categorically developed in analytical thinking of environmental issues, as they have a crucial role to play as future citizens.

THE KNOWLEDGE OF ANTIBIOTICS AND THEIR USES AGAINST VARIOUS DISEASES AMONG THE DORMITORY STUDENTS OF A RESIDENTIAL UNIVERSITY IN BANGLADESH: A PILOT STUDY

Aim and objective: The study attempts to investigate the knowledge and actual condition of antibiotic uses among university students to get rid from different infectious diseases. Methods: The study was conducted in a residential dormitory of a public university of Bangladesh. About 145 (n=145) students took part in the study which was conducted in January, 2020. Data were collected on the basis of a questionnaire made of basic questions about antibiotics and its resistance. Results: Among 145 students, 94.5% previously known about antibiotic which is impressive but a vast majority (46.4%) had no idea about antibiotic resistance and 51% did not know anything what will happen if bacteria become resistant to antibiotics which is alarming. It was found that the most used antibiotic was Azithromycin (46.4%), whereas amoxicillin (40%) was second highest. Those antibiotics were used to treat mostly fever (63.4%), various infections (31%), cold cough(25.4%),diarrhea(15.5%) irritable bowel syndrome(9.9%) etc. Most students (83.7%) used antibiotics as per doctor’s prescription. About 50% students had knowledge about antibiotic course and resistance which was evaluated by simple yes/no question. Conclusion: This work highlights the basic statistics of the knowledge about antibiotics use and abuse among the students of a residential dormitory of a public University of Bangladesh. Peer Review History: Received 22 March 2021; Revised 11 April; Accepted 26 April, Available online 15 May 2021 UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file: Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.0/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.5/10 Reviewer(s) detail: Dr. Ali Awad Allah Ali Moh. Saeed, National University, Sudan, [email protected] Dr. Kamal Elbssir Mohammed Ali, Hail University KSA, [email protected] Similar Articles: EFFECT OF MOST COMMON ANTIBIOTICS AGAINST BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM SURGICAL WOUNDS IN ADEN GOVERNORATE HOSPITALS, YEMEN BACTERIAL CONJUNCTIVITIS OF ADULTS: CAUSES AND OPHTHALMIC ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE PATTERNS FOR THE COMMON BACTERIAL ISOLATES