Separate Courses Research Articles

Content lecturer and quality interaction in EMI university classrooms: a longitudinal case study

ABSTRACT While ‘interactive’ and ‘student-centered teaching’ are becoming buzzwords when promoting international English Medium Instruction (EMI) tertiary programmes in non-Anglophone countries, studies found that fewer lecturers possessed the competencies needed to teach content subjects interactively. This longitudinal case study looked beyond content lecturers’ language proficiency, instead, addressing their interactional competencies based on the framework of ‘Quality Interaction in Pedagogy’. The objectives were (1) to explore the interaction-related problems and behavioural triggers experienced by an untrained EMI lecturer of political science, and (2) to empirically assess the framework by observing classroom interactions before and after teacher training. The main participant was a non-native English-speaking lecturer (n = 1) teaching undergraduate students (n = 62) enrolled in three separate courses at Japanese universities. The study found that the framework was useful for measuring the effectiveness of classroom interactions after teacher training. The results also suggested that its systematic application done by extending Initiation-Response-Feedback sequences or broadening teacher language functions could enhance the quality of teacher-student interactions in tertiary contexts. These measures make a conceptually robust framework to help bridge applied linguists and content specialists on the issue of interactivity in EMI.

TEACHING SCHOOLCHILDREN TO BE TOLERANT: THE EXPERIENCE IN UKRAINE

The experience of implementing the ideas of tolerance in schools of Ukraine from the end of the XX century to date is presented. In the study, tolerance stands as an integral part of the State standard of basic and complete general secondary education and the result of students mastering training courses on human rights and civic education. A review of school practice suggests that the introduction of tolerance began with the processes of democratization and humanization of education in the late twentieth century and was done purposefully and systematically through the organization of the educational process on the basis of mutual respect, harmony and democracy, and the introduction of separate courses. The authors conduct a retrospective review of the training courses introduced in the schools of Ukraine, highlighting the topics, forms, methods of tolerance formation, as well as various aspects of the implementation of the principles of tolerance. Research attention is focused on the effectiveness of the competence approach in education as a key in the process of forming student tolerance and partnership pedagogy as a necessary condition for learning in a modern school.

Covid-19: knowledge, risk perception, trust and vaccination readiness among German medical students

IntroductionThe Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the urgency for innovative vaccine strategies since the best of vaccines cannot be useful if people do not accept vaccinations. The current situation suggests that vaccinology has been ignored in the medical curriculum and needs more representation in teaching.ObjectivesWhat, where and how vaccinology is taught during medical studies in Heidelberg and development of an interdisciplinary revised syllabus and practice-oriented teaching methods.MethodsCurricular mapping of courses on the topic of “vaccination”, defining new learning objectives for designing innovative teaching units in consultation with teachers and students, redevelopment and updating of teaching materials.ResultsIn preliminary work, an OSCE has been created by students. Initial findings on the status of teaching on vaccinations and related communication skills in medical schools of Germany with respect to student needs and the national guidelines on learning goals for future physicians are submitted in journal ‘Vaccine’. In collaboration with the elective track Digital Medicine, two tele-OSCEs, an online knowledge quiz on vaccination education and a corresponding evaluation tool will be developed in WS 2021/22. Students will learn how to create modern teaching methods and evaluate them scientifically, using a concrete and relevant topic as an example, and will gain an insight into teaching.ConclusionsThe findings will be integrated into the Heidelberg medical school curriculum (HeiCuMed) on a long-term basis by developing a comprehensive interdisciplinary module ‘Vaccination and Vaccines’, which can either be integrated into various existing courses (e.g. virology, medical Communication, global health, etc) or as a separate elective interprofessional course.DisclosureNo significant relationships.

Do Saudi medical schools consider the core topics in undergraduate medical curricula?

BackgroundMost of the medical schools in Saudi Arabia are currently evolving their curricula in accordance with the most recognized medical education trends worldwide. Undergraduate medical school’s curriculum should be compatible with community health needs. Therefore, the study aims to explore the current contents of Saudi undergraduate medical curricula and to check if the core topics that were internationally recognized were implemented in their curriculum.MethodologyAn online questionnaire was designed and sent to 37 deans of medical schools in Saudi Arabia. The deans or the vice-deans in charge of the curriculum were asked to complete the pre-designed questionnaire, which assessed the status of inclusion of the core topics in the curriculum of their affiliated schools. Each listed core topic was evaluated according to five options for each subject: not included, separate required course, part of the required course, separate elective course, and part of an elective course.ResultsTwenty four out of 37 (65%) Saudi medical schools completed the survey questionnaire. Almost all core topics, such as communication skills, evidence-based medicine, patient safety, professionalism were included in the curricula of Saudi medical schools as separate required courses or as part of required courses or elective courses.Complementary and alternative medicine and the history of medicine were the topics least taught in Saudi medical colleges, as 25% of the schools did not include them in their curricula.ConclusionThe majority (65%) of the internationally recognized core topics were included in the Saudi undergraduate medical curricula. Evidence-based medicine, complementary medicine, the Saudi healthcare system, patient safety, and professionalism/medical ethics should be part of compulsory credited courses in all Saudi undergraduate medical curricula.

Summing up 10 years in a new medical school: Per aspera ad astra

Opening a new medical school and introducing an anatomy course is a rare opportunity for medical anatomy educators. Here we sum our experience in an ongoing 10‐year anatomy program, emphasizing the challenges we endured, the hardships and successes in the hope that others can learn from our experience.In February 2010, Bar Ilan University was chosen by the Israeli Council for Higher Education to open a new, fifth, medical faculty. A mere eight months later, the school opened its gates to a class of 70 students in the northern city of Safed. This new faculty, dedicated to establishing connections to the local community, enabled us to develop and implement a new anatomy curriculum.The basic course incorporated frontal lectures, dissection labs, basic systematic physiology, clinical correlation lectures and imaging labs. The initial curriculum included trunk and Head & neck regions spanning 5 weeks. After the first couple of years, the length and contents of the course started to change and adapt according to the needs of our faculty, and by input from physicians as well as students. Over the years student number rose to 100, and the course expanded to 10 weeks to incorporate the entire body aside from neuroanatomy, which is taught in a separate course. Histology and embryology were included; ultrasound hands‐on labs were added; and virtual anatomy sessions were integrated to the program. Clinical and physiological correlate lectures were cut down, with the understating, backed by students’ evaluations, that this was too early for them, and focus should remain on basic normal anatomy. On the other hand, more time was added to imaging sessions and lectures, as most modern physicians use these techniques in their everyday clinical practice. While originally relaying on retired physicians to serve as dissection instructors, we initialed a near‐peer students dissection instructors’ program that was met with great success.In the last couple of years our program and indeed the entire medical school was heavily impacted by the ongoing Covid‐19 pandemic. While lectures were taken to virtual platform, we decided to continue dissection sessions as normally as possible, with strict mandatory regulations including personal protective gear and keeping students’ number within the lab to a minimum of 15, 7‐8 students per cadaver. Students were highly appreciative of our efforts, and course scoring was exceptionally high.The last 10 years has shown us that anatomy, a basic and important tradition, could be taught in many exceptional ways, and we should always strive to improve. But perhaps even more important is the understating that we are educators to whom our students look up to, and endurance, perseverance, resourcefulness, and professionalism are just as important as scholastic knowledge.

Преподавание финансовой грамотности в образовательных организациях Липецкой области: анализ результатов мониторинга

The article was devoted to a comparative analysis of the features of teaching financial literacy in preschool, general and professional educational organizations of the Lipetsk Region in Russia. The results of the monitoring of the place and role of aspects of teaching financial literacy in the educational practices of organizations in the Lipetsk Region showed a controversial picture. On the one hand, monitoring revealed the presence in the educational programs of most organizations of modules in the direction of financial literacy. On the other hand, the total amount of hours allocated for the development of financial literacy is not significant and is mainly implemented in extracurricular activities. It was concluded that the greatest problems are present at the level of general education, where the absence of separate financial literacy courses in educational practices is noticeable. Educational and outreach activities to improve financial literacy are actively implemented in the segments of educational and extracurricular activities, remaining in most organizations outside of elective courses. The results of the monitoring allow us to speak about the readiness of the education system in the Lipetsk Region to act as one of the institutions for improving the level of financial literacy, provided that the place of the financial literacy course in educational activities increases, as well as the formation of conditions for the continuity of topics and practices of teaching the course at all levels of education.

The Effects of Virtual Reality Nonphysical Mental Training on Coordination and Skill Transfer in Healthy Adults

Mental training is a promising method to improve motor skills. However, transfer of these improvements to different skills or functional activities is still unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of mental balance training programs on motor coordination and skill transfer. Randomized controlled trial. Fifty-seven healthy adults (28 females and 29 males) aged between 18 and 25years participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to 3 groups: virtual reality (VR) mental training group, conventional mental training group, and control group. The training program included action observation and motor imagery practice with balance exercise videos. The VR mental training group trained with a VR head-mounted display and the conventional mental training group trained with a nonimmersive computer monitor for 30 minutes, 3 days per week, for 4 weeks. Coordination skills were tested with 2 separate custom-made obstacle course tests (OCT-1 and OCT-2). OCT tests included crouching, turning, leaning, stepping over, changing direction, walking on various surfaces, or using repeated hand and arm movement tasks. OCT-1 was used to investigate the effects of mental exercises on coordination skills, and OCT-2 to investigate transfer effects for novel tasks. Test time (total and corrected) and error types (minor, major, and total) were recorded. Touching an obstacle without changing its position was classified as a minor error, and changing its position was a major error. OCT-1 test time and number of errors significantly decreased in the VR mental training and conventional mental training groups, but not in the control group. The number of minor errors was only decreased in the VR mental training group. For OCT-2, total and corrected time were not significantly different between the groups. However, both training groups were significantly superior to the control group for all types of errors. Our findings suggest that both training interventions can significantly improve coordination and skill transfer test results. In addition, VR mental training may have some advantages over conventional mental training. These findings are promising for the use of mental training for prevention and rehabilitation in special populations.

Assessment of Health Sciences Students’ Knowledge and Awareness of the Covid-19 Pandemic: Sample of One University from Turkey

Individuals getting information and understanding of the Covid-19 pandemic that shook the world are intimately tied to the disease's prevention and decreasing its severity. The purpose of the study is to determine the fundamental level of Covid-19 disease knowledge-awareness among university students studying health sciences. The study is descriptive and cross-sectional. The data were gathered using an online test administered by a private university between June and July 2020. It consists of 25 multiple-choice questions covering seven knowledge-awareness subject areas, including virus knowledge, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. 339 students from 14 different healthcare fields took part in the study. All students had a 15.4±3.0 correct answer average, a 61.7±14.5 total score average, and a moderate level of information awareness (=50–64 points). Seven of the test’s questions (1, 4, 13, 15, 18, 21, and 22) were answered correctly by ≥71% of the students. Seven questions (5, 7, 8, 16, 1, 19, and 2), on the other hand, received a £50% correct response rate. For the pandemic question, the meaning of the reproduction number (R-value) received the lowest percentage of correct answers (37.5%). When asked about their names and implications, the virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and cytokine storm had poor knowledge rates (41.3% and 46.0%, respectively). Students of the School of Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, and Pharmacy had greater correct response rates (68.4%), than those studying at the Faculty of Health Sciences and Vocational School (60.3% and 58.3%, p=0.001, respectively). The level of knowledge-awareness regarding Covid-19 disease among students was determined to be modest. The findings imply that students struggle with independent orientation to scientific information, curiosity, and agenda-following. Some improvements, such as regular information sessions and a separate course hour dedicated to this subject in the curriculum to manage the pandemic are suggested.

An Examination of Primary School Teachers' Opinions on Environmental Education and the Activities They Use to Teach Related Issues

This research aims to examine the activities used by primary school teachers to create environmental awareness in students based on awareness, knowledge, attitude, skill, and participation, which are the aims of environmental education, according to teachers' opinions. In the research, an instrumental case study, one of the qualitative research models, was conducted to determine the opinions of primary school teachers on environmental education. The convenience sampling method was preferred in determining the study group. The study group of the research consists of 24 different primary school teachers working in primary education institutions affiliated with the Ministry of National Education. What activities and opinions of primary school teachers were used in the formation of environmental awareness in children and their opinions were taken using the semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers. The responses given to the interview form were analyzed using content analysis. The findings obtained from the opinions of primary school teachers about the activities they use in environmental education are classified based on the aims of environmental education and presented under categories. The prominent results of the research regarding the activities applied in environmental education, it is seen that the classroom teachers mostly implement in-class activities. According to the results of the research, it is recommended to give environmental education as a separate course to provide more effective environmental education.

Doctoral Education in Ukraine: the Application of Digital Tools and Services by Doctoral Students under COVID-19 Pandemic

The paper aims to explore the peculiarities of doctoral education under COVID-19 in Ukraine. The application of digital instruments and services by doctoral students has become a priority during distance training. However, this approach is mainly a new experience and, accordingly, undergoes theoretical substantiation and piloting. The focus of the study is two-fold. It theoretically discusses the digital support of dissertation research at various stages. Secondly, based on the findings of the survey on the doctoral students’ application of digital tools and services the challenges have been identified. We conclude that the priority of digital education in the EU countries, especially under COVID-19 pandemic highlights the task of restructuring the doctoral education in Ukraine towards its dynamic digitalization. The digitization should be comprehensive and systematic. Systematization should include technical, organizational, motivational and developmental components aimed at synergy of institutions, doctoral students and supervisors. The complexity should include both the digitization of the training component and independent work of the doctoral students while writing a dissertation. The groups of DT&S for application by doctoral students are recommended for the inclusion into the doctoral students’ training curriculum both in the format of a separate course and by integration into the syllabi of other disciplines. Based on the research findings the targeted scientific/methodical events (seminars, master classes, doctoral schools, etc.) providing knowledge and skills on DT&S application are recommended.

Fostering Peer Learning With a Game-Theoretical Approach in a Blended Learning Environment

This study proposes a mechanism and an instructional design in order to foster well-organized peer learning based on game theory (PD_PL). The proposed mechanism uses prisoner’s dilemma (PD), the most widely known example of game theory in a dynamically blended and collaborative learning environment. PD_PL maps the strategy and payoff concepts found in PD onto a peer learning (PL) atmosphere. As is the case in PD, any greater effort made by both participants in PD_PL results in increased learning improvement. PD_PL was run in several sessions consisting of four separate university courses with 142 computer engineering students. We gave a pretest and a posttest before and after the PD_PL sessions, respectively. Then, we used paired Hotelling’s T-Square function to analyze the pretests and posttests and investigate the impacts of PD_PL and the proposed instructional design on students’ learning improvement. We had some missing data because some students were absent from some of the PD_PL sessions. As a requirement of paired Hotelling’s T-Square function, we applied the mean value, median value, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and fuzzy k-mean clustering (FKM) methods in order to deal with the problem of imputing missing data. The results of paired Hotelling’s T-Square indicate that PD_PL is a successful mechanism for encouraging the active participation of students in the PL process. Further analysis shows that PD_PL had sometimes even enhanced learning by up to 127.69%. We also observed that the senior students used PD_PL more successfully than the first-year students. The results of our subjective evaluation showed that the majority of the respondents found PD_PL to be an attractive and efficient tool for learning enhancement. Anyone interested in instructional designing for PL environments will find this study interesting. The mechanism could also be run in a learning management system (LMS) to prepare an effective situation of collaborative learning situation.

Chronology of the introduction of health-saving technologies in the educational process of KDPU

The system of health-preserving work of the educational institution began to be formed in 1930 with the establishment of the institute of professional training. In 1933, a military department was organized, whose teachers introduced physical education for students. In 1955, the Department of Physical Education was established on a professional basis with five teachers who promoted new forms of health and sports and mass work. According to the results of 1990, 98% of employees and students took the course "Civil Defense" at the Kryvyi Rih Pedagogical Institute. In 1992, the Department of Fundamentals of Medical Knowledge made the last graduation of students majoring in "Medical Training". Among the health disciplines, Valeology was introduced into the curriculum in the early 1990s as separate courses: Fundamentals of Valeology, Fundamentals of Health and Physical Education. According to the Charter of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine, the primary organization of the Red Cross Society was established in 2003 at the Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical Institute. A "Center for Health and Preservation" was established in 2003 on the basis of the valeology section. In 2005, in-service teacher training courses were organized. Since 1995, the disciplines "Civil Defense" and "Life Safety" have been introduced into the working curricula of the pedagogical institution of higher education. In 2004, an additional specialization "Physical Culture" was introduced in the training of specialists in the specialty "Primary Education" at the bachelor's and master's levels. In the coming years, the section "Valeology" coordinates the work of departments of faculties, other structural units of the educational institution on the formation of students and employees of the institute needs a healthy lifestyle, conducts explanatory and preventive measures provided by the comprehensive program for 2011-2015. In 2017, the Kyiv State Pedagogical University licensed the training of specialists of the first (bachelor's) level in the specialty 014 Secondary Education (Physical Culture) specializing in sports tourism. The study of the introduction of health-preserving technologies in the educational process of Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University since 1930 and to the present according to modern and archival documents has determined their compliance with program-normative and organizational principles of state educational policy.

Sociodemographic variables and ethical decision-making: a survey of professional accountants in Nigeria

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the role of selected sociodemographic variables in the ethical decision-making (EDM) process of professional accountants in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach The study obtained data from 329 professional accountants with the aid of a structured questionnaire containing four dilemmatic ethical vignettes. The data were analysed using Kendall correlation, Kruskal–Wallis and Jonckheere–Terpstra tests. Findings The results revealed that upbringing, especially parental discipline, and education are significant sociodemographic determinants of EDM. Religion and experience played little or no significant role in predicting accountants’ EDM in the face of ethical dilemmas. Research limitations/implications The study used a questionnaire to measure its variables, which may bias and somewhat inflate the findings. Hence, caution should be applied regarding its conclusion. Practical implications The evidence in this study could stimulate policy change and review to include a separate ethics course in the accounting education curriculum, which could enhance the ethics training of future accountants. This is important for countries like Nigeria, where no provision is made for a discrete ethics course in the curriculum for accounting under-graduate education. Social implications The study draws attention to the fact that ethical conduct among professionals and in society could be enhanced through proper upbringing and formal education. Originality/value The study adds some uniqueness in focusing on professional accountants in Nigeria, a developing country with high corruption profile and weak government institutions, and, as such, contributes to the limited research output on accounting ethics in developing countries.

Design of Oral English Teaching Based on Embedded Microprocessor

Under the background of internationalization, China has put forward the strategy of “one belt and one road”; this puts forward higher requirements for the cultivation of internationalized and compound talents for English majors in China. However, through the investigation of the present situation of College Students’ oral English teaching and their oral competence, it is found that college students’ oral English competence and intercultural communication competence are generally low. The teaching concept is backward, the teaching mode is outdated, there are few opportunities for oral practice, and there is a lack of real communication environment. The level of teachers needs to be improved. The purpose of this paper was to design oral English teaching based on embedded microprocessor, aiming at the empirical research on the cultivation of College Students’ intercultural communicative competence. This paper puts forward a teaching experiment scheme, which is guided by processor-based teaching method and guided by cultural teaching skills. Teaching skills refer to the stable and complex teaching behavior system formed by teachers using the existing teaching theoretical knowledge and practice. It includes both skills based on teaching theory and experience in practical use. In order to improve students’ intercultural communicative competence through oral class and to verify the applicability of processor-based approach in oral English class of College English to improve students’ intercultural communicative competence, this paper conducts a one-semester teaching experiment. Processor-based teaching method and traditional teaching method are used in the experiment. Through these two teaching methods, the standard deviations of test scores are 3.2 and 3.0, respectively. Embedded has become the most common application method for the intelligentization of electronic systems. In addition to setting up separate courses, embedded systems are the most widely used means in many practical aspects involved, such as course design, graduation design, graduate thesis, and other topics.

Radiotherapy for patients with Ledderhose disease: Long-term effects, side effects and patient-rated outcome

BackgroundThe purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term effects of radiotherapy for patients with Ledderhose disease. MethodsQuestionnaires were sent to all patients with Ledderhose disease who had been treated with radiotherapy at our centre between 2008 and 2017 and who consented to participate. Radiotherapy was performed with orthovolt or electrons in two separate courses of five daily fractions of 3 Gy. The questionnaires addressed items such as pain from Ledderhose disease (Brief Pain Inventory), quality of life (EURO-QOL-5D-5L), long-term side effects, and patients’ levels of satisfaction with the effect of treatment. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were used to analyse the results. ResultsA total of 102 feet were irradiated in 67 patients (28 men, 39 women). Radiotherapy resulted in significant pain reduction: the mean pain score prior to radiotherapy, collected retrospectively, was 5.7 and 1.7 at time of assessment (p-value < 0.001). The following pain response scores were reported: progressive pain (0%), no change (22%; 22 feet), partial pain response (37%; 38 feet) and complete pain response (absence of pain) (41%; 42 feet). Seventy-eight percent of patients were satisfied with the treatment effect and 57% did not consider radiotherapy burdensome. The scores for societal perspective (0.856) and patients’ perspective on quality of life (82.3) were each comparable to the reference values from the Dutch population in the same age category (0.857 and 80.6, respectively). The most commonly reported residual long-term side effect was dryness of the skin (n = 10; 15%). ConclusionRadiotherapy for Ledderhose disease results in long-term pain reduction in the majority of patients and has limited side effects. The treatment is well tolerated, patients feel satisfied, and quality of life is comparable to the reference population.

Critical Thinking Cognitive Skills and Their Associated Factors in Chinese Community College Students in Hong Kong

The importance of fostering critical thinking (CT) in community college education has been recognized highly worldwide. However, limited studies have been conducted to investigate CT abilities among community college students in the Asian context. A cross-sectional correlational study was conducted with 209 Chinese community college students to assess the levels of CT cognitive skills and CT dispositions and to identify the associated factors. The California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST), California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI), and a questionnaire on the students’ socio-demographic and academic profiles were used. The results showed that the average level of CT cognitive skills was 17.82 ± 4.10, which was at the upper end of the moderate range. For CCTDI scores, the mean value was 278.81 ± 22.61 and positive disposition towards CT was shown in four subscales: open-mindedness, analyticity, confidence in reasoning, and inquisitiveness. From regression analysis, HKDSE total score (i.e., university entrance examination total score), CT subject grade level, CCTDI truth-seeking, and CCTDI analyticity were identified as the four significant factors associated with their CT cognitive skills. The findings provide significant implications when reviewing the program design and curriculum as well as the addition of CT elements in a separate course to promote students’ CT abilities for sustainable development.

The role of university programmes in the development of future board members

Contemporary higher education institutions (HEIs) are extensively oriented toward offering professional and technical programmes but have neglected the significance of instilling ethical and socially responsible values in university students. This study investigates the extent to which HEIs include business ethics (BE) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) courses in the undergraduate curricula and examines the importance of equipping university graduates as prospective corporate board members with ethical values. Involving public and selected private HEIs in the Republic of Kosovo, the study employs a cross-institutional and content analysis approach. The database of the Kosovo Accreditation Agency and structured interviews with relevant staff of academic service units are the primary sources of data used for the study. The findings reveal three significant trends: 1) only fifty-five percent of the institutions offer the course of BE; 2) HEIs offer BE as an elective course and for one semester only, and 3) except for one HEI that offers CSR as a separate course, other institutions have included it as part of other courses. The study contributes to academia and industry by identifying the gaps in the current programmes among HEIs and advocates for the inclusion of BE and CSR courses in their curricula as demanded by corporations.

До питання про природу освітнього права

The paper focuses on the legal nature of educational law. The current trend is an increase in the arithmetic progression of the quantity of brunches of the legislation. However, an increase in the branches of the legislation does not automatically lead to an increase in the branches of law. And if a certain branch of law always corresponds to a branch of legislation, then a branch of legislation does not always reflect a certain branch of law. This is quite justified in relation to educational law. Despite the fact that the term “educational law” is recognized as well-established, the issue of the status of educational law remains controversial. The paper emphasizes that the transformation of views on the relative nature of educational law has come a long way from complete rejection of educational law, when it was considered only a sub-branch of administrative law to attempts to justify educational law as an independent branch of law. It is carried out analysis of different approaches for determining the legal nature of educational law, namely: as a sub-branch of administrative law, as a complex branch of law, as a legal array, as an independent area of research, as a discipline, as a special part of information law. The author pays special attention to highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of representatives of various fields in justifying the status of educational law. Attention is drawn to the fact that none of the supporters of the separation of educational law as an independent branch of law has proved and shown why the issue of legal regulation of educational relations should be considered outside of administrative law. It is emphasized the need to include in the curriculum a separate course “Educational Law” in the pedagogical sector of education and postgraduate studies. This is not about the formation of a unified approach to the teaching of discipline “Educational Law”. The subject and system of the discipline should be determined by the target audience, as well as current trends in education.

Metacognition and the complex process of developing identities via a second language: addressing the challenges healthcare professionals are facing in a multilingual context

This qualitative study takes into account that healthcare professionals are increasingly required to function in a multilingual environment where they often have to communicate with patients in a second or third language (Ushioda &amp; Dörnyei 2009, Burford 2012). In this regard the identity of the healthcare worker can be compromised, as identity is interrelated with language (Joseph 2004, Gollin-Kies et al. 2015, Skjeggestad et al. 2017). Therefore, communication training courses in the healthcare context should accommodate professional identity formation processes, as a healthy identity would support stress and change management (Monrouxe 2009, Goldie 2012, Mavor et al. 2014). Data was collected during two separate courses: firstly at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, where medical students took part in a communication training course in Afrikaans and secondly when nurses in Antwerpen, Belgium took part in a similar communication training course in English. Both courses followed a blended learning approach and for each course an online community of practice via Facebook was utilised. Data was analysed according to the principles of grounded theory. Metacognitive markers that support the identity formation process were identified during the first course and refined for the second course. The result is a framework that supports both metacognitive awareness and the manifestation of metacognition that could facilitate the professional identity formation process alongside the process of language learning for healthcare purposes. Keywords: healthcare communication, blended learning, multilingualism, identity, medical communication training, language for specific purposes

Rare Diseases - Orphan Drugs

Rare diseases (RDs) are a class of diseases that do not affect most of the population. Apart from the common diseases that affect most people, some severely rare diseases often pose unique challenges to society and the healthcare systems in India. According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the F.D.A., and the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), a rare disease is any disease, disorder, illness or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the United States as defined by the Orphan Drug Designation Program. However, 95% of rare diseases currently have no treatment available. Healthcare Experts estimate that around 7000 rare diseases have been identified globally, out of which 450 have been reported in India, like hemophilia, thalas-semia, sickle cell anemia, and Pompe’s disease. Rare diseases come in many forms, including cancers and auto-immune diseases. Drugs for rare diseases are among the highest-priced medications on the market than other common drugs. A medical advisory board of nationally recognized and specialized physicians can help build in-depth case management tools and clinical decision support systems to develop and advance novel therapies. Recognition of carriers harbouring clinically pathogenic genetic vari-ations is essential to provide proper genetic counselling to the patient and management. The precise delineation of distinct RDs is possible through a meticulous clinical evaluation of the patients and their genetic screening. The Electronic Health Record (E.H.R.) helps foster collaboration and better outcomes. A holistic approach should be integrated across health care providers, both at the pharmacy and medical level, that helps improve patient experience and outcomes and reduce costs. Strong health poli-cies and initiatives are required both from private and government institutions for orphan drug development. A separate course on Clinical Genetics must be included in the academic curriculum of medical students in order to provide them knowledge on the basic concepts of genetics and its applications in human health.