Prevalence of Computer Vision Syndrome in School Going Children During COVID Era

Background: Prolonged use of electronic devices poses a significant risk of Computer vision syndrome (CVS). Computer Vision syndrome is emerging as the next unexpected epidemic of the COVID era. Almost all children attending regular online schools are suffering from mild to severe Computer vision syndrome. Besides health problems, CVS also results in concentrate difficulties in studies and decrease a child’s performance. Awareness regarding CVS is increasing among folks of all ages since it has hit not just school going children but their parents as well who are pursuing work from home. Materials and Methods: From March 2020 to March 2021, a multidisciplinary study was conducted to look at the increase in CVS and related factors among school-age children in School of Scholars, Nagpur taking online classes. The randomized controlled trial was used to select 600-school aged children between the ages of 8 and 17, and data was collected using a systematic questionnaire completed by the children's parents. Results: CVS was found in 345 (57.5%) of the 600 children studied, which is very concerning. With proportions of 83.50 percent, 66.33 percent, and 62.17 percent, respectively, the most common reported signs of CVS were eyestrain, eye inflammation, and eye pain. CVS are linked to daily screen use and pre-existing eye disorder. Conclusion: To deter CVS, it is critical to reduce screen time, improve parent and child understanding of safety precautions, and receive management support. To protect a child's overall well-being, we encourage policymakers and parents to restrict e-learning, since it will never be a suitable replacement for conventional classroom instruction.

REMOTE TEACHING FOR THE NEW NORMAL SOCIETY: A PARADIGM SHIFT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Covid 19 pandemic has brought drastic changes in the life of people all over the world. Though it has created imbalances in all fields of life, we are in the threshold of a new normal life. The virus has made people fall to social, emotional and psychological crisis. Drastic changes have been occurred in the field of education also. The conventional classroom teaching has changed to online mode of education and the paradigm shift in education is being welcomed and practised by the educators, parents and students. This paper focusses on the paradigm shift happened in the higher education sector, challenges in the field of higher education and remote teaching for the new normal society, particularly in the Covid scenario.

A survey on perception of homoeopathic undergraduate students towards learning environment in an Indian scenario

Background and aims – This research was an attempt to understand the views of students of homoeopathic undergraduate schools in West Bengal, India and to identify areas of strength and weakness in the learning environment. Methodology – An institutional, cross-sectional, observational study was carried out involving 430 students in May, 2013 in two Government homoeopathic medical colleges in West Bengal, India. A seven-item close-ended questionnaire with four point Likert scale was used to determine students’ perceptions of the learning environment, intellectual climate and teacher-student relationship in homoeopathic schools. The questionnaire generated seven subscales – flexibility, student to student interaction, emotional climate, supportiveness, meaningful experience, organization, and breadth of interest. Results – 46.5% of students belonged to rural areas and Bengali was the mother tongue of 93.7% students. 39.5% preferred Bengali as the medium of instruction and group study was preferable to 77.9% students. 47.7% students were dissatisfied with the teaching process and 79.8% preferred the use of multimedia over conventional classroom teaching. Flexibility remained low (mean=1.9, SD=0.9); meaningful experience (theoretical teaching) score was high (mean=2.6, SD=0.9). Scores did not vary significantly (P>0.05) across the pre-clinical and clinical students, but few subscales produced significant differences individually among students of different years. Internal consistency scores of the scale remained questionable (Cronbach’s α 0.310-0.446); however, the scale showed acceptable test-retest reliability (Cohen’s κ 0.680-0.838). Conclusions – This study emphasized the areas requiring improvement in homoeopathic school environment based on students’ perspective. Changes in curriculum, faculty and infrastructure should be planned to improve students’ satisfaction.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence and Smart Classrooms during Covid-19 Pandemic and its impact on Education

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology has revolutionized the education sector in terms of conducting classes. Especially during Covid-19 which affected significantly the education community resulting in the shift towards online learning rather than conventional classroom teaching. This study involves experiential learning during Covid-19 lockdown situation in the field of education, learning and teaching. It discusses how education practitioners can deal with Covid19 pandemic using the benefits of AI. AI innovation in education sector has contributed not only in education but also on human development. This research aims to identify the current situation of online classes and to propose a hybrid model of Education Management System (EMS) and Machine Learning (ML).

An insightful estimation of undergraduate medical students’ experience about the Flipped Classroom

Background and Objective: The Flipped Classroom (FC) approach has become increasingly predominant and popular in medical education. This study aimed to explore the usefulness and the scope of FC based on medical students’ experience, with their adaptation challenges. Methods: The present study was a mixed-method accomplished during the academic years 2019-20, involving fourth-year students at the College of Medicine in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was used to seek their first experience and opinion of the FC. Results: A total of 234 questionnaires were distributed to the students, and 214 students completed the survey (response rate of 91.45%). Out of this total, 68.2 % were males and 31.8% were females. Most of the students agreed 156 (72.9%) that the flipped classroom was more engaging than the traditional lecture, among them 100 (68.5%) males and 56 (82.3) females agreed. Almost ~79% of students liked FC as it enabled them knowing the material in advance, and the class time was spent clarifying the facts and principles with active interaction, as commented during focus group discussion “More chance for discussing with the doctors, and I got the chance to answer” (St. 6). Conclusion: The results showed that the students like the FC more than the conventional classroom. Suggestions were given by students to improve the active learning sessions within the FC modality. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.1.4256 How to cite this:Abdulghani HM, Sattar K, Ahmad T, Halepoto DM, Akram A. An insightful estimation of undergraduate medical students’ experience about the Flipped Classroom. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(1):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.1.4256 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Students' Perspective Towards Online Proctoring in Exams During Covid-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a pandemic in early 2020. As a result, the organization has decided to close all educational institutions, and thereby conventional classroom learning has become obsolete. And as a consequence, exams taken online have become an essential part of an online assessment. The critical issue that arises is how to maintain online exam credibility and student honesty during online exams. In this work, we study the acceptance of online exams by Kuwait University students exposed to online proctoring during the lockdown. We proposed an acceptance model based on the TAM framework but with twelve constructs applied to three proctoring methods: AI proctoring, live human proctoring, and blended proctoring. The data is collected using an online survey from 478 college students. The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method is used to process the collected data. The findings indicate that live-human and mixed proctoring provide a greater level of satisfaction than AI proctoring alone.

Beyond Conventional Classroom Learning: Linking Emotions and Self-Efficacy to Academic Achievement and Satisfaction with Online Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examined the impact of online learning on students’ mental well-being, distress, anxiety, academic achievement and satisfaction with online learning. A total of 915 undergraduates in Malaysia and Indonesia responded to the Google Classroom Evaluation survey. Results indicated that students’ mental well-being was negatively impacted by financial difficulties, concern that their physical health may suffer due to exposure to Covid-19, and a lack of motivation for online learning. Analysis of emotional factors revealed distress and feelings of nervousness when classes were conducted online. Overall, participants were satisfied with the online learning experience, as was evident from the academic achievement in courses conducted with above average CGPA. Multiple regression analysis indicated that distress, anxiety and self-efficacy in online learning were significant predictors of satisfaction with online learning, with self-efficacy in online learning making the largest contribution. However, academic achievement was not a significant predictor of satisfaction with online learning. It is recommended that higher learning institutions provide counselling, behavioral adaptations and study techniques to support students in managing their distress and anxiety surrounding online learning, which is anticipated to continue throughout 2021 due to the increase in virus cases.

Effectiveness of GeoGebra towards Students’ Active Learning, Performance and Interest to Learn Mathematics

The present study explored the effectiveness of GeoGebra in enhancing students’ active learning, performance and interest to learn mathematics. Much emphasis was put in teaching and learning exponential and logarithmic functions. The general intention was to investigate whether the use of ICT be used to improve the teaching and learning of mathematics in Rwandan Secondary Schools. The present study is an experimental research design that employed Grade 11 students of one secondary school within Kayonza district of Rwanda. Thus, sample of 34 Grade 11 students were taught exponential and logarithmic functions with the use of GeoGebra from 19 August 2019 to 30 October 2019. Before the intervention, a short group discussion with Grade 11 students was conducted to see the students’ attitudes about learning mathematics using ICT tools. Besides, a mathematics teacher was asked a challenging topic to teach within conventional classroom. After learning with the use of GeoGebra, an attitudinal survey questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data about the effectiveness of GeoGebra in learning mathematics. Data were analyzed descriptively using Excel 2016. It was found that students acquired more knowledge. The study showed that students can learn independently through interactive dynamic software. The results, therefore, showed that students’ interest to learn mathematics increased. There is a need to strengthen one laptop per student program to enhance students’ independent learning of mathematics

Facilitating English Grammar Learning by a Personalized Mobile-Assisted System With a Self-Regulated Learning Mechanism

This study developed a personalized mobile-assisted system with a self-regulated learning (SRL) mechanism to facilitate English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ learning of grammar. A quasi-experimental design, involving an experimental group (n = 278) and a control group (n = 320), was adopted to examine its effectiveness on students’ grammar learning. The experimental group, who had full access to the functions of the system (i.e., recommendations, feedback and an e-portfolio package), used the system to learn grammar, complete grammar exercise, and engage in for a semester, while the control group only use the system to submit weekly assignments. The results suggest that the experimental group obtained significantly higher scores in English grammar tests than the control group and the system benefited both genders with no significant differences. The findings provide empirical evidence in support of the effectiveness of this system in improving students’ grammar test scores, indicating its value as a supplementary tool to conventional classroom teaching of English grammar via supporting learners’ SRL development in a m-learning context. The pedagogical implications for applying this system in classrooms and beyond were discussed.

Use of WhatsApp®, for distance teaching during COVID-19 pandemic: Experience and perception from a sub-Saharan African setting

Background In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, to palliate to the lockdown and cover academic programs, the faculty of medicine and pharmaceutical sciences (FMPS) of the university of Dschang (UDs) in Cameroon has implemented e-learning using WhatsApp®. Aim Describe the opinion of students and lecturers after its implementation of e-learning at the FMPS of UDs. Methods We designed a uniform teaching scheme using WhatsApp® during the university lockdown. Students and members of the teaching staff of the FMPS of UDs were enrolled after receiving clear information on the study implementation. At the end of the online-teaching period of two and a half months, we surveyed our students and teaching staff. Sociodemographic characteristics and opinions about e-learning were collected using a standard questionnaire. Results We enrolled 229 students and 40 lecturers of the FMPS. Students reported a decremented quality of internet connection (p < 0.001, p-homogeneity < 0.001) despite an increased expenditure related to internet use. Electronic devices were broadly used before the implementation of mobile learning. The use of course materials was significantly more challenging among students because of the size/format of lecture notes and internet connection/cost (all p < 0.05). Perception of discipline compared to classroom-based lessons was not significantly different among students compared to lecturers (all p > 0.05). While lecturers were mainly more comfortable conveying the contents of their lectures, students tended to be less prone to actively participate. The motivation and satisfaction of the latter group toward e-learning were modest compared to classroom-based lectures while their feedback about the organization was positive. Conclusions E-learning using WhatsApp® could be an effective alternative to conventional classroom-based lessons in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. The use of a blended-learning program including classroom-based sessions could help improve its limitations.