A Pilot Study to Compare Lecture and Active Learning

Active learning strategies are being increasingly valued by instructors and implemented in higher education. However, mixed outcomes exist regarding learning, exam results, and student preferences for active learning compared to traditional lectures. A convenience sample of 26 first-year graduate students participated in a study that examined the impact of attending a traditional lecture versus an active learning session. Both sessions included a PowerPoint presentation and the active learning class also included embedded educational videos, instructor-led class discussions, a case study, and a think-pair-share activity. The instructor used a pre and post-test for each class and conducted a survey after each post-test. The study results showed statistical significance for both teaching methods, with the traditional lecture statistically higher by question. Most students’ perceptions of learning and preferred teaching methods favored active learning. Students felt activities helped them maintain their attention and allowed them to self-reflect on their understanding of content. The students also perceived that their learning was supplemented through peer and instructor questions and engagement. Furthermore, students felt the active lecture helped improve their self-efficacy, made them feel more included in the classroom, helped to meet their unique learning styles, and gave them the perception that they learned more. Conversely, some students felt the traditional lecture was more concise than the active lecture, focused on the “important” content, and was better organized and easier to follow. Because students’ learning, exam results, perceptions, and preferences vary, delivering a mixed method of instruction may benefit students while promoting self-efficacy and enjoyment of the instructor and classroom experience

Use of Online Educational Modules to Improve Occupational Therapy Students’ Knowledge and Perceptions of Their Emotional Intelligence Skills: An Evidence-Based Pilot Study

Many current students studying in health care professions lack skills in communication, socialization, and decision-making that can lead to an inability to recognize and manage emotions, indicating a need for emotional intelligence training in university health field curricula. This article presents an evidence-based study that used a new approach to education using online emotional intelligence modules within a graduate occupational therapy program to supplement the program’s curriculum. The study was completed over six and one-half weeks and included 28 second-year graduate occupational therapy students. A pre/post-survey design was used to determine participants’ knowledge and their perceptions of their own emotional intelligence skills before and after the completion of six online educational modules and five reflective online activities. Students reported improved perceptions of their own emotional intelligence skills as well as increased knowledge of the key components of emotional intelligence after participation in the online education. The greatest perceived changes were reported in self-awareness (+14.1%) and social awareness (+12.2%), followed by relationship management (+10.0%) and self-management (+8.3%). Additionally, in response to open-ended questions, students identified the perceived benefits of improved emotional intelligence as leading to future success in the classroom and clinical fieldwork affiliations. The emotional intelligence modules and reflective online activities may provide a new approach to the delivery of emotional intelligence education, appealing to today’s students

Evaluating Active Lecture and Traditional Lecture in Higher Education

Access the online Pressbooks version of this article here. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional and active lecture methods in higher-education courses. A multiple group convergent parallel mixed method design was used, with measurement of learning, attention, and student preference for active or traditional lecture methods. Six faculty at a public university in the northeast region of the United States engaged 178 undergraduate and graduate students in a traditional lecture session and an active lecture session during the Spring 2022 semester. Results indicated effectiveness of active and traditional lecture approaches (p \u3c .05). Analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in the study provides additional information regarding student preference for active lecture based on perceptions of increased learning benefits, interaction/engagement, attention, activities, discussion, and the use of multimedia. In implementing both traditional and active lecture sessions this study employed pre-lecture and post-lecture quizzes that students found to be very beneficial to learning

The Jefferson Scale of Empathy: a nationwide study of measurement properties, underlying components, latent variable structure, and national norms in medical students.

The Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) is a broadly used instrument developed to measure empathy in the context of health professions education and patient care. Evidence in support of psychometrics of the JSE has been reported in health professions students and practitioners with the exception of osteopathic medical students. This study was designed to examine measurement properties, underlying components, and latent variable structure of the JSE in a nationwide sample of first-year matriculants at U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine, and to develop a national norm table for the assessment of JSE scores. A web-based survey was administered at the beginning of the 2017-2018 academic year which included the JSE, a scale to detect good impression responses, and demographic/background information. Usable surveys were received from 6009 students enrolled in 41 college campuses (median response rate = 92%). The JSE mean score and standard deviation for the sample were 116.54 and 10.85, respectively. Item-total score correlations were positive and statistically significant (p \u3c 0.01), and Cronbach α = 0.82. Significant gender differences were observed on the JSE scores in favor of women. Also, significant differences were found on item scores between top and bottom third scorers on the JSE. Three factors of Perspective Taking, Compassionate Care, and Walking in Patient\u27s Shoes emerged in an exploratory factor analysis by using half of the sample. Results of confirmatory factor analysis with another half of the sample confirmed the 3-factor model. We also developed a national norm table which is the first to assess students\u27 JSE scores against national data

Constraint-preserving boundary treatment for a harmonic formulation of the Einstein equations

We present a set of well-posed constraint-preserving boundary conditions for a first-order in time, second-order in space, harmonic formulation of the Einstein equations. The boundary conditions are tested using robust stability, linear and nonlinear waves, and are found to be both less reflective and constraint preserving than standard Sommerfeld-type boundary conditions.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted in CQ

Use of a Webinar to Assess Fieldwork Educator Readiness to Provide Occupational Therapy Services and Supervise Students Through Telehealth

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, many school-based occupational therapy practitioners experienced intensified job demands including a rapid shift to telehealth service delivery. Additionally, academic fieldwork coordinators sought to find effective methods of delivering fieldwork education and supporting those involved, including the occupational therapy fieldwork educators and students, as they navigated the new context imposed by the pandemic. A study was completed using a synchronous webinar format and post-webinar survey to explore school-based occupational therapy practitioners’ perceptions of readiness to provide occupational therapy services through telehealth, the perception of preparedness of potential, current, and past fieldwork educators to supervise students during the pandemic, and the effectiveness of using a webinar format to deliver this education. Email invitations were sent to a list generated by academic fieldwork coordinators that included former, current, and potential occupational therapy fieldwork educators. Four hundred thirty-three international participants attended the 122 minute educational webinar presented through the Zoom video conference platform, with 80% of participants being school-based occupational therapists. The webinar contained three parts: two occupational therapists who addressed telehealth in practice, academic fieldwork coordinators who presented on the supervision of fieldwork students during telehealth service provision, and a panel discussion led by an active fieldwork educator and student who worked together during the time of initial COVID-19 restrictions. An electronic survey was administered through email at two weeks and three weeks post-webinar to measure participant telehealth webinar outcomes and assess the webinar impact on perceptions of feeling supported and future participation as a fieldwork educator. Forty-six participants returned the survey and descriptive statistics and content analysis were used to analyze survey results. Based on the results, participants agreed most with the telehealth service statements “I understand some of the barriers of providing telehealth services” (96%); “I better understand the process of providing telehealth services” (91%); and “I can identify what type of client would benefit from telehealth services” (85%). Survey results also indicated that 11% of participants strongly agreed or agreed to consider taking their first fieldwork students, 54% felt more supported as a fieldwork educator, and 57% strongly agreed or agreed that they could identify effective ways for fieldwork students to help support their clinical practice. Results also showed that a synchronous virtual webinar was perceived by participants as an effective method to deliver this education

Investigating the structural compaction of biomolecules upon transition to the gas-phase using ESI-TWIMS-MS

Collision cross-section (CCS) measurements obtained from ion mobility spectrometry-mass spectrometry (IMS-MS) analyses often provide useful information concerning a protein’s size and shape and can be complemented by modeling procedures. However, there have been some concerns about the extent to which certain proteins maintain a native-like conformation during the gas-phase analysis, especially proteins with dynamic or extended regions. Here we have measured the CCSs of a range of biomolecules including non-globular proteins and RNAs of different sequence, size, and stability. Using traveling wave IMS-MS, we show that for the proteins studied, the measured CCS deviates significantly from predicted CCS values based upon currently available structures. The results presented indicate that these proteins collapse to different extents varying on their elongated structures upon transition into the gas-phase. Comparing two RNAs of similar mass but different solution structures, we show that these biomolecules may also be susceptible to gas-phase compaction. Together, the results suggest that caution is needed when predicting structural models based on CCS data for RNAs as well as proteins with non-globular folds

Attitudes toward osteopathic medicine scale: development and psychometrics

Objective: To develop a valid and reliable instrument for measuring attitudes toward osteopathic medicine. Methods: Participants included 5,669 first-year students from 33 U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine, who completed an online survey at the beginning of the 2019-2020 academic year. Using data from the nationwide Project in Osteopathic Medical Education and Empathy, we developed a 13-item instrument: Attitudes Toward Osteopathic Medicine Scale (ATOMS) and demonstrated the validity and reliability of its scores. The social desirability response bias was controlled in statistical analyses. Results: The corrected item-total score correlations were all positive and statistically significant, and the effect sizes of item discrimination indices were large. Cronbach\u27s coefficient alpha reliability was 0.83. Construct validity, corroborating face and content validity of the ATOMS, was supported by three components, emerged from factor analysis: Perspectives on Osteopathic Medicine, Osteopathic Diagnosis and Treatment, and Holistic-Integrative Care. Correlations between ATOMS scores and scores of cognitive empathy, emotional empathy; orientation toward interprofessional collaboration; lifelong learning; and burnout were statistically significant in the expected direction, providing validity evidence for the ATOMS. Using the method of contrasted groups, significant differences in the ATOMS scores were found by gender, ethnicity, academic background, and career interest in the expected direction, supporting the validity of the ATOMS scores. National norms were developed to assess individual scores alongside national percentile ranks. Conclusions: The ATOMS, developed in a nationwide study, supported by strong psychometric evidence for measuring orientation toward osteopathic medicine, has implications for the assessment of osteopathic medical education, patient outcomes, and admission decisions

Open Educational Resource Textbook Impact on Students in an Introductory Nutrition Course

Objective To determine if student outcomes, usage, perceptions, and engagement differ between introductory nutrition courses that used an open educational resource (OER) textbook compared with a traditional textbook. Design Cross-sectional. Setting College introductory nutrition course. Participants Students enrolled in introductory nutrition courses that used a traditional textbook or an OER textbook. Intervention Implementation of an OER textbook in all introductory nutrition courses during 1 semester. Main Outcome Measure(s) Usage, perceptions, and engagement with the textbook were evaluated by an online survey. Student outcome data (eg, grades) were collected from the learning management system at the end of the semester. Analysis Differences in student outcomes, usage, perceptions, and engagement were determined by t tests. Open-ended responses on textbook likes and dislikes were evaluated by thematic analysis. Results The number of students who completed the introductory nutrition course with a traditional textbook (n = 346) was higher than those who completed the course with an OER textbook (n = 311). There was no difference in student outcomes between textbooks. P values for student usage ranged from <.001 to .001, <.001 for engagement, and <.001 to .001 for perception with the OER textbook, with significantly better P values for outcomes than those with the traditional textbook. The $0 cost and place-based nature were noted as positive attributes of the OER textbook, whereas students appreciated the format and visual appeal of the traditional textbook. Conclusions and Implications Academic performance in introductory nutrition was not affected by an OER textbook. An OER textbook for introductory nutrition may be an appropriate solution for institutions seeking to reduce student costs