Educational applications of metaverse: possibilities and limitations

This review aims to define the 4 types of the metaverse and to explain the potential and limitations of its educational applications. The metaverse roadmap categorizes the metaverse into 4 types: augmented reality, lifelogging, mirror world, and virtual reality. An example of the application of augmented reality in medical education would be an augmented reality T-shirt that allows students to examine the inside of the human body as an anatomy lab. Furthermore, a research team in a hospital in Seoul developed a spinal surgery platform that applied augmented reality technology. The potential of the metaverse as a new educational environment is suggested to be as follows: a space for new social communication; a higher degree of freedom to create and share; and the provision of new experiences and high immersion through virtualization. Some of its limitations may be weaker social connections and the possibility of privacy impingement; the commission of various crimes due to the virtual space and anonymity of the metaverse; and maladaptation to the real world for students whose identity has not been established. The metaverse is predicted to change our daily life and economy beyond the realm of games and entertainment. The metaverse has infinite potential as a new social communication space. The following future tasks are suggested for the educational use of the metaverse: first, teachers should carefully analyze how students understand the metaverse; second, teachers should design classes for students to solve problems or perform projects cooperatively and creatively; third, educational metaverse platforms should be developed that prevent misuse of student data.

The relationship of non-cognitive factors to academic and clinical performance in graduate rehabilitation science students in the United States: a systematic review

Purpose: Rehabilitation science programs utilize cognitive and non-cognitive factors to select students who can complete the didactic and clinical portions of the program and pass the licensure exam. Cognitive factors such a prior grade point average and standardized test scores are known to be predictive of academic performance, but the relationship of non-cognitive factors and performance is less clear. The purpose of this systematic review was to explore the relationship of non-cognitive factors to academic and clinical performance in rehabilitation science programs.Methods: A search of 7 databases was conducted using the following eligibility criteria: graduate programs in physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, United States-based programs, measurement of at least 1 non-cognitive factor, measurement of academic and/or clinical performance, and quantitative reporting of results. Articles were screened by title, abstract, and full text, and data were extracted.Results: After the comprehensive screening, 21 articles were included in the review. Seventy-six percent of studies occurred in PT students. Grit, self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and stress were the most commonly studied factors. Only self-efficacy, emotional intelligence, and personality traits were examined in clinical and academic contexts. The results were mixed for all non-cognitive factors. Higher grit and self-efficacy tended to be associated with better performance, while stress was generally associated with worse outcomes.Conclusion: No single non-cognitive factor was consistently related to clinical or academic performance in rehabilitation science students. There is insufficient evidence currently to recommend the evaluation of a specific non-cognitive factor for admissions decisions.

Interprofessional health education teacher training in University of Chile

The first interprofessional course, which included the 8 undergraduate health programs at the Faculty of Medicine, the University of Chile was implemented in 2015. For 700 students, 35 teachers were trained as facilitators. The use of several strategies to train facilitators in interprofessional health education, such as working in small groups, role-playing, case analysis, personal development workshops with experts' participation, teamwork skills, feedback, videos, and reading articles, proved to be helpful. Facilitators highlighted the use of syllabi as a fundamental tool for teaching and coordination. This guide describes the experience in interprofessional health education teacher training from 2015 to 2019, highlighting the following lessons learned: the importance of support from university authorities, raising awareness of the faculty about interprofessional health education and collaborative practice, creating a teachers’ coordination team including representatives from all health programs, and ongoing monitoring and feedback from participants.

Are we teaching health science students in the United States what they need to know about death and dying coping strategies?

Purpose: This investigation aimed to answer the following questions: Are health science students provided with death and dying education before attending clinical rotations, and if so, do the students receiving this type of education perceive it as effective?Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional survey, 96 Midwestern State University health science students were surveyed to determine the percentage of students who had received death and dying education before clinical rotations, as well as the students’ perception of educational effectiveness for those who had received end-of-life training. A self-report questionnaire presented nursing, radiologic sciences, and respiratory care students with a series of questions pertaining to the education they had received concerning the death and dying process of patients.Results: Of the 93 students who had already started their clinical rotations, 55 stated they had not received death and dying education before starting clinical courses. Of the 38 who had received death and dying education, only 17 students believed the training was effective.Conclusion: It is imperative that health science educational programs implement death and dying education and training into the curriculum, and that criteria for evaluating effectiveness be an essential part of death and dying education and training in order to ensure effectiveness.

E-learning in health professions education during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

As an alternative to traditional teaching, e-learning has enabled continuity of learning for health professions students during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This review explored health professions students; perceptions, acceptance, motivation, and engagement with e-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, a systematic review was conducted by consulting 5 databases: PubMed, ERIC (Ebsco), Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument. The research protocol was previously registered in the PROSPERO registry (CRD42021237055). From 250 studies identified, 15 were selected with a total of 111,622 students. Mostly positive perceptions were reported in 7 of 12 studies, which mainly focused on technology access, possession of basic computer skills, pedagogical design of online courses, online interactions, and learning flexibility. However, predominantly negative perceptions were identified in 5 of 12 studies, which pointed out constraints related to internet connections, the use of educational platforms, and acquisition of clinical skills. Satisfactory levels of acceptance of distance learning were reported in 3 of 4 studies. For student motivation and engagement, 1 study reported similar or higher motivation than with traditional teaching, and another study indicated that student engagement significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Health professions students showed a positive response to e-learning regarding perceptions, acceptance, motivation, and engagement. Future research is needed to remediate the lack of studies addressing health professions students’ motivation and engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Definition of character for medical education based on the expert opinion in Korea

Purpose: As a follow-up study, it focused on 3 overarching questions: first, what kind of keywords can be extracted from the experts’ definitions of character?; second, what is the operational definition of character for medical students?; and third, what are the possible solutions suggested to the issues of character education that were found in the previous study? Methods: Sixty-three medical education experts through expert sampling method and an addition of 19 non-medical education experts through snowball sampling method answered the questionnaire. It consisted of 3 major questions of the study. The responses were analyzed for descriptive statistics with supplementary keyword extraction tools including Cortical and Monkey keyword extractor. Results: A total of 93 statements of definition were counted, and a total of 138 keyword terms were extracted. The top 5 keyword terms mentioned by the medical education experts were 'patient', 'empathy', 'qualities', 'attitude', and 'ability'. These keyword terms were quite different from the keywords mentioned by the non-medical education expert group. Based on the extracted keywords, an operational definition of character education by the medical education expert group was presented as follows: The basic qualities and ability to empathize with the patient's illness based on respect for patients and others. Various methods were proposed to solve the issue of character education, and many of them pointed to curriculum development, such as improvement of teaching and learning methods and evaluation methods, including role modeling.Conclusion: A clear statement of the concept of character education is the start to resolve issues of character education. Character education improvements will be possible at the institutional level according to the above results.

Comparing the cut score for the borderline group method and borderline regression method with norm-referenced standard setting in an objective structured clinical examination in medical school in Korea

Purpose: Setting standards is critical in health professions. However, appropriate standard setting methods do not always apply to the set cut score in performance assessment. The aim of this study was to compare the cut score when the standard setting is changed from the norm-referenced method to the borderline group method (BGM) and borderline regression method (BRM) in an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) in medical school.Methods: This was an explorative study to model of the BGM and BRM. A total of 107 fourth-year medical students attended the OSCE at seven stations with encountering standardized patients (SPs) and one station with performing skills on a manikin on 15 July 2021. Thirty-two physician examiners evaluated the performance by completing a checklist and global rating scales.Results: The cut score of the norm-referenced method was lower than that of the BGM (p<0.01) and BRM (p<0.02). There was no significant difference in the cut score between the BGM and BRM (p=0.40). The station with the highest standard deviation and the highest proportion of the borderline group showed the largest cut score difference in standard setting methods.Conclusion: Prefixed cut scores by the norm-referenced method without considering station contents or examinee performance can vary due to station difficulty and content, affecting the appropriateness of standard setting decisions. If there is an adequate consensus on the criteria for the borderline group, standard setting with the BRM could be applied as a practical and defensible method to determine the cut score for OSCE.