Classroom Lectures Research Articles

Norwegian Public Health Nursing Students’ Experiences with the Transition from Classroom to Online Lectures: Benefits and Challenges

The integration of technology in higher education increased online courses available to students, although traditional face-to-face interaction remains dominant. The COVID-19 pandemic forced a rapid transition to emergency remote teaching (ERT), impacting public health nursing (PHN) education in Norway, which primarily consists of adult learners. The impact of the transition to online-only lectures on these students remains largely unexplored. The aim of this study is to examine how Norwegian PHN students experienced the transition from traditional classroom lectures to online-only lectures during the global pandemic. It also identifies the self-reported advantages and challenges associated with online-only lectures and whether this transition affected their perceived learning outcome. A cross-sectional sample of public health nursing (PHN) students (n = 275) participated in a survey in from May to November 2020. The questionnaire was specifically developed for this study and covers student motivation, perceived benefits and challenges of transitioning to online lectures, peer collaboration, and self-assessed learning outcomes. It was distributed to the PHN students via their respective education’s LMS system. Most PHN students managed the technical aspects of the abrupt transition to online-only lectures effectively. They reported high digital competence, found the transition relatively easy, and remained motivated to continue their studies. Despite these positives, students reported a reduction in learning outcomes compared to classroom lectures. Challenges included the missing face-to-face interaction with peers, difficulties in managing childcare, and issues with structuring their studies.

Experiential Teaching Method Enhance Surgical Nursing Learning Achievements and Learning Attitude of Five-Year Higher Vocational Nursing Students

China’s higher vocational nursing education continues to develop. Teaching methods based on classroom lectures are difficult to achieve high-quality teaching results. Nowadays, clinical nursing has an increasing demand for all aspects of higher vocational nursing students. “Surgical Nursing” is a required course for nursing students and the key content of the nurse professional qualification examination. Experiential teaching was introduced as an innovative teaching method. The research aims to achieve several goals: 1) To compare the surgical nursing learning achievement of students between using experiential teaching and traditional teaching methods. 2) To investigate student attitudes toward learning surgical nursing course after using experiential teaching activities. Participants were five-year vocational nursing students studying nursing at a university in Sichuan, China. A control group of 46 students and an experimental group of 46 students were selected through cluster random sampling. This study used the learning achievements and learning attitudes of surgical nursing as research tools. The results of the study showed that participants’ learning achievements and learning attitudes in surgical nursing were significantly improved in experiential teaching methods. These findings highlight the effectiveness and practicality of experiential teaching in higher vocational nursing education. It is recommended that further research be carried out to Experiential teaching methods are used in the teaching of other majors to promote the sustainable development of teaching.

Video-based lecture engagement in a flipped classroom environment

Purposeto analyze which factors are associated with students’ engagement and participation in video-based lectures in a flipped classroom environment.MethodsA single-center experience with video-based lectures in undergraduate medical education is described. The activity was applied to the subject of Neurosurgery during two consecutive courses (2021/22 and 2022/23). The videos were available prior to face-to-face classes through the online application Edpuzzle. Information was obtained from the own platform at the end of each course. Multivariable linear regression analyses were performed to assess the association between different variables and the percentage of video viewing, the early dropout rate, and the percentage of audience retention.ResultsA total of 109 students registered in Edpuzzle (87.2% of all enrolled students). Fifty-one videos were uploaded each course to cover 11 topics. Mean video viewing rate was 41%. Those videos linked to the earliest classroom lessons showed more percentage of viewing and audience retention than those programmed at the end of the course. With mandatory classroom assistance and homework assignments, the seminar videos were viewed more but retained less audience. Shorter videos were associated with higher viewing and audience adhesion, but the presence of questions embedded throughout the clip did not significantly engage students. No significant difference was observed regarding lesson topics.ConclusionsIt is essential to emphasize the importance of designing strategies to initially engage learners since more than half of our students never connected to the clips. Decreasing engagement was associated with the end of the course and video length. Seminar videos were viewed more but retained less audience. Active learning activities such as quizzes embedded throughout the clips did not significantly engage learners.

Synchronous and Asynchronous E-learning impact on Distance Education

The aim of this paper is to highlight the effect or popularity of synchronous E-learning environment in Distance education. Day by day, as information technologies improving, the mode of learning is changing from asynchronous to synchronous e-learning. System can provide the real-time interaction between the remote students and the instructor just like in the classroom lecture. Synchronous training is done in real-time with a live instructor facilitating the training. Everyone logs in at a set time and can communicate directly with the instructor and with each other. It lasts for a set amount of time - from a single session to several weeks, months or even years. This type of training usually takes place via Internet Web sites, audio- or video- conferencing, Internet telephony, or even two-way live broadcasts to students in a classroom.

Paramedic educational programs maintain entry level competency throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic required unprecedented changes to emergency medical services (EMS) educational frameworks in the United States. It is unclear if pandemic-related changes impacted paramedic educational outcomes. We aimed to evaluate curricular and performance changes resulting from the initial COVID-19 pandemic on paramedic educational programs. We performed a retrospective cross-sectional evaluation of paramedic educational programs in 2019 and 2020 using the Committee on Accreditation of Educational Programs for the Emergency Medical Services Professions annual reports. These reports contain detailed program components and measures of program success. We included programs reporting at least one graduate in the study period. Descriptive statistics (proportions [%], median [interquartile range, IQR]) were calculated for paramedic program characteristics in 2019 and 2020, as well as pandemic specific curriculum changes. Wilcoxon rank-sum and Fisher's exact tests were used to evaluate differences in characteristics by year. The number of paramedic educational programs in our population decreased from 640 programs in 2019 to 612 in 2020, with a statistically significant decrease in clinical hours (2019: 219 [IQR 168‒272]; 2020: 200.5 [IQR 157‒261]). There was no difference in first or third-attempt certification examination success between years. Temporary shutdown was experienced in 34% of programs (duration: 3weeks [2‒7]) and 72% of required curricular changes. Curricular changes commonly included decreased in-person education (86%), traditional classroom lectures (78%), number of clinical sites (78%), and increased online didactic education (92%). Only 20% of programs decreased laboratory simulation or total training hours. During the pandemic, paramedic educational programs changed educational delivery with no observed differences on overall program performance. Identifying key curricular changes and best practices for implementation may be necessary to better optimize future educational delivery.

Exploration of the Mining of Ideological and Political Elements and Teaching Integration of Bridge Engineering Courses in Applied Undergraduate Programs

The questions of what kind of individuals university education should cultivate, how to cultivate them, and for whom they are being trained are pressing issues that require immediate solutions. Implementing ideological and political education is a fundamental way to address these challenges. Integrating political education into professional courses is just as important as imparting knowledge, fostering interest, transmitting values, and shaping students’ character and spirit. The excavation of ideological and political elements in bridge engineering courses should comprehensively consider the dependent subject of ideological and political elements, the source of cases, the depth of excavation, the trade-offs between courses, the commonality and multifaceted nature of ideological and political elements, as well as the two ways of ideological and political elements integration. Ideological and political elements should be integrated into all stages of classroom lectures, course assignments, final examinations, course design, discipline competitions, school-enterprise cooperation, etc., so as to achieve the effect of educating people in the whole process.

An Effective Concept for Teaching LabVIEW Programming to Engineering Students

In today’s technology-driven era, the demand for engineers with strong programming skills continues to rise across diverse industries. LabVIEW software stands out as a key tool in engineering, supporting applications ranging from test and measurement systems to automation and control across different sectors, like manufacturing, aerospace, and automotive. Proficiency in LabVIEW therefore enables engineers to work on a wide range of projects and applications. This article presents two distinct pedagogical approaches to teaching LabVIEW programming at the university level. The introductory course is taught using traditional direct teaching methods, with an emphasis on face-to-face teaching and classroom lectures. In contrast, the advanced course uses a flipped classroom model, where students work independently on preparatory material before participating in laboratory exercises. The latter course concludes with a large project, which the student must complete within four hours. The article provides details on the teaching methods and content of the individual courses, as well as an explanation of the assessment process for the final project. The analysis of the final project results confirms that the students have acquired the knowledge necessary to create functional LabVIEW programs with the appropriate programming style.

A comparative mixed-method study of flipped classroom and traditional lecture for teaching rational drug prescription among undergraduates in pharmacology

A comparative mixed-method study of flipped classroom and traditional lecture for teaching rational drug prescription among undergraduates in pharmacology

A Guide to Innovation in Physician Associate/Assistant Education: Using Instructional Technology for Improved Engagement.

For physician associate/assistant (PA) educators, the path of least resistance often is to focus our cognitive energies on topics with which we are most comfortable and to deliver content in the style in which we are most accustomed. The consequence of this approach is that many didactic curricula are delivered in a traditional, lecture-based format, which then aligns with how the faculty were taught. Studies show that lecture-based teaching may not be the most effective and that blending teaching modalities can improve knowledge acquisition. In addition, scheduling several classroom lectures week to week can be challenging, especially in a program that uses numerous guest lecturers to deliver the curriculum. One solution to this problem may be through innovative, engaging resources that enable faculty to deliver content asynchronously. Developing and implementing such tools can be challenging to PA faculty because they are often not formally trained in education nor are they up to date on the most current innovations in educational technology. Furthermore, change can be difficult, and it could seem an insurmountable feat to step outside the comfort zone of a traditional lecture. This work describes a collaboration between PA faculty and a University Instructional Support Specialist where the Analysis, Design, Develop, Implement, Evaluate ADDIE model, a widely used system for developing training tools, was used to create an asynchronous lecture for students in the form of an interactive series of modules to replace a traditional classroom lecture.

Application Research on Cultivating Humanistic Care in Nursing Students Oriented by Core Competencies of Nurses in the Digital Era

This study explores an experiential teaching model for cultivating humanistic care in higher vocational nursing education, oriented by the core competencies of nurses in the digital era. Using an experimental comparison method, the experimental group adopted the experiential teaching model, while the control group used traditional classroom lectures. After the course tasks were completed, significant changes (P<0.05) were observed in the overall score and six factors of the nursing core competency assessment between the experimental and control groups. The experimental group students showed considerable improvements in critical thinking, research, leadership, interpersonal relationships, legal and ethical practice, professional development, education, and consultation compared to the control group. In summary, the experiential teaching model oriented by the core competencies of nurses in the digital era is conducive to enhancing the psychological quality and professional ability of nursing students.

Research-based learning as an innovative approach for teaching students of environmental engineering: a case study of the emerging field of microplastics in soil

We implemented research-based learning (RBL) as an alternative to traditional frontal classroom lectures and laboratory sessions to impart knowledge on the emerging topic of microplastics in soil to students. The RBL module aimed at studying how microplastics (MPs) affect soil processes. We designed low-cost, small-scale and simple experiments for master’s students in Environmental Engineering at the Hamburg University of Technology. Students reported a clear understanding of concepts underlined by their presentation of the results and enthusiasm towards future exploration for their master’s or doctoral projects evidenced by a number of students carrying out research projects in the same field after finishing the module. The experiments were consequently published as an online learning module with the Hamburg Open Online University, to make them accessible for other students. The recent push in the education sector to include innovative teaching and learning methodologies offers new opportunities for RBL that are practical and replicable learning experiences that foster students’ research and problem-solving skills in areas of chemical, soil physics and environmental engineering fields.

Comparative Study of the Flipped Classroom and Traditional Lecture Methods in Anatomy Teaching.

Background The National Medical Commission (NMC), the regulatory body for medical education in India introduced competency-based medical education (CBME) in 2019. It is an outcome-based learner-centric approach. To implement it, active and innovative learning strategies are being introduced. A flipped classroom (FC) is one such teaching method in which learners are provided learning materials before class with active discussion during teaching sessions. This promotes critical thinking, better retention, and future clinical applicability. This study aimed to compare FC and traditional teaching methods for first-phase medical learners for the anatomy curriculum. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of FC viz-a viz traditional lecture method for certain topics of clinical relevance from the anatomy curriculum and assess students' perception of the FCmethod. Methodology The study was conducted on 96 phase-one medical learners after obtaining approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee. After obtaining informed consent, a simple random sampling method was used to group the students into two groups. For the same topic, one group was taught with the FC method, while the other group was taught using the didactic lecture (DL) method. A crossover was done for another topic. Students were assessed by pre- and post-tests. Students' perceptions' wererecorded by a pre-validated questionnaire quantified on a Likert scale. Results The difference in posttest scoresfor the topics taughtbetween the two groups was found to be statistically significant. Perception regarding various aspects of the FC method was affirmative. Conclusions The results of this study indicated that FC is advantageous for students. It improves learner engagement and performance, and students' perception of the method was positive. Effective execution of this method requires detailed planning, constant motivation, and consistent efforts. Therefore, this method should be used more often for the benefit of students.

Students' Perceptions of Learning Critical Thinking in College English Reading Courses Through Traditional Classroom Lectures

Students' Perceptions of Learning Critical Thinking in College English Reading Courses Through Traditional Classroom Lectures

Strategies for enhancing Chinese students' engagement in a large class learning environment: An interpretative phenomenological approach

AimIt is common for Chinese students to sit quietly during classroom lectures, attentively following teachers’ instructions without interacting or asking questions, viewed as passive engagement. This study aims to understand further the passive engagement of Chinese students in relation to classroom questioning, just-in-time feedback and collaborative activities. With objectives to formulate strategies to enhance Chinese students' engagement in a large class learning environment without undermining the cultural dimension of "face". BackgroundEngaging in collaborative educational activities between teachers and students can be challenging in a large classroom learning environment. Within the Chinese context, Confucian-heritage culture may further exacerbate the challenges teachers face. Chinese students often appear passive when responding to questions. In this situation, educators may receive insufficient student feedback to modify and optimise their teaching and learning approaches. DesignA qualitative research method, with an interpretative phenomenological approach was employed in a self-financed institute of higher education in Hong Kong. MethodsEight nursing graduates were invited to participate in two focus group interviews to generate teaching and learning strategies. In addition, individual in-depth interviews were conducted with twelve nursing teachers recruited through a snowballing sampling strategy. The narratives were coded, categorised, themed, analysed and interpreted through thematic analysis. ResultsChinese students are concerned with "losing face" and the fear of being teased by their peers in a collectivist culture. Based on these findings, three teaching and learning strategies for engaging students in classroom questioning and collaborative activities were generated. These strategies include using digital learning platforms, the promotion of communication and fostering interpersonal relationships. ConclusionsIn higher education, academic managers and teachers must critically reflect on teaching and learning strategies tailor-made to different cultural and contextual settings. Collaborating on pedagogical reforms can provide solid guidance and insight on implementing student-centred learning for Chinese students in large class learning environments while respecting the cultural dimension of "face".

Higher Education 4.0: The Digital Transformation of Classroom Lectures to Blended Learning

Published by the Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. in 2021, the book entitled “Higher Education 4.0 : The Digital Transformation of Classroom Lectures to Blended Learning” by Kevin Anthony Jones and Ravi S. Sharma presents an enlightening research for seeking out the impact of changing the instructional design from traditional lecturing to blended learning on the students’ academic achievements. As professional teacher and researchers of English in education, we read this book with particular interests, believing that it is a well-timed international publication under the global effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on teaching forms. The book under review exhibits a well-organized research project based on scientific experiment model, indicating the objectives, scope, methodology and findings of the research through 7 chapters. It provides readers with a thrilling opportunity to dig out the influencing factors in academic performances of students due to the teaching design transition. Besides, the significant findings can help improve the blended learning model. We believe this book is an essential guidance for future digital teaching and would appeal to educators and researchers.

VISION TRAINING TO IMPROVE CLASSROOM ENDURANCE POST-TBI: A CASE STUDY WITH A 26-YEAR-OLD FEMALE

Background: Concussions, also referred to as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), can present a multitude of symptoms due to the complex pathophysiology incurred by the brain. It is known that these mTBI-induced symptoms, when left unresolved, can lead to post-concussive syndrome (PCS). Commonly, these patients complain of vision-related dysfunctions. These dysfunctions interrupt patients’ everyday lives, including students when participating in the classroom due to the heavy visual involvement. Numerous vision therapies and management strategies have been successful for the treatment of mTBI-induced visual-related symptoms such as exotropia, suppression, and oculomotor dysfunction. Vision training has been found to be successful in improving oculomotor endurance, giving patients the ability to maintain focus for long periods of time and to mitigate against suppression. Background: Concussions, also referred to as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), can present a multitude of symptoms due to the complex pathophysiology incurred by the brain. It is known that these mTBI-induced symptoms, when left unresolved, can lead to post-concussive syndrome (PCS). Commonly, these patients complain of vision-related dysfunctions. These dysfunctions interrupt patients’ everyday lives, including those of students, when participating in the classroom due to the heavy visual involvement. Numerous vision therapies and management strategies have been successful for the treatment of mTBI-induced visual-related symptoms such as exotropia, suppression, and oculomotor dysfunction. Vision training successfully improves oculomotor endurance, allowing patients to maintain focus for long periods andmitigate against suppression. Case Report: This report describes a 26-year-old female presenting with activity-induced sensory overload, specifically in the setting of her college classroom lectures. The patient described symptoms appearing as headache, fatigue, and blurred vision. Upon initial examination, she was determined to have a left eye exophoria with fatigue-induced left eye suppression and left eye lateral abduction deficiencies. A personalized action plan was designed to improve left-right oculomotor symmetry and endurance and mitigate against suppression through a weekly structured vision training program. In this 7-week program, individual and dual eye saccadic exercises improved, with both eye horizontal saccades improving from 26 characters read aloud per minute to 36 characters read out loud per minute. With these regular vision training sessions, the patient displayed improved oculomotor endurance, decreased suppression with prolonged activity, and better dual-eye coordination. After the post-vision training program, the patient could attend her college lectures without invoking symptoms.

Board Games in Nursing Education: Creation of “Hop-On-Slide-Down Board Game”

Background: Games are considered an essential technique in higher learning institutions. They enhance learning objectives by improving critical and creative thinking, which increases the reasoning of the students. Games as a learning method provide the means through which students improve their immediate feedback because of discussing both wrong and right answers. They also get self-motivated to learning.Aim: This paper provides a critical evaluation of ‘Hop-On-Slide-Down,’ quizzical board game, which is ideal tobe used for nursing students by nursing fraternity. It involves sharing the development of the game, analyzing the efficacy of board games “hop-on-slide down”, its rules, benefits, and finally, the limitations of the game.Method: A simple board game was developed to play in the classroom. Idea derived from the “Snake and Ladder” game. This game is easy to use, cost effective and beneficial as an active learning strategy. Teacher preparation is minimal with a single time investment. The class students can be divided into small groups of 4 and assigned different roles. The game progresses by rolling a diceand answering the quiz card. Scores obtained based on right answers.Conclusion: The present-day student community look forward for engaging learning sessions as against themonotonous classroom lectures. Educators specifically in healthcare are forced to brainstorm various modes to retain the attentions of students. Boardgames usually are a choice for an active learning session.

Training Volunteers to Prune Recently Planted, Small Street Trees

AbstractBackgroundTrees in towns and cities provide many benefits, but also disservices such as risk and conflicts. Structural pruning of young trees can reduce future conflicts and risk as trees grow larger; it also can reduce future maintenance costs. Volunteers can perform important urban forestry tasks such as planting, watering, and conducting inventories. It was hypothesized that, with training, they could also learn to structurally prune young street trees.MethodsForty-seven volunteers in three cities in Massachusetts were trained to structurally prune trees. Twenty volunteers trained in a classroom lecture; twenty-seven trained with a hands-on approach. The volunteers’ performance was evaluated with a written exam andin situassessments of their ability to specify and explain pruning recommendations and make pruning cuts. Training type and covariates (e.g., volunteers’ familiarity with trees, number of branches) influence on volunteers’ performance were investigated.ResultsOn the assessment of volunteers’ ability to explain pruning recommendations, volunteers who received hands-on training achieved higher mean scores (79%) than volunteers who received classroom training (74%). All volunteers who received hands-on training did not leave a stub when making a reduction cut, but only 70% of volunteers who received classroom training did not leave a stub. Volunteers who received classroom training achieved higher scores on the exam (93%) than volunteers who received hands-on training (85%).ConclusionsResults suggest that with minimal training volunteers successfully learned structural pruning. This is an encouraging finding that may help municipal arborists accomplish more with limited urban forestry budgets.

A partially flipped physiology classroom improves the deep learning approach of medical students.

This study aimed to compare the impact of the partially flipped physiology classroom (PFC) and the traditional lecture-based classroom (TLC) on students' learning approaches. The study was conducted over 5 mo at Xiangya School of Medicine from February to July 2022 and comprised 71 students majoring in clinical medicine. The experimental group (n = 32) received PFC teaching, whereas the control group (n = 39) received TLC. The Revised Two-Factor Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F) was used to assess the impact of different teaching methods on students' learning approaches. After the PFC, students got significantly higher scores on deep learning approach (Z = -3.133, P < 0.05). Conversely, after the TLC students showed significantly higher scores on surface learning approach (Z = -2.259, P < 0.05). After the course, students in the PFC group scored significantly higher in deep learning strategy than those in the TLC group (Z = -2.196, P < 0.05). The PFC model had a positive impact on deep learning motive and strategy, leading to an improvement in the deep approach, which is beneficial for the long-term development of students. In contrast, the TLC model only improved the surface learning approach. The study implies that educators should consider implementing PFC to enhance students' learning approaches.NEW & NOTEWORTHY In this article, we compare the impact of the partially flipped classroom (PFC) and the traditional lecture classroom (TLC) in a physiology course on medical students' learning approaches. We found that the PFC benefited students by significantly enhancing their deep learning motive, strategy, and approach, which was good for them. However, the TLC model only improved the surface learning motive and approach.

Metaverse in in the geography lecture classroom? Evaluating ‘group VR’ possibilities using the multiplayer ‘Wooorld’ VR app

ABSTRACT With the introduction of in-class group-based virtual reality (VR), multiple students can interact in a single shared “metaverse”. One geography-focused group VR option is the Wooorld app, available on various Meta Quest unit models. To evaluate the feasibility of group VR in a higher education geography lecture classroom, a pilot study was run for two days with a small, upper-level Urban Geography class at Arkansas Tech University in spring 2023. Using multiple wireless Meta Quest 2 headsets, the class collectively used the Wooorld app to visit 3D-rendered global downtowns. Inside the app, students saw each other’s avatars and manipulated the viewing area for the rest of the class. Students completed pre/post-experience surveys, and the data suggest strong student enthusiasm for shared VR, and for Wooorld. However, some technical and physical space issues arose. While this pilot study aimed to evaluate the potential of classroom group VR via the Wooorld app, this study also considers the possibility of using group VR in future geography lecture classrooms.