Presence Of Course Research Articles

STEM-ОСВІТА НА ВІДКРИТИХ ОСВІТНІХ ПЛАТФОРМАХ

Modern society functions under the influence of technology, thanks to which all areas of its life are developing. This contributed to the emergence of a new direction in education - the STEM direction, which combines natural sciences (Science), technology (Technology), engineering (Engineering) and mathematics (Mathematics). This direction is focused on applied research in solving specific problems and using at the same time interdisciplinary connections, concepts and methods, which today are followed and formed in natural and technical sciences and mathematics and digital technologies. The study of the STEM direction is not yet provided for in the main curriculum of educational institutions but takes place mostly through webinars, advanced training courses, conferences, etc. And with the introduction of distance learning into the educational process, electronic educational platforms for mastering certain knowledge have become relevant. The purpose of the article is the analysis of educational resources regarding the provision of STEM education or the training of teachers for its implementation. The article examines well-known foreign (Coursera, edX, Udemy) and Ukrainian (Prometheus and EdEra) open educational platforms. The choice of these platforms is based on: popularity, a convenient interface with the ability to filter courses, the presence of courses with the word "STEM" in the title, free access. The considered quantitative analysis of STEM courses on the specified platforms showed that there are no STEM courses on Ukrainian platforms. To get an idea of the capacity (content) of STEM-related courses, we took individual courses on the Coursera, edX, Udemy platforms. Namely, the course "Emprendiendo en STEM" (Coursera), "Advancing Learning Through Evidence-Based STEM Teaching" (edX), "Finding the Art in Engineering - STEM to STEAM" (Udemy). Based on the results of the analysis of courses on open educational platforms related to STEM education, it was concluded that Coursera contains the largest number of courses that mention STEM. At the same time, examples of their completion show that the developers do not offer courses specifically for acquiring STEM education.

A students’ oppinion on the importance of natural history collections and taxonomy in Brazil

Natural history collections (NHCs) contain valuable information that can be used in different fields of knowledge, and aid in the development of society, science, and technology. The role of curators and taxonomists in maintaining and improving biological collections is essential, as these are fundamental for the understanding of biodiversity. However, the role of taxonomists and the importance of NHCs to society have been undervalued in recent years. We, while attending a graduate program on collections at PUCRS, noted a gap in knowledge about scientific collections. Was this gap, which continued from our undergraduate to graduate years, a mere coincidence or widespread in biological science programs in Brazil? We queried 126 Brazilian institutions of higher education to assess the presence of courses related to natural-history collections and taxonomy. A total of 25 private and 37 public universities from 126 institutions searched, have a program of study in biological sciences in the curriculum on their websites. About 16% offer some course related to NHCs or taxonomy, and all of them are public institutions. Despite the budget cutting made by the Brazilian government that make it even more difficult to recognize NHCs and related areas, we believe that there should be more links among researchers from different areas and especially between the levels of basic and higher education, so that students are exposed to this subject early in their education. We, as Brazilian students, believe that more information on NHC-related issues and taxonomic subjects is urgently needed in biological science programs.

Translation Technology in English Studies Within the System of Higher Education in Poland

The study is focused on translation technology within the system of higher education in Poland, specifically English Studies offering translation specialization at BA and MA level, as well as postgraduate studies aimed at translators of English. The conducted analysis of translation curricula of Polish universities investigates the presence of courses devoted to the use of translation technology and seeks to determine whether such courses are offered at a given level of higher education, where in the system most of the courses are placed, and when they are mostly organized. First, however, a brief overview of different aspects determining the inclusion of translation technology in curricula are discussed. Here, the main stress is placed on its importance for the translation markets, the skills and knowledge obtained by students entering the market which are desired by translation agencies, elements affecting the selection of given translation software, the necessary infrastructure to run such courses, the costs of the programmes, ‘human resources’, the policies of universities, etc. The short discussion is followed by an analysis of the available courses, with each section devoted to one of the levels of the Polish higher education system, namely BA, MA and postgraduate studies. The courses within each level are briefly compared to provide some general tendencies for each type of studies. The final, concluding part of the study summarizes the results and stresses the need for further introduction of translation technology into translation curricula.

Bringing Light to Science Undergraduate Students: A Successful Laboratory Experiment Illustrating the Principles and Applications of Bioluminescence

Although many laboratory experiments are available to illustrate spectrophotometric or fluorometric methods, few of them introduce the use of luminometry to students. Bioluminescence, a subtype of chemiluminescence, is produced when an enzyme-catalyzed chemical reaction gives rise to light emission. Despite the advantages of bioluminescent methods, including sensitivity and specificity, and their increasing use in experimental sciences and biomedical laboratories, their presence in courses is almost nonexistent. The luciferase-catalyzed enzymatic reaction has generated a myriad of practical applications, including those derived from the measurement of the ATP consumed in the reaction. In particular, the measurement of ATP levels in drinking or stored waters directly correlates with their bacteria content, facilitating the development of rapid methods for detecting bacterial contamination. This avoids the long waiting time associated with traditional microbiological methods, based on the growth of the microorganisms in a suitable culture medium. Over the past two years at the University of Malaga, we have implemented a new laboratory experiment for undergraduate chemistry and biochemistry students. In this experiment, students detected bacterial contamination in water by quantifying ATP with the luciferase-catalyzed reaction. The experiment was successfully implemented in two different formats, either as a full project developed by students throughout the entire duration of the academic course, or as a short protocol, carried out in a single laboratory session. Between them, a whole range of intermediate options could be arranged by educators to suit their course requirements and the learning objectives to be achieved by students.

Process safety education: A comparative study

More than a decade ago Dutch and German Institutions expressed their worries about the decline in education on and research in the field of Process Safety. More recently the IChemE (UK) published a report “Improve Process Safety Education in Undergraduate engineering”. In France several publications from teaching staff of multiple universities raise questions on “why, what, and how to teach Process Safety”. The Dutch Institution AGS† made a number of recommendeations to counter-act the decline, the German Institution Dechema-ProcessNet released a position paper with recommendations for Education, in France the discussion continues, especially for the content of the study prgramme of the Engineering Schools.Time to investigate if the worries are still valid and what has been done with the recommendations.From a selection European universities, the curricula Chemical Engineering (both BSc and MSc) were examined for the presence of courses ‘Process Safety’. If present, the topics taught within and the time involved (as % ECTS from the total ECTS of the curriculum) were analysed. The analysis shows that the time taken to teach process safety subjects is on average 1.6 % of the total ECTS of the BSc curriculum and 3.4 % for the MSc curriculum. Next, the study searched for key-words in the description of the courses Process Safety. The key-words were categorised to allow a sensible analysis. The gathered data have been clustered into topics, using domains (AGS) and taxonomy (MKOPSC) as a guide. Furthermore, the study reveals that there is no consensus on what subjects to be educated as the ‘absolute minimum’ in curricula Chemical Engineering. Neither in the regular curricula nor in the ‘Advanced MSc’ ones, is a common base found on what to teach as a minimum. A foreseeable consequence of the limited amount of time devoted to Process Safety in regular BSc and MSc curricula, is that the subjects are taught in one or two courses rather than spread evenly over years or semesters. Rather than in one single course, educationalists would prefer to teach engineering and safety courses alternately.Examination of the course contents shows that the subjects taught within process safety courses are well-known, leaving less room to discuss new theories. This is quite acceptable for undergraduate education but for graduate programmes and especially the Advanced MSc, subjects at the forefront of knowledge would be expected. Operating in the forefront of knowledge will originate from research and as pointed out by the Dutch AGS report, a critical mass of research staff is needed to safeguard the development of new knowledge. Alas, the opposite is seen. As the number of students choosing science declines, staff is reduced, chairs are abolished and research effort diminishes accordingly. However, the needs of industry doesn’t decline proportionally. For that reason a plea is made to join forces and build an Advanced MSc programme ‘Process Safety’ taught by a partnership of several universities, with some distribution of safety research in partnership.

Climate change and environmental health in undergraduate health degrees in Latin America.

ABSTRACTOBJECTIVE:Analyze the incorporation of climate change and environmental health courses in the curriculum grids of Medicine, Nursing, Nutrition and Clinical Psychology undergraduate courses in Latin American universities.METHODS:Descriptive and cross-sectional document review. Curriculum grids of the top ten Latin American universities were analyzed according to the rankings of QS Latin American University 2020, Times Higher Education World University 2020 and Academic Ranking of World Universities 2019. The presence of courses related to climate change and environmental health was sought in each curriculum grid.RESULTS:104 of the 161 universities included in the study offered Medicine courses, 93 Nursing courses, 77 Nutrition courses and 118 Clinical Psychology courses. Most of the curriculum grids incorporated courses in public health and/or epidemiology (more than 70%); however, between 22% and 41% included courses on environmental health, and only one curriculum grid had a course on climate change in Medicine and Nursing (1%).CONCLUSIONS:Courses on climate change and environmental health have been scarcely introduced in the curriculum grids of the health field in Latin American universities. This could weaken the important role that health professionals play in providing health care to the population.

The Presence of Courses that Address Diversity in Community College Curricula

ABSTRACT With the growing diversity of the population in the United States, it is becoming increasingly important to teach students about issues related to diversity. This is especially true in the community college where a large, and diverse, number of students enter postsecondary education. This study employed a descriptive design of the catalogs of 145 rural, suburban, and urban community colleges with varied enrollments throughout the United States to determine how many courses that address diversity were offered, including the department offering the course and the specific focus. Findings revealed that colleges classified as small and medium were less likely to offer these courses, as were colleges located in rural areas and towns and those located in New England, the middle section of the United States, and the South.

Project Management (PM) Tools: Awareness, Acceptance of Learningand Use, User Selected Tools, and Usage Degree in Egypt: The Case Study of College of Management and Technology (CMT)

This research aims to examine Project Management (PM) tools considering the awareness, acceptance of learning and use, user-selected tools, and usage degree in the College of Management and Technology (CMT), in light of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Having most of HE community members in the same age range, although their diversity of awareness, motives to learn and use, tools selection reasons, usage degree of PM tools, and software encourage conducting such research. The research targets the project team leaders, supervisors, and managers (majored students and staff members) as PM tools' end-users. The research participants belonged to three departments in the CMT. The presence of courses with projects in their study plans was the selection reason. Thus supports the variability of end-users back-grounds, interests, learning competencies, readiness, and project sector. The participants were surveyed through a designed questionnaire. Some surveying questions were changed and analyzed independently in accordance to the participants' group. The sample reached 113 participants - 86 students and 27 staff members, a descriptive analysis, correlation, and chi-square tests were conducted. The research discussed the relationships between the awareness, acceptance of learning and use, user-selected tools, and usage degree and concluded that the enhancement of end-user learning and adoption practices relied on distinguishing the impacts of individuals' factors based on their belonged group. Such a step may support team leaders, supervisors, and managers with a guide on how to encourage end-user learning and adoption.

Análisis longitudinal del desempeño académico de estudiantes de educación superior en un curso autónomo en línea

E-learning implies the self-management of learning. When the virtual environment demands a high level of autonomy, it is possible to do without a teacher because the techno-educational resources are self-operated to promote learning conditions. Under these conditions, the absence of a teacher/classmates could create a perception of isolation and favour negative outcomes in the process of learning, thus, to evaluate the social presence in courses with a high level of autonomy is important to describe how and under what conditions it can affect the student’s performance. The main purpose of this study was to compare the grades of two groups enrolled in an autonomous online course; one of them got a «Minimal Social Presence» condition and the other group served as a control group. 137 college students participated, the sampling was not random and it was used a mixed factorial design 2 X 5. The factors of the research design were a) Social Presence and b) time; the dependent variable, the grades of the course were measured in five different times, to analyze the data, a mixed-factorial ANOVA design was calculated. The outcome shows that there is no interaction between time x Social Presence nor main effects of Social Presence over the grades; however, time was a significant factor to explain the variance in the evaluations. These results are discussed in terms of the scopes that autonomous courses may have and the roll of the Social Presence in learning conditions with a high level of self-management and autonomy.

Investigating teacher presence in courses using synchronous videoconferencing

This research examines teacher presence in high school distance courses that are delivered by synchronous videoconference. In rural and remote areas, many school districts are using videoconferencing as way to reach dispersed students. This collective case study uses mixed methods to unpack the notion of presence from the perspective of teachers and their students. This study reports four key findings which have implications for building presence in a videoconference course: teachers’ confidence and experience aligned with higher presence; teaching videoconference and face-to-face classes simultaneously led to challenges with developing presence; immediacy behaviors correlated with higher presence; and, students’ learning preference related to perceived teacher presence. These findings confirm many of the issues raised in the literature about technology integration but also contribute new perspectives on teaching presence in a videoconference.

The lack of a non-communicable disease curriculum threatens the relevance of global public health education.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), cancer, lung disease and diabetes are major public health challenges for emerging economies. However, Masters of Public Health (MPH) curricula in the USA do not provide germane coursework. To assess the availability of global NCD courses in MPH curricula, we searched the websites of the 50 schools accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health as of 1 July 2013. Our questionnaire queried availability of a global or international health department or track, availability of an NCD track, and the presence of courses on NCD, NCD risk factors, CVD or global NCDs as well as global health infrastructure. All schools had online course coursework available. Thirty-one schools (62%) offered a global/international health track or certificate; 38 (76%) offered an NCD course but only 4 (8%) offered a global NCD course. Of the schools with a global health program, none required an NCD course but all offered courses on global health economics or infrastructure. For public health schools to be aligned with global realities and to retain a leadership role, curricular initiatives that highlight the NCD epidemic and its societal complexities will need new emphasis.

Creative group performances to assess core competencies in a first-year patient-centered medicine course

Introduction: A novel assessment of systems-based practice and practice-based learning and improvement learning objectives, implemented in a first-year patient-centered medicine course, is qualitatively described.Methods: Student learning communities were asked to creatively demonstrate a problem and solution for health care delivery. Skits, filmed performances, plays, and documentaries were chosen by the students. Video recordings were reviewed for themes and the presence of course competencies.Results: All performances demonstrated not only the index competencies of team work and facilitation of the learning of others, but many other core objectives of the course. The assignment was rated positively both by the faculty and the students, and has been added to the assessment modalities of the course.

Expanding the Canon: South Asian Dance Training in British Universities

An increasing emphasis on multicultural and contextual studies approaches to dance education is evident in curriculum developments, with South Asian dance attaining a stronger presence in courses at British universities. This paper considers a range of aesthetic and pedagogic issues about how South Asian dance technique is situated in dance courses in relation to its position as a contextual subject. To what extent does technical training inform a contextual and aesthetic understanding? How do classical forms sit alongside training in contemporary dance and choreography?

Fine Structure of Interfaces as Revealed by Lattice Fringe Imaging

Interfaces play a critical role in determining the ultimate macroscopic properties of many materials. Their presence of course can be detected by conventional microscopy methods. However, many of the phenomena associated with interfaces still lack a basic understanding in terms of fine structure and this is clearly an area to which high resolution TEM techniques can be applied. Definite progress has been achieved recently and this paper reviews the contributions made by lattice fringe imaging.It is well-known that the experimental conditions for obtaining lattice images are quite stringent. This is even more the case if two or more crystal orientations or phases are involved. For instance a grain boundary separates two crystals whose orientations are in general random with respect to the electron beam.