Learning Opportunities Research Articles

Designing feedback processes in the workplace-based learning of undergraduate health professions education: a scoping review

BackgroundFeedback processes are crucial for learning, guiding improvement, and enhancing performance. In workplace-based learning settings, diverse teaching and assessment activities are advocated to be designed and implemented, generating feedback that students use, with proper guidance, to close the gap between current and desired performance levels. Since productive feedback processes rely on observed information regarding a student's performance, it is imperative to establish structured feedback activities within undergraduate workplace-based learning settings. However, these settings are characterized by their unpredictable nature, which can either promote learning or present challenges in offering structured learning opportunities for students. This scoping review maps literature on how feedback processes are organised in undergraduate clinical workplace-based learning settings, providing insight into the design and use of feedback.MethodsA scoping review was conducted. Studies were identified from seven databases and ten relevant journals in medical education. The screening process was performed independently in duplicate with the support of the StArt program. Data were organized in a data chart and analyzed using thematic analysis. The feedback loop with a sociocultural perspective was used as a theoretical framework.ResultsThe search yielded 4,877 papers, and 61 were included in the review. Two themes were identified in the qualitative analysis: (1) The organization of the feedback processes in workplace-based learning settings, and (2) Sociocultural factors influencing the organization of feedback processes. The literature describes multiple teaching and assessment activities that generate feedback information. Most papers described experiences and perceptions of diverse teaching and assessment feedback activities. Few studies described how feedback processes improve performance. Sociocultural factors such as establishing a feedback culture, enabling stable and trustworthy relationships, and enhancing student feedback agency are crucial for productive feedback processes.ConclusionsThis review identified concrete ideas regarding how feedback could be organized within the clinical workplace to promote feedback processes. The feedback encounter should be organized to allow follow-up of the feedback, i.e., working on required learning and performance goals at the next occasion. The educational programs should design feedback processes by appropriately planning subsequent tasks and activities. More insight is needed in designing a full-loop feedback process, in which specific attention is needed in effective feedforward practices.

Development of a student intervarsity interprofessional healthcare team challenge to promote collaboration and teamwork

This curricular report describes the development and evaluation of an intervarsity competition entitled the All-Ireland Interprofessional Healthcare Challenge (AIPEC). Students from eight universities across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland take part in this extracurricular event on an annual basis. In this manuscript, we report on the development of the case and on the findings of a student evaluation of the event following the 2022 event using the Assessment of the Interprofessional Team Collaboration Scale for Students (AITCS-II student version). Of the 34 students who participated in AIPEC 2022, responses were obtained from 24 (70.6 % response rate). Student feedback was overwhelmingly positive including positive agreement in all four AITCS-II subscales (partnership, coordination, cooperation and teamworking). Free text comments further endorse the event as a positive, collaborative student learning opportunity. In conclusion, our experience has shown the AIPEC to be a beneficial learning experience for students, with clear benefits in developing clinical knowledge and attitudes towards collaborative practice and teamworking.

Towards inclusivity in AI: A comparative study of cognitive engagement between marginalized female students and peers

AbstractThis study addresses the need for inclusive AI education by focusing on marginalized female students who historically lack access to learning opportunities in computing. It applies the theoretical framework of intersectionality to understand how gender, race and ethnicity intersect to shape these students' learning experiences and outcomes. Specifically, this study investigated 27 high‐school students' cognitive engagement in machine learning practices. We conducted the Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test to explore differences in cognitive engagement between marginalized female students and their peers, employed comparative content analysis to delve into significant differences and analysed interview data thematically to gain deeper insights into students' machine learning model development processes. The findings indicated that, when engaging in machine learning practices requiring drawing diverse cultural perspectives, marginalized female students demonstrated significantly higher performance compared to their peers. In particular, marginalized female students exhibited strengths in holistic language analysis, paying attention to writers' intentions and recognizing cultural nuances in language. This study suggests that integrating language analysis and machine learning across subjects has the potential to empower marginalized female students and amplify their perspectives. Furthermore, it calls for a strengths‐based approach to reshape the narrative of underrepresentation and promote equitable participation in machine learning and AI. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Female students, particularly those from underrepresented groups such as African American and Latina students, often experience low levels of cognitive engagement in computing. Marginalized female students possess unique strengths that, when nurtured, have the potential to not only transform their own learning experiences but also contribute to the advancement of the computing field. It is critical to empower marginalized female students in K‐12 AI (ie, a subfield of computing) education, seeking to bridge the gender and racial disparity in AI. What this paper adds Marginalized female students outperformed their peers in responding to machine learning questions related to feature analysis and feature distribution interpretation. When responding to these questions, they demonstrated a holistic approach to analysing language by considering interactions between features and writers' intentions. They drew on knowledge about how language was used to convey meaning in different cultural contexts. Implications for practice and/or policy Educators should design learning environments that encourage students to draw upon their cultural backgrounds, linguistic insights and diverse experiences to enhance their engagement and performance in AI‐related activities. Educators should strategically integrate language analysis and machine learning across different subjects to create interdisciplinary learning experiences that support students' exploration of the interplay among language, culture and AI. Educational institutions and policy initiatives should adopt a strengths‐based approach that focuses on empowering marginalized female students by acknowledging their inherent abilities and diverse backgrounds.

Danmaku-Based Automatic Analysis of Real-Time Online Learning Engagement

In recent years, there has been a rapid growth of online learning in higher education. Apart from professional online course platforms, many online video sharing websites have also provided online learning opportunities for college students. One of the most popular websites among college students in China is Bilibili, a Shanghai-based Chinese video sharing website known for its danmaku commenting system. This system enables users to post scrolling comments synchronized with the video timeline while the video is playing. Which attracts young students due to the lively user interaction. As a result, an increasing number of Chinese students are utilizing online courses on Bilibili as a supplementary learning resource alongside traditional classroom learning. Despite its popularity, online learning faces the challenge of students’ lack of participation more than traditional face-to-face learning does. To understand their learning involvement, we propose a novel danmaku-based automatic analysis model that extracts three dimensions of online learning engagement using the Text Mind software. This model enables us to understand the students’ learning patterns both as clusters and as individuals. Based on the model results, we present corresponding intervention strategies for different types of students based on their individual engagement characteristics.

Change of Epistemic Stance of Transnational Pre-Service Teachers in-and-through Collaborative Data-Led Reflective Dialogues

This study explored collaborative data-led reflective dialogues of transnational PSTs by using Multimodal Conversation Analysis. The study draws on the screen recordings of a Virtual Exchange (VE) project (n=72), which involves collaborative online task design, implementation of tasks by L2 students, and reflection on students’ performance and their experience of the VE project. The close examination of the data showed that through collaborative reflective dialogues, PSTs (i) raised awareness of their practice and generated knowledge; (ii) made a connection between theory and practice; (iii) became more aware of their epistemic stance; (iv) identified and described a problem and found solutions to these problems (Farrell, 2015). Therefore, micro-moments of learning and understanding were created in-an- through reflection and it was revealed explicitly through reference to lack of knowledge in the past. This study has implications for teacher education programs, which should encourage reflective dialogues of transnational PSTs to create opportunities for teacher learning.

Cultivating leaders for primary health care: A revised approach for transformative development.

Family physicians require leadership skills to strengthen team-based primary care services. Interviews with South African district managers confirmed the need to develop leadership skills in family physicians. The updated national programmatic learning outcomes for South African family physician training were published in 2021. They sparked the need for curriculum renewal at the University of Cape Town's Division of Family Medicine. A review of the leadership and governance module during registrar training showed that the sessions were perceived to be content heavy with insufficient opportunities for reflection. Following a series of stakeholder engagements, the module convenors co-designed a revised module that was blueprinted on the updated learning outcomes. The module incorporates a group coaching style, facilitating learning through reflection on one's experiences. The revised module was implemented in 2022. It aims to provide a transformative learning experience centred on students' perceptions of themselves as leaders, as well as professional identity formation and resilience building. This short report describes preliminary insights from the revised module's developmental phase and forms part of an ongoing iterative evaluation process.Contribution:Family physicians should lead across all their defined roles. Formal and informal learning opportunities are needed to facilitate their growth as leaders and help them to meet the health needs of communities served by an evolving health care system. This short report describes an example of a revised postgraduate module on leadership and governance, which may be of value to clinician educators and academic departments exploring innovative methods for the African region.

‘I'm excited to explore more learning opportunities'

‘I'm excited to explore more learning opportunities'

Universal design approach to learning: a theoretical-practical model for quality inclusive education, seen from the Postgraduate and Continuing Education Directorate of the State University of Bolívar

Universal Design for Learning is an educational approach that seeks to provide all teachers, regardless of their abilities, with an equitable and effective learning experience. This model is based on the premise that diversity is the norm in the classroom and that students have different learning styles, abilities, and needs. Therefore, it focuses on creating flexible learning environments that can meet the needs of all students. It is based on theories, academic-scientific research, each learning environment and neuroeducation, in order to generate inclusivity in the actors of the process. In this sense, it integrates and covers the educational process, from planning to the evaluation of learning, including the reinforcement process, with the aim that teachers take advantage of various learning opportunities, in the same way that it makes teachers more flexible. the micro, meso and macro curricular design, in order to minimize limitations and unforeseen events in academic execution. Finally, it has potential both in the episteme and in praxis, facilitating academic activity and being aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4 of the 2030 Agenda, inclusive and quality education is guaranteed, promoting learning opportunities for teachers of the education programs. master's degree in the Postgraduate and Continuing Education Department of the State University of Bolívar.

Seeing mathematical learning opportunities in preschool situations: the role of teacher disposition and type of picture book

Pre-school teachers’ competence to see and decide to use learning opportunities in informal play-based situations (i.e. situation-specific skills) is key for high-quality pre-school instruction. Current insights into pre-school teachers’ situation-specific skills and their association with underlying teacher disposition and instructional materials are limited. We aimed to complement existing findings by systematically analysing pre-service and in-service pre-school teachers’ situation-specific skills in association with their underlying disposition and the type of instructional material in the domain of early mathematics. We assessed 274 pre-service and in-service pre-school teachers’ mathematical content and pedagogical content knowledge (MCK, MPCK), beliefs and situation-specific skills, operationalised as the mathematical questions they formulate during simulated shared picture book reading activities. Logistic multilevel regression analyses revealed a complex interplay between pre-service and in-service pre-school teachers’ disposition, the type of instructional material and situation-specific skills, pointing to the need for future studies on the topic.

Cognitive learning about forests: the key role of environmental attitude

ABSTRACT For young people, schools are platforms for learning and strengthening competencies about nature preservation; despite being faced with the same learning opportunities, learning outcomes are very heterogeneous. We were interested in environmental knowledge gains and retention after participation in a student-centred learning programme, and in environmental attitudes’ role in knowledge acquisition. 261 students participated in a 90-minute programme about the forest ecosystem and related sustainability topics. Our 8-station in-classroom module relied on a collaborative, hands-on, and autonomy-supportive learning approach. We measured knowledge three times: before the programme (pre-test), right after programme completion (post-test), and six weeks after programme completion to test long-term performance (retention test), using the Rasch model. Knowledge scores increased in the post-test and decreased in the retention test but remained significantly above pre-test scores. Environmental attitude had a considerable effect on knowledge scores of each test time, though effects on pre- and retention scores were larger. This indicates that students with positive attitudes knew more before the programme and retained more knowledge over time. Interestingly, the retention scores of those with the most positive attitudes exceeded their post-programme scores, which suggests further immersion into the topic, rendering attitude a probable and promising lever for long-term knowledge acquisition.

Integrating training in evidence-based medicine and shared decision-making: a qualitative study of junior doctors and consultants.

In the past, evidence-based medicine (EBM) and shared decision-making (SDM) have been taught separately in health sciences and medical education. However, recognition is increasing of the importance of EBM training that includes SDM, whereby practitioners incorporate all steps of EBM, including person-centered decision-making using SDM. However, there are few empirical investigations into the benefits of training that integrates EBM and SDM (EBM-SDM) for junior doctors, and their influencing factors. This study aimed to explore how integrated EBM-SDM training can influence junior doctors' attitudes to and practice of EBM and SDM;to identify the barriers and facilitators associated with junior doctors' EBM-SDM learning and practice; andto examine how supervising consultants' attitudes and authority impact on junior doctors' opportunities for EBM-SDM learning and practice. We developed and ran a series of EBM-SDM courses for junior doctors within a private healthcare setting with protected time for educational activities. Using an emergent qualitative design, we first conducted pre- and post-course semi-structured interviews with 12 junior doctors and thematically analysed the influence of an EBM-SDM course on their attitudes and practice of both EBM and SDM, and the barriers and facilitators to the integrated learning and practice of EBM and SDM. Based on the responses of junior doctors, we then conducted interviews with ten of their supervising consultants and used a second thematic analysis to understand the influence of consultants on junior doctors' EBM-SDM learning and practice. Junior doctors appreciated EBM-SDM training that involved patient participation. After the training course, they intended to improve their skills in person-centered decision-making including SDM. However, junior doctors identified medical hierarchy, time factors, and lack of prior training as barriers to the learning and practice of EBM-SDM, whilst the private healthcare setting with protected learning time and supportive consultants were considered facilitators. Consultants had mixed attitudes towards EBM and SDM and varied perceptions of the role of junior doctors in either practice, both of which influenced the practice of junior doctors. These findings suggested that future medical education and research should include training that integrates EBM and SDM that acknowledges the complex environment in which this training must be put into practice, and considers strategies to overcome barriers to the implementation of EBM-SDM learning in practice.

Using Diverse Distribution Platforms to Support Young Children’s Coping Strategies in the Midst of Crisis and Conflict

ABSTRACT Evidence firmly establishes the link between early childhood interventions and the mitigation of the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Given the long-term effects of conflict and displacement on children’s healthy development, educational mass media can offer critical learning opportunities to mitigate both the impact of learning disruption and the effects of ACEs. This paper will highlight three different ways media, and its diverse distribution platforms, can support young children’s understanding and use of coping strategies in the face of significant adversity. Using examples of diverse distribution to reach refugee and migrant children in the United States and across Latin America and the Middle East, this paper will highlight the ways media can support children and families affected by displacement and conflict to develop critical coping strategies. Lessons learned in developing and adapting coping strategies for diverse contexts and platforms include learnings for content curation and implementation, engagement of local and regional advisors, and importance of a network of on-the-ground implementing partners. These findings offer guidance for those developing content and programs for children in conflict and crisis, in particular creators of children’s media and outreach programs.

Is Learning in Biological Neural Networks Based on Stochastic Gradient Descent? An Analysis Using Stochastic Processes.

In recent years, there has been an intense debate about how learning in biological neural networks (BNNs) differs from learning in artificial neural networks. It is often argued that the updating of connections in the brain relies only on local information, and therefore a stochastic gradient-descent type optimization method cannot be used. In this article, we study a stochastic model for supervised learning in BNNs. We show that a (continuous) gradient step occurs approximately when each learning opportunity is processed by many local updates. This result suggests that stochastic gradient descent may indeed play a role in optimizing BNNs.

CRAYON: Exploration on Community-based Relayed Online Education Approach for Rural Children in South Korean EFL Context

Rural children in South Korea exhibit higher foreign language anxiety and lower English competency. For such marginalized contexts where local communities cannot support children's learning, we propose and explore a new pedagogical approach, CRAYON (Community-based RelAY Online educatioN). In CRAYON, a pool of non-professional tutors take turns to meet and teach rural children in short relay sessions through mobile technologies. It uncovers and promotes volunteers' internal willingness to participate in community-based teaching, which could otherwise be fragmented and dormant in their tightly-woven daily lives. It greatly lessens the barriers to participation from multiple dimensions, i.e., time, space, and expertise, and encourages interested volunteers to easily join without taking much burden. As such, the approach can create new learning opportunities and help rural children overcome their motivational and environmental hurdles. Tutors could approach each child and share short but precious time with her; helping her experience repetitive and sufficient exposure to the language, each time with a newly met tutor. We conducted a short relay session-based English learning program for 5 rural children for 4 weeks in South Korea with 15 tutors. From the field deployment, we find that the rural children and the undergraduate tutors engaged in effective interactions and scaffolding, despite the constraints of partitioned short sessions. A particular pattern of interaction, i.e., continuous learner engagement support, emerged as they drew out the interactions over a short period of time. It was highly encouraging to observe that all children, including those who were disengaged in their classroom environments, actively participated in the CRAYON sessions. The findings elicited from the study have important implications in multiple dimensions. They suggest the possibility of extending the scope of learning environments to include first-met tutors and learners beyond re-established relationship. In a larger perspective, the findings imply a new direction to overcome the challenges of low childhood literacy in under-resourced areas. With adequate and sufficient support from educational institutions and CRAYON, this study argues that volunteer tutors with less experience can deliver effective instruction by sharing just a short period of time, and help a child who has been lagging behind the pace of the school catch up and re-engage.

ENSURING INCLUSIVITY THROUGH CRITICAL THINKING IN EFL CONTEXTS

This paper examines the extent to which students in a supervised undergraduate research project course felt equipped to work independently using a range of critical thinking skills developed within the course. As critical thinking is an important but challenging component in EFL (English as a Foreign Language) context, empowering students to engage in process-driven reading and writing can be seen to be inclusive. In this sense, inclusivity embraces the quality of embracing diverse skills, interests, competency levels and corresponding outcomes. Based on a qualitative study of student questionnaires and focus group interviews, this study concludes that students are able to comprehend, analyze and apply ideas and theories when given training and practice in these areas. Findings from an extensive questionnaire and student interviews show that EFL learners in the Arab world are capable of thinking critically, particularly when they research areas of significance to themselves and their society. Critical thinking should thus be seen as a series of teachable skills which enable the EFL student to create an individual piece of work which successfully incorporates academic writing skills and enables them to find their own voice. Providing opportunities for independent learning thus ensures inclusivity, equipping students with required skills.

The COVID-19 Lived Experience Through the Eyes of Nursing and Social Work Students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the lived experiences of nursing and social work students who were taking courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Focus group discussions gave students a chance to express the pandemic's effects on their education and life. Methods: A hermeneutic phenomenological approach using Van Manen's Four Lifeworld Existentials guided this study. Using an open-ended format, interviews were conducted in 6 small groups ranging from 2 to 9 individuals, in person or via Zoom. The study was conducted from May to August 2022 in a university setting with 23 participants. Results: Ten existential themes emerged: Being Behind, Groundhog Day, Trying to Keep Up, Loss of Community, Fear of COVID, Being Alone, What is Self-Care?, Is This Career Right for Me?, What is Healthy?, and Access to Counseling. Conclusions: Participants indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted educational delivery, limiting learning opportunities and increasing feelings of isolation, stress, and anxiety. Implications for Education and the Future Workforce: Projected health-care workforce shortages may be exacerbated by students departing from the health-care professions as a result of increased burnout. Resilience training while in school is necessary to help promote coping, self-care strategies, and retention in the health-care professions.

Use of harm reduction strategies by individuals with a history of incarceration: A short report using baseline data collected from the STAMINA clinical trial

BackgroundDue to the considerably heightened risk of overdose immediately following jail or prison release, expansion of harm reduction interventions for citizens returning to the community after an incarceration episode should be of utmost concern. However, there are no studies examining the adoption and use of harm reduction among this population. This short report examines the use of individual-level harm reduction strategies (HRS) among people who use drugs, comparing those who have lifetime histories of incarceration with those who do not. MethodsThis study included baseline data (N = 274) from a larger clinical trial, which recruited participants at two syringe service programs. Fisher's exact tests examine correlations between HRS and lifetime incarceration. ResultsSignificant variation in HRS use were observed by demographic characteristics. Those with lifetime incarceration histories were less likely to report ensuring naloxone was available when using, using when others were present, using fentanyl test strips, using a trusted drug supplier, and using some other HRS compared to those without lifetime incarceration histories. Similarly, those with lifetime incarceration histories were also less likely to report using non-prescribed buprenorphine and methadone, which could potentially reduce overdose risk even if not explicitly used as an HRS. ConclusionThe results suggest that one of the populations at highest risk of overdose is least likely to use strategies that may reduce overdose risk. Targeted efforts to increase exposure to HRS learning opportunities and access to these resources could help reduce overdose disparities for people returning to the community after incarceration.

Building resilient leadership: A study exploring leadership development during uncertainty

Effective small and medium enterprise (SME) leadership demands creative solutions, to ensure organisations survive, and thrive, during the turbulent times that COVID-19 continues to bring. This paper explores how SME leaders (in micro and small organisations) prioritise and access the skills and development needed to provide effective and sustainable leadership to organisations, focusing on the role of resilience and the benefits it provides. Participants were selected through purposive and snowballing sampling. Online surveys and semi-structured interviews were conducted and provide qualitative data that contributes to an understanding of the role of resilience and the view of participants as to what is needed to effectively respond to a dynamic environment. Evidence shows that SME leaders prioritise learning and development opportunities that provide demonstrable benefits throughout the organisation. Building business resilience remains a fuzzy concept, however, viewing resilience as a multi-level construct offers benefits when designing and delivering development opportunities. It is found that networking, partnerships, and relationship building promote resilience and may offer a solution to how to embed resilience building into development opportunities that SME leaders value and wish to engage with. This article contributes by illustrating and exploring leadership development within SMEs during a period of unexpected and untested uncertainty. The pandemic caused major shock waves within business communities and SMEs were significantly affected. The research is limited in that it is (expected) to be a once in a lifetime event and as such conditions may not be replicable, however learning opportunities for other ‘shock’ events are possible. The findings of this paper have relevance to practice, in that while the event may be a one-off, shocks to the business environment are not.

Evaluation of GIScience Exercise Using Online Educational Materials for Japanese University Students

GIScience is essential to geography education. Different curriculums and textbooks have been developed to teach GIScience in classrooms through lectures and exercises corresponding to the educational situation of each country. We developed e-learning materials based on existing research outcomes for GIScience education in Japan, such as the Japanese GIS core curriculum for university education. Using the materials, we held a three-day intensive GIScience class at the University of Tokyo from 2018 to 2022 with questionnaire surveys to investigate the educational effects of the materials and factors influencing GIScience learning. The attending students browsed the materials and studied GIScience by themselves but asked questions of teachers if necessary. The questionnaire survey results indicate that most students felt geospatial data processing is somewhat complex, but they were satisfied with the opportunity of GIScience learning. Whether the students thought the exercise was simple and easy depended on their confidence in computer knowledge and operation and their preferred learning style at their own pace. The students’ satisfaction level and ease in using the material correlate with their motivation level, the number of questions they asked the others, and their preferred style for learning at their own pace.

A Local Case Competition Expands Meaningful Opportunities for Experiential Interprofessional Learning

A Local Case Competition Expands Meaningful Opportunities for Experiential Interprofessional Learning