Evaluation of a task-based community oriented teaching model in family medicine for undergraduate medical students in Iraq

BACKGROUND: The inclusion of family medicine in medical school curricula is essential for producing competent general practitioners. The aim of this study is to evaluate a task-based, community oriented teaching model of family medicine for undergraduate students in Iraqi medical schools. METHODS: An innovative training model in family medicine was developed based upon tasks regularly performed by family physicians providing health care services at the Primary Health Care Centre (PHCC) in Mosul, Iraq. Participants were medical students enrolled in their final clinical year. Students were assigned to one of two groups. The implementation group (28 students) was exposed to the experimental model and the control group (56 students) received the standard teaching curriculum. The study took place at the Mosul College of Medicine and at the Al-Hadba PHCC in Mosul, Iraq, during the academic year 1999–2000. Pre- and post-exposure evaluations comparing the intervention group with the control group were conducted using a variety of assessment tools. RESULTS: The primary endpoints were improvement in knowledge of family medicine and development of essential performance skills. Results showed that the implementation group experienced a significant increase in knowledge and performance skills after exposure to the model and in comparison with the control group. Assessment of the model by participating students revealed a high degree of satisfaction with the planning, organization, and implementation of the intervention activities. Students also highly rated the relevancy of the intervention for future work. CONCLUSION: A model on PHCC training in family medicine is essential for all Iraqi medical schools. The model is to be implemented by various relevant departments until Departments of Family medicine are established

Adapting scientific workflow structures using multi-objective optimisation strategies

Scientific workflows have become the primary mechanism for conducting scientific analyses on distributed computing infrastructures such as grids and clouds. In the recent past, the focus of the optimisation of scientific workflows was primarily on compute optimisation. However, as e-Science becomes ever more data intensive, data optimisation is becoming a prime concern. Moreover, scientific workflows are scaling in several dimensions. These include the increasing number of computational tasks, increasing number of resource requirements and increasing data footprints. We explore the use of a multi-objective approach to the optimisation of scientific workflows to achieve both compute and data optimisation. The approach is based on a multi-objective evolutionary approach. The question of when to terminate the evolutionary search in order to conserve computations is tackled with a novel termination criterion. The results presented in this paper, demonstrate the feasibility of the termination criterion and demonstrate that significant optimisation can be achieved with a multi-objective approach for the optimisation of state-of-the-art scientific workflows

Blended learning: uncovering challenges in implementing online videos in higher education

Integrating different types of media to deliver subject materials to students is becoming ubiquitous in higher education due to the explosion of Web 2.0 tools and digital technologies that are now available. Among these computer and Internet-based innovations, educational digital video clips have become prominent due to their capabilities for providing stimulus for deeper thought processes, communication and interaction among users. These benefits occur when digital videos are combined with effective pedagogy. Traditional delivery of videos through television and analogue recorders has long been part of higher education, but the rise of cloud-based digital video has made a significant impact on the blended learning landscape. This paper reports on interview data involving lecturer participants at a rural and tropical university in Australia. The results provide evidence of the challenges that they face in implementing online videos in their teaching