Practical Course Research Articles

From Class Assignment to Organizing Your Neighborhood: One MSW Student’s Journey

ABSTRACT This article documents how an MSW student in an introductory community practice course took her class assignment and over the course of two years revitalized, democratized, and transformed a sclerotic, corporate-run Home Owners Association (HOA). While the community analysis assignment required the student to interview six of her neighbors, the resulting increase in social capital in the neighborhood led, over the next two years, to the student being elected President of the HOA and organizing the community to win streetlights, clean up a polluted retention pond, create positive relations with city officials, and increase the social capital and collective efficacy of the neighborhood.

Exploration and Research on Online and Offline Blended Teaching Mode of Practical Class Courses

With the rapid development of information technology and the popularity of the network environment, the education and teaching mode is undergoing a profound change. The traditional teaching mode of practical courses has time and space limitations, which cannot meet students' personalized learning needs and the requirements of teaching quality improvement. Therefore, exploring a blended teaching mode that integrates online and offline teaching resources has become one of the important issues in the current education and teaching reform. In this context, the online-offline blended teaching mode of practical courses makes use of the advantages of online and offline teaching resources to provide a more flexible and diversified teaching method for the teaching of practical courses. The purpose of this paper is to analyze its theoretical basis and teaching principles and to discuss the design and implementation of online blended teaching mode for practical courses, to provide new ideas and methods for education and teaching reform and innovation.

Immunomodulatory therapy of precancers of the cervix – opinion of medical professionals and students

Objective. To assess the relevance of immunomodulatory therapy of precancerous diseases of the cervix among medical professionals and students. Precancerous diseases of the cervix combine pathological processes characterized by the structural changes in the epithelium of the cervix. If not treated, they lead to the development of cervical cancer. At present there are no selective drugs for the human papillomavirus. To administer immunotropic medicines it is necessary to know the mechanism of effect on the immune system. Materials and methods. The study was conducted using an anonymous online questionnaire on the Google Forms platform (https://vk.com/away.php?utf=1to=https%3A%2F%2Fforms.gle%2FRtT7PktnCrLqBB1x8). The questionnaire is presented as part of a one-stage (cross-sectional) study. Data analysis was carried out using Microsoft Excel 2010 graphs and tables. Empirical, sociological and statistical research methods were used. The indicators of the structure of the respondents were calculated, the reliability of the differences was determined by the Student's t-criterion, confidence differences were considered at significance of p 0.05. Results. The average age of the respondents was 30.4 ± 10.8 years. 46 people (75.4 %) are aware of the possibility of using immunomodulation as therapy for precancerous diseases of the cervix, and 15 people (24.6 %) are not aware of it. 41 respondents (67.2 %) would administer the therapy themselves and their close people; 12 people (19.7 %) find it difficult to answer; 8 respondents (13.1 %) do not agree to administer the therapy. Conclusions. Medical students have an idea about immunomodulatory therapy in gynecology in 55.9 % of cases. Doctors of different specialties in 100 % of cases are aware of the treatment, see the benefits of prescribing drugs. Students` awareness of the possibilities of immunomodulatory therapy is sufficient, they get additional knowledge from clinical recommendations on the specialty in the practical course.

Challenges Faced by Prospective German Language Teachers During Their Teaching Practice: A Case Study of Necmettin Erbakan University

The development, welfare and peace of a society are directly proportional to the quality of education. In a country with a good education system, the society is also in good condition. One of the essential components of effective and high-quality education is the teacher. The education programs in which teachers are trained are also crucial, as teachers have numerous responsibilities, such as fostering societal development, cultivating skilled human resources, and transferring the culture and values of society to future generations. In these educational programs, the Teaching Practice course holds particular significance. Because this course is the first step of prospective teachers to professional life. In this study, an attempt is made to uncover the potential problems encountered by 21 students who took the Teaching Practice course during the 2022-2023 academic year, as well as any solutions they proposed. This study is analysed through content analysis. The results of the study show that 38% of the 21 pre-service teachers did not experience any problem in the teaching practice, while 62% of them experienced various problems in this process. These problems are such as issues with their supervising teacher, advisor faculty member, self-caused problems and collaboration between the faculty and school. Additionally, teacher candidates offer some solutions to these problems. Notable suggestions include shifting the teaching practice to lower grades instead of the final year, reducing practice hours by 3, holding regular meetings with stakeholders, and conducting awareness-raising meetings for teacher candidates by relevant coordinatorships.

Update of the competence-based catalog of learning objectives in nuclear medicine for the study of human medicine in Germany.

To update the subject-specific, competence-based catalog of learning objectives for medical studies in Germany published by the German Society of Nuclear Medicine (DGN) in 2018, prioritizing relevant learning objectives. Based on the previous catalog, the writing group compiled nuclear medicine topics and formulated competence-based learning objectives, including medical developments, device innovations and new radiopharmaceutical approvals. These were presented for prioritization to the 180 habilitated DGN members as an expert group in a Delphi process. The first round of voting assessed firstly the topics in terms of necessity or dispensability, and secondly the detailed learning objectives of the topics were assessed for their relevance to academic teaching in nuclear medicine. The results of the first survey were used to draft a catalog of learning objectives with final approval by the expert group in a second survey. The time available for teaching nuclear medicine was also recorded. The writing group developed 240 competence-based learning objectives from 41 topics. After a first Delphi round, 73 detailed competence-based learning objectives from 15 topics were compiled. The mean teaching time was 8.4 h for lectures, 3.7 h for seminars and 3.6 h for practical courses. In a second Delphi round, the agreement of the expert group was at least 95% for the selected topics and at least 90% for the detailed learning objectives. The catalog of subject-specific learning objectives, updated by expert consensus, provides basic knowledge, skills and competences related to the most relevant diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in nuclear medicine, taking into account both long-established topics and recently introduced innovations.

EXPRESS: Social Profit Orientation: Lessons from Organizations Committed to Building a Better World

Services marketing originated as a discipline to guide managers in marketing intangible products; in today’s world, it must also guide managers in serving society. This research develops the concept of a social profit orientation, whereby organizations invest resources for the express purpose of enhancing the common good, especially the well-being of people and the health of the planet. Implementing social initiatives that serve this broader mission is no small challenge, but exemplary organizations are nevertheless charting a practical course. We interviewed leaders from 21 diverse organizations in multiple countries, spanning both for-profit and nonprofit sectors, yielding valuable insights into how they create social profit for individuals, communities, and society at large through their initiatives. Our research, grounded in published theory and directed toward practical implementation, defines the parameters of a social profit orientation and introduces an innovative framework that distills its antecedents, moderators, and outcomes. The experiences shared by our sample of forward-looking, future-oriented organizations can inform and inspire other companies, organizations, and institutions as they operate in environments where far more is expected of them than ever before.

Evaluation of final-year nursing students' attitudes towards preventing medical device‐related pressure ulcers using a ABC model of affect, behavior and cognitive dimensions

IntroductionHalf of the hospital-acquired pressure ulcers are associated with the use of medical devices. Nursing students provide care services to patients in clinical settings and intensive care units who have or are at risk for medical device-related pressure ulcers (MDRPUs). In the prevention and care of MDRPUs, the attitudes of nursing students towards preventing of pressure ulcers are as crucial as their knowledge level and clinical skills. AimThe aim of this descriptive study is to assess the attitudes of final-year nursing undergraduate students towards preventing MDRPUs across cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of ABC model. Materials and methodsData of the study was handed between April 1 and December 31, 2021, with 147 final-year nursing students. Data were collected using the Student Information Form and the Attitude Towards Preventing Medical Device-Related Pressure Ulcers Questionnaire (ATP-MDRPUsQ). ResultsThe mean attitude score towards preventing MDRPUs was 3.98 ± 0.45 on a 5-point Likert scale. The mean scores for the cognitive, affective, and behavioral sub-dimensions were 3.88 ± 0.57, 4.15 ± 0.51, and 4.00 ± 0.672, respectively. A moderate positive relationship was found between the cognitive sub-dimension and both the affective and behavioral sub-dimensions (r = 0.451; r = 0.302; p < 0.01, respectively). Based on cluster analysis, the mean attitude scores of students towards MDRPU prevention were grouped into two clusters. The students in Cluster-2 and female students had higher mean attitude scores (p < 0.01). The item with the lowest mean score in the questionnaire pertained to the item, "I believe that I need training on the etiology and prevention of medical device-related pressure ulcers." ConclusionThe general attitudes of final-year nursing students towards prevention MDRPU were satisfactory. However, their cognitive attitudes were less positive compared to their affective and behavioral attitudes. It is recommended to incorporate theoretical and practical courses focusing on the prevention of these injuries into nursing curricula to enhance students' knowledge and attitudes.

Recruiting the next generation of project managers: Student interests, industry needs, and marketing messages

Businesses need well-trained project managers but recruiting students to this field is a challenge. This three-part study examines motivational factors that influence students to pursue a project management degree, industry requirements for project management careers, and graduate program marketing messages. The purpose of the study is to determine the degree of alignment among these three variables and make recommendations for graduate program marketing stakeholders and industry leaders to improve recruitment strategies for these programs. Study 1 seeks to understand prospective student opinions and trigger factors when applying to a graduate program using a survey with regression and cross tabulation statistical analysis. Study 2 analyzes the relationship between project management certifications and work experience and salary using regression analysis. Study 3 is a content analysis that examines how graduate programs market their project management programs to prospective students. Study findings indicate industry leaders and higher education stakeholders need to use informational marketing campaigns to bridge the knowledge gap between market demand and student perceptions. Higher education leaders need to design curriculum that includes industry certifications and practical skill courses if they want to increase enrollment and career placement for project management students.

Stower-13: A Multi-View Inspection Image Dataset for the Automatic Classification and Naming of Tension Towers

In high-voltage transmission lines, the tension tower needs to withstand the tension load of the overhead power line for a long time, which is prone to damage, and it is an important part of the inspection in the circuit inspection. In the modern circuit inspection process, operation and maintenance personnel mostly use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to photograph various parts of the tension tower, obtain inspection images, and manually classify and name the massive inspection images, which is low in accuracy and efficiency. Based on the above problems, this paper collects a large number of real-life UAV inspection images of various parts of a tension tower, and proposes the Stower-13 inspection image dataset, which is used to train the classification model to achieve automatic classification and naming of inspection images. Based on this dataset, this paper also proposes an improved MobileViT model, in which the Scale-Correlated Pyramid Convolution Block Attention Block (SCPCbam) module is introduced, which adds the Convolution Block Attention Module (CBAM) to the four branches of the original Scale-Correlated Pyramid Convolution (SCPC) module, so as to strengthen the ability of image multi-scale information extraction and improve the classification accuracy. This paper discusses a number of experiments on the model, and the experimental results show that the dataset proposed in this paper helps the model to understand the feature information. At the same time, the improved MobileViT model has a strong ability to extract image spatial feature information, the classification accuracy is higher than that of other models of the same type, so it is able to cope with a wide range of problems that arise in the course of practice, and it meets the practical needs of automatically naming transmission line inspection images.

Understanding Clinical Learning Quality Aspects in Mental Health Nursing Practice Course among Students: A Comprehensive Examination.

There is a growing demand for comprehensive evaluations of the clinical learning quality of nursing education and the necessity to establish robust predictors and mediators for enhancing its outcomes within the context of mental health practice. This study is threefold: 1. Evaluating nursing students' clinical learning quality before and after mental health nursing practice; 2. Establish if the grade of a theoretical course in mental health nursing and the student's perception of their theoretical knowledge level predicts the grade of mental health nursing practice; 3. Explore how model learning opportunities, self-directed learning, safety, and nursing care quality mediate learning environment quality and tutorial strategies quality following mental health nursing practice. Using a before and after the study, 107 undergraduate nursing students at an Israeli university completed a questionnaire and the Clinical Learning Quality Evaluation Index tool to assess their perceptions of clinical learning quality before and after mental health nursing practice. The results showed a decline in students' perceptions of tutorial strategy quality following mental health practical learning in clinical settings, with the theoretical course grade predicting the practical experience grade and underscoring the mediating role of learning opportunities between the learning environment and tutorial strategies. The study's findings emphasize the importance of an adaptive learning environment and a solid theoretical foundation in fostering effective tutorial strategies and enhancing the overall learning outcomes for nursing students in mental health education.

The Effectiveness of Explainer Video Duration as a Delivery of Practical Course Teaching Material in Sipejar

In the current digital era, video media, particularly explainer videos, are increasingly utilized for distance learning. However, student interest in explainary video media remains low, as evidenced by the fact that only 30% of the number of students who watch explainer videos until the end of the video. This study aims to identify the effectiveness of the duration of learning media through explainer videos in the context of material delivery. Explainer videos are widely recognized as effective form of learning media that uses animation, graphics, and narration to convey information visually and auditively. This study, conducted using qualitative methods, utilized survey and experimental data to evaluate the impact of explainer video duration on student comprehension. Data were obtained through questionnaires completed by viewers who had watched explainer videos of varying durations. In addition, assessments of student understanding were also carried out through tests involving material presented in explainer videos. Teachers and content creators should consider the appropriate duration to maintain the effectiveness of learning through this medium. The results of this study indicate that short and focused explainer videos can help enhance student understanding and maintain optimal concentration levels. It is recommended that explainer videos be presented in an interesting and clear style, with effective narration, and use relevant animations and graphics. Keywords: duration of learning media, explainer video, effectiveness, education

Pre-service music teachers’ satisfaction with the teacher education curriculum in northern China

Pre-service music teachers’ satisfaction with the curriculum has implications for student learning and curriculum development. It is necessary to investigate pre-service music teachers’ satisfaction with the curriculum to help universities respond to changing social needs. However, there is lack of empirical studies on this topic in China. This study aims to explore the degree of satisfaction of pre-service music teachers in northern China with the curriculum to reveal the current challenges and issues in music teacher education. For this, a quantitative statistical method was adopted to conduct a questionnaire survey among 421 pre-service music teachers who major in music education in four different universities in northern China. The satisfaction survey regarding curriculum content and curriculum design was conducted to identify challenges and issues in the current music teacher education curriculum. The results show that pre-service music teachers are moderately satisfied with the curriculum. The findings indicate the following: 1. Teaching methods are monotonous; 2. There is some ambiguity concerning teaching objectives and training standards; 3. Practical courses and practice mentors need to improve; and 4. Pre-service music teachers lack confidence in the preparation for teaching in the future. Universities can significantly contribute to improving curriculum satisfaction and students’ confidence in teaching preparation by actively providing teaching-related knowledge, skills, policies and goals. Universities should consider the learning needs of pre-service music teachers and improve traditional teacher-centered teaching methods to improve teaching quality.

Curriculum Reform of Preschool Education Majors

The course of "Early Childhood Health Care" covers a lot of knowledge about the protection and maintenance of young children's health, which plays an important supporting role in frontline childcare work. After reforming the course, students can improve their childcare skills and be more competent in childcare work in kindergartens. Due to the high degree of coupling between the OBE (output based education) concept of higher education curriculum reform and the curriculum reform of early childhood health care in preschool education majors, this concept is closely related to the curriculum reform of early childhood health care. Because the course of "Early Childhood Health Care" is a practical course that emphasizes practical application and is very important for improving students' childcare skills, this article analyzes the shortcomings in the current implementation process of the "Early Childhood Health Care" course in preschool education majors and proposes reasonable curriculum reform measures.

Enhancing self-learning skills and quality through formative actions and feedback within chemistry classes in the laboratory – A useful model

In here a novel method is described to improve student success rates in a first-year basic chemistry theoretical/practical hybrid course (n = 31 students) by implementing simple ways of formative assessment. This to reduce student dropout rates following the philosophy of encouraging students’ self-control. Essential is to train first-year bachelor students in their self-learning skills and to enhance their evaluative judgment. As a result, students are able to provide better quality of the assessment products at the end of the course. In practice the course is redesigned and intervention tools are integrated at multiple levels throughout the course. The lecturers’ role was adapted to a coaching role, thereby introducing low-effort personalized micro-interventions to meet the personalized needs of students. To clarify these learning needs for students, awareness of the quality desired for the final assessment products is important. Awareness was improved by providing examples of varying quality and introducing multiple peer- and self-assessment moments during the course. The final evaluation of the course examination products showed that the quality of the laboratory notebook was substantially higher after following this approach. Additionally students learned other important skills such as self-learning skills, collaborating in practical work and giving and receiving feedback. Unexpectedly, the high perceived lecturers’ workload decreased. The work presented here provides a novel approach in the form of a model and a practical blueprint with tools for a practical chemistry course design which develops students’ self-learning skills thereby substantially improving student success rates. In our example course, the ultimate student success rate increased form 83 % to 95 % after using this novel approach.

Improving a practical course assignment for mechatronics education

Hands-on learning is widely recognized as an essential component of mechatronics education. In this article, we describe an implementation of a student work assignment in an advanced course in mechatronics. The article compares the previous free-form project with the new common-form exercise. The purpose is to renew the form, execution, and grading of the assignment, for better control over the learning outcomes and focusing the workload of the teaching staff without needlessly limiting the students’ own exploration of the topic. The evaluation is based on the teachers’ observations and the students’ feedback. In the assignment, the students will design and build a controllable see-saw mechanism powered by ordinary computer cooling fans. Similar experiments are commonly used for teaching in the form of ready-made plans, kits or complete devices. In our version, we wanted to involve the students in the lower level design to better illustrate the effects of mechanical details on the control system. The updated exercise was well received, the students reported clearer understanding of the synergy between the different disciplines of mechatronics, and the teachers were able to provide more comprehensive assistance on questions. Some challenges were identified, including a lack of analytical research by the students when not specifically prompted to do so. In our opinion this renewed approach is flexible enough to accommodate students from various backgrounds and helps the teachers to better adjust the supplied materials according to their students’ particular needs.

Research on the Path of College Social Practice Course

At present, many colleges and universities do not pay enough attention to social practice courses, and there are problems such as lack of pertinence and effectiveness in content and single mode. Based on the background of the new era, this paper analyzes the existing problems of the social practice course of the theory course in colleges and universities, hoping to further improve the teaching quality of the theory course in colleges and universities by improving the system, clarifying the course orientation, perfecting the course system, innovating the teaching mode and other forms.

A Study of Small-Scale Aircraft Carrier Modelling in Educational Practice

The oceans boast abundant resources, making the ocean economy a crucial global component. Consequently, the training of personnel in marine engineering is paramount. Practical courses play a pivotal role in this professional learning journey. However, several colleges and universities struggle to offer practical courses due to resource constraints and other challenges. Ship modelling emerges as a promising solution to overcome these limitations, offering a cost-effective practical learning approach. This paper employs a task-based teaching method to investigate the practical education of undergraduate marine engineering students, utilizing the ship working group of the Poetic Marine Engineering Team at Guangdong Ocean University, with aircraft carrier modelling as the focal point. The findings reveal that learners participating in ship modelling practical classes exhibit enhanced abilities across various domains, including professional knowledge, skills, future planning, and innovation. This study holds implications for learning within the marine engineering field.

Enhancing educational technology practical course: Designing and validating tools for evaluating knowledge, performance, and satisfaction of public health students.

The present study was conducted with the aim of designing and validating questionnaires for evaluating the public health students' knowledge, performance, and satisfaction (KPS) in the course of educational technology. The present study was conducted with qualitative-quantitative approach. Qualitative stage was done based on experts'opinion and related articles and questionnaires for developing, designing, and validating the tools. For validating the tools, face validity and content validity was done based on the opinion of the 10 expert panel. In quantitative stage, all initial validated tools were implemented on 50 students of public health for determining the reliability. The reliability of the tools was calculated using the internal consistency method of the items with Cronbach's ⍺ coefficient, and Kuder-Richardson. All analyses were conducted using SPSS-19 software. In the field of qualitative research, an assessment tool consisting of 20 four-option questions was designed. The content validity of this tool was confirmed based on the opinions of 10 educational experts, with CVI Total = 0.862 and CVR = 0.885. Additionally, the reliability of the tool was validated through testing on 50 public health students, resulting in a reliability coefficient of r = 0.780. Furthermore, for performance evaluation, four assessment tools each comprising 20 questions (totaling 80 questions) were designed. The validity values for these tools in the areas of PowerPoint (CVI = 0.981, CVR = 0.960), pamphlet (CVI = 0.866, CVR = 0.877), poster (CVI = 0.871, CVR = 0.906), role-playing (CVI = 0.871, CVR = 0.980), and the reliability of the tools with Cronbach's ⍺ r > 0.80 were confirmed. In the satisfaction assessment section, a researcher-made questionnaire consisting of 18 questions across seven domains was designed, with confirmed content validity (CVI = 0.949, CVR = 0.861) and reliability (r = 0.928). It seems that this tool can be used to measure the KPS of students from the educational technology course of the health field and similar fields.

Exploration of the Practical Teaching Model for Artificial Intelligence Majors in Higher Vocational Colleges

To enhance the comprehensive quality and employability of students majoring in artificial intelligence technology applications, this paper proposes a practical teaching model reform that integrates industry-education integration and job-course integration. This proposal is based on an analysis of the current situation of practical teaching positioning, practical teaching system, and evaluation standards for artificial intelligence majors. This paper suggests cultivating high-quality and high standard artificial intelligence professionals who meet the current industry needs through conceptual innovation, reconstruction of practical course system, and reform of multi-dimensional practical teaching evaluation system.

Development of scientific speech of master's students in architecture

Introduction. The pertinence of the considered problem is stipulated by the fact that nowadays the research aspect is becoming an important part of the master's degree programs in the world's leading architectural schools, and mastering research skills requires the ability to properly present the results of the conducted research in a master's thesis. In the scientific literature there is a growing number of publications dedicated to the formation of professional research competence and skills of writing research texts in native and foreign languages among master's degree architect students. Unresolved problems include the preparation of programs, selection of content and conditions of implementation of such courses. The integrated objective of the paper is to propose a tested structural and content model of the course on the development of scientific speech of future architects. Research methods. The content of the lecture and practical course is based on the author's manuals and the author's monograph, on the material of modern Russian and foreign research on scientific functional style, the study of the language (vocabulary and terminology) of architecture. Texts from literary sources of interest to architects were used as examples. Research results. Successful accomplishment of course objectives is the result of the development and implementation of the structural and content model of teaching in the educational process, including the author's course program and the basic author's methodology, inextricably linked with modern philological studies of architectural and construction discourse, including the sublanguage of architecture and architectural terminology. With the discipline's focus on the formation of general language, universal and professional culture of future masters of architecture it is advisable to use a cross-genre methodological model of teaching with the reliance on the leading principles of construction and implementation of the course such as educational content selection, scientific approach, rationality, historicism, taking into account the motivation and needs of students, accessibility of didactic material, individual approach in teaching, educational teaching and interactivity described information could be interesting for teachers of the Russian language of architectural and construction universities. Conclusion. The described course helps architecture graduate students to broaden their general cultural and professional outlook, to get an idea of another kind of language – scientific language and its genres, scientific communication in Russian, and to master the skills of Russian scientific writing. The course gives students a new perspective on the texts they produce, helps them to understand their own identity as a linguistic person who is as much responsible for the creation of written texts as for the results of architectural and urban planning projects.