Online Learning Approach Research Articles

Effectiveness of using a simulation combined with online learning approach to develop discharge teaching skills

BackgroundDespite evidence of the impact of discharge teaching on patient outcomes, nursing students are poorly prepared in the pedagogical skills necessary for their role as patient and family educators in clinical practice. This study evaluated the effectiveness of simulation combined with online learning to improve nursing students’ discharge teaching skills. MethodsThe module included simulations before and after an online module on patient/family teaching for hospital discharge. Evaluation measures were student and independent rater evaluations using the Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale- Evaluation form (QDTS-E). ResultsStudents (n = 153) improved their performance on both content and delivery subscales of the QDTS-E by 20% (student self-evaluations) and 18% (independent raters). However, correlations between student and rater scores were low (r = 0.08-0.22). ConclusionUse of simulation with online learning in a discharge teaching module can help students build patient education skills to improve post-discharge patient outcomes, contributing to national health priorities to reduce hospital readmissions. With further refinement and testing, the learning module and QDTS-E evaluation form may also be useful for evaluation and continuing education of clinical nursing staff.

Using achievement goal-based personalized motivational feedback to enhance online learning

Current online learning approaches are sometimes criticized for a “one- size- fits -all” approach and insufficient feedback, which may result in low levels of satisfaction and high dropout rates. To mitigate these shortcomings, we implemented a set of principles for designing personalized motivational feedback based on students’ achievement goals. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used to collect data. The results indicated students who received this feedback demonstrated significantly higher levels of motivation and satisfaction. However, their performance scores were not significantly higher than students in the control group. Post-interviews showed this personalized feedback helped students regulate their learning goals and behaviors and thus improved their learning. The evidence suggests this personalized feedback may benefit learning by improving motivation. While its effect on performance outcomes was not significant, we speculate that more complex factors may have obscured any performance effect.

A New Online Learned Interval Type-3 Fuzzy Control System for Solar Energy Management Systems

In this article, a novel method based on interval type-3 fuzzy logic systems (IT3-FLSs) and an online learning approach is designed for power control and battery charge planing for photovoltaic (PV)/battery hybrid systems. Unlike the other methods, the dynamics of battery, PV and boost converters are considered to be fully unknown. Also, the effects of variation of temperature, radiation, and output load are taken into account. The robustness and the asymptotic stability of the proposed method is analyzed by the Lyapunov/LaSalle's invariant set theorems, and the tuning rules are extracted for IT3-FLS. Also, the upper bound of approximation error (AE) is approximated, and then a new compensator is designed to deal with the effects of dynamic AEs. The superiority of the proposed method is examined in several conditions and is compared with some other well-known methods. It is shown that the schemed method results in high performance under difficult conditions such as variation of temperature and radiation and abruptly changing in the output load.

On-Line Learning Assessment: Egyptian Universities as a Case Study

This article presents results of a study on the level of satisfaction of graduate and undergraduate students, instructors and higher education quality assurance experts with respect to online learning in the field of social sciences at Egyptian universities. A random sample of 577 students, 101 instructors and 6 quality experts participated in the survey. Results convey considerable variations between students affiliated to state universities, a 50% level of dissatisfaction on online learning compared to a 35% level of dissatisfaction to their counterparts at private universities, a one of the key indicators for the success of institutions to in shift from conventional to online learning approach. The study presents skepticism concerning conformance of fully online learning approach with academic quality assurance requirements and intended learning outcomes. Recommended policies aim for improvements in challenges related to environmental and technological variables such as the poor internet infrastructure and simultaneously the lack of training and application in Internet usage. Policies are pushing forward with drivers of satisfaction in distance learning instructional design, capacity building, integrative international academic quality measures to develop on-line learning practices in higher education in Egypt ensuring a boost stakeholders’ satisfaction.

Voice-Activated Smart Home Controller Using Machine Learning

The emergence of the Internet of Things concept has provided a great vision for the technological future, intending to enable the extraction and comprehension of information from the environment around us, making use of the interaction and cooperation between several technological devices. The example of Smart Homes, in particular, aims to integrate these devices into households, enabling the automation of tasks previously performed by humans, to simplify their daily lives and create a more comfortable environment. However, many of these devices fail to keep their promise, since they were not developed taking into account the frequent change of habits and tastes of the user, being necessary reprogramming of the device to follow the new behaviors. Taking this problem into account, this article presents the design and end-to-end implementation of a voice-activated smart home controller for intelligent devices, deployed in a real environment and validated in an experimental setup of motorized blinds. The architecture of the proposed solution integrates evolvable intelligence with the use of an Online Learning framework, enabling it to automatically adapt to the user’s habits and behavioral patterns. The results obtained from the various evaluation tests provide a validation of the operation and usefulness of the developed system. The main contributions of this work are: I) design of a smart home controller’s architecture; II) end-to-end implementation of a smart home controller and respective guidelines; III) open-source dataset of user behavior from the smart blinds scenario; IV) comparison between Online and Offline Learning approaches.

COVID 19 and Dental Education: Transitioning from a Well-established Synchronous Format and Face to Face Teaching to an Asynchronous Format of Dental Clinical Teaching and Learning

The Covid-19 pandemic made it necessary to adopt and establish complete or partial online delivery of our clinical teaching and learning. We developed an alternative approach with a combination of Problem based Learning asynchronous fora and Teacher-facilitated synchronous online discussions. Our aim is to share our educational practice and highlight the requirements and constraints, advantages and challenges of such an approach. It allowed a more student-centred experience, but clinical simulation and face-to-face patient care remain necessary. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of dental education for the foreseeable future, with a reduced number of patients in dental clinics. Further study is therefore necessary to understand the lived experience of students and teachers to the adopted online teaching and learning approach.

Lessons learned teaching during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Incorporating change for future large science courses

Due to the COVID‐19 pandemic we were confronted with the transition of a large, on‐campus introductory soil science course into an online setting. This created several challenges, such as providing meaningful learning experiences to engage first‐ and second‐year students, and restructuring course content for the online environment. The objective of our article is to document the transition from on‐campus to online teaching and learning, through the consolidation of existing course material and the development of new resources to engage students in an introductory soil science course. We compare on‐campus, distance education, and online blended teaching and learning approaches for the same course, and provide lessons learned that may be applicable to other large introductory science courses. Our experience included the use of virtual laboratories, traditional online course materials, synchronous and asynchronous discussions, and the use of question banks for online exams. Recognizing the narrow preparation window, we focused on developing resources that provide benefits beyond COVID‐19.

Daily Forecasting of Regional Epidemics of Coronavirus Disease with Bayesian Uncertainty Quantification, United States.

To increase situational awareness and support evidence-based policymaking, we formulated a mathematical model for coronavirus disease transmission within a regional population. This compartmental model accounts for quarantine, self-isolation, social distancing, a nonexponentially distributed incubation period, asymptomatic persons, and mild and severe forms of symptomatic disease. We used Bayesian inference to calibrate region-specific models for consistency with daily reports of confirmed cases in the 15 most populous metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. We also quantified uncertainty in parameter estimates and forecasts. This online learning approach enables early identification of new trends despite considerable variability in case reporting.

Online distance education system in remote region in the Russian and Mongolian universities during the COVID-19 pandemic

The objective of the study is to compare the role of faculty between two universities in restriction regime conditions, to identify problems and future perspectives for the transformation of information technologies in universities. The study was conducted among 145 lecturers from Russia and 102 lecturers from Mongolia. The questionnaire consists of 20 questions related to the research topic. The anonymous study was conducted in July 2020 after the second academic semester. The analysis of the resulting survey showed 100% adaptability to online learning of the lecturers in the National University of the Medical Science in Darkhan and 75% adaptability to online learning of the lecturers in Trans-Baikal State University when they moved to the online learning approach. The effectiveness and quality of the transition to the online learning approach principally depend on the professional qualities of lecturers. The lecturers of the Mongolian university had an adequately high level of application of modern information and communication technology in distance learning in comparison with the lectures in Trans-Baikal State University. The implementation of the educational online process by lecturers should be focused on obtaining high-quality higher education, two university students. Survey findings point to the need for universities to continue to improve digital transformation, which is currently one of the most effective ways to engage students in the educational process.

On low-complexity control design to spacecraft attitude stabilization: An online-learning approach

This paper studies the spacecraft attitude stabilization problem with external disturbances. A new control scheme entitled online-learning control is proposed to achieve a robust, accurate, and simple-structure control algorithm. Compared with the conventional control design, an obvious distinction of the online-learning control algorithm is that it together utilizes the previous control input information and the system's current state information, as if learning experience from previous control input. In contrast, the conventional control scheme does not fully use the existing information and chooses to discard the previous control input information when generating control instructions. Due to the learning strategy, the utility of adaptive- or observer-based tools can be avoided when designing a robust control law, making a simple, effective algorithm, moreover saving system resources. The proposed control law can stabilize the attitude system by achieving the uniformly ultimately bounded convergence.

Integrating E-learning for Administrative Staff Professional Development

Online learning is increasingly solicited around the world within and across several sectors. It also involves higher education (HE), as it operates in a global, unstable environment, where communication and information technology are the fundamental keys. This study seeks to examine the Moroccan employees’ perception of this innovative way of learning and its impact on their professional development. It also aims at investigating the presence of distance learning as an approach growing in popularity within the administration of Moroccan universities. This qualitative study uses a semi-structured interview with 76 employees in seven Moroccan Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The results reveal that the majority of participants have rarely used online learning, in spite of their willingness and insistence on its positive impact on their professional progress. The interviewees reported their proactive view to accelerate the implementation of digital learning to meet the world standards, as it would also serve as an appropriate way for their continuous professional development and their ability to face critical situations. The present research shows the significant necessity of integrating new ways of learning in Higher Education Administrations (HEAs). The present work assumes the research hypothesis H1: e-learning is not promoted for employees’ career advancement in Moroccan HEAs. This study recommends an anticipatory vision to transgress any reticence to change, since online learning approach would bring more productivity and success for the administrations and the employees themselves, as well as closer institutional alignment with the revolutionary digital world.

Video-based learning to enhance teaching of practical microbiology.

Video-based learning is an increasingly important methodology in higher education and has particular value in practical teaching. In order to enhance learning and promote student engagement in our undergraduate microbiology programme, we designed and produced a suite of teaching videos which demonstrate laboratory techniques core to the syllabus. The methods were demonstrated by Ph.D. students and the professionally-produced videos were made widely available via the free YouTube channel Microbiology teaching videos at NUI Galway (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsP4xz5aq7sWfR9eXSCd_QQ/), which accumulated over 40000 views across 47 countries in its first 15 months online. A survey of students who used the videos in their teaching and learning identified a greatly increased understanding of experimental principles and ability to carry out techniques; greater engagement with practical teaching sessions; particular benefits for visual learners; and increased confidence in teaching and in communicating science amongst undergraduate teaching assistants. The videos will be central to microbiology teaching at NUI Galway over the coming decade and will benefit many third-level institutions exploring online and blended learning approaches in the coming years.

Multi-Path Selection and Congestion Control for NDN: An Online Learning Approach

In Named Data Networking (NDN) architecture, data can be obtained from multiple content sources (i.e., producers or caching nodes) with multiple paths, making the traditional end-to-end (i.e., TCP/IP) congestion control scheme invalid. In addition, the NDN multi-path discovery and management are still an open issue as the dynamic network topology changes. In this article, we propose a multi-path congestion control mechanism, named MPCC, which includes two major components, i.e., multi-path discovery and multi-path congestion control. Particularly, for multi-path discovery, we first devise a <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">path tag</i> to uniquely mark each sub-path in the forwarding process, and then propose a tag-aware forwarding strategy to discover and manage sub-paths. For multi-path selection and congestion control, we first integrate the metrics of packet loss, bandwidth, round trip time, and path centrality, for path assessment, based on which, we then leverage the Upper Confidence Bound (UCB) algorithm to select sub-paths in order to maximize the network throughput. In addition, for selected sub-paths, we have devised a sub-path window adaptation algorithm to avoid multi-path congestions. At last, we implement MPCC in ndnSIM and conduct extensive experiments for performance evaluation. Our results demonstrate that MPCC can discover all sub-paths in real-time for the multi-path scenario, and can effectively avoid multi-path congestions with improving throughput and reducing transmission time.

A fit for purpose pedagogy: online learning designing and teaching

PurposeAs online learning becomes more ubiquitous and particularly in consideration of the current need to move classroom based teaching online given Covid-19, it seems opportune to address the pedagogical differences between online and face-to-face teaching, so that online delivery moves beyond the paradigms of its face-to-face counterpart, such as the lecture. This paper explores the need for a fit for purpose pedagogical approach for online learning, as opposed to one in which a classroom based pedagogy is applied, often rather clumsily to an online learning environment.Design/methodology/approachThe engagement of students in an online learning environment is closely associated with student success. The argument is that students who are actively engaged are more likely to learn and to achieve greater success. Student engagement is facilitated through the design and arrangement of the learning material, and by the presence, attitude and the facilitation of learning by the online teacher or trainer.FindingsRather than presenting any research findings this paper simply explores concepts relating to online learning design and online teaching.Practical implicationsThe practical implication of this paper are better alignment between teaching/training interventions and learning design.Originality/valueThis paper is a viewpoint paper and is original. This paper has not been submitted elsewhere. 10; 10;This paper would be a valuable resource for those new to online learning or those looking to establish a fit for purpose approach to online learning.

Student engagement in the online classroom: comparing preclinical medical student question-asking behaviors in a videoconference versus in-person learning environment.

The COVID‐19 pandemic forced medical schools to rapidly transform their curricula using online learning approaches. At our institution, the preclinical Practice of Medicine (POM) course was transitioned to large‐group, synchronous, video‐conference sessions. The aim of this study is to assess whether there were differences in learner engagement, as evidenced by student question‐asking behaviors between in‐person and videoconferenced sessions in one preclinical medical student course. In Spring, 2020, large‐group didactic sessions in POM were converted to video‐conference sessions. During these sessions, student microphones were muted, and video capabilities were turned off. Students submitted typed questions via a Q&A box, which was monitored by a senior student teaching assistant. We compared student question asking behavior in recorded video‐conference course sessions from POM in Spring, 2020 to matched, recorded, in‐person sessions from the same course in Spring, 2019. We found that, on average, the instructors answered a greater number of student questions and spent a greater percentage of time on Q&A in the online sessions compared with the in‐person sessions. We also found that students asked a greater number of higher complexity questions in the online version of the course compared with the in‐person course. The video‐conference learning environment can promote higher student engagement when compared with the in‐person learning environment, as measured by student question‐asking behavior. Developing an understanding of the specific elements of the online learning environment that foster student engagement has important implications for instructional design in both the online and in‐person setting.

Online Learning-Based Multi-Stage Complexity Control for Live Video Coding.

High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) can significantly improve the compression efficiency in comparison with the preceding H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC) but at the cost of extremely high computational complexity. Hence, it is challenging to realize live video applications on low-delay and power-constrained devices, such as the smart mobile devices. In this article, we propose an online learning-based multi-stage complexity control method for live video coding. The proposed method consists of three stages: multi-accuracy Coding Unit (CU) decision, multi-stage complexity allocation, and Coding Tree Unit (CTU) level complexity control. Consequently, the encoding complexity can be accurately controlled to correspond with the computing capability of the video-capable device by replacing the traditional brute-force search with the proposed algorithm, which properly determines the optimal CU size. Specifically, the multi-accuracy CU decision model is obtained by an online learning approach to accommodate the different characteristics of input videos. In addition, multi-stage complexity allocation is implemented to reasonably allocate the complexity budgets to each coding level. In order to achieve a good trade-off between complexity control and rate distortion (RD) performance, the CTU-level complexity control is proposed to select the optimal accuracy of the CU decision model. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can accurately control the coding complexity from 100% to 40%. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of both accuracy of complexity control and RD performance.

Novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) pandemic: Common challenges and response from higher education providers

There has been an unprecedented impact on the higher education sector from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) since the first reports in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. As it has rapidly become a global pandemic, universities had to implement appropriate policies for responding to it. Most higher education providers have adapted a range of online learning, teaching and assessment approaches as a response to the pandemic. This paper systematically reviews such responses from higher education providers in various parts of the world and evaluates the challenges and impacts on supporting students in learning and teaching during COVID-19.

Online Learning Based Voltage and Power Regulator for AC Microgrids

In this brief, an online learning-based adaptive secondary controller with extended state observer (ESO) is proposed for regulating the voltage and allocating the reactive power in an islanded microgrid. With the active disturbance rejection properties of the ESO technique, two delicately designed neural networks via online learning approaches are proposed to compensate for the unknown/uncertain dynamics (UD) in the microgrid and attenuate the impact of external disturbance. Moreover, a vector of switching factors is introduced to unify the voltage recovery of the critical bus and accurate reactive power-sharing into a single framework. It is also worth noting that the devised approach is deployed in a distributed fashion, which enables the microgrid to acquire the plug-and-play capability. Extensive simulations are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller for several cases including islanding and sudden load changing.

Online Distance Learning Amidst Covid-19 Pandemic Among University Students

World Health Organization declared the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 to be a pandemic on March 12, 2020. In response to that, Malaysia has announced movement control order effective on March 18, 2020, leading to the near-total closures of education center. University closures impact not only students, lecturers, and families, but have far-reaching economic and societal consequences. In response to that, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) has introduced the use of online distance learning and open educational applications and platforms that lecturers can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of education. Even though UiTM has already adopted the integrated face-to-face and online learning approach in the classroom since many years ago, however, the commencement of solely using online learning platform, in the absence of face-to-face meetings is challenging. In addition, it is also crucial to note that the previous study on the determinants of the intention and effective use of online distance learning is scarce. Thus, this study seeks to identify the significant relationship between the intention and the effective use of an ODL among the students. Findings from this study reveals that four out of five determinants (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating condition and intrinsic value) found to be significantly relationship with the behavioral intention of the students to use online distance learning. Behavioral intention also was found to be significant with use behavior. Although the intrinsic values (new determinants) has contributed to the theory, it is recommended that the same study will be carry out to the entire of education center, either public or private.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Condition, Intrinsic Value, Behavior

What is the Difference between Online Learning and Traditional Teaching in Medical Education?

The online learning, which is now widely implemented owing to the constraints imposed by COVID-19 pandemic, offers many advantages when compared to the traditional teaching. The online teaching course is available to student any time and can be accessed from any location, providing there is a connection to the Internet, which allows remote learning at home using a fl exible and convenient study schedule that does not disturb other daily activities. The online course contains more informative learning materials, because the multimedia software enables to combine a variety of diverse elements within a given teaching unit, such as texts, PowerPoint presentations, computer animations, video clips, and audio fi les. The amount of time needed to go through the topics of the online course can be variable for different students, depending on their basic knowledge and motivation for learning, thus supporting more personalized learning experience. In contrast to the traditional teaching, that applies a teacher-centered approach, with online teaching the students become independent learners taking the main responsibility for the knowledge acquisition. Therefore, the students’ ability to succeed with online learning is critically determined by the self-discipline, rational time management skills, and monitoring the individual progress. While traditional teaching is largely based on passive learning through memorization of information by student, the online course offers multiple opportunities for self-directed, active learning, including questions for self-assessment, the web links to the relevant learning resources, and the interaction with peers using text messengers, discussion forums and web chats. The weak points of the online learning approach are that the self-studies are easy to procrastinate when the student is not strongly motivated to learn, and that it limits social contacts, leading to the feeling of isolation. Importantly, when developing the online learning course, the computer technology is supposed to be just a technical instrument, whereas the main emphasis is placed on the quality of teaching materials and their relevance to the objectives of the medical curriculum.