Hybrid online-flipped learning pedagogy for teaching laboratory courses to mitigate the pandemic COVID-19 confinement and enable effective sustainable delivery: investigation of attaining course learning outcome

Capacity-building during public health emergencies: perceived usefulness and cost savings of an online training on SARS-CoV-2 real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) diagnostics in low- and middle-income settings during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction

Upon the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Public Health Laboratory Support Unit (ZIG4) at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the German National Public Health Institute, developed and delivered an online training on SARS-CoV-2 qPCR diagnostics to 17 partner countries in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). This article analyses the usefulness and cost savings of this training.

Methods

The authors performed a concurrent mixed-methodology study based on key informant interviews, interviewer-administered questionnaires, and document reviews. Economic costs were estimated from the perspective of RKI.

Results

Responding participants indicated that the course provided good and comprehensive information on up-to-date scientific knowledge and laboratory practice in PCR diagnostics. Respondents appreciated how the technical content of the training enhanced their ability to apply diagnostic methods in their daily work. Interviewees highlighted that the fast implementation and the low threshold of attending an online training had allowed them to quickly build skills that were crucial during, and beyond, the COVID-19 crisis. The total estimated cost of the online SARS-CoV-2 qPCR training was 61,644 euros. The total estimated cost of the equivalent face-to-face training was estimated at 267,592 euros. Programme weaknesses identified included the top-down approaches taken, lack of interactive components and opportunities to directly engage with other course participants and with teachers.

Conclusions

An online training was developed and implemented to support RKI partner countries in SARS-CoV-2 qPCR diagnostics during the COVID-19 pandemic, thereby strengthening pandemic response and health system resilience. The training incurred in important cost savings compared to the equivalent face-to-face training. Post-pandemic studies could usefully build on these research findings and explore ways to enhance end user involvement and improve interactive features to build stronger communities of learners and facilitate exchange of information and mutual learning.

Depression and opinion of dental students regarding the hybrid learning model during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND

The global spread of COVID-19 forced schools at all educational levels to close, which was repeated in more than 60 countries. In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the mental health of dental students world wide. This study hypothesizes that the prevalence of depression in dental students from El Salvador is higher than that reported in studies from Europe, Asia, and North America.

METHODS

This study was an online cross-sectional survey performed at the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Salvador. The PHQ-9 questionnaire was applied to know the level of depression of the students, and a questionnaire focused on learning the opinion of the students on the hybrid teaching model adopted. Approximately 450 students participated in both questionnaires.

RESULTS

Regarding the levels of depression present in the students, 14% had minimal depression, 29% had medium depression, 23% had moderate depression and, 34% had severe depression. The students had an excellent opinion regarding the hybrid learning model.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of depression in dental students in El Salvador seems to be higher than that reported in studies in non-Latin American countries. Therefore, universities must generate care plans for mental health to avoid these harmful effects on students during future contingencies.

Empirical research of emerging trends and patterns across the flipped classroom studies using topic modeling

This study presents topic modeling based bibliometric characteristics of the articles related to the flipped classroom. The corpus of the study consists of 2959 articles published in the Scopus database as of the end of 2021. In addition to the bibliometric characteristics of the field, research interests and trends were also revealed with the study, which was based on the topic modeling-based bibliometric analysis method. According to the results of the study, an increase in the number of publications has been observed since 2015. Nearly one-third of the studies are of United States origin. According to the findings of the topic analysis in which the research interests and trends in the studies were revealed, the articles in this field were gathered under 16 topics. Considering the number of publications of the topic, it was seen that the three most voluminous topics were "Performance and perception", "Nursing education" and "Effectiveness and motivation", respectively. It is thought that the results of the study will provide a general perspective to the researchers in this field and provide important outputs in the context of monitoring the issues that may become prominent in the future.