Digitalization and Backward Design take the finance teaching techniques and study plan strategy one step further

Digitization has been around for several years, but its use has become a necessity with the Covid-19 pandemic. Lockdown forced us to work remotely overnight, to use digital networks to communicate, make payments, learn all sectors of activity were forced to adapt to the digital age in one night. This paper shows how teaching, research, and the study plan must adapt to the new communication requirements and students’ needs to achieve the course learning outcomes in a virtual environment. The paper proposes a realistic academic plan design - backward. Taking into account new environmental and digital challenges, the backward design facilitates the decision on the content of the study plan, the elimination of less important parts, and the application of new communication and assessment techniques.

A Machine Learning Approach to Detect Student Dropout at University

In universities, student dropout is a major concern that reflects the university's quality. Some characteristics cause students to drop out of university. A high dropout rate of students affects the university's reputation and the student's careers in the future. Therefore, there's a requirement for student dropout analysis to enhance academic plan and management to scale back student's drop out from the university also on enhancing the standard of the upper education system. The machine learning technique provides powerful methods for the analysis and therefore the prediction of the dropout. This study uses a dataset from a university representative to develop a model for predicting student dropout. In this work, machine- learning models were used to detect dropout rates. Machine learning is being more widely used in the field of knowledge mining diagnostics. Following an examination of certain studies, we observed that dropout detection may be done using several methods. We've even used five dropout detection models. These models are Decision tree, Naïve bayes, Random Forest Classifier, SVM and KNN. We used machine-learning technology to analyze the data, and we discovered that the Random Forest classifier is highly promising for predicting dropout rates, with a training accuracy of 94% and a testing accuracy of 86%.

Mentorship – Propitious Methodology to Improve Low Performers

Mentorship program have a wide array of benefits which imparts an important role in reversing the decline of academics and helps in understanding the challenges encountered. The main objectives of the MP are 1) To address the student’s problematic areas and identify sectors where they need more support. 2) To provide immediate support network to the Low performers and establish small group mentoring program which was based on performance basis. A total of 50 students and 28 faculty were involved in the study. All the 50 students were allotted mentor, in a lottery basis picked by the students, with the mentor to mentee ratio of 1:2. The marks obtained in Mid Term 1 exam was taken as baseline and compared with subsequent exam marks to identify the effectiveness of mentorship program. Further, at the end of terminal exam, 13 students were identified as low performers and were given an extra focused care other than regular mentoring. At the end of the 1st year MBBS, a preformed questionnaire with four Likert scale was taken to understand the effectiveness of mentorship. The marks were expressed in mean ± SD. The marks between the exams were compared using Paired t Test. SPSS 26.0 was used for all statistical procedures. Among the low performers, the comparative improvement in the marks between Terminal and Mid Term II was 18% in Anatomy(p<0.000), 9% in Physiology (p<0.005) and 8% in Biochemistry(p<0.01). Further the comparative improvement in the marks between Mid Term II and Final Professional exams was 5% in Anatomy(p<0.029), 5% in Physiology and 11% in Biochemistry(p<0.001). In addition, analysis of students feedback revealed that 38% of the students have agreed and 54% of them have strongly agreed that mentorship program was effective and beneficial to them. Mentorship Program should be a part of the academic plan and should be implemented in all medical Colleges to bring out efficient Doctors and prevent dropouts of medicos. Students with effective mentors as role

LOCKDOWN ENGAGEMENT AND ENRICHMENT OF COLLEGE STUDENTS

There are several studies have been conducted at a global level to assess the COVID-19 Lockdown related issues. But in the study is to assess the lockdown engagement and enrichment of college students during COVID-19 on various college students and university students in Tirunelveli District. An online survey was conducted from 13th May to 22nd May 2020 to collect data. A structural Questionnaire link was sent to students via Whatsapp and email using the “Google Form”. A total number of respondents is 80, the students provided complete information regarding the study survey. The researcher has applied the statistical tools like percentage analysis, reliability test, t-test, chi-square test, and cluster analysis to analyse the results. Most of the respondents stated that the financial problem is the major reason for not updating themselves and distraction, laziness, parental/child pressures are the least reasons for not updating as per the modern scenario which is expressed by the sample respondents. The researcher suggested that the universities and colleges should make their own uniform academic plan and also generate a proper Non-stop Continuity Education Plan to continue the college students' learning process during this pandemic lockdown and to have encouraged the students to upgrade their skills.

Severe School Attendance Problems and Extended Time Out of School

This chapter provides an overview of severe school attendance problems or those that have been recurring for more than several months and likely over a period of years. The chapter offers suggestions for pursuing alternative paths toward graduation that could include virtual or online learning, home-based instruction, alternative schools and academic programs, and accruing formal credits in nontraditional ways. Other suggestions include pursuing community support for mental health problems and family conflict that may need to be addressed prior to a new academic plan. The chapter also addresses circumstances under which a child may be out of school for an extended period of time due to crises beyond the family’s control, such as the current pandemic. Additional resources and final comments are provided as well.

La digitalización docente frente al reto de crisis sanitaria. La adaptación del claustro de Quirónsalud Madrid

La digitalización del profesorado universitario es un aspecto que ha cobrado especial relevancia en los últimos meses, de forma más concreta en el ámbito sanitario. Las clases presenciales se han visto canceladas y sustituidas por docencia online de una manera abrupta a causa de la crisis sanitaria acontecida. A ello se suma la elevada carga asistencial que han asumido todos los profesionales sanitarios. Varios de los hospitales del grupo Quirónsalud en Madrid desarrollan gran parte del plan académico del Grado de Medicina de la Universidad Europea y, debido a las circunstancias derivadas de la pandemia, su docencia ha tenido que transformarse, usando herramientas digitales que permitieran llevar a cabo tanto la labor docente como el arduo trabajo hospitalario de forma simultánea. Este artículo presenta los datos de la docencia llevada a cabo, así como las iniciativas que se han puesto en marcha desde marzo de 2020, con la finalidad de analizar la adaptación del claustro médico docente del grupo Quirónsalud a la situación acaecida. La utilización de herramientas asíncronas ha favorecido el trabajo autónomo del estudiante y la compatibilización de la actividad asistencial y la docencia en los hospitales mediante iniciativas como clases síncronas online, seminarios grabados y presentaciones locutadas, entre otras. The digitalization of university teaching staff is an aspect that has taken on special relevance in recent months, especially in the field of healthcare. Face-to-face classes have been abruptly cancelled and replaced by online teaching due to the health crisis. In addition, all the health care providers have taken on the burden of providing care, making it compatible with the virtual classes. Several Quirónsalud groups hospitals carry out part of the academic plan for the degree in Medicine at the European University. However, the teaching has had to be transformed, using digital tools that allow the teaching work and the arduous hospital work to be blended. This article presents the data on the teaching carried out and the initiatives that have been implemented since March 2020 with the aim of analyzing the adaptation of the medical teaching staff of the Quirónsalud group to the situation that has occurred. The use of asynchronous tools has favored the autonomous work of the student and the compatibility of healthcare activity and teaching in hospitals through initiatives such as online synchronous classes, recorded seminars and spoken presentations, among others.

Development of a relevance index for the subjects in a study plan - Case study: Systems and Computer Engineering, Universidad Tecnológica de Pereira

This document presents the development of an index that aims to quantify, according to some criteria known in graph theory, how relevant a subject is, taking into account its location in the curriculum, its number of credits, its prerequisites and the subjects dependents. The first thing was to model the academic plan using a graph, which considers only two things: the assigned credits and the prerequisites that must be met before taking the subjects. After having this model, graph theory algorithms were applied that allow to measure the importance of a subject with respect to the location in its curricular mesh (Centrality) and allow to give a measure of the importance of the subjects based on academic credits, its prerequisites and subjects depending on it (Neighborhood). It is important to note that the analysis presented is not intended to indicate that one subject is more important than another for the student's professional development, but rather to analyze, in an estimative way, which subjects contribute more to the connectivity of the program and academic flow by this network only taking into account the information found in the curriculum.The result obtained is a composite index, which allows visualizing the relevance degree of the subjects in the study plan.

CREATING IMMERSIVE AND INTERACTIVE SURVEYING LABORATORIES IN VIRTUAL REALITY: A DIFFERENTIAL LEVELING EXAMPLE

Surveying engineering education includes several outdoor laboratories that complement and enhance theoretical concepts taught in class. In addition, outdoor laboratories develop student skills with instruments and surveying techniques. These laboratories are often affected by weather, leading to cancelled laboratories, which reduce the time students spend with instruments and disrupt/delay the academic plan. Furthermore, terrain characteristics are important in surveying, as each terrain and project introduce unique surveying challenges. However, training often takes places in one location, thus, limiting student comprehension and experience on how to use the same instrument and techniques in different terrain conditions. Virtual reality constantly gains ground in education, as it overcomes restrictions of physical laboratories and enhances student learning. This study discusses the development of a leveling laboratory in immersive and interactive virtual reality, as well as the challenges encountered. We have replicated a part of the Penn State Wilkes-Barre campus, where students conduct many of their physical laboratories, in virtual reality with geometric and photorealistic fidelity using remote sensing and photogrammetric methods. Dense point clouds derived from terrestrial laser scanning and small unmanned aerial surveys are used for terrain and man-made object modeling. In addition, we have developed software that simulates surveying instruments, their properties, and user/student interaction with the instrument (e.g., moving the tripod, leveling the level instrument and leveling rod, etc.). This paper demonstrates that by utilizing cutting-edge remote sensing and virtual reality technologies, we can create realistic laboratories that can supplement physical outdoor laboratories and improve/enhance undergraduate instruction of surveying students.