Computer-facilitated Learning Research Articles

Post‐Baccalaureate Program Biochemistry Content as a Predictive Indicator of Health Professional School Admissions and Success

The Master of Arts in Medical Sciences (MAMS) degree at Heritage University, a predominantly Native American and Hispanic-serving institution, is a one-year bridge or pipeline program to graduate health professional schools. The degree program is operated in collaboration with Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine and Washington State University College of Pharmacy. MAMS students are typically first generation, minority, late-blooming, or disadvantaged individuals. Coursework taken alongside first-year medical students at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences as well as first-year pharmacy students at Washington State University coupled with standardized exam preparation, service-learning opportunities, mentorship, study strategies, club participation, and access to medical, physician assistant, and pharmacy school faculty/staff/students provide MAMS students with the capability to strengthen their applications as well as demonstrate their readiness for professional school. Rigorous Scientific Foundations of Medicine (SciFOM) and Pharmacogenomics courses within the MAMS curriculum have been shown to be key predicative indicators of student success in gaining admission to health professional school as well as subsequent academic performance and graduation. The SciFOM and Pharmacogenomics courses are biochemistry-rich and cover topics such as histology, immunology, embryology, microbiology, biochemical metabolism, genetics, neuroscience, pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and molecular biology. Delivery of integrated course content utilizes lectures, in-class discussion, case-based learning, small-group learning, computer-facilitated learning, and laboratory activities to maximize student comprehension of fundamental basic science principles. MAMS students take the SciFOM coursework alongside first-year PNWU osteopathic medical students and the Pharmacogenomics content with first-year WSU pharmacy students. Since the program's inception in 2012, 98% of MAMS students that have scored 77% or higher in the SciFOM and 85% in the pharmacogenomics courses, respectively, have gained admission to a health professional school of their choice. Nearly 41% of the SciFOM high achieving MAMS students have been minorities, and 96% of the SciFOM performing MAMS students have remained in good academic standing, passed Board Exams, and/or graduated from health professional school. The highly performing MAMS students have been admitted to medical, dental, optometry, podiatry, pharmacy, and physician assistant schools at nearly twice (1.5X) the rate of most post-baccalaureate program graduates. Biochemistry course content, therefore, appears to be a reliable predictive indicator of student admission and success in graduate health professional schools.

MAMS: A Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Rich Collaborative Bridge Program to Doctoral Graduate and Health Professional School

The Master of Arts in Medical Sciences (MAMS) degree at Heritage University, a predominantly Native American and Hispanic‐serving liberal arts institution, is a one‐year bridge or pipeline program to doctoral graduate and health professional schools. The degree program is operated in collaboration with Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine and Washington State University College of Pharmacy. MAMS students are typically first generation, minority, late‐blooming, or disadvantaged individuals. Coursework taken alongside first‐year medical students at Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences as well as first‐year pharmacy students at Washington State University coupled with standardized exam preparation, service‐learning opportunities, mentorship, study strategies, club participation, and access to medical, physician assistant, and pharmacy school faculty/staff/students provide MAMS students with the capability to strengthen their applications as well as demonstrate their readiness for doctoral or professional school study. The curriculum is biochemistry rich and focuses on the molecular basis of health and disease. Topical content covered includes histology, immunology, embryology, microbiology, biochemical metabolism, genetics, pharmacogenomics, medical physiology, and research theory. Additional instruction is provided in medical skills as well as the psychosocial basis of disease and treatment. Delivery of course content utilizes lectures, in‐class discussion, case‐based learning, small‐group learning, computer‐facilitated learning, and laboratory activities to maximize student comprehension of fundamental basic science principles. Since the program's inception in 2012, 100% of students have graduated, 41% of students have been minorities, nearly 90% of graduates have gained admission into a doctoral graduate or health professional school of their choice, and 98% of MAMS students in doctoral or professional programs have remained in good academic standing. MAMS students have been admitted to medical, dental, optometry, pharmacy, podiatry, physician assistant, and doctoral graduate schools. MAMS students admitted to professional schools have achieved equivalent or superior class grades and board scores compared to other admitted students. Overall student satisfaction is running approximately 90%.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

Knowledge, skills, access and usage status of computers, internet and databases in nursing students and some of the related factors

Knowledge, skills, access and usage status of computers, internet and databases in nursing students and some of the related factors

It takes more than metadata and stories of success: Understanding barriers to reuse of computer facilitated learning resources

A national study in Australia in the late 1990s explored barriers to the adoption and reuse of computer facilitated learning (CFL) in Australian universities. These barriers will be summarised. One of these barriers is that it is hard to find information on courseware that is educationally sound; usually such courseware is expensive to produce and so reuse is especially desirable. However, even when information and access to electronic courseware exists, reuse may still not occur. Two cases will be described to illustrate the complexity of reuse. These cases are: 1) a collection of 169 plastic surgery websites; and 2) an international consortium of veterinary microbiology resources based on a well-evaluated case study design. Some strategies for improving reuse are suggested.

Iterative evaluation of Reflex Control of Blood Pressure

Academic teachers and designers of teaching materials are likely to need an iterative approach to evaluation where cycles of change, use, data collection and reflection will progressively improve the teaching resource to a point that satisfies its intended role within the curriculum. It is only through several iterative cycles that we appreciate how students relate to a new computer facilitated learning (CFL) teaching resource, and so can refine it to better suit our teaching and learning purpose. This paper reports on two cycles of evaluation conducted on a CD-ROM tutorial, Reflex Control of Blood Pressure, during 2000. The evaluation was undertaken as part of a national ASCILITE and CUTSD project, Learning Centred Evaluation of Computer Facilitated Learning Projects in Higher Education.

Understanding common interviewing pitfalls: An evaluation of Legal Interviewing Skills

This paper reports on the evaluation of a computer facilitated learning (CFL) resource which allows law students to identify common pitfalls in clientlawyer interviews. Using an evaluation framework developed by Alexander and Hedberg (1994) and Bain (1999), the CFL resource, Legal Interviewing Skills, was evaluated in three areas: interface design, learning processes and interview skills. Twenty-three postgraduate law students participated in the evaluation which involved the observation of students as they interacted with the resource, together with think aloud protocols, questionnaires and focus groups. Students were generally positive about the program and showed greater confidence in interviewing after using it. However, there are a number of areas where the program could be improved; namely, ease of navigation, the structure of learning tasks and the use of feedback to promote meaningful engagement with the learning.

Using multimedia to assist students with communication skills and biopsychosocial integration: An evaluation

<span>This paper reports on the development rationale and evaluation of a computer facilitated learning (CFL) package which aimed to assist medical students with their clinical communication skills and develop an integrated biopsychosocial approach to identifying a patient's problems. Using a formative evaluation framework developed at the University of Melbourne the CFL package, </span><em>Communicating with the Tired Patient,</em><span> underwent a three stage review. Initial evaluation consisted of both formal and informal conceptual and technical review by content experts, instructional designers and evaluators. The final stage of the evaluation involved the survey and observation of 110 medical students interacting with the package. Students were very positive about the instructional and interface design of the package and indicated that the package assisted with their understanding of issues associated with clinical communication. Nevertheless, a number of areas were highlighted where either the package or the learning environment could be modified or improved.</span>

Evaluation Strategies for Developing and Using Effective Computer-facilitated Learning Environments in Science and Engineering

SUMMARY Comprehensive evaluation is often ignored in much of the development of computer-facilitated learning materials. We need to understand what learning difficulties students have, offer them experiences which allow them w construct coherent and useful mental constructs, and then find out whether we are successful. Formative evaluation involves considering how students perceive elements such as navigation, visual material, formats used for questions, etc. This process of information interchange between developers/teachers and students can provide valuable insights into how students approach learning. Summative evaluation focuses more on whether students can demonstrate attainment of certain learning objectives. Both formative and summative evaluations are needed. In this paper qualitative methods of evaluation will be emphasized. Some evaluation questions are posed in the paper and suitable evaluation strategies which can assist in answering these questions are suggested, such as expert reviews, usability testing, instructional modelling, observations, individual and group interviews, questionnaires, performance measures, and computer logging of student work. Evaluation data from three innovative science projects will be described in the paper.

Describing Computer-facilitated Learning Environments in Higher Education

The research reported here is part of a study of the ways in which university academics design and incorporate computer-facilitated learning (CFL) environments into their courses. This study was based on archive material only (the initial application and final report) for 36 externally-funded technology-based projects from a number of disciplines. Projects were sorted into categories based on educational assumptions and practices. Categories were then compared and refined so as to reveal their major sources of similarity and difference. The resulting framework is one in which the use of educational technology in higher education can be interpreted in terms of several key qualitative dimensions which reflect academics’ beliefs about the origin of knowledge, the learning framework, control of the direction of learning, and the nature of the knowledge and of the learning process.