Using Gamification to Design and Develop an E learning Environment to Prepare Students for Reflective Writing

This thesis explores the impacts of a gamified e‑learning environment on undergraduate engineering students’ reflective skills and engagement in reflective writing. Reflective skills are essential because they are crucial to Experience-based learning activities provided to students in their courses. However, preparing students to reflect faces many challenges. Educators may be reluctant to prepare students to reflect because of the time required to do so and the complexity of reflective learning practices. At the same time, many students believe that reflection is daunting or not important. This thesis presents the design and development of a practical solution for preparing students to reflect by using a gamification approach to design an e‑learning environment suitable for teaching students reflective writing. Gamification may be a suitable means for teaching reflection because it provides educators/designers with various elements and strategies suitable to facilitate reflection and develop engaging learning experiences. Also, many studies have shown promising positive results of using gamification in education. A design-based research methodology involving quantitative and qualitative studies using undergraduate engineering students in Australia was adopted. The methodology consisted of three main stages used to collect data and reflect on the e‑learning implementation. These stages were 1) Analysis and Exploration, 2) Design and Construction, 3) Evaluation and Reflection. In the Design and Construction stage, two iterative cycles of design – reflect – redesign were carried out; in each cycle, students tested the module and were then interviewed or surveyed to gain insights into their perspectives and suggestions to enhance the module. In the evaluation stage, the reflective skills module demonstrated its ability to significantly enhance students’ reflective writing, and it also was positively valued by students and they were satisfied with their learning experience

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries