Improvement Of Undergraduate Education Research Articles

Undergraduate Biology Education Research Gordon Research Conference: A Meeting Report.

The 2019 Undergraduate Biology Education Research Gordon Research Conference (UBER GRC), titled “Achieving Widespread Improvement in Undergraduate Education,” brought together a diverse group of researchers and practitioners working to identify, promote, and understand widespread adoption of evidence-based teaching, learning, and success strategies in undergraduate biology. Graduate students and postdocs had the additional opportunity to present and discuss research during a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) that preceded the GRC. This report provides a broad overview of the UBER GRC and GRS and highlights major themes that cut across invited talks, poster presentations, and informal discussions. Such themes include the importance of working in teams at multiple levels to achieve instructional improvement, the potential to use big data and analytics to inform instructional change, the need to customize change initiatives, and the importance of psychosocial supports in improving undergraduate student well-being and academic success. The report also discusses the future of the UBER GRC as an established meeting and describes aspects of the conference that make it unique, both in terms of facilitating dissemination of research and providing a welcoming environment for conferees.

Freedman-Bernstein musculoskeletal competence testing of South African intern doctors: is there a difference between health science faculties?

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Basic competency in musculoskeletal medicine is necessary for all graduating doctors due to the growing burden of disease. Globally and nationally research has shown deficiencies in musculoskeletal knowledge according to the Freedman-Bernstein test. In South Africa, different health science faculties show different approaches to training; this article considers if any of these demonstrate adequate training and whether significant differences exist between the faculties' results. The aim of the study is to determine whether there are significant differences between musculoskeletal learning outcomes between graduates from different health science faculties METHODS: A multi-centre, cross-sectional study was performed in which medical interns completed the Freedman-Bernstein test after graduation and prior to commencing their formal two-month block in orthopaedics. Data was then analysed to determine whether significant differences existed between the test scores of the eight health science faculties' graduates RESULTS: A total of 259 completed tests were analysed. The mean score was 46% (range 4-88%, 95% CI 44-48%), and 244 of the 259 interns failed the test (94% failure rate). The lowest and highest mean scores, by health science faculty, was 34% (95% CI 28-40%) and 60% (95% CI 55-64%) respectively. An ANOVA test indicated statistically significant differences between test scores of the different health science faculties (p<0.001 CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated competency scores consistent with previous literature from South Africa and shown that there are statistically significant differences between the health science faculties based on Freedman-Bernstein test scores. This evidence suggests differing levels of musculoskeletal knowledge attained at health science faculties in South Africa, and no improvement in undergraduate education in the last decade Level of evidence: Level 4 Keywords: musculoskeletal, competence, Freedman-Bernstein, undergraduate training

Aligning Practice to Policies: Changing the Culture to Recognize and Reward Teaching at Research Universities.

Recent calls for improvement in undergraduate education within STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines are hampered by the methods used to evaluate teaching effectiveness. Faculty members at research universities are commonly assessed and promoted mainly on the basis of research success. To improve the quality of undergraduate teaching across all disciplines, not only STEM fields, requires creating an environment wherein continuous improvement of teaching is valued, assessed, and rewarded at various stages of a faculty member's career. This requires consistent application of policies that reflect well-established best practices for evaluating teaching at the department, college, and university levels. Evidence shows most teaching evaluation practices do not reflect stated policies, even when the policies specifically espouse teaching as a value. Thus, alignment of practice to policy is a major barrier to establishing a culture in which teaching is valued. Situated in the context of current national efforts to improve undergraduate STEM education, including the Association of American Universities Undergraduate STEM Education Initiative, this essay discusses four guiding principles for aligning practice with stated priorities in formal policies: 1) enhancing the role of deans and chairs; 2) effectively using the hiring process; 3) improving communication; and 4) improving the understanding of teaching as a scholarly activity. In addition, three specific examples of efforts to improve the practice of evaluating teaching are presented as examples: 1) Three Bucket Model of merit review at the University of California, Irvine; (2) Evaluation of Teaching Rubric, University of Kansas; and (3) Teaching Quality Framework, University of Colorado, Boulder. These examples provide flexible criteria to holistically evaluate and improve the quality of teaching across the diverse institutions comprising modern higher education.

Factores asociados al uso regular de fuentes de información en estudiantes de medicina de cuatro cuidades del Perú

Objetives. To determine the factors associated with regular use of sources of information by medical students in four cities in Peru. Materials and methods. In this cross-sectional study, medical students were surveyed in four cities of Peru, gathering information on the use of 14 sources of information and other educational and computer variables. Frequent use of the information source was defined if the respondent reported that they access an information source at least once a week. P values were obtained by generalized linear models adjusted for each respondent site. Results. 2,300 students were surveyed. The median age was 21 years and 53% were women. Having received training in the use of sources increased the use in twelve of the consulted bases, not in SciELO (p=0.053) or in the university library (p=0.509).When adjusting for owning a laptop/netbook, these associations remained. After also adjusting for owning a smartphone the association was lost with the BVS Peru database (p=0.067). The association was also lost after making the final adjustment, if the respondent had carried out any research activities. Conclusions. The frequent use of sources of information is associated with having received training, conducting research and use of information technologies and communication. This should be taken into account in training programs and continuous improvement in undergraduate education.

Factores asociados al uso regular de fuentes de información en estudiantes de medicina de cuatro ciudades del Perú

Objetives. To determine the factors associated with regular use of sources of information by medical students in four cities in Peru. In this cross-sectional study, medical students were surveyed in four cities of Peru, gathering information on the use of 14 sources of information and other educational and computer variables. Frequent use of the information source was defined if the respondent reported that they access an information source at least once a week. P values were obtained by generalized linear models adjusted for each respondent site. 2,300 students were surveyed. The median age was 21 years and 53% were women. Having received training in the use of sources increased the use in twelve of the consulted bases, not in SciELO (p=0.053) or in the university library (p=0.509).When adjusting for owning a laptop/netbook, these associations remained. After also adjusting for owning a smartphone the association was lost with the BVS Peru database (p=0.067). The association was also lost after making the final adjustment, if the respondent had carried out any research activities. The frequent use of sources of information is associated with having received training, conducting research and use of information technologies and communication. This should be taken into account in training programs and continuous improvement in undergraduate education.

Reabilitação psicossocial de pessoas com transtornos psicóticos: atuação dos psicólogos nos CAPS de Santa Catarina

This article aimed to collect data about the work of psychologists in the rehabilitation of individuals diagnosed with psychotic disorders in the Community Mental Health Services (known as CAPS) of Santa Catarina State, Brazil. This is a quantitative, descriptive and transversal study. A total of 48 psychologists of CAPS I, II and III participated. The instrument was a questionnaire applied online. The results indicated improvement in undergraduate education to work in CAPS and expanded practices of psychologists (more diversified and less focused on individual psychotherapy service). Despite the progress, evolving needs exist, such as greater focus on external processes to CAPS, the production of autonomy and destigmatization. In services, there is a need for improvement of financial and human resources management, of the services monitoring and of support networks.Keywords: Mental Health Services, psychologists, psychosis.

Continuous Improvement in Undergraduate Education: A Possible Dream

ness model in the face of a tsunami of change that is redefining both the need for their services and the ways in which this need can be met. Demand for a higher education has soared because a college degree is as essential for achieving a middle-class income today as a high school degree was in the 1970s. Created to serve the uniform needs of an upper-class clientele, colleges now serve an enormously diverse student body. Whether measured by age, educational and cultural backgrounds, race, gender, or need, the diversity of the people served by the system has greatly expanded. Expectations have also grown sharply, as students demand a greater scope and depth of expertise and seek to acquire the complex constellation of talents needed to participate in a fast-paced knowledge economy. Pressures for change are mounting, as administrators struggle to find ways to meet these new demands in the face of constrained public funding and growing public concern over increasing tuition prices. Even the best universities have reacted to these pressures by making incremental changes in class size and trying to better integrate research and instruction. But these changes are costly and it is difficult to see how they can scale-up to meet the enormous demand. Most knowledge-intensive, service-producing industries have restructured their operations around new information technologies to improve productivity and deliver new, personalized services. For a variety of reasons, education, health care, and several other enterprises organized to meet both public and private needs have been slow to adopt these innovations, and higher education is no exception. But higher education must find a way to introduce the deep man-

The power of undergraduate research

Over the years, the power engineering program at the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez (UPRM) has prepared engineers to deal successfully with industry challenges. An important strategy in a power engineering curriculum renovation has been to give a more prominent role to undergraduate research. A new Energy Systems Instrumentation Laboratory (ESIL) has been established at UPRM to support the integration of undergraduate research within the power curriculum. ESIL is both a physical space and a teaching philosophy. It occupies two laboratory spaces at the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Department, and it is also an environment where students are active participants in the learning process. Undergraduate research projects at ESIL provide an opportunity for students to study in detail theoretical concepts presented in class, improve their understanding of engineering principles and applications, and explore the frontiers of knowledge in power engineering. The ESIL also fosters the integration of teaching and research and the development of new teaching methods for the improvement of undergraduate education. This is done by adapting the results from projects to courses in the form of demonstrations and laboratory practices. Research projects also provide measurable outcomes of student work that can be used to comply with new ABET accreditation criteria.

Mutual Support: CAC Programs and Institutional Improvement in Undergraduate Education

Mutual Support: CAC Programs and Institutional Improvement in Undergraduate Education

Research activity and the support of undergraduate education

AbstractThe level of faculty research activity is widely believed to have a detrimental effect on faculty attitudes toward the improvement of undergraduate education. The authors report findings to the contrary.

INVOLVEMENT IN LEARNING: ITS IMPACT ON STUDENT OUTCOMES

Learning is not a passive activity. Recent research findings concur that students learn through participation. The more time, energy, and effort they invest in the learning process and the more intensely they engage in their own education, the greater will be their growth and achievement, their persistence in college, and the more likely they will continue their learning after college. Recognizing the consensus of studies for improvement of undergraduate education, CCCCD has focused on active, experiential learning in both the classroom and the laboratory. The college's goal was to be unique, not in what was taught, but in how it was taught – the focus being on the how rather than merely the what, and on inquiry, critical analysis, synthesis, and the application of knowledge. The specific structure of the experiential component purposefully remains fluid and individualized according to the needs of the subject area and creativity of the teaching faculty. “Hands on” laboratory experiences are provided in m...

The View from Square One:

Amid growing trends toward curriculum reform on many campuses, librarians may find an opportunity to contribute significantly to the improvement of undergraduate education. In the Bibliographic Instruction and Writing Across the Curriculum movements, recent developments suggest that librarians may work more closely with their classroom colleagues to create more effective learning situations. While curriculum reform has a most apparent impact on user education, it also touches upon collection development (and bibliographic control), reference and circulation activity, professional development and the library's public image. At Washington State University, the library is prominently represented on a campus-wide committee to develop a new core course under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The librarians involved have expanded their professional practice in unexpected ways, causing an increased respect for the library among teaching faculty, and an added dimension to their careers as...

Provisional variation and selective retention in curricular change

The undergraduate curriculum of U. S. colleges and universities has become the object of reform. In the mid-1980s national commissions and task forces issued no less than six major reports advocating extensive changes in undergraduate programs and recommending various ways in which undergraduate instruction could be improved. Explicit in five reports is the belief that assessment is the lever by which to move institutions that are resistant to curricular change. State legislatures, governing or coordinating boards, and accrediting agencies have joined the fray and insist with varying authority that institutions of higher education demonstrate their effectiveness in teaching, instruction, and/or training. The curriculum (i. e., what is taught and learned in college classrooms) is indeed the target of such pressures and criticisms. In institutions of higher learning the best of intentions often go astray. Assessment is the most promising strategy for reform, but advocates may eventually find that educational outcomes can be assessed and publicized without substantive or enduring change in undergraduate programs of instruction. College curricula are not impervious to outside pressures, but they are peculiarly adaptiveand appearances of change are often misleading. Undergraduate curricula in the year 2000 will differ from curricula of the 1970s. They may differ, however, in ways unintended and unanticipated by national commissions and task forces in the 1980s. The reasons are simple. The improvement of undergraduate education requires an understanding of curricular change that external commissions, task forces, and coordinating boards have not acquired. As off-campus constituencies of higher education, public commissions and boards of trustees do not appreciate on-campus activities and procedures that determine curricular change. They ignore faculty prerogative, curriculum committees, advisory bodies, and accrediting agencies that have far more influence on curricular

Higher medical training in venereology.

In a review of the organisation of higher medical training in Britain leading to accreditation for those intending to specialize in venereology within the National Health Service suggestions are made for improving the present system. These include the enrollment of trainees in general medicine as well as in venereology to ensure a broad general experience of medicine. The establishment of an agreed curriculum in venereology for trainees is thought desirable. Improvement in undergraduate education in venereology is necessary if recruitment of trainees to the specialty is to be increased. The diploma courses in venereology are mainly attended by foreign graduates; the numbers are likely to be reduced by the recent heavy increases in fees. Although adequate practical experience of the tropical venereal diseases cannot be provided, these courses give a good general experience of venereology as ideally practised, much of which is relevant to the conditions under which the overseas trainees will have to work on return to their own countries. Secondment of our own trainees work in centres in developing countries as an approved part of their training would benefit both them and their hosts.