Assistant Learning Research Articles

Artificial Intelligence-Enabled Intelligent Assistant for Personalized and Adaptive Learning in Higher Education

This paper presents a novel framework, artificial intelligence-enabled intelligent assistant (AIIA), for personalized and adaptive learning in higher education. The AIIA system leverages advanced AI and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to create an interactive and engaging learning platform. This platform is engineered to reduce cognitive load on learners by providing easy access to information, facilitating knowledge assessment, and delivering personalized learning support tailored to individual needs and learning styles. The AIIA’s capabilities include understanding and responding to student inquiries, generating quizzes and flashcards, and offering personalized learning pathways. The research findings have the potential to significantly impact the design, implementation, and evaluation of AI-enabled virtual teaching assistants (VTAs) in higher education, informing the development of innovative educational tools that can enhance student learning outcomes, engagement, and satisfaction. The paper presents the methodology, system architecture, intelligent services, and integration with learning management systems (LMSs) while discussing the challenges, limitations, and future directions for the development of AI-enabled intelligent assistants in education.

Robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer: The more experienced the bedside assistant, the better?

BackgroundAim to investigate the impact of bedside assistant's work experience and learning curve on the short-term safety and efficacy in robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer. MethodsOur research retrospectively retrieved 120 cases of early-stage cervical cancer patients who underwent robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy at the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University. According to the different work experiences of the two bedside assistants (BA), patients were divided into a research group (inexperienced BA 1) and a control group (experienced BA 2). Furthermore, the learning curves of these BAs were plotted separately and divided into two distinct phases by cumulative summation: the first learning phase and the second master phase. ResultIn terms of work experience, comparing BA 1 with BA 2 who was more experienced, although the average operative time was prolonged by 29 min (P＜0.001), it did not increase the incidence of operative complication [24.4 % VS 29.1 %, P = 0.583], positive resection margin [4.9 % VS 7.6 %, P = 0.714], intraoperative organ damage [0 % VS 2.5 %, P = 0.546] and there was no significant difference in the number of lymph nodes [19 VS 15, P = 0.103]. Additionally, comparing two distinct phases of the same bedside assistant, there was no significant increasing rate in terms of operative complication, positive resection margin, intraoperative organ damage, and the number of lymph nodes (P＞0.05) neither BA 1 nor BA 2, except for a slight extension of operative time about 20 min in learning phase (P＜0.05). ConclusionIn robotic-assisted laparoscopic radical hysterectomy for early-stage cervical cancer, work inexperience and the learning phase of BA only result in a slight extension of operative time, without causing worse short-term surgical outcomes.

Intelligent Assistant for Smart Factory Power Management

This article presents the development and implementation of an intelligent assistant for smart energy management in an industrial setting. The project, developed in collaboration with Bosch Termotecnologia Aveiro, aims to leverage the advancements of Industry 4.0 and address the increasing demands for efficiency, quality and sustainability in industrial processes. The intelligent assistant implements machine learning algorithms, specifically autoencoders, to predict energy consumption related variables and detect anomalies in data collected from the factory floor. In the models’ building process, an AutoML hyperparameter optimization tool is utilized to further enhance their predictive abilities. The implementation of the assistant showcases its capabilities not only regarding the predictions, but also in terms of data visualization and alarm generation. The results obtained through the use of Auto ML showcase remarkable improvements compared to traditional regression models and basic autoencoders, proving its effectiveness in terms of making accurate predictions, with improvements up to 90% in some indicators when compared to those basic models. Alsointerms of the anomaly detection task, the chosen methodology proves to be effective in detecting different kinds of anomalies. The integration of the assistant with a Grafana dashboard and the exploration of additional communication tools, such as a Telegram bot, further improve the user experience and expand the potential applications of the assistant.

The effect of interprofessional simulations on pharmacy and physician assistant students' learning of advanced cardiac life support concepts

BackgroundThe Interprofessional Education Collaborative (IPEC) defined core competencies for IPE in 2011, and use of simulation in interprofessional education (IPE) continues to be developed in prelicensure health education programs. Interprofessional education activityIn this prospective, observational study, interprofessional student teams addressed reversible causes of cardiac arrest in weekly simulations during an Emergency Medicine course. Each simulation was followed by sequential team debriefs, first regarding the IPEC core competencies of interprofessional communication, teamwork, and roles and responsibilities, and second regarding the patient-related content of the case. DiscussionTwenty-eight pharmacy students and 60 physician assistant students completed the course. A didactic knowledge exam was administered before, immediately after, and 150 days after the course. Both disciplines' exam scores significantly increased from baseline to the end of the course and from baseline to the 150-day follow-up. Students also completed the validated Interprofessional Perceptions Survey before and after the course. Both disciplines demonstrated significant increases in Team Value, Efficiency and Interprofessional Accommodation components. ImplicationsParticipation in this simulation-based course resulted in 150-day retention of advanced cardiovascular life support knowledge and improved interprofessional perceptions in both pharmacy and physician assistant students.

Clinical education across the physical therapy professional continuum

The Journal of Clinical Education in Physical Therapy (JCEPT) is a peer-reviewed open-access journal that aims to develop and disseminate quality evidence related to clinical education in physical therapy. Over the first 3 years of publishing, the number of article downloads has increased quickly with 2021 downloads more than tripling the previous year. Two articles were downloaded over 200 times in just the last year. This year, JCEPT has been indexed by the Directory of Open Access Journals, and we are on track to meet our goal of PubMed Central indexing within our first 5 years. COVID-19 continues to affect society and education. In this volume, two papers explore the impact of changes imposed on physical therapy education by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Many programs had to make changes to their clinical education routines due to COVID-19 restrictions and sudden limitations in clinical placements. One article explored the effect of fewer preparatory integrated clinical experiences on interpersonal communication skills and confidence in the acute care setting. Another explored the financial impact of COVID-19 on doctor of physical therapy students. JCEPT publishes scholarly work related to physical therapy education affecting any aspect of clinical practice at all levels of the professional continuum.1 The 2022 JCEPT volume, for instance, includes a model of physical therapist assistant learning in an intra-professional pro bono clinical environment with entry-level physical therapy students. For physical therapist education, articles address readiness for telehealth, the effect of integrated clinical experiences on interpersonal communication, decision making, and clinical reasoning. Post-professional topics include developing residents’ clinical reasoning and clinical instructors’ mentoring skills. Physical therapy as a profession requires a commitment to lifelong learning to ensure the profession evolves to best serve the public purpose.2 Lifelong learning is sometimes thought of as simply individual clinicians continually gaining additional knowledge and skill. Moving the profession forward, however, demands more structure.2 A more detailed formulation of lifelong learning includes activities that demonstrate the voluntary participation in professional activities that expand learning and the pursuit of opportunities to develop professionally.3 Examples within this volume include the pro bono clinics, residency training, and clinical instructors participating in simulated learning experiences within the didactic portion of physical therapy training. Advanced degrees and continuing education are also parts of the continuum for future volumes to explore.4 As the journal continues to grow, we expect to publish more papers on topics important to physical therapy clinical education in various forms. JCEPT accepts manuscript types such as original research, narrative and systematic reviews, innovative teaching methods or educational models, clinical education or clinical case reports, and critically appraised topics. Christopher Kevin Wong and Jean Fitzpatrick TimmerbergEditors in Chief

Inquiries and Problem Based Learning (Pbl) Assistant Multimedia Learning Models in Improving Students' Critical Thinking Skills

This study aims to determine the interaction between the multimedia-assisted inquiry learning model and the multimedia-assisted Problem Based Learning (PBL) model on critical thinking skills and to determine the differences in critical thinking skills between students using inquiry learning and PBL. This study used a quasi-experimental with static group pre-posttest design. The implementation of the learning involved students of class XI IPA who were studying the reproductive system, respectively 37 students for the inquiry class and 33 students for the PBL class. The instrument used was an essay question consisting of 10 questions, and a questionnaire to collect student and teacher responses. The results showed that the inquiry learning model and PBL were able to improve students' critical thinking skills, and overall, the PBL model is better than the inquiry learning model. Students and teachers gave a positive response to the inquiry learning model and PBL.

The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage.

James F. Cawley, MPH, PA-C, is a visiting professor and scholar-in-residence at the Physician Assistant Leadership and Learning Academy, University of Maryland Baltimore, in Baltimore, Maryland. He is also a professor in the School of Physician Assistant Practice at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, as well as professor emeritus in the Department of Prevention and Community Health, Milken Institute School of Public Health, at The George Washington University in Washington, DC. Correspondence should be addressed to: James F. Cawley, MPH, PA-C, Physician Assistant Leadership Learning Academy (PALLA), Graduate School, University of Maryland Baltimore, 620 West Lexington Street, Baltimore, MD 21201; Email: [email protected] The author declares no conflict of interest.

Students' Phubbing in Rural University Classrooms: Are They Crossing Boundaries? Academics' Perceptions

The current study sought to establish perceptions of lecturers and Peer Assistant Learning (PAL) Tutors on students' phubbing at a rural university in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The study adopted the quantitative approach in which a survey was employed. A sample of 50 academics that consisted of 39 lecturers from a population of 71 and 11 PAL Tutors from a population of 14 voluntarily completed the survey. A structured 5-point Likert scale questionnaire was used for the data collection. The researchers captured the data manually into Statistical Package for Social Sciences and they were analysed using descriptive statistics. The study found that majority of lecturers and PAL Tutors had a negative perception on students' phubbing in classroom. It was strongly confirmed that students were addicted to cell phones. Around 0%-20% of the students were phubbing by doing different activities in classroom which was more enough for the whole learning and teaching to be spoiled. Overall, phubbing created a serious interruption to lecturers, PAL Tutors as well as the whole class and this implicated the study to highlight that students were crossing the boundary line. This study also provided recommendations to the educators and management to minimize phubbing inside classroom.

Advancing Physician Assistant Faculty Development: A New Model.

The purpose of this article is to describe the development, implementation, and evaluation of an innovative physician assistant (PA) faculty development model. The Maryland Physician Assistant Leadership and Learning Academy's (PALLA's) executive team developed a 10-month fellowship designed to build a skilled faculty pipeline. The fellowship framework was grounded in the PA educator competencies, the 3 pillars of academia, and the 5th edition Accreditation Standards for Physician Assistant Education. The self-perceived impact of the fellowship was evaluated through multiple surveys. Survey results show that all of the learning activities met fellows' expectations, and fellows indicated strong agreement in self-perceived achievement in meeting the fellowship outcome goals. Study results provide evidence that formal training increases self-perceived competence in clinicians transitioning to academia. PALLA can serve as a model for other states to ensure faculty capacity within PA education.

Interprofessional Healthcare Student Perceptions of Clinical vs. Simulation Learning Through Participation in Underserved Health Clinics.

PurposeThe purpose of this research project is to determine how well three health profession student discipline’s learning needs are met through a real clinical interprofessional environment compared to previous simulation experience by assessing student perceptions following participation in a student-run underserved healthcare setting.MethodsVarious student-run health clinics were initiated throughout Southwest Ohio in underserved settings precepted by healthcare profession faculty. Physician assistant, pharmacy, and medical student learning needs and interprofessional perceptions were assessed following clinic participation utilizing the Clinical Learning Environment Comparison Survey (CLECS) and qualitative comment to allow objectification of students’ perceptions to different clinical learning environments and the interprofessional setting.ResultsThe survey had responses from medical, pharmacy, and physician assistant students (n = 60). Overall, students preferred traditional learning environments compared to previous simulated clinical experiences (p < .01). Significance for communication, holism, and the teaching-learning dyad was demonstrated comparing the traditional clinical experience to the simulated experience (p < .05). Pharmacy students felt their critical thinking skills were more significantly improved after the simulated environment (p < .05). Males more significantly favored teaching-learning dyad simulation vs. the traditional environment (F = 5.86, p < .05). Qualitative comments regarding the interprofessional experience included themes of teamwork, patient communication, and clinical skills.ConclusionWhen comparing a traditional clinical experience in an interprofessional student-run clinic vs. previous simulated learning clinical environment, physician assistant, pharmacy, and medical students qualitatively and quantitatively perceive their learning needs are greater met in the volunteer student-run clinic for communication, holism, and the teaching-learning dyad. There were variations in preferences based on sex and discipline of the student.

COVID-19 Risk Analytics and Safe Activity Assistant Systemwith Machine Learning Algorithms

COVID-19 Risk Analytics and Safe Activity Assistant Systemwith Machine Learning Algorithms

Research on Improving Teaching Qualities by Using Metadata to Recognize Plants

Metadata plays a vital role in the development and implementation of the National Digital Archives Program (NDAP). We’re now developing an online database for teaching plant recognition, providing students and other users with an access to recognizing all plants possible. While digitalizing the above-mentioned database, this study focuses on “subject and community oriented” metadata kernel set. By using the exact searching and result revealing interface over the same data as well as cross-database retrieval, we aim at uttering convenience and user-friendliness. In view of the ever-increasing data and the need for future integration, we’ve tried to analyze the content and features of possible plants, made comparisons over various metadata standards, constructed a user-friendly database system and designed the plant-related metadata in the dedication of research references at home and abroad. The assistant learning mechanism of this interactive digital archive includes two vital aspects. They are, respectively, student-learning circulation and database-learning circulation, which are worth developing into further application on teaching. Learners of all levels are able to use the system freely and spontaneously. For the exchange of the digital archives, this study constructs a Chinese metadata format and integrates XML technique in the hope of helping students retrieve their data precisely, acquire an integrated concept of plants and learn to appreciate and cherish all plants in their campus.

Research on decision support system of sports assistant teaching and training based on association rules and support vector machine

In the decision-making system of sports assistant teaching and training, the performance of such system is not robust to different situations with a low accuracy. To solve the problems in the decision-making system, we proposed a decision-making method combining association rules and support vector machine (SVM) in this paper. First of all, we give a computer-aided decision support system for sports assistant learning and teaching training, which is fully elaborated from three aspects: virtual reality (VR) technology, VR based sports assistant learning and teaching and situational cognition, and VR based sports assistant learning and teaching mode. After that, the paper gives the feature extraction of sports auxiliary teaching training through association rules and the decision-making of the extracted association rules by SVM. We have done two different experiments for both association rules mining and SVM on both experiment group and control group of databases. Experimental results have shown that the training characteristics of sports auxiliary teaching very well. In the decision support of association rules, compared with the existing BP neural network, linear discriminant analysis and naive Bayes and other methods, the SVM method has better effect of action recognition in decision support system of sports assistant teaching and training. The robustness is the best for the application of SVM. We provide a new perspective for the decision support of sports auxiliary teaching training by using association rules and SVM. Through the method of this paper, we can obtain better decision-making effect and more robust process of sports auxiliary teaching and training.

A Survey on Healthcare Assistant using Machine Learning and NLP Models

A Survey on Healthcare Assistant using Machine Learning and NLP Models

Nutrition and Preventative Medicine Across the Lifespan: Implementation of a Physician Assistant Team-Based Learning Curriculum on Pediatric Preventative Medicine.

Physician assistants (PAs) will increasingly fill an important primary care gap in pediatrics. This study implemented a pediatric preventative care curriculum using a team-based learning (TBL) strategy and then evaluated the effect on first-year PA students' knowledge and attitudes toward TBL as a teaching method. The curriculum was developed and implemented during a one-semester course. Students completed knowledge-based questions precourse and postcourse; the mean scores for individual students were then compared using a paired t test. Descripted statistics were used to analyze the postcourse survey that evaluated students' attitudes toward TBL. Of the 31 PA students who participated, 27 (87%) completed the surveys and were included in the analysis. The mean correct pretest and posttest scores were 17/39 and 31/39, respectively, resulting in a change of 14 points (p < .05). The majority of students (85%) rated TBL as effective, and most students (75%) reported that it led to retention of the presented content. A TBL-based curriculum in pediatric preventative care was effective in increasing PA student knowledge, and the students reported it as effective. This strategy could be considered for other PA courses.

Perceptions and development needs of assistant practitioners supporting individuals with dementia.

In the UK there are an estimated 850 000 people living with dementia. The condition costs the NHS £26 billion each year and it is estimated that this amount will treble over the next 30 years. Thus, there is a need for health and social care staff to be increasingly competent in the delivery of care to those living with dementia. The education of staff will improve knowledge and build capability to support and care for individuals with dementia. This research involved 44 assistant practitioners who shared opinions about their preparation for practice in dementia care. Focus groups and questionnaires were used to collect data that were then thematically analysed. The research also considered the assistant practitioner role in relation to workforce development. Key themes were 'training, awareness and knowledge associated with dementia care' and 'the perceptions of the assistant practitioner regarding confidence to support individuals with dementia'. There was role and responsibility protection from staff, for example, doctors and nurses were reluctant to delegate duties to the assistant practitioner. Participants' commentary indicated, however, that they were competent to support service users with dementia, although there were gaps in their experiences. The case study demonstrated the positive achievement of partnership working between a higher education institution and the workplace, which supported the assistant practitioners' learning and development.

Novice Physician Assistant Learning During the Transition to Practice

The purpose of this study was to describe how novice physician assistants (PAs) transfer learning from formal training into clinical practice. This Q study was conducted as a part of a larger mixed-interpretive investigation of the experiences of novice PAs during the first 2 years of practice. A set of 45 statements was naturally sampled from 10 previously conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with novice PAs. Fifteen different novice PAs then sorted the statements. The data were analyzed using by-person factor analysis (Q methodology). The resultant factor array was used to generate a summary, a sketch, and a monologue for each shared social perspective. Three shared social perspectives concerning transfer of learning during the transition to practice emerged: (1) partnership, (2) self-reliant, and (3) insecure perspectives. Novice PAs sharing the partnership perspective experienced few, if any, individual or environmental obstacles to transfer of learning. Novice PAs sharing the self-reliant perspective experienced environmental obstacles-but few, if any, individual obstacles-to transfer of learning. Novice PAs who shared the insecure perspective experienced both individual and environmental obstacles to transfer of learning. The results of this study describe variability in the novice PA experiences of learning transfer during the first 2 years of practice. The results have implications for PA educators and those involved in helping novice PAs develop as clinicians.

Improving CBR adaptation for recommendation of associated references in a knowledge-based learning assistant system

Case adaptation is a challenging phase of case-based reasoning (CBR) for recommendation of a matched case solution. Our proposed knowledge-based recommendation system analyzes the combination of visual and textual information in CBR medical system. In this paper a case-based reasoner uses medical expressions in a textual analysis to create word association profiles. Case-based Learning Assistant System (DePicT CLASS) finds significant references and learning materials by utilizing profile of words associations according to the problem description. This research proposes a new adaptation mechanism based on substitution, abstraction, and compositional method for collaborative recommendation in medical vocational educational training. The DePicT CLASS adaptation mechanism has a combination of value comparison based on requested word association profiles and manual adaptation based on user collaborative recommendation. In the adaptation process of the system, attract rate and adapt rate are defined and utilized for evaluating the adaptation results. Therefore, recommendation is a combination of references and learning materials with highest valued keyword association strength from the most similar cases.

Production E-Glossary as Mobile Learning (M-Learning) among the Students of Polytechnic

Education nowadays centered more on mobile learning (mobile learning). Mobile learning or m-learning is self-learning method using mobile devices such as smart phones, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet and other learning tools. Electronic book or e-book is a digital reading material used to replace the conventional textbooks that uses paper. E-book is a program or software which can be installed in mobile devices as a means of self-study. The combination between mobile devices and electronic books formed an E-Glossary Dictionary of Environmental Science using Macromedia Flash 8 as m-learning. Innovation in teaching and learning process which has been produced is to help improve the academic performance of students in polytechnics. Course CP103; Environmental Science from the Urban and Regional Planning Program at Polytechnic Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam has been used as a subjects to test the effectiveness of E-Glossary of Environmental Science as m-learning with the aims of increasing the quality of students in polytechnics. Comparison of the examination’s results of students who used E-Glossary of Environmental Science and those who did not used the glossary has been made as the methods or techniques to fulfill this research. Findings show that there are significant differences in terms of the passing percentage of students who use E-Glossary of Environmental Science as m-learning. Findings also show that students who use E-Glossary achieved 100% percentage compared with the students who did not use the E-Glossary. Similarly, in terms of quality the students which use E-Glossary attain better grades than those who did not use the glossary. In conclusion, the use of E-Glossary should be expanded among the students of polytechnic to improve the quality of graduates. Moreover the uses of mobile phones as a medium of m-learning among polytechnic students are normal. It is a waste if such opportunities are not used by the lecturers to diversify the teaching and learning methods in the classroom.

It is just a matter of application.

The Camilla Cavendish review of support worker education was clear that improving the quality of healthcare assistant (HCA) learning is central to delivering safe and effective care. Well trained staff should treat patients well, so the point of education and training must be to support HCAs to deliver effective care. But how to guarantee this?