How to throw chocolate at students : a survey of extrinsic means for increased audience attention

This paper presents an overview of established and innovative means and teaching approaches that contribute to higher students' attention during lecture. The results are based on an international survey among lecturers from eleven universities. This survey was initiated by three lecturers from different countries who met at EDUCON 2016. The objective was to collect teaching experiences about playful means that motivate students to be attentive during a lecture. The proposed teaching approaches fall into three categories: established teaching methods, unconventional extrinsic methods, and tools. We focus on the extrinsic methods and discuss 14 illustrative examples of these approaches

Library Collaboration with Medical Humanities in an American Medical College in Qatar

The medical humanities, a cross-disciplinary field of practice and research that includes medicine, literature, art, history, philosophy, and sociology, is being increasingly incorporated into medical school curricula internationally. Medical humanities courses in Writing, Literature, Medical Ethics and History can teach physicians-in-training communication skills, doctor-patient relations, and medical ethics, as well as empathy and cross-cultural understanding. In addition to providing educational breadth and variety, the medical humanities can also play a practical role in teaching critical/analytical skills. These skills are utilized in differential diagnosis and problem-based learning, as well as in developing written and oral communications. Communication skills are a required medical competency for passing medical board exams in the U.S., Canada, the UK and elsewhere. The medical library is an integral part of medical humanities training efforts. This contribution provides a case study of the Distributed eLibrary at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar in Doha, and its collaboration with the Writing Program in the Premedical Program to teach and develop the medical humanities. Programs and initiatives of the DeLib library include: developing an information literacy course, course guides for specific courses, the 100 Classic Books Project, collection development of ‘doctors’ stories’ related to the practice of medicine (including medically-oriented movies and TV programs), and workshops to teach the analytical and critical thinking skills that form the basis of humanistic approaches to knowledge. This paper outlines a ‘best practices’ approach to developing the medical humanities in collaboration among the medical library, faculty and administrative stakeholders

Library Collaboration with Medical Humanities in an American Medical College in Qatar

The medical humanities, a cross-disciplinary field of practice and research that includes medicine, literature, art, history, philosophy, and sociology, is being increasingly incorporated into medical school curricula internationally. Medical humanities courses in Writing, Literature, Medical Ethics and History can teach physicians-in-training communication skills, doctor-patient relations, and medical ethics, as well as empathy and cross-cultural understanding. In addition to providing educational breadth and variety, the medical humanities can also play a practical role in teaching critical/analytical skills. These skills are utilized in differential diagnosis and problem-based learning, as well as in developing written and oral communications. Communication skills are a required medical competency for passing medical board exams in the U.S., Canada, the UK and elsewhere. The medical library is an integral part of medical humanities training efforts. This contribution provides a case study of the Distributed eLibrary at the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar in Doha, and its collaboration with the Writing Program in the Premedical Program to teach and develop the medical humanities. Programs and initiatives of the DeLib library include: developing an information literacy course, course guides for specific courses, the 100 Classic Books Project, collection development of ‘doctors’ stories’ related to the practice of medicine (including medically-oriented movies and TV programs), and workshops to teach the analytical and critical thinking skills that form the basis of humanistic approaches to knowledge. This paper outlines a ‘best practices’ approach to developing the medical humanities in collaboration among the medical library, faculty and administrative stakeholders

Conference Rubric Development for STEM Librarians’ Publications

Librarians within the Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) annually publish conference papers for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The existing ASEE rubric was not sufficient for our members, so we developed a new rubric as a charged committee for this task. We briefly discuss the sparse literature in this area, focusing on the use of rubrics and the rationale behind them. Due to this lack of literature, our committee primarily utilized additional sources such as rubrics found from other professional organizations in STEM and library fields. Our rubric is designed to encourage substantive feedback and growth of authors during the process, while clarifying the expectations for submissions. This rubric consists of overall guidance and specific needs, with flexibility for the different research methods and applications expected (i.e. work-in-progress/completed research, quantitative/qualitative, etc.). We implemented this rubric successfully for the 2021 conference cycle, but will further refine it as needed, based on feedback following future conferences. With scarce literature on conference peer review, we hope by sharing our work, others may also consider and improve their organizations’ processes

Is It Worth It? Implementation of Electronic Lab Notebook Software Among the STEM Community at an American University in the UAE

Scientists and engineers have been recording the results of their scientific findings and studies via lab notebooks for hundreds of years to lay out protocols and track their progress. Most of this recording of protocols and progress has been done via paper lab notebooks. With the popularity of the internet, many have been turning to electronic means to record their study data, though this does not imply that paper lab notebooks have been completely abandoned. In the beginning, many were making use of tools not necessarily created for the sole use in laboratories, such as Microsoft Word, Evernote, Google Docs, or other means of recording notes online and/or via a computer. However, there proved to be a market for products used especially by those doing research on scientific fields and thus the electronic lab notebook was born. New York University Abu Dhabi has a growing faculty specializing in STEM fields. As with any other university, the STEM faculty rely on many other staff to help conduct their research including Postdoctoral Scholars, Research Scientists, Research Assistants, etc. The Science and Engineering Librarian received one request from a scientist about the library purchasing Electronic Lab Notebooks, and she and a colleague sent out a survey to STEM faculty and staff to ascertain if others were also interested. The feeling was mutual and thus the New York University Abu Dhabi library set out to purchase and market the Electronic Lab Notebook software. However the question remains as to whether the process was worth it? Have the science and engineering community embraced the electronic lab notebook software? Or has the community held strong to their methods of recording their findings before the availability of the software? This paper will review the results of surveys conducted both before and after implementation of Electronic Lab Notebook software

Is It Worth It? Implementation of Electronic Lab Notebook Software Among the STEM Community at an American University in the UAE

Scientists and engineers have been recording the results of their scientific findings and studies via lab notebooks for hundreds of years to lay out protocols and track their progress. Most of this recording of protocols and progress has been done via paper lab notebooks. With the popularity of the internet, many have been turning to electronic means to record their study data, though this does not imply that paper lab notebooks have been completely abandoned. In the beginning, many were making use of tools not necessarily created for the sole use in laboratories, such as Microsoft Word, Evernote, Google Docs, or other means of recording notes online and/or via a computer. However, there proved to be a market for products used especially by those doing research on scientific fields and thus the electronic lab notebook was born. New York University Abu Dhabi has a growing faculty specializing in STEM fields. As with any other university, the STEM faculty rely on many other staff to help conduct their research including Postdoctoral Scholars, Research Scientists, Research Assistants, etc. The Science and Engineering Librarian received one request from a scientist about the library purchasing Electronic Lab Notebooks, and she and a colleague sent out a survey to STEM faculty and staff to ascertain if others were also interested. The feeling was mutual and thus the New York University Abu Dhabi library set out to purchase and market the Electronic Lab Notebook software. However the question remains as to whether the process was worth it? Have the science and engineering community embraced the electronic lab notebook software? Or has the community held strong to their methods of recording their findings before the availability of the software? This paper will review the results of surveys conducted both before and after implementation of Electronic Lab Notebook software

Patient satisfaction with Urban and Rural Insurance and Family Physician Program in Iran

Objective:The family physician program is one of the basic programs of the Fourth Plan on Economic, Social and Cultural Development in the health sector. This program more than five years old, is currently deployed in all villages and urban areas with populations less than 20,000 people in Iran. This study was conducted with the aim of measuring User's Satisfaction with Family Physician Program in Markazi Province in the fall of 2010. The main objective of this study was determining client satisfaction with family physician program in Markazi Province. Materials and methods: This study is descriptive - analytic and cross sectional, and was conducted at 40 medical centers with family physician services in the province. Demographic characteristics of individuals, personnel behavior, time spent in consultations, guidance and training, service costs, adequacy of services, ability and skills of personnel, access to medical facilities, adequacy of facilities and equipment, were the basis of a questionnaire and interview of registered patients or their relatives, was conducted. Results: 391 people were interviewed during the three months  The average age was 38.24±17.02 years, 66.5 percent of them were women and 81.3 percent of women were married. 34.52 percent of patients in the high or very high categories were satisfied with the whole performance of health centers. This High or very high level of satisfaction was about the performance of family physicians, midwives, laboratory and pharmacy, respectively 33.1, 37.1, 36.8 and 38.3. Conclusion: In general, the program has been successful in the province. Policymakers can achieve a higher level of satisfaction in the long term based on comments from service recipients and promoting the program and some program processes

Best practices in e-assessments with a special focus on cheating prevention

In this digital age of the computer, Internet, and social media and Internet of Things, e-assessments have become an accepted method to determine if students have learned materials presented in a course. With acceptance of this electronic means of assessing students, many questions arise about this method. What should be the format of e-assessment? What amount of time? What kinds of questions should be asked (multiple choice, short answer, etc.)? These are only a few of the many different questions. In addition, educators have always had to contend with the possibility that some students might cheat on an examination. It is widely known that students are often times more technologically savvy than their professors. So how does one prevent students from cheating on an e-assessment? Understandably, given the amount of information available on e-assessments and the variety of formats to choose from, choosing to administer e-assessments over paper-based assessments can lead to confusion on the part of the professor. This paper presents helpful guidance for lecturers who want to introduce e-assessments in their class, and it provides recommendations about the technical infrastructure to implement to avoid students cheating. It is based on literature review, on an international survey that gathers insights and experiences from lecturers who are using e-assessment in their class, and on technological evaluation of e-assessment infrastructure

Conference Rubric Development for STEM Librarians’ Publications

Librarians within the Engineering Libraries Division (ELD) annually publish conference papers for the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). The existing ASEE rubric was not sufficient for our members, so we developed a new rubric as a charged committee for this task. We briefly discuss the sparse literature in this area, focusing on the use of rubrics and the rationale behind them. Due to this lack of literature, our committee primarily utilized additional sources such as rubrics found from other professional organizations in STEM and library fields. Our rubric is designed to encourage substantive feedback and growth of authors during the process, while clarifying the expectations for submissions. This rubric consists of overall guidance and specific needs, with flexibility for the different research methods and applications expected (i.e. work-in-progress/completed research, quantitative/qualitative, etc.). We implemented this rubric successfully for the 2021 conference cycle, but will further refine it as needed, based on feedback following future conferences. With scarce literature on conference peer review, we hope by sharing our work, others may also consider and improve their organizations’ processes