Art and Design Education in Times of COVID-19: Distance Learning and the Importance of Interaction and Empathy

At the period of worldwide public health emergency of COVID-19, the majority of educational institutions in the world have faced the forced emergency lockdown and migration into the digital, online or virtual learning and teaching environments. Basically, it must be stated up front that digital media and processes have long been part of art instruction, and the maker movement has introduced 3-D printing, especially in design classes. But distance learning presents yet another set of challenges for these subjects. This article examines how this change has affected the teaching of art and design, looks at two case studies (secondary school and university) and refers to discussions at art education conferences and papers on the post-pandemic challenges of digitization in the arts.

Piloting of Virtual Patient-Based Online Self-Study Quizzes for Developing Undergraduate Medical Students’ Clinical Reasoning Skills

Clinical reasoning, the application of medical knowledge to a patient’s problem, requires training in a safe environment. Learning tasks based on Virtual Patients (VP-tasks) simulate the clinical setting in a save way and integrate well into blended-learning environments, as synchronous tasks (face-to-face or online) or as asynchronous online tasks. The article presents the editorial process for developing VP-based self-study quizes (SSQ) and field-study results on students’ learning experiences and study habits. The editorial process initially only involved experienced clinical, educational and technical experts. To better match the tasks’ difficulty to students’ knowledge, junior doctors and advanced medical students joined in a later stage. Students (n = 351) rated the SSQs (n = 10) produced by the expanded team to match their knowledge better as compared to the SSQs (n = 13) developed by the initial expert editorial team. Students rated the online SSQs as more helpful as compared to similar face-to-face VP-tasks. Students’ free comments indicate their high acceptance of the SSQ-format. The SSQ-format is feasible for providing systematic online training in clinical reasoning, especially when working with a multi-level-educational editorial team and when a systematically structured blueprint of topics and learning goals drives the editorial work.

Attachment Insecurity and Social Media Fear of Missing Out: The Mediating Role of Intolerance of Uncertainty

Fear of missing out (FoMO) is an apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent. Online social networking sites (SNS) exacerbate FoMO because they frequently expose users to what is happening in other people’s lives, which is typically related to leisure activities, such as trips, vacations, and social events. Consequently, when disconnected from social media, users become plagued by a troublesome sense of missing important and exciting events. Recent research indicates that FoMO is associated with difficulties in interpersonal interactions and social relationships. Accordingly, the current study examined the association between individual differences in attachment patterns and FoMO. Participants (N=264) completed measures of adult attachment patterns, social media fear of missing out, as well as intolerance of uncertainty. Results indicated that high levels of attachment anxiety predict high levels of FoMO, and that this association is partially mediated by intolerance of uncertainty. These findings suggest that anxiously attached individuals may be more vulnerable to FoMO, as a result of their inability to tolerate uncertainty. Hence, stress the need for awareness and treatment when individual develop an excessive dependency on SNS.

Discrepancies between Self-Reports and Behavior: Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), Self-Reported Problematic Smartphone Use Severity, and Objectively Measured Smartphone Use

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is associated with self-reported problematic smartphone use (PSU) severity, but there is little investigation that includes objectively measured smartphone use. The aim of the current study was to provide insights into this domain. We combined the partially published data from two previous U.S.-based studies with college student samples that tracked smartphone use data with a different focus from the current study. Both data sets included socio-demographic measures, FoMO and PSU scale scores, and data for objectively measured screentime and frequency of screen unlocks over a week, amounting up to more than a thousand observations. FoMO had a strong correlation with self-reported PSU severity; however, FoMO was not associated with objectively measured smartphone use variables. FoMO did not predict behavioral smarthpone use over a week in multilevel modeling for repeated measures. Even though FoMO is a strong predictor of self-reported PSU severity, it does not predict objectively measured smartphone use.

Distance Learning: Pitfalls and Possibilities

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Emergency Distance Learning in Austria during COVID-19: Selected Findings and Implications

Highlights: (1) Adequate preparation (e.g., providing technical equipment, didactical adaptation of teaching materials, fostering digital literacy in students …) is needed for distance learning to succeed.(2) Disadvantaged students need special support to avert a widening of the educational gap between students from different social backgrounds and with different learning abilities.(3) Distance and online learning should be designed to address the satisfaction of basic psychological needs to promote student well-being and positive learning outcomes.

Expositionstherapie mit Virtual Reality bei Blut-, Verletzungs- und Spritzenphobie. Eine Fallstudie

This case study describes the treatment of a patient with a blood-injection-injury type phobia including fainting and severe avoidance behavior, with the use of Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET). The patient has been treated over the course of 10 sessions. A variety of techniques from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy such as psychoeducation, cognitive restructuring, relaxation exercises and exposure therapy with pictures, videos and a Virtual Reality (VR) blood draw have been used. Results: Over the course of the treatment, the fear was significantly reduced leading to a successful blood draw two days after the last session. In the year following the treatment the patient did several successful blood draws, all without fainting and without a significant fear response.

Linking the Technology Acceptance Model to Smartphone Use and Smartphone Use Disorder: Results from a Survey Study

Background: Despite the benefits that may result from smartphone use, evidence increasingly indicates that smartphone use may also have negative consequences when used in a disordered manner. One major concept in this research domain is a putative smartphone use disorder. Objective: It is not known how a positive evaluation or acceptance of the smartphone, indicated for example by Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) variables, is associated with its increasing use and consequently tendencies towards smartphone use disorder. Methods: To close this research gap, an online survey with N=698 smartphone users (n=330 men, n=368 women) was conducted to study potential links. All participants completed a TAM measure, provided information on daily smartphone use for personal and business use, and completed a scale assessing tendencies towards smartphone use disorder. Results: Overall, TAM variables were positively related to smartphone use and tendencies towards smartphone use disorder. Descriptively stronger correlations of TAM with smartphone use were found in the personal use context compared to the business use context. Moreover, significantly stronger correlations of TAM scales with smartphone use disorder tendencies were found compared to the associations between TAM scales and daily smartphone use. Moreover, user gender also played a role in these relationships. Conclusion: Potential explanations for the exploratory findings are discussed and limitations and potential avenues for future research are provided, such as conducting longitudinal studies to causally investigate the associations between TAM and smartphone use (disorder tendencies).

Expert Views on Online Therapy

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