The Impression of ICT in Medical Education throughout COVID-19 Pandemic: A Survey among Medical Graduates of Bangladesh

In COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of ICT in Medical education is amplified. The purpose of the study was to assess and estimate the role and impact of ICT in relation to learning on medical education and changing behavior of the students in the period of pandemic. A questionnaire survey approach was applied amid of the Bangladeshi medical undergraduates during the period of August, 2020 to November, 2020. A Google linked structured questionnaire was used and distributed to the study population via email, messenger and WhatsApp. The questionnaire was completed by 201 medical students, with 65% were female and 35% were male students. Almost all respondents (98%) owned an android smartphone and used it to access the internet. Two-thirds (69%) of respondents have medical and health related apps in their device, with Medscape being the most widely utilized app. Respondents (49%) encountered bandwidth trouble during online class. For collaborative learning with classmates, 76% respondents favored messenger and whatsApp group. ICT knowledge should be included in the curriculum, according to 57% respondents. Over one-third participants, 37.3%, were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. 30.8% respondents were satisfied while 19.4% were dissatisfied. The long-term benefits and problems of reforming the medical education system and utilizing ICT technologies should be considered. In this pandemic circumstance, digitalization of learning can give essential foundations for future medical education, aided by ICT tools. Our study may be used as a foundation for future research into developing digital teaching models in medical education. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Education Vol.13(1) January 2022: 58-68

Policy and Practice Challenges for Equality in Information and Communication Technology Education

The purpose of online learning is for learners to be able to access their learning material remotely and teachers to be able to facilitate learning and teaching with the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in education. The research reported in this chapter introduced the limited use of ICT tools and resources for teaching and learning at a primary school based in Tsakane township and explored the policy and practice challenges for equality in terms of community engagement. The chapter will introduce the purpose of the research, as well as the objectives and research questions, and will then proceed to provide background in terms of a detailed literature review. This chapter will proceed to identify limitations and assumptions, outline the problem statement, as well as the research methodology used in the study, together with a discussion of the results collected towards solutions.

Community Engagement Through Extension and Outreach Activities

Extension and outreach services of libraries, archives, and museums (LAM) are to be essentially considered as an important aspect of social and ethical responsibility of an institution towards the society. An academic library, especially a college library, has immense scope for engagement of the community constituting the stakeholders of the institution for participation, involvement, skill development, and enrichment as well as the individuals outside the institution, ultimately towards inclusion, empathy, and compassion for the society at large. Exemplary evidences of the opportunities and accomplishments of a college library with special reference to the extension and outreach activities of Sir Gurudas Mahavidyalaya, Kolkata, West Bengal, India are provided. Innovation, collaboration, communication, creativity, and effective employment of ICT tools are the keys to successful execution.

Opportunities and Challenges of ICT-Based Marketing in the Accomodation Sector

Digitalization has forced the accommodation sector to use information and communication technology (ICT) to excel in their business performance. Hence, it is of paramount importance to scan the pros and cons associated with use of ICT marketing in the accommodation sector. This chapter considers this fact and focuses on opportunities and challenges associated with the use of ICT-based marketing in the accommodation sector of Gurugram (Haryana) region of India. The phenomena of ICT marketing is exhaustively assessed and highlighted through different components such as introduction, ICT as emerging concept, application of ICT tools in the marketing accommodation sector, opportunities associated with using ICT-based marketing, challenges faced during applying ICT marketing in the accommodation sector, followed by a conclusion. This study has been considered as a modification and addition to the existing body of knowledge in the accommodation sector. Moreover, the tourism and accommodation marketers also apprehend practical implications to augment their services for survival in a competitive business environment.

Teachers’ Perception and Challenges of Using ICT in Teaching Mathematics at Secondary Level

The main objectives of this study were to identify the teachers’ perceptions and challenges of using ICT tools in the mathematics classroom at the secondary level in Kathmandu. The major tool of the study was a closed-ended questionnaire consisting of 19 items. The quantitative descriptive survey design was used in this study. The researcher selected 158 teachers by using simple random method from 261 government teachers who teach compulsory mathematics at grade X of Kathmandu district in Nepal. The standardized questionnaire was administered to the sample teachers. The SPSS-25 version database was used to analyze and interpret the collected data. Teachers’ perception of using ICTs in the mathematics classroom was positive with insignificant difference in terms of gender. There were some challenges: lack of knowledge, confidence, enough experience, training, interest and access to ICT tools, lack of technical support, lack of genuine ICT Software and unstable and unreliable internet connection at the schools. Due to these challenges, teachers did not use ICT in the classroom. Therefore, teachers should learn more to improve their knowledge and skills in ICT. The government should focus on management strategies and policies to reduce the challenges faced by teachers in mathematics classrooms. By these policies, they can use the ICT tools in the classroom.

Teachers’ Perception about Learning with Information and Communication Technologies: Usage & Challenges

We are living in an era of technology where everything demands knowledge, understanding, and handling of digital technology. Technology has renewed all spheres of social and professional lives and in this regard teaching and communication are not exceptional. Effective use of technology for real Communication is widely followed in teaching and teachers need to know the use of ICTs in classrooms for delivering lessons to inculcate sound knowledge and understanding of concepts. It is found that despite the significant impacts of ICTs on teaching and learning teachers are reluctant to use technical aids in the classroom. They report various issues that hamper them to use technology in their day-to-day teaching practices; moreover, a majority of teaching professionals are not convinced that they can make their teaching more and more effective by using technology. The paper aims to find out the CHALLENGES THE teachers face to use ICTs in classrooms and perceptions of teachers about the same. A qualitative research method was used to carry out the study. A well-designed questionnaire comprising of open-ended questions was served to randomly selected serving teachers from government schools of District Khairpur. The responses of the participants were analyzed to identify the challenges faced by the teachers while using ICT during the teaching and learning process. The collected data was analyzed and it was found out that teachers find it difficult to use technology in classrooms because they are not provided appropriate computers, technical support, and professional training to learn to use technology. It was also identified that because of time constraints teachers are unable to use ICTs in their teaching practices. Further, it was explored that teachers believe that teachers have limited perceptions about technology as they hold the view that technology just wastage their time. Based on findings, it was concluded that the integration of ICT tools is highly effective as it makes students more creative, productive, and hard-working as compared to traditionally managed classrooms. Schools administrations should provide not only the technology but also technical assistance to the teachers. Schools administrations need to help teachers to know the importance of ICTs and to use it for a meaningful purpose to improve the standard of education.

High-performance computing for SARS-CoV-2 RNAs clustering: a data science‒based genomics approach

Nowadays, Genomic data constitutes one of the fastest growing datasets in the world. As of 2025, it is supposed to become the fourth largest source of Big Data, and thus mandating adequate high-performance computing (HPC) platform for processing. With the latest unprecedented and unpredictable mutations in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the research community is in crucial need for ICT tools to process SARS-CoV-2 RNA data, e.g., by classifying it (i.e., clustering) and thus assisting in tracking virus mutations and predict future ones. In this paper, we are presenting an HPC-based SARS-CoV-2 RNAs clustering tool. We are adopting a data science approach, from data collection, through analysis, to visualization. In the analysis step, we present how our clustering approach leverages on HPC and the longest common subsequence (LCS) algorithm. The approach uses the Hadoop MapReduce programming paradigm and adapts the LCS algorithm in order to efficiently compute the length of the LCS for each pair of SARS-CoV-2 RNA sequences. The latter are extracted from the U.S. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) Virus repository. The computed LCS lengths are used to measure the dissimilarities between RNA sequences in order to work out existing clusters. In addition to that, we present a comparative study of the LCS algorithm performance based on variable workloads and different numbers of Hadoop worker nodes.

EVALUATING USE OF ICTS IN ACCESSING E-EXTENSIONSERVICES AMONG SMALLHOLDER FARMERS IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA

Smallholder farmers in Kenya are faced with low agricultural productivity which has been attributed toa number of factors among them being lack of access to agricultural information. This has been further exacerbated by shrinking number of public extension staff and underfunding of the extension system in the country. ICTs can play a crucial role in bridging this gap. This study determined ICTs accessed, and the extent of use of the ICTs to access e-Extension services among smallholder farmers in Nakuru county, Kenya. Data was collected from randomly selected sample of 130 smallholder farmers in a descriptive survey, using structured questionnaires and focus group discussions. Over 70 percent of the respondents had access to mobile phones, radio and TV while only 27.7 percent had access to the internet. The respondents that had access to YouTube, twitter and computers however, were less than 20 percent. The findings of the study revealed that mobile phones, radio and TV were the most accessed and utilized ICT tools in accessing e-Extension services among smallholder farmers.Social media platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook were on average used by the farmers to access e-Extension services while computers and twitter were the least used.The findings further revealed that e-Extension services that were most sought for by the farmers included production, market, pest and disease information.The major constraints in the use of ICTs tools in accessing e-Extension services were reported to include lack of ICTs such as computers and the internet, lack of awareness of availability of e-Extension services, lack of relevant information and lack of infrastructure such as electricity. The study concludes that accessible ICTs could be used to supplement other extension methods. There is need for improving access to ICTs particularly the internet and computers and creating awareness on use of platforms such as YouTube, Twitter and Farmer Call Centres in accessing agricultultural information among farmers.

Problems of Inconsistency and Didactic Functions of ICT Tools in Computer Science Courses

The purpose of the study is to consider problems of continuity of computer science education at the school and university levels. This article analyses the main reasons for the lack of continuity at the tertiary level. The continuity of learning providing the interrelation between different levels of life-long learning is one of the approaches to solve the problem of improving the quality and efficiency of the educational process. The results of the study reveal that different levels of computer science training for school leavers are needed to solve this problem. In respect to the analysis of the main conditions for planning the teaching process, differentiated teaching is recommended as a good solution to the situation.

Digital Competence of University Teachers of Social and Legal Sciences from a Gender Perspective

Higher Education institutions must respond to the major challenges posed by the technological transformations of recent years. For this, one of the key aspects is that the teachers working in them are trained to incorporate these technologies in teaching–learning processes, which requires them to be digitally competent. To analyse how gender relates to the level of competence of teachers, the types of ICT tools that they use, and their attitudes towards their implementation in teaching–learning processes, this quantitative research was carried out with the participation of 121 university teachers from the Autonomous Community of Aragon, all of them from the area of Social and Legal Sciences. The results show a differentiated profile between men and women in terms of their attitudes, beliefs, and self-perception regarding their management skills and effectiveness.