A Paradigm for Global Student Interactions Through Digital Technologies in a Post-COVID Era

The widespread outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic forced almost every aspect of our lives to shift to online modalities. One outcome of the pandemic was to effectively establish digital learning as a major system for education. The purpose of this chapter is to describe the development and implementation of a web-based resource for college instruction. The foundation for this pedagogical tool is sociocultural learning theory. This instructional tool has been deployed with over 2000 students to date. Its successful employment with college students in India and the USA is outlined, and suggestions are included for its generalized use to other content and courses.

The Game of Game-Based Learning

Games have been an inevitable part of education since the beginning. They have indescribably transformed the educational landscape with a higher emphasis on the learner-centric pedagogy. The educational games can be considered to be a contemporary manifestation of these centuries' old philosophies and practices aimed at imparting strategic and tactical thinking, language, logic, and mathematical skills amongst the learners. This chapter explores the meaning, significance, and scope of game-based learning as an instructional tool. It provides an interesting account of several games that are popularly used to facilitate effective learning in various settings. This chapter also examines the relevance and implications of games in education.

An Evaluation of YouTube Videos as a Surgical Instructional Tool for Endoscopic Endonasal Approaches in Otolaryngology

Objectives Online surgical videos are an increasingly popular resource for surgical trainees, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our objective was to assess the instructional quality of the YouTube videos of the transsphenoidal surgical approach (TSA), using LAParoscopic surgery Video Educational Guidelines (LAP-VEGaS). Methods YouTube TSA videos were searched using 5 keywords. Video characteristics were recorded. Two fellowship-trained rhinologists evaluated videos using LAP-VEGaS (scale 0 [worst] to 18 [best]). Results The searches produced 43 unique, unduplicated videos for analysis. Mean video length 7 minutes (standard deviation [SD] = 13), mean viewership was 16 017 views (SD = 29 415), and mean total LAP-VEGaS score was 9 (SD = 3). The LAP-VEGaS criteria with the lowest mean scores were presentation of the positioning of the patient/surgical team (mean = 0.2; SD = 0.6) and the procedure outcomes (mean = 0.4; SD = 0.6). There was substantial interrater agreement (κ = 0.71). Conclusions LAP-VEGaS, initially developed for laparoscopic procedures, is useful for evaluating TSA instructional videos. There is an opportunity to improve the quality of these videos.

Combination of Discovery Learning and Metacognitive Knowledge Strategy to Enhance Students’ Critical Thinking Skills

<p style="text-align: justify;">The research aims to develop an instructional tool based on Discovery Learning (DL) combined with a Metacognitive Knowledge Strategy (MKS) to enhance students’ Critical Thinking Skills (CTSs). In doing so, the study employed a Research and Development (R&D) method to develop such a tool. The developed instructional tool was tested for its validity by experts and practitioners’ evaluation. Further, the empirical data were collected from the results of implementation in learning and the student's responses, while the data of tools effectiveness were acquired from the critical thinking tests given to students (analyzed by related t-test). The developed instructional tools were implemented in a limited-scale trial of 32 students and a large-scale trial of 59 students. The results show that: firstly, the DL and MKS-integrated instructional tools are stated as valid in terms of the lesson plan, student worksheet, and critical thinking test. Secondly, the practicality criteria have been successfully met; the learning implementation, students’ activity, and students' responses were regarded as in accordance with the feasibility standard. Thirdly, the instructional tool was deemed effective in enhancing students’ CTSs (p = 0.05).</p>

Journaling about progress and errors

Drawing on mindset, belonging, and equity scholarship, a journaling assignment was developed as a low-stakes, writing-to-learn, formative assessment instructional tool for engaging students with content, normalizing mistakes, and supporting students during remotely scheduled online instruction for introductory linguistic analysis courses. Anecdotal data from student evaluations and instructor impressions suggest that journals provide high impact learning opportunities.

Left digit effects in numerical estimation across development

Number line estimation (NLE) tasks are widely used to investigate numerical cognition, learning, and development, and as an instructional tool. Interpretation of these tasks generally involves an implicit expectation that responses are driven by the overall magnitudes of target numerals, in the sense that the particular digits conveying those magnitudes are unimportant. However, recent evidence shows that numbers with similar magnitudes but different leftmost digits are estimated very differently. For example, “798” is placed systematically much too far to the left of “801” in a 0-1000 NLE task by children aged 7-11 and adults (Lai et al., 2018). Here we ask whether this left digit effect generalizes to two-digit numerals in a 0-100 NLE task and whether it emerges in younger children. Children aged 5-8 (Study 1, N = 73), adults (Study 2, N = 44), and children aged 9-11 (Study 3, N = 27) completed a standard 0-100 NLE task on a touchscreen tablet. We observed left digit effects for two-digit numerals in children aged 8-11 and adults, with large effect sizes, demonstrating that these effects generalize to smaller numerical ranges. Left digit effects were not apparent in 5- to 7-year-olds, suggesting that these effects do not emerge at younger ages for smaller, more familiar numerical ranges. We discuss developmental emergence of left digit effects in number line estimation and implications within and beyond the field of cognitive development.

Geocaching: A New Instructional Tool for Natural Resources Extension and Outreach

Nonnative pests and pathogens severely affect forest health and are often spread in firewood. Our objectives were to create an extension education program using “Don’t Move Firewood”-themed geocaches and travel bugs which were placed near campgrounds across Mississippi, and to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of this outreach method. Interactions with caches and travel bugs were monitored over nearly one year and summarized to provide a measure of outreach success. With a one-time per-unit cost of $45.95 for caches and $6.75 for travel bugs, these tools provide ongoing, cost-effective educational approaches well suited to augment existing or launch new outreach efforts.

Making sounds visible in speech-language therapy for aphasia

In this paper, I analyse video recordings of speech-language therapy sessions for people diagnosed with aphasia. I particularly explore the way in which the speech-language therapists instruct the patients to correctly pronounce speech sounds (e.g. phonemes, syllables) by deploying not only audible but also visible forms of cues. By using their bodies – face and gestures – as an instructional tool, the therapists make visual perceptual access to articulatory features of pronunciation relevant and salient. They can also make these sensory practices accountable through the use of other senses, such as touch. Data was collected in a hospital and in a rehabilitation clinic, tracking each patient’s recovery, and is part of a longitudinal multisite corpus. The paper considers the way in which participants in the therapeutic process use and coordinate forms of sensory access to language that are based on hearing and seeing. It highlights the importance of audio and video recordings to make accessible the auditory and visual details of these sensorial experiences – particularly, proper framings and the complementary use of fixed and mobile cameras.