Team-based learning versus interactive lecture in achieving learning outcomes and improving clinical reasoning skills: a randomized crossover study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to investigate the impact of interactive lecture (IL) and team-based learning (TBL) on improving clinical reasoning skills (CRSs) and achieving learning outcomes (LO). Students' feedback was obtained about the strategies.

METHODS

This study was carried out at the Faculty of Medicine in Rabigh, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Two modules, endocrinology, and emergency were selected. Students of each batch in both modules were divided into two arms. With a randomized crossover design, IL & TBL were used for two separate topics in each module. After each topic, a quiz in the form of well-structured MCQs was taken. A questionnaire was designed to obtain students' feedback. SPSS version 23 was used to analyse results. The difference between the mean values was calculated by Student's t-test. Feedback data is presented as frequency. P-value ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

RESULTS

Learning outcomes were achieved by all groups in two modules, with both instructional strategies, IL and TBL. Students attempted >70% correct answers. However, in the emergency module, the groups with TBL as the instructional strategy performed better in quiz1 and quiz 2 (p = 0.026 and p = 0.016, respectively). Similarly, in the endocrinology module (3^rd year), although the groups with TBL as the instructional strategy performed better in both quizzes, it was significant in quiz1 (p = 0.02). The difficulty indices of the clinical reasoning questions (CRQ) were used as the parameters for comparison. In the emergency module, group1, in quiz1, with TBL as an instructional strategy performed better in the CRQ (p = 0.017), while in quiz2, group2 with TBL as the instructional strategy performed better (p < 0.001). Group1 of the third-year students (endocrinology module) performed better in the CRQ in quiz 1 with TBL as an instructional strategy than group 2 with IL (p = 0.04). Mostly, students in both modules preferred TBL over IL, and especially they liked team application. Students perceived that TBL was a better strategy to learn CRS.

CONCLUSIONS

Students achieved LOs and CRS better with TBL as an instructional strategy. They preferred TBL over IL. It is suggested to include TBL, or increase its percentage, in the curriculum.

Leveraging information literacy: Mapping the conceptual influence and appropriation of information literacy in other disciplinary landscapes

Information literacy forms a key concept within Library and Information Science, where it forms the focus of scholarship, conferences, journals and teaching librarian practice, alike. However, little is known about how other fields and disciplines have employed these outputs within their own research and practice. This paper examines how the concept of information literacy has been leveraged into the discourses of non-Library and Information Science disciplinary landscapes. This is achieved through a qualitative mapping of five different fields and disciplines, including Higher Education, Management and Business, Public Health, Nursing and Psychology, to identify how information literacy terminology, definitions, theories and frameworks have travelled across scholarly and practice boundaries to become appropriated into other disciplinary landscapes. The aim of this collaborative work is to develop an indicative rather than an exhaustive understanding of what travels within information literacy research and practice and to strengthen the Library and Information Science narrative on the impact of information literacy activities.

A spaced-repetition approach to enhance medical student learning and engagement in medical pharmacology

BACKGROUND

Pharmacology is a cornerstone of medical education as it underlies safe prescribing practices. However, medical students have reported unease regarding their perceived proficiency in medical pharmacology. Despite the significant impetus to improve student outcomes, there is little analysis available of the techniques used by medical students to learn, retain and apply medical pharmacology knowledge.

METHODS

A mixed-methods, student-focused approach was conducted to design and evaluate specific resources developed to address gaps in pharmacology education. This methodology comprised an anonymised scoping survey, followed by semi-structured focus group interviews. We then developed a flashcard resource as an intervention to support long-term revision for academic and clinical success. This resource was released to a cohort of 100 graduate entry preclinical medical students who were invited at the end of year to evaluate the intervention via a subsequent anonymous survey.

RESULTS

The scoping survey received 103 complete responses. Surveys and focus group interviews revealed that only 50% of students engage in ongoing revision. Amongst our cohort, we identified that the evidence-based technique of spaced-repetition was particularly well regarded. Hence, we developed and evaluated a bespoke resource utilising Anki™, an open-source, spaced-repetition flashcard program. A total of 1208 flashcards spanning 156 distinct classes of drugs with supplementary summary tables, diagrams and explanatory video and summary guides were created. Designed as a strategic revision tool to reinforce learning, evaluation showed students greatly appreciated the "comprehensive" and "well formatted" Anki™ resource that supported existing teaching modalities, with a global rating of 3.8 out of 5.

CONCLUSIONS

Strategic and personalised resources for medical pharmacology education that assist with in-semester revision and long-term retention are highly valued amongst students for examination preparation and preparedness for practice. Collectively, these results reflect a novel approach to identifying and addressing weaknesses in existing learning resources in a manner that is inclusive of, and acceptable to, medical students.

University students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): a consensus statement from the UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN)

BACKGROUND

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with poor educational outcomes that can have long-term negative effects on the mental health, wellbeing, and socio-economic outcomes of university students. Mental health provision for university students with ADHD is often inadequate due to long waiting times for access to diagnosis and treatment in specialist National Health Service (NHS) clinics. ADHD is a hidden and marginalised disability, and within higher education in the UK, the categorisation of ADHD as a specific learning difference (or difficulty) may be contributing to this.

AIMS

This consensus aims to provide an informed understanding of the impact of ADHD on the educational (or academic) outcomes of university students and highlight an urgent need for timely access to treatment and management.

METHODS

The UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN) convened a meeting of practitioners and experts from England, Wales, and Scotland, to discuss issues that university students with ADHD can experience or present with during their programme of studies and how best to address them. A report on the collective analysis, evaluation, and opinions of the expert panel and published literature about the impact of ADHD on the educational outcomes of university students is presented.

RESULTS

A consensus was reached that offers expert advice, practical guidance, and recommendations to support the medical, education, and disability practitioners working with university students with ADHD.

CONCLUSIONS

Practical advice, guidance, and recommendations based on expert consensus can inform the identification of ADHD in university students, personalised interventions, and educational support, as well as contribute to existing research in this topic area. There is a need to move away from prevailing notions within higher education about ADHD being a specific learning difference (or difficulty) and attend to the urgent need for university students with ADHD to have timely access to treatment and support. A multimodal approach can be adapted to support university students with ADHD. This approach would view timely access to treatment, including reasonable adjustments and educational support, as having a positive impact on the academic performance and achievement of university students with ADHD.

Teacher Training Effectiveness in Self-Regulation in Virtual Environments

Higher education in the 21st century faces the challenge of changing the way in which knowledge is conveyed and how teachers and students interact in the teaching-learning process. The current pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has hastened the need to face up to this challenge and has furthered the need to approach the issue from the perspective of digitalisation. To achieve this, it is necessary to design training programmes geared towards teaching staff and which address both the use of technology and instructional design aimed at promoting the development of self-regulated learning (SRL) and automatic feedback systems. In this study, work was carried out with 23 teachers (8 inexperienced and 15 experienced teachers) in a training programme conducted through Moodle. The aims were: (1) to test whether there were any significant differences between the behaviour patterns of new teachers compared to experienced teachers, (2) to determine whether clusters of behaviour patterns corresponded to the type of teacher and (3) to ascertain whether the level of teacher satisfaction with the training activity in digital teaching will depend on the type of teacher. A quantitative as well as a qualitative design was applied. Differences were found in the behaviour patterns in the training activities for the development of rubrics and use of learning analytics systems in virtual learning environments. It was also found that the type of teacher did not correspond exactly to the behaviour cluster in the learning platform. In addition, no significant differences were found in the level of satisfaction between the two kinds of teacher. The main contribution this study makes is to provide a detailed description of the training stage as well as the materials required for its repetition. Further analytical studies are required on teacher perception of training programmes in digital teaching in order to provide personalised training proposals that lead to an effective use of teaching in digital environments.

Exploring the Nature of Teachers' Math-Gender Stereotypes: The Math-Gender Misconception Questionnaire

Stereotypes of girls having weaker mathematical abilities than boys (math-gender stereotypes) are one factor reducing women's representation in mathematics. Teachers, as powerful socializers, often hold math-gender stereotypes. Reducing math-gender stereotypes in (student) teachers thus may foster women's representation in mathematics. Yet knowing the stereotypes' underlying assumptions is crucial to reducing it. Do math-gender stereotypes reflect elaborate, disproven theories about gender differences in math, meaning math-gender misconceptions? And if so, which math-gender misconceptions are behind math-gender stereotypes? This is the focus of the present research. The relevant literature implies the existence of three distinct misconceptions: (1) empathizing-systemizing ("As girls think rather empathically and boys think rather systematically, boys are on average more talented in math than girls"), (2) girls' compensation ("To achieve equally good grades in mathematics, boys have to make less effort because they are more talented than girls are"), and (3) girls' non-compensability ("Despite their on average stronger effort, girls are normally less proficient in math than boys"). We assessed these misconceptions in a student teacher sample (N = 303) using our newly developed Math-Gender Misconceptions Questionnaire. Our results offer support for the expected three-factor structure of math-gender misconceptions. All three math-gender misconceptions showed good to acceptable scale reliabilities. On average, preservice teachers did not hold (strong) math-gender misconceptions. But a subgroup of 48.2% of preservice teachers held at least one of the three misconceptions. The empathizing-systemizing misconception was the most prevalent (32.0%) among the three misconceptions. Descriptively, endorsing the math-gender stereotype correlated most strongly with the empathizing-systemizing (r = 0.43) and the girls' compensation misconception (r = 0.44). This may indicate that especially these two misconceptions partly underlie math-gender stereotypes. As a consequence, refutation instructions designed to reduce these misconceptions may be a promising method to weaken math-gender stereotypes. Further research is needed to investigate to what degree reducing the present misconceptions is related to reducing math-gender stereotypes. Hence, this study is the first one of a planned series of studies on the relation between math-gender misconceptions and math-gender stereotypes.

Fostering Teamwork through Design Thinking: Evidence from a Multi-Actor Perspective

This study examines the effects of a design thinking intervention on first-year students’ teamwork skills from a multi-actor perspective. A design thinking course was evaluated throughout a semester. Six-hundred-and-forty university students participated, guided by twenty-six facilitators. The students received in-class training and worked in multi-disciplinary teams to develop a solution for a real-life problem. In this quasi-experimental study, data were collected twice: in the middle (t1), and at the end (t2) of the course. Each time, students were rated by their teammates, themselves, and the course facilitator, using a rubric to map teamwork skills. The results show a significant improvement in teamwork skills, as consistently observed in the three ratings. The results also show a significant effect of sex on the improvement over time. Female students showed more considerable progress than male students. This study addresses researchers’ demands regarding the lack of robust evidence to assess the impact of design thinking in higher education settings. Furthermore, building on the data from a large sample size and an intervention designed in a replicable way, this study contributes to the available empirical evidence that helps one to adopt and implement design thinking in universities to develop essential skills, such as teamwork.

Exploring United States genetic counselor and healthcare interpreter perspectives: Allocation of roles within the genetic counseling encounter

Genetic counselors (GCs) and healthcare interpreters (HIs) are key members of the healthcare team when providing genetic counseling services to patients with Limited English Proficiency (LEP); however, the working relationship between GCs and HIs and the role each member plays within a genetic counseling session is unclear. Previous studies assessing this relationship have been qualitative and limited in sample size (Agather et al., 2018, Journal of Genetic Counseling, 26, 1388; Krieger et al., 2018, Journal of Genetic Counseling, 26, 1388; Lara‐Otero et al., 2019, Health Communication, 34, 1608; Rosenbaum et al., 2020, Journal of Genetic Counseling, 29, 352). This study utilized a quantitative approach to allow for sampling of larger populations and to simultaneously understand current perspectives of GCs and HIs regarding each other's and their own roles within a genetic counseling session. GC and HI participants from the United States were recruited via email to complete an online survey with questions regarding interactions prior to a session, roles during a session, and opportunities for collaboration and constraints in the working relationship. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze responses of GCs and HIs. 130 GC and 40 HI participants were included in this study. There were statistically significant differences (p < .001) in responses between GC and HI participants on the expected distribution of roles during a session in advocacy, psychosocial and cultural domains. Additionally, this study identified that HI desired resources and training regarding genetics and genetic counseling are currently not being met. To our knowledge, this is the largest study to simultaneously survey GC and HI perspectives on these topics. Our findings suggest the need for greater communication and collaboration between GCs and HIs to ensure high‐quality care for patients with LEP. Integrating a pre‐session meeting between the GC and HI for sessions with patients with LEP and increasing education for GCs and HIs on the roles each group brings into a session is warranted to optimize this collaborative relationship and patient care.

Evaluating the Effect of Rich Vocabulary Instruction and Retrieval Practice on the Classroom Vocabulary Skills of Children With (Developmental) Language Disorder

PURPOSE

Learning new vocabulary has been identified as a challenge for students with (developmental) language disorder ((D)LD). In this study, we evaluate the effects of two active learning methods, (a) retrieval practice (RP) and (b) rich vocabulary instruction (RVI), in a group of students with (D)LD in secondary school.

METHOD

A quasi-experimental counterbalanced within-subject design was used to compare and evaluate the effect of RP and RVI on learning Tier 2 vocabulary, with target and control words as dependent measures. Eleven students with (D)LD (M _age = 14.9 years) attending a language unit participated. RP and RVI were implemented in regular classroom activities during 16 lessons (eight lessons/instructional condition). Learning was assessed by comparing performance on a pretest session 1-2 weeks prior, with posttest performance 1 week after each instructional condition.

RESULTS

The learning gain for RP was superior to that for RVI, both with respect to the Bayesian probabilistic estimations for target words relative to control words and in direct comparison with RVI. Only weak evidence was found for RVI with respect to the Bayesian probabilistic estimations for target words relative to control words.

CONCLUSIONS

All participants showed positive learning gains following RP, whereas the outcome for RVI was more diverse. This initial work suggests that RP promotes larger learning gains relative to RVI and promotes learning across language profiles. This study extends previous studies by exploring the implementation of RP in regular classroom activities and by using more complex to-be-learned material (Tier 2 words).

What to Blend? Exploring the Relationship Between Student Engagement and Academic Achievement via a Blended Learning Approach

The present study investigated whether student engagement with different online blended learning activities predicts academic performance as measured via a multiple-choice online exam for an undergraduate cognitive psychology course. Higher completion rates of weekly online quizzes predicted final exam performance. Findings are discussed in relation to using online learning resources to enhance student engagement and performance and learning analytics to identify students in need of further support. Since findings only revealed one significant predictor, more research is required to identify additional factors influencing academic achievement in an online blended learning approach.

Connecting Higher Education to the Labour Market: The Experience of Service Learning in a Portuguese University

The mission of higher education institutions (HEI) includes fostering conditions that enable student participation, and a commitment to their professional success. Pedagogical strategies which combine learning that goes beyond the university and involves a service-learning (SL) course carried out in the context of a pedagogical innovation programme of the University of Porto were examined. This examination included interviews with teachers, a focus group discussion with students and the analysis of logbooks and final reports to realize the potential of SL for improving employability. The results put into perspective the weaknesses and potentialities of SL courses at HEI and show that when academic learning is integrated with community experience, students gain both personal/social and academic skills. They also develop leadership and communication skills and critical awareness on the one hand and time and resources management and the ability to adapt and respond to challenges of the real world on the other, all seen as beneficial for the transition into the labour market.

Überprüfung der Faktorenstruktur und Validierung des Fragebogens zum Studieninteresse am Thema schulische Inklusion (SIT-IN)

Zusammenfassung. Im vorliegenden Beitrag werden die Entwicklung und Validierung eines Fragebogens zum Studieninteresse am Thema schulische Inklusion vorgestellt, welcher die 3 Facetten persönliche Valenz, affektive Valenz und intrinsischer Charakter berücksichtigt. Vorstudien mit der Methode des lauten Denkens ( n = 4) und mit regulären Fragebogenerhebungen ( n = 328) führten zu einer Skala mit 14 Items, die 551 Studierenden unterschiedlicher Lehramtsstudiengänge zusammen mit weiteren Skalen, z. B. zu Einstellungsfacetten, vorgelegt wurden. Die explorative Untersuchung der Faktorenstruktur am ersten Zufallsdrittel der Stichprobe konnte die angenommene Einfachstruktur bestätigen. Konfirmatorische Analysen zur Kreuzvalidierung anhand der beiden anderen Zufallsdrittel führten zusammen mit weiteren Fitting-Prozeduren zu einem akzeptablen Modellfit, der auch das Niveau der skalaren Messinvarianz für Studierende unterschiedlicher Lehramtsstudiengänge bestätigt. Unterschiede in der zentralen Tendenz zwischen diesen Gruppen werden ebenso berichtet und diskutiert wie Korrelationen zu Einstellungsfacetten, Selbstwirksamkeitserwartungen und Erfahrungen mit inklusivem Unterricht.

International Capacity Building in Psychological Science: Reflections on Student Involvement and Endeavors

Internationalization in psychology provides unique opportunities for students worldwide and promises to build a more inclusive, representative, and culturally sensitive discipline. Far from passive recipients of the internationalization process, students are actively involved in promoting opportunities for cross-cultural collaborations, international learning, and the creation of international networks. This paper reviews opportunities for student involvement in internationalization related efforts in psychology. Students’ roles within international and regional psychology organizations are explored to highlight the unique contributions and opportunities afforded by more independent and fully student-led organizations and initiatives. This paper discusses the barriers to establishing student-led organizations and to student involvement in international endeavors, including power imbalances, language barriers, and disparities in students’ ability to access financial resources and mentorship depending on their geographical location. Recommendations are offered, to both students and professional members, to foster student contributions to the internationalization of psychology and support the creation of sustainable student-led international organizations.

What Characterises an Effective Mindset Intervention in Enhancing Students’ Learning? A Systematic Literature Review

In recent years, increasing attention has been paid to interventions designed to enhance individuals’ sustainable development in learning by priming a growth mindset. The current study systematically explored the characteristics of message transformation in growth mindset interventions from the perspective of teaching and learning. According to a three-phase literature search (database, prominent researchers, and backtracking references), thirty-eight empirical studies investigating the efficacy of mindset interventions for adolescents of school age constitute the sample for the current literature review. The results indicate that a supportive but not-completely-saturated learning environment paves the way to implementing a mindset intervention. The three pedagogical characteristics that ensure successful interventions are: (1) Mutual interaction among the person, the context, and the theory to generate the message; (2) Iterative processes to ensure the message is delivered; and (3) a persuasive yet stealthy approach to facilitating its internalization. The findings inspire educators to design effective mindset interventions to enhance students’ learning. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.

What senior academics can do to support reproducible and open research: a short, three-step guide

Increasingly, policies are being introduced to reward and recognise open research practices, while the adoption of such practices into research routines is being facilitated by many grassroots initiatives. However, despite this widespread endorsement and support, as well as various efforts led by early career researchers, open research is yet to be widely adopted. For open research to become the norm, initiatives should engage academics from all career stages, particularly senior academics (namely senior lecturers, readers, professors) given their routine involvement in determining the quality of research. Senior academics, however, face unique challenges in implementing policy changes and supporting grassroots initiatives. Given that-like all researchers-senior academics are motivated by self-interest, this paper lays out three feasible steps that senior academics can take to improve the quality and productivity of their research, that also serve to engender open research. These steps include changing (a) hiring criteria, (b) how scholarly outputs are credited, and (c) how we fund and publish in line with open research principles. The guidance we provide is accompanied by material for further reading.

Developing future translational scientists through authentic learning and assessments

The Interprofessional Research Design course uses authentic learning pedagogy to bring together students from different education tracks (PhD, MD, MD/PhD training) to engage in interprofessional collaborative skills toward completion of a capstone project, a National Health Institutes (NIH) R21-style grant proposal. The course, underpinned by principles of team science, begins with a leadership training workshop to introduce students to effective leadership and teamwork strategies for interprofessional team environments. We used several assessments during the course to monitor leadership and team dynamics. We analyzed three assessments (leadership self-efficacy testing, iterative team contracts and reflective essays) to better understand students' learning experiences. Self-efficacy testing was administered before leadership training (pre) and at the end of the course (post-then); scores were analyzed using a repeated repeated measures ANOVA. Iterative team contracts were analyzed qualitatively using both deductive and descriptive methods. Reflective essays were analyzed using a general inductive approach. Nine teams of 32 students (23 MD; 9 PhD) participated in the class over 2017-2018. Self-efficacy testing using post-then timing to control for response shift showed a statistically significant increase in self-efficacy across all measures. Deductive qualitative analysis of iterative contracting showed evidence of team processes which support successful team performance; and descriptive analysis mapped productive behaviors. In reflective essays, seven of the nine teams collectively described their experiences positively; e.g., themes included empathizing with group members, sophisticated communication and collaborative workflow/styles. For negative experiences, themes were related to basic communication, poor integration and the theory-practice gap of leadership training. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of an authentic learning pedagogy focused on teaching the practice of team science.

Letter-Like Shape Recognition in Preschool Children: Does Graphomotor Knowledge Contribute?

Based on evidence that learning new characters through handwriting leads to better recognition than learning through typing, some authors proposed that the graphic motor plans acquired through handwriting contribute to recognition. More recently two alternative explanations have been put forward. First, the advantage of handwriting could be due to the perceptual variability that it provides during learning. Second, a recent study suggests that detailed visual analysis might be the source of the advantage of handwriting over typing. Indeed, in that study, handwriting and composition –a method requiring a detailed visual analysis but no specific graphomotor activity– led to equivalent recognition accuracy, both higher than typing. The aim of the present study was to assess whether the contribution of detailed visual analysis is observed in preschool children and to test the variability hypothesis. To that purpose, three groups of preschool children learned new symbols either by handwriting, typing, or composition. After learning, children performed first a four-alternative recognition task and then a categorization task. The same pattern of results as the one observed in adults emerged in the four-alternative recognition task, confirming the importance of the detailed visual analysis in letter-like shape learning. In addition, results failed to reveal any difference across learning methods in the categorization task. The latter results provide no evidence for the variability hypothesis which would predict better categorization after handwriting than after typing or composition.

A scaffolded problem-based learning course for first-year pharmacy students

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

There has been an increased use of active learning pedagogies in pharmacy curricula. Structured, complex pedagogies such as problem-based learning (PBL) may require rigorous training for students to be successful. We aim to describe the development and implementation of an introductory PBL course for first-year pharmacy students. We describe the theoretical framework for course development, including the educational philosophies informing the course design. Development of PBL skills and professional behavior were evaluated using student self-assessment throughout the course.

EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND SETTING

This introductory PBL course was developed using educational philosophies to scaffold student learning of the pedagogy and development of PBL skills. A student self-assessment was administered at two time points throughout the course. The self-assessment contained items related to PBL skills and professional behaviors. Self-assessment scores were compared with facilitator evaluations of student performance to determine reliability of self-assessment results.

FINDINGS

Eighty-eight students completed both self-assessments (93.6% response rate). Self-assessment of PBL skills increased significantly. There was no improvement in self-assessed professional behaviors. Self-assessment scores did not correlate with facilitator assessment of student performance in a small group.

SUMMARY

Integrating a scaffolded, theoretically sound educational approach to introduce students to the PBL pedagogy improves students' self-assessed PBL skills but not professional behavior.

Critical measurement issues in the assessment of social media influence on body image

Progress towards understanding how social media impacts body image hinges on the use of appropriate measurement tools and methodologies. This review provides an overview of common (qualitative, self-report survey, lab-based experiments) and emerging (momentary assessment, computational) methodological approaches to the exploration of the impact of social media on body image. The potential of these methodologies is detailed, with examples illustrating current use as well as opportunities for expansion. A key theme from our review is that each methodology has provided insights for the body image research field, yet is insufficient in isolation to fully capture the nuance and complexity of social media experiences. Thus, in consideration of gaps in methodology, we emphasise the need for big picture thinking that leverages and combines the strengths of each of these methodologies to yield a more comprehensive, nuanced, and robust picture of the positive and negative impacts of social media.

Relationship Between Group Work Competencies and Satisfaction With Project-Based Learning Among University Students

There is a growing interest in improving the teaching–learning process at all levels of education, including higher education. In recent years, university institutions have been taking action to renew and modernize the way in which they teach and learn, making the process more dynamic and closer to the current social reality. Competencies such as the ability to work in a team have become essential for the successful implementation of innovative methodologies in which student participation is particularly relevant. Student acceptance is key to the success of any teaching methodology; however, the influence of group work skills on satisfaction with innovative methodologies such as project-based learning (PBL) has not yet been tested among university students. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the association between group work competencies and satisfaction with PBL. A total sample of 359 students from two Spanish universities participated in the research. Our results reveal that there is a significant and positive relationship between competencies related to group work and satisfaction with PBL. In addition, a multiple regression analysis shows that the competencies “Conception of group work,” “Usefulness of group work,” “Planning of group work by teachers,” and “Group norms” increase satisfaction with the use of the PBL methodology. This work expands our knowledge about the role in increasing students’ satisfaction that is played by the ability of college students to work as a team. These findings could also guide teachers interested in new teaching methodologies.

Virtual mindfulness interventions to promote well-being in adults: A mixed-methods systematic review

BACKGROUND

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have experienced drastic changes in their academic and social lives with ensuing consequences towards their physical and mental well-being. The purpose of this systematic review is to identify virtual mindfulness-based interventions for the well-being of adults aged 19 to 40 years in developed countries and examine the efficacy of these techniques/exercises.

METHODS

This mixed-methods systematic review follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines with a registered PROSPERO protocol. With a convergent integrated synthesis approach, IEEE Xplore, PsychInfo, Web of Science and OVID were searched with a predetermined criteria and search strategy employing booleans and filters for peer-reviewed and gray literature. Data screening and extraction were independently performed by two authors, with a third author settling disagreements after reconciliation. Study quality of selected articles was assessed with two independent authors using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Studies were analyzed qualitatively (precluding meta and statistical analysis) due to the heterogeneous study results from diverse study designs in present literature.

RESULTS

Common mindfulness-based interventions used in the appraised studies included practicing basic mindfulness, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) programs, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy programs (MBCT) and the Learning 2 BREATHE (L2B) program.

CONCLUSION

Studies implementing mindfulness interventions demonstrated an overall improvement in well-being. Modified versions of these interventions can be implemented in a virtual context, so adults can improve their well-being through an accessible format.

COVID-19 as the tipping point for integrating e-assessment in higher education practices

The COVID-19 pandemic provoked an urgency for many educators to integrate digital information and communication technologies in their educational practices. We explored how faculty members tackled the task of adapting their assessment practices during the pandemic to identify what is required to sustain and favour future quality development and implementation of e-assessment in higher education. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with thirty-one individuals six months into the COVID-19 pandemic. We identified four major themes in participants' discourse about the integration of e-assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic: (a) the considerations they had for the potential consequences on students and how they considered this while deciding how to move forward, (b) the preoccupations for the potential for cheating, (c) the importance of pedagogical alignment, and (d) the affordances available to them. While the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fact that higher education institutions were not prepared for a pivot to- or greater integration of- e-assessment, it also provided the tipping-point to do so. In other words, it offered an unprecedented opportunity to critically appraise and change assessment practices, this opportunity was also a very challenging balancing act of considering the social consequences of assessment, and the alignment within set affordances.

Retrieval Practice Is Effective Regardless of Self-Reported Need for Cognition - Behavioral and Brain Imaging Evidence

There is an emerging consensus that retrieval practice is a powerful way to enhance long-term retention and to reduce achievement gaps in school settings. Less is known whether retrieval practice benefits performance in individuals with low intrinsic motivation to spend time and effort on a given task, as measured by self-reported need for cognition (NFC). Here, we examined retrieval practice in relation to individual differences in NFC by combining behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Using a within-subject design, upper-secondary school students (N = 274) learned a language-based material (Swahili-Swedish word-pairs), with half of the items by means of retrieval practice with feedback and half by study only. One week later, the students were tested on the word-pairs either in the classroom (n = 204), or in a fMRI scanner (n = 70). In both settings, a retrieval practice effect was observed across different levels of NFC (high or low). Relatedly, comparable fMRI effects were seen in both NFC subgroups. Taken together, our findings provide behavioral and brain-imaging evidence that retrieval practice is effective also for individuals with lower levels of NFC, which is of direct relevance for educational practice.

Towards a culture of open scholarship: the role of pedagogical communities

The UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has called for evidence on the roles that different stakeholders play in reproducibility and research integrity. Of central priority are proposals for improving research integrity and quality, as well as guidance and support for researchers. In response to this, we argue that there is one important component of research integrity that is often absent from discussion: the pedagogical consequences of how we teach, mentor, and supervise students through open scholarship. We justify the need to integrate open scholarship principles into research training within higher education and argue that pedagogical communities play a key role in fostering an inclusive culture of open scholarship. We illustrate these benefits by presenting the Framework for Open and Reproducible Research Training (FORRT), an international grassroots community whose goal is to provide support, resources, visibility, and advocacy for the adoption of principled, open teaching and mentoring practices, whilst generating conversations about the ethics and social impact of higher-education pedagogy. Representing a diverse group of early-career researchers and students across specialisms, we advocate for greater recognition of and support for pedagogical communities, and encourage all research stakeholders to engage with these communities to enable long-term, sustainable change.

Teaching for Values in Human–Computer Interaction

There is an increasing awareness of the importance of considering values in the design of technology. There are several research approaches focused on this, such as e.g., value-sensitive design, value-centred human–computer interaction (HCI), and value-led participatory design, just to mention a few. However, less attention has been given to developing educational materials for the role that values play in HCI, why hands-on teaching activities are insufficient, and especially teaching activities that cover the full design process. In this article, we claim that teaching for ethics and values in HCI is not only important in some parts of the design and development process, but equally important all through. We will demonstrate this by a unique collection of 28 challenges identified throughout the design process, accompanied by inspirational suggestions for teaching activities to tackle these challenges. The article is based on results from applying a modified pedagogical design pattern approach in the iterative development of an open educational resource containing teaching and assessment activities and pedagogical framework, and from pilot testing. Preliminary results from pilots of parts of the teaching activities indicate that student participants experience achieving knowledge about how to understand and act ethically on human values in design, and teachers experience an increased capacity to teach for values in design in relevant and innovative ways. Hopefully, this overview of challenges and inspirational teaching activities focused on values in the design of technology can be one way to provide teachers with inspiration to sensitize their students and make them better prepared to become responsible designers by learning how to address and work with values in HCI.

Technology-Supported Guidance Models Stimulating the Development of Critical Thinking in Clinical Practice: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review (Preprint)

Background

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)

Combine Statistical Thinking With Open Scientific Practice: A Protocol of a Bayesian Research Project

Current developments in the statistics community suggest that modern statistics education should be structured holistically, that is, by allowing students to work with real data and to answer concrete statistical questions, but also by educating them about alternative frameworks, such as Bayesian inference. In this article, we describe how we incorporated such a holistic structure in a Bayesian research project on ordered binomial probabilities. The project was conducted with a group of three undergraduate psychology students who had basic knowledge of Bayesian statistics and programming, but lacked formal mathematical training. The research project aimed to (1) convey the basic mathematical concepts of Bayesian inference; (2) have students experience the entire empirical cycle including collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and (3) teach students open science practices.

Effects of Sleep on Language and Motor Consolidation: Evidence of Domain General and Specific Mechanisms

The current study explores the effects of time and sleep on the consolidation of a novel language learning task containing both item-specific knowledge and the extraction of grammatical regularities. We also compare consolidation effects in language and motor sequence learning tasks, to ask whether consolidation mechanisms are domain general. Young adults learned to apply plural inflections to novel words based on morphophonological rules embedded in the input, and learned to type a motor sequence using a keyboard. Participants were randomly assigned into one of two groups, practicing each task during either the morning or evening hours. Both groups were retested 12 and 24 hours post-training. Performance on frequent trained items in the language task stabilized only following sleep, consistent with a hippocampal mechanism for item-specific learning. However, regularity extraction, indicated by generalization to untrained items in the linguistic task, as well as performance on motor sequence learning, improved 24 hours post-training, irrespective of the timing of sleep. This consolidation process is consistent with a frontostriatal skill-learning mechanism, common across the language and motor domains. This conclusion is further reinforced by cross-domain correlations at the individual level between improvement across 24 hours in the motor task and in the low-frequency trained items in the linguistic task, which involve regularity extraction. Taken together, our results at the group and individual levels suggest that some aspects of consolidation are shared across the motor and language domains, and more specifically, between motor sequence learning and grammar learning.

Exploring Behavioral Patterns for Data-Driven Modeling of Learners' Individual Differences

Educational data mining research has demonstrated that the large volume of learning data collected by modern e-learning systems could be used to recognize student behavior patterns and group students into cohorts with similar behavior. However, few attempts have been done to connect and compare behavioral patterns with known dimensions of individual differences. To what extent learner behavior is defined by known individual differences? Which of them could be a better predictor of learner engagement and performance? Could we use behavior patterns to build a data-driven model of individual differences that could be more useful for predicting critical outcomes of the learning process than traditional models? Our paper attempts to answer these questions using a large volume of learner data collected in an online practice system. We apply a sequential pattern mining approach to build individual models of learner practice behavior and reveal latent student subgroups that exhibit considerably different practice behavior. Using these models we explored the connections between learner behavior and both, the incoming and outgoing parameters of the learning process. Among incoming parameters we examined traditionally collected individual differences such as self-esteem, gender, and knowledge monitoring skills. We also attempted to bridge the gap between cluster-based behavior pattern models and traditional scale-based models of individual differences by quantifying learner behavior on a latent data-driven scale. Our research shows that this data-driven model of individual differences performs significantly better than traditional models of individual differences in predicting important parameters of the learning process, such as performance and engagement.

Application of the cognitive load theory in prelicensure nursing education: a quantitative measurement focusing on instructional design

The objective of this study was to examine differences in principles from the cognitive load theory (CLT) combined with active learning strategies. To examine these differences, simple to complex activities were imbedded into two active learning instructional strategies: cooperative learning (CPL) and problem-based learning (PBL) and evaluated for its impact on mental effort for learning and intrinsic cognitive load. A two-within repeated-measures design was used in a nursing fundamentals classroom. The simple and complex activities were grounded in recommendations from the CLT and validated by nurse experts. The instructional strategies of CPL and PBL were chosen based on recommendations from the literature. Results revealed no statistically significant differences. A small interaction showed a decrease in mental effort and intrinsic load when problem-based learning was used. Progressing learning activities from simple to complex, informed by the CLT, offers an approach to designing instruction in nursing classrooms when using active learning strategies.

Relying on Technology for Countering Academic Dishonesty: The Impact of Online Tutorial on Students’ Perception of Academic Misconduct

Over the last several decades, the issue of academic integrity has emerged as one of the major concerns of higher education institutions throughout the world. Amongst different strategies for combating academic dishonesty, educational interventions in the form of online tutorials are becoming increasingly popular. In this paper, we empirically examine, using a sample of Montenegrin students and the matching method, the relation between online tutorials and four forms of student misconduct, namely cheating, plagiarism, fabrication or falsification, and aiding and abetting academic dishonesty. In addition, we examine whether students that received the certificate after passing an academic integrity test in online tutorial perceived different forms of academic misconduct more seriously than students who participated in the online tutorial but did not receive the certificate. Our results indicate that online tutorial can be useful for enhancing students’ awareness of certain types of academic dishonesty (cheating, fabricating/falsifying, and aiding/abetting), while for others (plagiarism), it remains ineffective. Similarly, we found that getting a certificate after completing tutorial did not amplify students’ attitudes towards certain dishonest behaviors (cheating or fabrication/falsification), but it enhanced students’ perceived seriousness of plagiarism and aiding/abetting dishonesty. The result of this analysis may have important implications for university managers and policy makers when designing strategies for combating particular types of dishonesty in academia.

Off the mark: Repetitive marking undermines essay evaluations due to boredom

Essay-style assessment is widespread in education. Nonetheless, research shows that this tool can suffer from low reliability and validity. We attribute this problem partly to the boredom that marking multiple essays causes. Specifically, we propose that boredom in markers is associated with systematically lower marks on essays. To test this, we asked participants (N = 100) with an undergraduate degree to mark essays. The majority of these participants had at least some experience with marking. After marking each essay, participants indicated how bored they were. We found an increase in boredom over time and that higher boredom was associated with lower marks. Furthermore, offering a marking rubric did not prevent this problematic impact of boredom. These findings have implications for the validity of essays as an assessment tool and raise concerns about repetitive marking practices in general.

Higher Education Students' Reflective Journal Writing and Lifelong Learning Skills: Insights From an Exploratory Sequential Study

Reflective journal (RJ) writing has been recognized as an effective pedagogical tool for nurturing students’ lifelong learning skills. With the paucity of empirical work on the dimensionality of reflective writing, this research sought to qualitatively analyze students’ RJ writing and design a generic reflection scheme for identifying dimensions of reflective thinking. Drawing on the theoretical scheme, another aim was to design and validate a questionnaire to measure students’ perceptions of their reflective writing experiences. The last aim was to quantitatively measure the link between perceived reflective writing and students’ tendency to use RJs in their future careers and personal lives. This exploratory sequential research included the following steps: First, experts’ review and analysis of 1312 RJ entries were attained. This step led to the design of a theoretical scheme of reflective writing and a 31-item questionnaire, used to gather data from 171 students (second-year pre-service teachers and third-year health managers). Partial Least Squares analysis corroborated the structure suggested by the theoretical scheme: two timelines–reflections regarding the current course assignments and those related to the student’s future development. Students’ tendency to use reflective skills in their future professional lives was highly connected to their long-term reflections, including learning experiences linked to academic, professional, personal, and multicultural development. The current study’s suggested validated generic scheme can be adapted and integrated into different curricula, thereby possibly increasing the potential of infusing RJ instructional strategies into higher education curricula, improving the quality of reflection in student journals, and promoting lifelong learning skills.

Exploring the Learning Psychology Mobilization of Music Majors Through Innovative Teaching Methods Under the Background of New Curriculum Reform

The research expects to explore the psychological mobilization of innovative teaching methods of Music Majors under the new curriculum reform. The relevant theories of college students’ innovative teaching methods are analyzed under deep learning together with the innovation and construction of music courses. Thereupon, college students’ psychological mobilization is studied. Firstly, the relationship between innovation and entrepreneurship teaching and deep learning is obtained through a literature review. Secondly, the music classroom model is designed based on the deep learning theory, and the four dimensions of the music curriculum are defined to innovate and optimize the music teaching model. Finally, the Questionnaire Survey (QS) is used to analyze the design classroom model. Only 15% of the 180 respondents understand the concept of deep learning, 32% like interactive music learning, and 36% like competitive comparative music classroom learning. And the students who study instrumental music have higher significant differences in learning motivation than those who study vocal music. In addition to classroom learning, 16% of people improve their music skills through music equipment. College students like interactive music classes and competitive comparison classes that can give more play to their subjective initiative. After the new curriculum reform, the music curriculum based on deep learning can stimulate students’ interest in learning and participate in the mobilization of students’ learning psychology. Therefore, in the future of music education and teaching, there is a need to pay more attention to students’ psychological status. The research results can provide references and practical significance for the innovative teaching activities of music classrooms after the new curriculum reform.

Causal theory error in college students' understanding of science studies

When reasoning about science studies, people often make causal theory errors by inferring or accepting a causal claim based on correlational evidence. While humans naturally think in terms of causal relationships, reasoning about science findings requires understanding how evidence supports—or fails to support—a causal claim. This study investigated college students’ thinking about causal claims presented in brief media reports describing behavioral science findings. How do science students reason about causal claims from correlational evidence? And can their reasoning be improved through instruction clarifying the nature of causal theory error? We examined these questions through a series of written reasoning exercises given to advanced college students over three weeks within a psychology methods course. In a pretest session, students critiqued study quality and support for a causal claim from a brief media report  suggesting an association between two variables. Then, they created diagrams depicting possible alternative causal theories. At the beginning of the second session, an instructional intervention introduced students to an extended example of a causal theory error through guided questions about possible alternative causes. Then, they completed the same two tasks with new science reports immediately and again 1 week later. The results show students’ reasoning included fewer causal theory errors after the intervention, and this improvement was maintained a week later. Our findings suggest that interventions aimed at addressing reasoning about causal claims in correlational studies are needed even for advanced science students, and that training on considering alternative causal theories may be successful in reducing casual theory error.

Role of personality traits in collaborative group works at flipped classrooms

The Flipped Classroom (FC) approach is an important model for individualizing teaching, improving motivation, interaction, and increasing academic performance in a student-centered learning environment. However, at FC, not all students benefit equally from teaching opportunities. There may be important individual differences that affect their academic performance. The relationship between personality traits and academic performance in the FC model in which collaborative group studies are carried out is important for the design of individualized learning environments. In this context, the aim of this study is to research the relationship between academic success and personality traits within a collaborative flipped classroom model. Additionally, in this study, the differentiation of the relationship between academic success and personality traits according to gender, motivation, engagement, and interaction variables were examined. In this research, relational screening model was utilized. The application was achieved through the participation of 167 students for a 14-week period in Turkey. In the research, self-description form and data collection instruments were utilized. At the end of this research, Extraversion from personality traits is the strongest predictor of academic performance in FC. According to descriptive statistics, it was found that female students scored higher in FC settings for extraversion, and male students had higher scores for openness than other structures. In addition, it was found that the motivation scores of women and engagement scores of men were prominent. It was observed that the openness personality of the students with low motivation and the agreeableness of the students with high motivation is more dominant than the other personality structures. Students with the low level of engagement had the highest openness, and those with high agreeableness scores were the highest. The students with the low level of interaction had the highest openness scores, while those with high levels of interaction had the highest conscientiousness. While personality traits and academic achievements of students differed significantly according to gender, motivation and interaction levels, no significant difference was found according to engagement levels. The results reached in this study will guide the applicators about how the students become more ready to learn based on the personality traits of the classroom in which the FC model was utilized.

The Role of Uncertainty in Models of Epistemic Curiosity

<p>The psychological research strategies of studying epistemic curiosity traditionally consider four factors of motivation to search for new information: the degree of familiarity with the subject, the expected value of information, the cultural framework of tolerance to new information and the features of the material resources of the epistemic situation. A comparison of these models shows that regardless of where the study of curiosity begins &mdash; in behavior, in mental processes, in personal characteristics or in interaction with the environment &mdash; the place of uncertainty in the conceptual system remains the same. Uncertainty is one of the key characteristics of modern culture, which raises the question of the degree of influence of its experiences on cognitive processes. The purpose of the article is to review foreign studies on the connection of epistemic curiosity with the experience of uncertainty. The article contains the analysis of the four main models of epistemic curiosity and the suggestion of the new (unifying) model, according to which curiosity is a tool for "managing uncertainty" in order to adapt in the most effective way to a complex, unpredictable environment.</p>

Facilitators and Barriers of Reflective Learning in Postgraduate Medical Education: A Narrative Review

BACKGROUND

Reflection in postgraduate medical education has been found to aid in the development of professional skills, improve clinical expertise, and problem solving with the aim of advancing lifelong learning skills and self-awareness, leading to good medical practice among postgraduate residents. Despite the evidenced benefits, reflection remains underused as a tool for teaching and learning, and few trainee physicians regularly engage in the process. Factors that affect the uptake of reflective learning in residency training have not yet been adequately explored.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this review is to demonstrate the factors that influence the adoption of reflective learning for postgraduate students and their centrality to good clinical practice.

METHODS

A review of the literature was performed using defined databases and the following search terms: 'reflection', 'reflective learning', 'postgraduate medical education', 'barriers' and 'facilitators'. The search was limited to peer-reviewed published material in English between 2011 and 2020 and included research papers, reviews, and expert opinion pieces.

RESULTS

Eleven relevant articles were included, which identified three main categories as facilitators and barriers to the adoption of reflective learning in postgraduate medical education. These included structure, assessment and relational factors. The structure of reflective practice is important, but it should not be too rigid. Assessments are paramount, but they should be multidimensional to accommodate the multicomponent nature of reflections. Relational factors such as motivation, coaching, and role modeling facilitate sustainable reflective practice.

CONCLUSIONS

This review suggests that the same factors that facilitate reflection can be a barrier if not used within the right epistemic. Educators should consider these factors to increase the acceptance and integration of reflective learning in curriculums by both teachers and learners.

Association between preference and e-learning readiness among the Bangladeshi female nursing students in the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic jeopardized the traditional academic learning calendars due to the closing of all educational institutions across the globe. To keep up with the flow of learning, most of the educational institutions shifted toward e-learning. However, the students' e-learning preference and e-learning readiness did not identify, particularly among the Bangladeshi female nursing students, where those can pose serious challenges. A cross-sectional study was carried out among the female nursing students between December 26, 2020, and January 11, 2021. A total of 237 students were recruited who have enrolled in e-learning at least the last 30 days of the participation. Multivariable linear regression models were fitted to find the association of students' preference, e-learning readiness domains, and other variables.

RESULTS

A cross-sectional study was conducted among the female nursing students to assess perceived e-learning readiness in the subdomains of readiness; availability, technology use, self-confidence, acceptance and training. The findings of the study revealed that the prevalence of preference for e-learning was 43.46%. The students did not prefer e-learning compared to 'prefer group' has significantly less availability of technology (β = - 3.01, 95% CI - 4.46, - 1.56), less use of technology (β = - 3.08, 95% CI - 5.11, - 1.06), less self-confidence (β = - 4.50, 95% CI - 7.02, - 1.98), less acceptance (β = - 5.96, 95% CI - 7.76, - 4.16) and less training need (β = - 1.86, 95% CI - 2.67, - 1.06). The age, degree, residence, parents' highest education, having a single room, and having any eye problems were significantly associated with the variation of availability of technology, use of technology, self-confidence, acceptance, and training need of e-learning.

CONCLUSIONS

The outcomes of the study could be helpful while developing an effective and productive e-learning infrastructure regarding the preparedness of nursing colleges for the continuation of academia in any adverse circumstances like the COVID-19 pandemic.