75 research outputs found
EVALUATION OF BLENDED LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION: A CASE STUDY
Higher education institutions have been challenged by major changes in their environments and new trends in technology-supported teaching and new approaches in designing their curriculum. Blended e-learning is a combination of traditional classroom learning and online learning that includes some of the conveniences of online courses without losing face to face contact. This paper presents the point of view of instructors implementing Blended learning at the college of Engineering and Petroleum at Kuwait University using a Moodle-based platform called Online Course System OCS. Technology Acceptance Module (TAM) was used as a framework to generate questions for the survey
A program evaluation reporting student perceptions of early clinical exposure to primary care at a new medical college in Qatar
Background: Though common practice in Europe, few studies have described the efficacy of early clinical exposure (ECE) in the Middle East. The barriers to clinical learning experienced by these novice medical students have not been reported. This evaluation reports on introducing ECE in primary care, supported by Experiential Review (ER) debriefing sessions. The evaluation explores students' experiences of their acquisition of clinical and non-technical skills, sociocultural issues commonly encountered but underreported and barriers to clinical learning experienced. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of three student cohorts in 2017-19: All second and third-year students at the new College of Medicine were invited to participate. The primary outcome was students' perceptions of the aims of the Primary Health Centre Placement (PHCP) programme and how it facilitated learning. Secondary outcome measures were students' perceptions of their learning in ER sessions and perceived barriers to learning during PHCPs. Student perceptions of the PHCPs were measured using a Likert scale-based questionnaire. Results: One hundred and fifty-one students participated: 107 in year 2 and 44 in year 3; 72.3% were female. Overall, most students (> 70%) strongly agreed or agreed with the purposes of the PCHPs. Most students (71%) strongly agreed or agreed that the PCHPs allowed them to learn about patient care; 58% to observe doctors as role models and 55% to discuss managing common clinical problems with family physicians. Most students (year 2 = 62.5% and year 3 = 67%) strongly agreed/agreed that they were now confident taking histories and examining patients. Student barriers to clinical learning included: Unclear learning outcomes (48.3%); faculty too busy to teach (41.7%); lacking understanding of clinical medicine (29.1%); shyness (26.5%); and finding talking to patients difficult and embarrassing (25.8%). Over 70% reported that ER enabled them to discuss ethical and professional issues. Conclusions: Overall, our Middle Eastern students regard ECE as beneficial to their clinical learning. PHCPs and ER sessions together provide useful educational experiences for novice learners. We recommend further exploration of the barriers to learning to explore whether these novice students' perceptions are manifesting underlying cultural sensitivities or acculturation to their new environment.Scopu
Maternal and Child Oral Health Interventions in Middle East and North Africa Regions:a rapid review
Objectives: To conduct a rapid review to identify any maternal and/or child oral health interventions implemented and/or tested in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries generally, and Lebanon, Palestine and Syria specifically, and to compile information on the relative effectiveness of these interventions. Methods: A systematic search was conducted for primary and secondary literature indexed in five online databases, and the websites of the World Health Organisation (WHO), the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Results: Two independent researchers reviewed 1,180 records from the online databases, and 3,120 reports from the WHO, UNRWA, UNICEF and UNHCR. Four unique studies were included and conducted in Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran. No systematic reviews were found for targeted interventions in MENA regions. However, interventions using fluoridated toothpaste (Syria), preventive treatment and fluoridated chewing gum (Saudi Arabia), and oral health education with oral health reminders (Iran) were significantly effective in reducing early child caries (ECC) experience. In Syria and Iran, mother and child oral health promotions integrated into ongoing vaccination programmes were effective in reducing ECC. These interventions formed part of WHO and Ministry of Health programmes. Conclusion: Further investigation is essential to verify the effectiveness of incorporating multi-disciplinary, theory-driven oral health interventions into ongoing WHO maternal and child health programmes in MENA countries to assist in promoting oral health and wellbeing
Oral health knowledge and behavior among male health sciences college students in Kuwait
BACKGROUND: Health auxiliary personnel have an important role in oral health promotion when they graduate and start working in the health care system. This study aims to find out oral health knowledge and oral health behavior of male Health Sciences College students. METHODS: A questionnaire was distributed to all students at the male Health Sciences College in Kuwait (N = 153) during the academic year 2001/2002. The students filled the anonymous questionnaire in the class after the lecture. The response rate was 84% (n = 128). The questions consisted information on the general background, oral health behavior and oral health knowledge. RESULTS: Oral health knowledge seemed to be limited and very few background factors were associated with it. More than half of the students had visited a dentist during the previous 12 months, but only one third of students were brushing twice a day or more often. CONCLUSIONS: It may be concluded that the male Health Sciences College students seemed to have appropriate knowledge on some oral health topics, but limited knowledge on the others. Their toothbrushing practices are still far behind the international recommendation (twice a day) and also the knowledge, why it should be done so frequently also very limited
Evaluation of using HEDTA chelating agent to clean up long horizontal heterogeneous sandstone wells without divergent
Discourses of Collective Spirituality and Turkish Islamic Ethics:An Inquiry into Transcendence, Connectedness, and Virtuousness in Anatolian Tigers
Based on case studies and qualitative interviews conducted with 40 stakeholders in five SMEs, or so called Anatolian tigers, in Turkey, this article has explored what collective spirituality and Turkish Islamic business ethics entail and how they shape organizational values using diverse stakeholder perspectives. The study has revealed six emergent discourses around collective spirituality and Islamic business ethics: Flying with both wings; striving to transcend egos; being devoted to each other; treating people as whole persons; upholding an ethics of compassion; and leaving a legacy for future generations. These discourses are organized around three themes of collective spirituality, respectively: Transcendence, connectedness, and virtuousness
Facial geometric feature extraction based emotional expression classification using machine learning algorithms.
Emotion plays a significant role in interpersonal communication and also improving social life. In recent years, facial emotion recognition is highly adopted in developing human-computer interfaces (HCI) and humanoid robots. In this work, a triangulation method for extracting a novel set of geometric features is proposed to classify six emotional expressions (sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, and happiness) using computer-generated markers. The subject's face is recognized by using Haar-like features. A mathematical model has been applied to positions of eight virtual markers in a defined location on the subject's face in an automated way. Five triangles are formed by manipulating eight markers' positions as an edge of each triangle. Later, these eight markers are uninterruptedly tracked by Lucas- Kanade optical flow algorithm while subjects' articulating facial expressions. The movement of the markers during facial expression directly changes the property of each triangle. The area of the triangle (AoT), Inscribed circle circumference (ICC), and the Inscribed circle area of a triangle (ICAT) are extracted as features to classify the facial emotions. These features are used to distinguish six different facial emotions using various types of machine learning algorithms. The inscribed circle area of the triangle (ICAT) feature gives a maximum mean classification rate of 98.17% using a Random Forest (RF) classifier compared to other features and classifiers in distinguishing emotional expressions
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