Evaluating the use of streaming video to support student learning in a first-year life sciences course for student nurses

Students’ Behavior and Perceptions Regarding Complementary Videos for Introductory Physics Courses in an Online Environment

Digital videos have an important and increasing presence in student learning. They play a key role especially in subjects with high mathematical content, such as physics. However, creating videos is a time-consuming activity for teachers, who are usually not experts in video creation. Therefore, it is important to know which kinds of videos are perceived as more useful by students and why. In this paper we analyze students’ perception of videos in an introductory physics course of engineering with over 200 first year students in a 100% online university, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC). Students had 142 videos available of several types. We followed a qualitative methodology from a ground theory perspective and performed semi-structured interviews. Results show that students found videos as the most valued resource, although they considered that videos cannot substitute text documents. Students valued human elements and found them in videos where the hands of the professor appear. Finally, students consumed videos according to the course schedule, visualized the whole video the first time, and consumed it later according to further deliveries and exams. The main contributions of this paper were analyzing the perception of students from a qualitative perspective in an introductory course of physics in engineering, obtaining the main elements that make videos useful for students and showing that videos with hands are valued by students.

Video Cloud Services for Hospitals: Designing an End-to-End Cloud Service Platform for Medical Video Storage and Secure Access

The amount of medical video data that has to be securely stored has been growing exponentially. This rapid expansion is mainly caused by the introduction of higher video resolution such as 4K and 8K to medical devices and the growing usage of telemedicine services, along with a general trend toward increasing transparency with respect to medical treatment, resulting in more and more medical procedures being recorded. Such video data, as medical data, must be maintained for many years, resulting in datasets at the exabytes scale that each hospital must be able to store in the future. Currently, hospitals do not have the required information and communications technology infrastructure to handle such large amounts of data in the long run. In this paper, we discuss the challenges and possible solutions to this problem. We propose a generic architecture for a holistic, end-to-end recording and storage platform for hospitals, define crucial components, and identify existing and future solutions to address all parts of the system. This paper focuses mostly on the recording part of the system by introducing the major challenges in the area of bioinformatics, with particular focus on three major areas: video encoding, video quality, and video metadata.

Design and Evaluation of Video Podcasts for Providing Online Feedback on Formative Pharmaceutical Calculations Assessments

Objective. To evaluate worked example video podcasts as a method of providing feedback to pharmacy interns for an online and formative pharmaceutical calculations assessment. Methods. A theory-informed approach based on multimedia learning theory was used to design video podcasts as feedback on a calculations examination. A mixed-methods evaluation completed by pharmacy interns enrolled in Ireland's National Pharmacy Internship Programme was used to establish cognitive and affective attitudes toward video podcasts compared with conventional written solutions. Results. The majority of students found video podcasts were clear, helpful for learning, easy to understand, and useful as a method of feedback. Majority reported that they felt positively about standard written solutions. The evaluation suggested distinct benefits for each kind of feedback, something that has not been previously reported. Thematic analysis of qualitative data indicated useful features of video podcasts, including clear explanation, step-by-step approach, and synchronization of audio and visual information. Conclusion. Respondents reported positive cognitive and affective attitudes toward video podcasts as online feedback. Video podcasts are a helpful and novel way of providing feedback on pharmaceutical calculations. A similar opinion of traditional written solutions suggests that students may benefit from both forms of feedback. Further study is required to identify the particular benefits associated with both kinds.

Effectiveness of an educational video as an instrument to refresh and reinforce the learning of a nursing technique: a randomized controlled trial

The Undergraduate Nursing Course has been using videos for the past year or so. Videos are used for many different purposes such as during lessons, nurse refresher courses, reinforcement, and sharing and comparison of knowledge with the professional and scientific community. The purpose of this study was to estimate the efficacy of the video (moving an uncooperative patient from the supine to the lateral position) as an instrument to refresh and reinforce nursing techniques. A two-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) design was chosen: both groups attended lessons in the classroom as well as in the laboratory; a month later while one group received written information as a refresher, the other group watched the video. Both groups were evaluated in a blinded fashion. A total of 223 students agreed to take part in the study. The difference observed between those who had seen the video and those who had read up on the technique turned out to be an average of 6.19 points in favour of the first (P < 0.05). The results of the RCT demonstrated that students who had seen the video were better able to apply the technique, resulting in a better performance. The video, therefore, represents an important tool to refresh and reinforce previous learning.

Online vs. face-to-face discussion in a web-based research methods course for postgraduate nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND

Web-based technologies are increasingly being used to create modes of online learning for nurses but their effect has not been assessed in nurse education.

OBJECTIVES

Assess whether participation in face-to-face discussion seminars or online asynchronous discussion groups had different effects on educational attainment in a web-based course.

DESIGN

Non-randomised or quasi-experimental design with two groups-students choosing to have face-to-face discussion seminars and students choosing to have online discussions.

SETTING

The Core Methods module of a postgraduate research methods course.

PARTICIPANTS

All 114 students participating in the first 2 yr during which the course teaching material was delivered online.

OUTCOME

Assignment mark for Core Methods course module.

METHODS

Background details of the students, their choices of modules and assignment marks were collected as part of the routine course administration. Students' online activities were identified using the student tracking facility within WebCT. Regression models were fitted to explore the association between available explanatory variables and assignment mark.

RESULTS

Students choosing online discussions had a higher Core Methods assignment mark (mean 60.8/100) than students choosing face-to-face discussions (54.4); the difference was statistically significant (t=3.13, df=102, p=0.002), although this ignores confounding variables. Among online discussion students, assignment mark was significantly correlated with the numbers of discussion messages read (Kendall's tau(b)=0.22, p=0.050) and posted (Kendall's tau(b)=0.27, p=0.017); among face-to-face discussion students, it was significantly associated with the number of non-discussion hits in WebCT (Kendall's tau(b)=0.19, p=0.036). In regression analysis, choice of discussion method, whether an M.Phil./Ph.D. student, number of non-discussion hits in WebCT, number of online discussion messages read and number posted were associated with assignment mark at the 5% level of significance when taken singly; in combination, only whether an M.Phil./Ph.D. student (p=0.024) and number of non-discussion hits (p=0.045) retained significance.

CONCLUSIONS

This study demonstrates that a research methods course can be delivered to postgraduate healthcare students at least as successfully by an entirely online method in which students participate in online discussion as by a blended method in which students accessing web-based teaching material attend face-to-face seminar discussions. Increased online activity was associated with higher assignment marks. The study highlights new opportunities for educational research that arise from the use of virtual learning environments that routinely record the activities of learners and tutors.

Video streaming: implementation and evaluation in an undergraduate nursing program

Video streaming technology enables video content, held on the web sites, to be streamed via the web. We report the implementation and evaluation of video streaming in an undergraduate nursing program in a metropolitan university in Australia. Students (n=703) were emailed a survey with a 15% response rate. We found that 91% (n=74) of respondents stated that video streaming assisted their learning. Forty-six percent(n=50) of students had difficulty accessing video streaming (particularly at the beginning of the study period). Over a 97-day period there were 8440 "hits" to the site from 1039 different internet protocol (IP) addresses. There were 4475 video streaming sessions undertaken by users. Video streaming was used for reviewing previously attended lectures (52%, n=56), examination preparation (34%, n=37), viewing missed lectures (27%, n=29) and class preparation (9%, n=10). Our experience with the introduction of video streaming has met with general enthusiasm from both students and teaching staff. Video streaming has particular relevance for rural students.

[Use of Internet resources in nursing: a review]

Resources of Internet system are widely popularized in most of all human activities in the society. This paper aims to identify and to describe major modalities of Internet utilization in nursing areas of Education, Care, and Research. This is a bibliographic review which data source was MEDLINE database, using pertinent descriptors for the focused areas. From referred publications, it was selected 63 articles. Major utilization in Education area is the development of applications to promote distance education; in Patient Education area is the development of applications to make health information available; in Care area are the applications to make care protocols available to promote evidence-based practice, and in Research area is online data collection. It was concluded that nursing is using Internet resources in a satisfactory way, and it has contributed for the profession evolution.

The development and evaluation of the use of a virtual learning environment (Blackboard 5) to support the learning of pre-qualifying nursing students undertaking a human anatomy and physiology module

Students commence nurse education with varying levels of understanding of human anatomy and physiology due to a wide range of previous exposure to the topic. All students, however, are required to attain a broad knowledge of this topic prior to qualification. This paper describes the use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), Blackboard 5, and the associated development of appropriate resources aimed at supporting nursing students undertaking a human anatomy and physiology module at Higher Education Level 1. The VLE was used as part of a blended learning approach. The results suggested that the majority of students utilised the VLE throughout the academic year. Opportunities for independent and self-directed learning were available in that students chose when and where to learn. Students generally commented favourably on ease of use and type of resources available. Frequency of use of the VLE, however, did not correlate strongly with the final examination mark achieved. Overall the VLE and the associated available resources appeared useful in supporting student learning and has been adopted for use in subsequent years.