Design and Transition of an Emergency E-Learning Pathology Course for Medical Students Evaluation of a Novel Course Concept

Background Around the world, medical schools emergency-created countless e-learning offerings during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide instruction despite the pandemic. The question now is how to capitalize on this momentum of digitization and how to harness the medical e-learning content created for the future. We have analyzed the transition of a pathology course to show what needs to be considered during such a transition. Methods In the summer semester of 2020, the pathology course at the Technical University of Munich was completely converted to an asynchronous online course. This content was adapted in winter 2021 and incorporated into a flipped classroom concept in which research skills were trained at the same time. Results Screencasts and lecture recordings were the most popular asynchronous teaching formats. Students reported developing a higher interest in pathology and research through group work. The amount of content was very challenging for some students. Conclusion Flipped classroom formats are a viable option when using the pre-existing contents. We recommend checking the contents for technical and didactic quality and optimizing them if necessary. Content on research skills can be combined very well with clinical teaching content.

Quantitative study of lecture attendance and the association between this attendance and academic outcomes for nursing and nonnursing students in an introductory pathophysiology course

Since the availability of lecture recordings, there have been limited studies of any associations between face-to-face lecture attendance and academic outcomes. The aims of the study, in an introductory pathophysiology course, where lecture recordings were available, were 1) to quantify lecture attendance and any associations between academic outcomes and lecture attendance, and 2) to determine why students do or do not attend lectures. Data were analyzed for the whole cohort before separating the nursing (∼60%) and nonnursing students. Of 288 enrolled students, 205 consented to sign the attendance register, and 139 to undertake the online survey. Lecture attendance was higher (41%) before the midsemester exam than afterwards (24%), P < 0.001, due to higher attendance by the nursing than nonnursing students. Students who attended ≥50% of lectures consistently got higher academic outcomes than those that attended <50%, e.g., examinations, 11 percent points higher. Pearson’s or Spearman’s correlation coefficients for students from both the sign-in and survey showed that there were positive associations between lecture attendance and academic outcomes, which were mainly weak for nursing students ( P ≤ 0.05), with no association for nonnursing students. From the survey, most students who attended lectures did so because they considered they learned more by attending lectures, whereas not liking the lecture time was the most common reason for not attending lectures. In conclusion, even though students have access to lecture recordings, lecture attendance is still a determinant of academic outcomes for some students of pathophysiology.

Students as partners in digital education: Exploring lecture capture in higher education through partnership between students and learning technologists

This case study reports on two student-staff partnership projects at Cardiff University that explored the student experience of using lecture capture technologies. We describe the background to these projects, how they were designed, and how students and staff worked together to gain insights into the student experience. The case study demonstrates that nuanced understandings regarding the way students use lecture recordings is required and argues that student-staff partnership is an effective way of achieving these understandings. Suggestions are offered regarding how educationists could further harness partnerships to explore the complex interplays between technology and student learning. This reflective account also explores our efforts in achieving meaningful partnership working, the challenges encountered, and highlights the benefits of partnerships between students and professional-services staff, specifically learning technologists.

A call to build a publicly accessible library of lecture recordings in computer algebra

Because of the pandemic, most of us have been teaching online. Some of us have taught courses in computer algebra and some of us recorded those lectures. Now is a good time to assemble a library of computer algebra lectures on various topics. This will be of benefit to us and to future students, faculty and practitioners. Over time the quality of the lectures should improve and the number of topics covered will grow. In this note I describe such a library based on my own computer algebra lectures from this last semester that I have made public. I invite others to contribute.

Breakout Rooms, Polling, and Chat, Oh My! The Development and Validation of Online COPUS

We developed and validated a new classroom observation protocol, Online COPUS (E-COPUS), to measure teaching and learning practices in the online learning environment. We collected COPUS and E-COPUS data from 40 STEM courses before, during the transition, and continuation of emergency remote teaching (ERT). Through weekly discussions among observers, we adjusted six of the original instructor COPUS code descriptions and six of the original student code descriptions to fit the online learning environment. We trained 23 observers to conduct E-COPUS utilizing both in-person and online lecture recordings. To validate E-COPUS, we consulted an expert panel of science educators and education researchers to provide feedback on our code descriptions and complete a matching activity with our E-COPUS code descriptions. We further examined E-COPUS by analyzing the teaching and learning practices of 6 instructors across in-person and online instruction and found that the online functions of breakout rooms, polling, and the chat were utilized to promote active learning activities in the online learning environment. As we prepare for teaching in the future, it is important to have formative assessment tools designed for all course formats to support assessment and improvement of teaching practices in college STEM classrooms.

On-Demand Video Tagging, Annotation, and Segmentation in Lecture Recordings to Enhance E-learning Effectiveness

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced much of the academic world to transition into online operations and online learning. Interactions between the teachers and students are carried out via online video conferencing software where possible. All video conferencing software available today is designed for general usage and not for classroom teaching and learning. In this study, we analyzed the features and effectiveness of more than a dozen major video conferencing software that are being used to replace the physical face-to-face learning experiences. While some of the video conferencing software has pause feature but none allow annotation and segmentation of the recording. We propose tagging and annotation during the live streaming to improve direct access to any portion of the recorded video. We also propose automatic segmentation of the video based on the tagging so that the video is short, targeted, and can easily be identified.

Lecture rapture: The place and case for lectures in the new normal

Following the pivot to online teaching as a result of COVID-19, discussion has turned to how the “new normal” in higher education will look, in light of rapid changes and technological upskilling that have taken place across the sector. Amongst this discussion, there have been calls to abandon large face-to-face lectures. Here, we argue that traditional lectures and lecture recordings have a place in the new normal, and that arguments to abandon traditional lectures are as unhelpful as the view that they should be the default mode of teaching. When lectures are deliberately chosen as the most appropriate method of teaching and when the same pedagogical care and attention is given as to other modes of delivery, they provide an effective, pragmatic solution, particularly for large class sizes. Our response to the pivot should not be to abandon lectures but rather to critically reflect on their purpose and how we can maximise their potential.