Unboxing the black box of visual expertise in medicine

Visual expertise in medicine has been a subject of research since many decades. Interestingly, it has been investigated from two little related fields, namely the field that focused mainly on the visual search aspects whilst ignoring higher-level cognitive processes involved in medical expertise, and the field that mainly focused on these higher-level cognitive processes largely ignoring the relevant visual aspects. Consequently, both research lines have traditionally used different methodologies. Recently, this gap is being increasingly closed and this special issue presents methods to investigate visual expertise in medicine from both research lines, namely those investigating vision (eye tracking, pupillometry, flash preview moving window paradigm), verbalisations, brain activity, and performance measures (ROC analysis, gesture coding, expert performance approach). We discuss the benefits and drawbacks of each method and suggest directions for future research that could help to unbox the black box of visual expertise in medicine.</p

Conceptual changes for and during working life

Rapid and radical changes in science, technology and society may result in new scientific concepts and new workplace practices, which require fundamental restructuring of prior knowledge. Over the years a noteworthy body of research has documented the processes of conceptual change, the learning mechanisms involved, and the instructional methods and strategies that can promote conceptual changes. This research, however, focused young learners in school settings. Conceptual changes in working life go beyond traditional conceptual change consisting of processes and mechanisms that involve the interaction between expertise development and workplace learning processes.This Special Issue investigates whether and how conceptual change research can be extended from learning in schools to learning in professional life

Classroom Management Scripts : a Theoretical Model Contrasting Expert and Novice Teachers’ Knowledge and Awareness of Classroom Events

Publisher Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s).Dealing with the complexities of the classroom and the diversity of events in classroom situations presents a major challenge for classroom management. The knowledge a teacher has for processing this complexity depends a great deal on their level of experience, leading to differences in the way teachers perceive and interpret classroom events. This includes how they monitor events and how they maintain an ongoing awareness of classroom situations. It also impacts decisions about when and how to act in response to events. Research on classroom management has often focused on how to handle common classroom situations, but does not provide a theoretical description of how knowledge from experience affects teachers’ awareness and ability to manage the classroom. This article proposes a definition for classroom management scripts by contrasting expert and novice teachers’ knowledge and their decisions to act in response to classroom events. Classroom management scripts help clarify differences in teachers’ recognition and representation of events by considering how expertise influences visual perception and mental interpretation. The proposed model exposes the internal cognitive processing involved in classroom management. Such insights can be useful for helping teacher educators and teachers themselves analyze and make sense of puzzling events. In turn, this may help develop training approaches to improve teachers’ awareness of factors easily overlooked when considering classroom management, enhancing professional vision. This theory also underlines the centrality of facilitating and sustaining learning when grappling with the challenges of managing a classroom.Peer reviewe

Competence indicators in academic education and early labour market success of graduates in health sciences

In this study, the effects of several educational and non-educational indicators of (aspects of) competence on short-term labour market outcomes for university graduates are estimated. The research question we address is: To what extent do indications of specific and generic competence during the educational program predict labour market outcomes? Labour market outcomes in this study pertain to employment chances and quality of the job (having a job, academic level, matching occupational domain and wages). We use data on specific and generic aspects of competence, all of which were assessed during the academic study course, i.e. test scores on the attainment of domain specific knowledge, scores on group functioning, and the Masters’ thesis result. In addition, some other indicators of human capital acquired outside education are used, i.e. relevant work experience and managerial experience. The results indicate a rather differentiated pattern for the value of specific and generic competence acquired during education for the labour market.labour market entry and occupational careers;

The role of illness scripts in the development of medical diagnostic expertise: Results from an interview study

In this article, we describe a study in which some current ideas about illness scripts are tested. Participants at 4 levels of medical expertise were asked to describe either a prototypical patient or the clinical picture associated with a number of different diseases. It was found that participants at intermediate levels of expertise mentioned, both absolutely and relatively, many enabling conditions (patient contextual factors such as sex, age, medical history, and occupation) when asked to describe a prototypical patient with a disease, whereas the instruction to describe the clinical picture of a disease revealed a monotonic relation with expertise level. The amount of biomedical information in the descriptions decreased with increasing expertise level for both types of instruction. In addition, a positive relation was found between number of actual patients seen with a particular disease and number of enabling conditions mentioned. These results were interpreted as supportive of the present conceptualization of the illness script theory

Teaching for expertise:Problem-based methods in medicine and other professional domains

This chapter starts with a description of the problems with traditional education for the learned professions. Next “traditional” PBL is described at an instructional and curriculum level, and some new developments are presented. Finally the question ia raised whether it works or not? To answer this question, attention is given to the measurement of performance in the professions. Medicine is used as a prototype for PBL. Where necessary and available examples from other domains are given to illustrate the diversity in implementations and to show the reader that the cognitive and practical characteristics of the different professional fields have their implications for educational design

Teaching for expertise: Problem-based methods in medicine and other professional domains

This chapter starts with a description of the problems with traditional education for the learned professions. Next “traditional” PBL is described at an instructional and curriculum level, and some new developments are presented. Finally the question ia raised whether it works or not? To answer this question, attention is given to the measurement of performance in the professions. Medicine is used as a prototype for PBL. Where necessary and available examples from other domains are given to illustrate the diversity in implementations and to show the reader that the cognitive and practical characteristics of the different professional fields have their implications for educational design