Search

Developers often need to use appropriate APIs to program efficiently, but it is usually a difficult task to identify the exact one they need from a vast of candidates. To ease the burden, a multitude of API recommendation approaches have been proposed. However, most of the currently available API recommenders do not support the effective integration of users' feedback into the recommendation loop. In this paper, we propose a framework, BRAID (Boosting RecommendAtion with Implicit FeeDback), which leverages learning-to-rank and active learning techniques to boost recommendation performance. By exploiting users' feedback information, we train a learning-to-rank model to re-rank the recommendation results. In addition, we speed up the feedback learning process with active learning. Existing query-based API recommendation approaches can be plugged into BRAID. We select three state-of-the-art API recommendation approaches as baselines to demonstrate the performance enhancement of BRAID measured by Hit@k (Top-k), MAP, and MRR. Empirical experiments show that, with acceptable overheads, the recommendation performance improves steadily and substantially with the increasing percentage of feedback data, comparing with the baselines., Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to implement and evaluate active learning strategies to support engineering students in the development of research competences, contributing to the growing need for a closer relationship between research and teaching.Design/methodology/approach - This study was developed using an action research approach. The data were collected through observations, questionnaire and focus group in order to evaluate the active learning strategies used in the context of the study, based on students' perceptions.Findings - The results show that the implementation of active learning strategies, such as research-based learning and think-pair-share enhance the development of research competences, namely critical thinking and written communication. Additionally, this approach enables students to develop further their capstone projects, using the standards demanded in research process.Research limitations/implications - The study was based mainly on teacher's observation and the participants are undergraduate engineering students enrolled in the course "Scientific Methodology" during 1 academic year.Practical implications - Two levels of implications can be identified in this study: (1) for teachers' practice, who can adapt the step-by-step descriptions of the implemented approaches and (2) for research, contributing to the discussion about how to explore the teaching-research relationship in undergraduate courses.Originality/value - The course of "Scientific Methodology" is part of the curricular structure of most undergraduate engineering programs offered by Brazilian Higher Education Institutions, and this study is a contribution for the improvement of knowledge on how this course may be conducted in an effective and engaging way., This work was partially supported by FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia within the R&D Units Project Scope UIDB/00319/2020.

Multi-label active learning (MAL) aims to learn an accurate multi-label classifier by selecting which examples (or example-label pairs) will be annotated and reducing query effort. MAL is more complicated, since one example can be associated with a set of non-exclusive labels and the annotator has to scrutinize the whole example and label space to provide correct annotations. Instead of scrutinizing the whole example for annotation, we may just examine some of its subexamples with respect to a label for annotation. In this way, we can not only save the annotation cost but also speedup the annotation process. Given that, we a two-stage Cost-effective MAL strategy (CMAL) by querying subexamples. CMAL firstly selects the most informative example-label pairs by leveraging uncertainty, label correlation and label space sparsity. Next, CMAL greedily queries the most probable positive subexample-label pairs of the selected example-label pairs. In addition, we propose rCMAL to account for the representative of examples to more reliably select example-label pairs. Extensive experiments on multi-label datasets show that our proposed CMAL and rCMAL can better save the query cost than state-of-the-art MAL methods. The contribution of leveraging label correlation, label sparsity and representative for saving cost is also confirm.

Traditional active learning algorithms have several limitations: 1) they cannot obtain satisfactory results on high dimensional datasets, especially for multivariate time series (MTS) data; 2) traditional crowd-based labeling approaches do not consider the swarm intelligence of crowds, which cannot guarantee the confidence of labeling results; and 3) up to now, few works have addressed the issue of tradeoff between the labeling accuracy and the labeling cost with crowdsourcing labelers. There is also a lack of research on crowd-based active learning on MTS data. To efficiently address the above issues, we propose a new framework of active semi-supervised learning. First, two criteria are advanced to measure the importance of an unlabeled sample from different perspectives. A dynamic time wrapping (DTW)-based similarity matrix is used to represent the MTS data. Next, to confidently label the most valuable samples with minimum cost, we advance a cost-effective crowd selection model and an adaptive labeler selection approach (ALS) to select the most suitable labelers, which could minimize the total cost of labeling and achieve better classification performance. Experiments on ten datasets show the effectiveness of our proposed methods.

Classifiers are among the most widely used supervised machine learning algorithms. Many classification models exist, and choosing the right one for a given task is difficult. During model selection and debugging, data scientists need to assess classifiers' performances, evaluate their learning behavior over time, and compare different models. Typically, this analysis is based on single-number performance measures such as accuracy. A more detailed evaluation of classifiers is possible by inspecting class errors. The confusion matrix is an established way for visualizing these class errors, but it was not designed with temporal or comparative analysis in mind. More generally, established performance analysis systems do not allow a combined temporal and comparative analysis of class-level information. To address this issue, we propose ConfusionFlow, an interactive, comparative visualization tool that combines the benefits of class confusion matrices with the visualization of performance characteristics over time. ConfusionFlow is model-agnostic and can be used to compare performances for different model types, model architectures, and/or training and test datasets. We demonstrate the usefulness of ConfusionFlow in a case study on instance selection strategies in active learning. We further assess the scalability of ConfusionFlow and present a use case in the context of neural network pruning., Changes compared to previous version: Reintroduced NN pruning use case; restructured Evaluation section; several additional minor revisions. Submitted as Minor Revision to IEEE TVCG on 2020-07-02

Background The Phase 1 ACS/APDS skills curriculum standardizes intern training. Despite this, institutional implementation varies and is nationally low. We aimed to use Kern’s six-steps to tailor this to our program, providing a framework to improve implementation. Methods Problem identification and general needs assessment were performed. Targeted needs assessment (TNA) of incoming interns (‘interns’), current residents, and attendings determined perceived importance of skills and intern’s previous experience and confidence. Educational strategies were developed. Learner knowledge was assessed before and after modules, deficiencies identified enabled employment of active learning strategies. Modular and curricular evaluations were completed. Results TNA determined all interns had been taught knot tying and suturing, and were most confident with suturing, knot tying, and urethral catheterization. Educational strategies included simulation and lectures. Evaluations demonstrated improvement in test scores (pre-v post-) and skills confidence on curricula completion. Conclusion Our framework utilizes institutional resources and expertise while focusing on determining existing knowledge, skill, and technical deficiencies of learners. This approach demonstrated improvement in knowledge and confidence, and could improve implementation rates of the Phase 1 curriculum.

Background and Objective: The Flipped Classroom (FC) approach has become increasingly predominant and popular in medical education. This study aimed to explore the usefulness and the scope of FC based on medical students’ experience, with their adaptation challenges. Methods: The present study was a mixed-method accomplished during the academic years 2019-20, involving fourth-year students at the College of Medicine in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was used to seek their first experience and opinion of the FC. Results: A total of 234 questionnaires were distributed to the students, and 214 students completed the survey (response rate of 91.45%). Out of this total, 68.2 % were males and 31.8% were females. Most of the students agreed 156 (72.9%) that the flipped classroom was more engaging than the traditional lecture, among them 100 (68.5%) males and 56 (82.3) females agreed. Almost ~79% of students liked FC as it enabled them knowing the material in advance, and the class time was spent clarifying the facts and principles with active interaction, as commented during focus group discussion “More chance for discussing with the doctors, and I got the chance to answer” (St. 6). Conclusion: The results showed that the students like the FC more than the conventional classroom. Suggestions were given by students to improve the active learning sessions within the FC modality. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.1.4256 How to cite this:Abdulghani HM, Sattar K, Ahmad T, Halepoto DM, Akram A. An insightful estimation of undergraduate medical students’ experience about the Flipped Classroom. Pak J Med Sci. 2022;38(1):69-75. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.38.1.4256 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Deep learning has attracted intensive attention in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) automatic target recognition (ATR). Usually, a considerable number of labeled samples are necessary to learn a deep model for obtaining good generalization capability. However, the process of sample labeling is time-consuming and costly. This letter proposes an active self-paced deep learning (ASPDL) approach to SAR ATR. In a nutshell, we first introduce the Bayesian inference into the process of deep model parameter optimization, aiming at learning a robust classification model in the case of a limited number of labeled samples. Next, a cost-effective sample selection strategy is presented to iteratively and actively select the informative samples from a pool of unlabeled samples for labeling. Concretely, high-confidence samples are actively selected through self-paced learning (SPL) way and automatically pseudo-labeled with the current classification model, whereas low-confidence samples are chosen through an active learning strategy and manually labeled. Finally, we update the parameters of the model by minimizing a dual-loss function using a new training set that is constructed by incorporating new labeled samples with original ones. Experiments on the moving and stationary target acquisition and recognition (MSTAR) benchmark data demonstrate that the proposed method can achieve better classification accuracy with relatively few labeled samples compared with some state-of-the-art methods.

Stroke has become a leading cause of death and long-term disability in the world, and there is no effective treatment.Deep learning-based approaches have the potential to outperform existing stroke risk prediction models, they rely on large well-labeled data. Due to the strict privacy protection policy in health-care systems, stroke data is usually distributed among different hospitals in small pieces. In addition, the positive and negative instances of such data are extremely imbalanced. Transfer learning solves small data issue by exploiting the knowledge of a correlated domain, especially when multiple source are available.In this work, we propose a novel Hybrid Deep Transfer Learning-based Stroke Risk Prediction (HDTL-SRP) scheme to exploit the knowledge structure from multiple correlated sources (i.e.,external stroke data, chronic diseases data, such as hypertension and diabetes). The proposed framework has been extensively tested in synthetic and real-world scenarios, and it outperforms the state-of-the-art stroke risk prediction models. It also shows the potential of real-world deployment among multiple hospitals aided with 5G/B5G infrastructures. National Key R&D Program of China; National Nature Science Foundation of China; Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province; Guangdong “Pearl River Talent Recruitment Program”; Technology Research Project of Shenzhen City; Public Technology Platform of Shenzhen City

Advances in technology have allowed radiology educators to use numerous innovative teaching tools and methods in their pedagogy. Commonly used methods such as audience response systems, flipped classroom techniques, active learning methods, and electronic media are explicated. Finally, the appropriate use of these techniques to fully optimize the educational experience is discussed.

Various strategies for active learning have been proposed in the machine learning literature. In uncertainty sampling, which is among the most popular approaches, the active learner sequentially queries the label of those instances for which its current prediction is maximally uncertain. The predictions as well as the measures used to quantify the degree of uncertainty, such as entropy, are traditionally of a probabilistic nature. Yet, alternative approaches to capturing uncertainty in machine learning, alongside with corresponding uncertainty measures, have been proposed in recent years. In particular, some of these measures seek to distinguish different sources and to separate different types of uncertainty, such as the reducible (epistemic) and the irreducible (aleatoric) part of the total uncertainty in a prediction. The goal of this paper is to elaborate on the usefulness of such measures for uncertainty sampling, and to compare their performance in active learning. To this end, we instantiate uncertainty sampling with different measures, analyze the properties of the sampling strategies thus obtained, and compare them in an experimental study.

Group work is a common active learning strategy in higher education when the goal is to enhance deep learning and develop teamwork skills. Culturally diverse learning groups are particularly valuable in preparing university students to participate in a globalized world. Student engagement in group work is critical in realizing these benefits. Therefore, more insight into what factors promote engagement is necessary. This study investigates the extent to which trust in the group, cultural diversity in the group, and group formation contribute to behavioral and cognitive engagement in group work. A questionnaire was filled out by 1025 bachelor’s students from six universities in the Netherlands and Canada. Structural equation modeling analyses identified students’ trust in the group as the strongest positive predictor of both behavioral and cognitive engagement. Greater perceived cultural diversity was found to promote behavioral and cognitive engagement, but compared with trust, the impacts were relatively small. Whether students could choose their group members did not affect behavioral or cognitive engagement significantly. Contrary to what was expected, trust did not act as a mediator. That is, cultural diversity and group formation did not indirectly affect engagement through trust. These findings prompt some suggestions for how to enhance student engagement in group work.

Influenced by EPSS, generative learning, and intentional learning strategies, a Web-based tool -- called the Web Resource Collaboration Center (WRCC) -- was developed to support learning communities in building their own Web-based learning and performance support systems to support lifelong learning and professional development. Using various online communication and collaboration technologies, the WRCC is designed to not only enable learning communities to (1) build a learning and professional development resource that will provide them with immediate support and guidance and (2) help them develop structure, strategies, and skills for subsequent lifelong learning and professional development activities, but also (3) take responsibility for creating original resources that support lifelong learning and professional development.

Project-based learning has long been an important element in teaching informatics topics, because it allows students to acquire important social and methodological competences in addition to professional competence. Groupware systems are increasingly used in such settings. In our paper, we present the didactic concept we have applied to more than ten cooperative educational projects over the last few years. We describe how electronic media have become an integral part of our concept and we introduce CommSy a web-based application, designed specifically to fit the needs of project-based learning.

Information and communications technologies (ICT) sit at the centre of lifelong learning policy in the UK. Considerable public expenditure is being applied to the creation of on-line learning and on-line learner information services. These are seen as having a major role in stimulating learning in small businesses. The small business sector has traditionally proved reluctant to engage in structured programmes of employee development. While policy is finding application through significant spending on new infrastructure, insufficient attention is being paid to the ways in which those in the workplace learn and learn about learning. Drawing on research carried out in Scotland, this paper suggests that the development of ICT supported work-based learning will result in significant changes in learning relationships and in the sources from which learners seek support. The effective development of learning in small businesses is dependent on the radical changes in technology associated with ICT being matched by equally radical changes in the way that work-based learning is conceptualised and organised. In particular, the potential of new learning relationships must be recognised and taken fully into account in planning and implementing work-based learning programmes. While positive for learners and the businesses in which they work, the changes in roles and relationships which the adoption of this perspective will involve will challenge and are likely to marginalize traditional players in the learning market.

Attention in teacher professional development programs for situating teacher learning in the workplace has increased during the last decades. This article presents an overview of what is described in recent educational workplace learning literature about facilitating and constraining conditions of the workplace. These findings are discussed from the viewpoint of general workplace learning insights. Although workplace learning potentially has several advantages, the six workplace factors identified for learning to occur, also show the complexity of teacher workplace learning and several potential problems. It is argued that not all learning “at work” is good, and a balance is necessary between individual and organizational learning, and off-site and on-site learning.

INTRODUCTION While blended learning has been growing in popularity in recent years, the effectiveness of this procedure remains controversial. In this report, we assess the effectiveness of blended learning of embryology within international medical students. MATERIALS AND METHODS The participants were international medical students taking embryology in the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery program. The blended learning group (BLG) consisted of students (n=43) in the 2018-2019 academic year, taught with blended learning model via a customized small private online course (SPOC). The control traditional teaching group (TTG) consisted students (n=48) in the 2017-2018 academic year, taught with traditional teaching model. Academic performance, including mean scores and passing ratios on the final exam of two groups were compared and analyzed with a t-test. In addition, a questionnaire directed toward evaluating student's perceptions with the blended learning was administered to students in BLG. RESULTS The majority of students in BLG actively participated in online self-study activities and discussion in face-to-face class sessions. The mean score and passing ratio were significantly greater than those of students in TTG (P

Purpose With technology becoming an essential component in classrooms, it is becoming more crucial for pharmacy faculty to explore innovative active learning strategies that engage students inside and outside the classroom. This manuscript discusses how two fourth-year students and their preceptor developed interactive patient cases using an open-source software application called Twine ( www.twinery.org ). Description Two different cases were developed in Twine. The first patient case story was created by the fourth-year students and will be implemented in the future. The second patient case, consisting of two Twine stories, was created by the faculty preceptor and was implemented during new student orientation. Analysis/interpretation Resources for development as well as advantages and disadvantages of developing and implementing Twine stories into the curriculum are discussed. Implementation of the faculty's Twine stories into the pharmacy curriculum is also discussed. Conclusions Twine is a user-friendly application and has the potential to be utilized in healthcare programs as an effective and engaging teaching strategy that both professor and students enjoy. Implications While development of a Twine story could be time-consuming, the benefit of increasing student engagement outweighs the cost. Active learning is an essential component in the classroom, and finding new and innovative ways to enhance student learning is imperative.

Neonatal-perinatal medicine (NPM) trainees are expressing an increased interest in global health. NPM fellowship programs are tasked with ensuring that interested fellows receive appropriate training and mentorship to participate in the global health arena. Global health engagement during fellowship varies based on a trainee’s experience level, career goals, and academic interests. Some trainees may seek active learning opportunities through clinical rotations abroad whereas others may desire engagement through research or quality improvement partnerships. To accommodate these varying interests, NPM fellows and training programs may choose to explore institutional partnerships, opportunities through national organizations with global collaborators, or domestic opportunities with high-risk populations. During any global health project, the NPM trainee needs robust mentorship from professionals at both their home institution and their partner international site. Trainees intending to use their global health project to fulfill the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP) scholarly activity requirement must also pay particular attention to selecting a project that is feasible during fellowship and also meets ABP criteria for board eligibility. Above all, NPM fellows and training programs should strive to ensure equitable, sustainable, and mutually beneficial collaborations.

Heterogeneous architectures have emerged as a dominant platform, not only in high-performance computing but also in mobile processing, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things (IoTs). Because the undergraduate computer science curriculum includes so many topics, adding a new course as a required part of the curriculum without increasing the number of hours to graduation is difficult. Integration of heterogeneous computing requires a module-driven approach in which coverage of the topics is broken down into smaller units and dispersed throughout the curriculum. The module-driven approach has been successfully implemented in introducing parallel and distributed computing concepts. In this paper, we present a set of four teaching modules that introduce fundamental concepts in heterogeneous computing in lower-division computer science courses. The goal of these modules is not to teach students how to program heterogeneous systems but rather to expose them to this emerging trend and prepare them for material in future classes. Although concepts are covered at a high level, the modules emphasize active learning and include lab assignments that provide students with hands-on experience. We also present initial evaluation results for two of these modules based on their use in undergraduate courses at Texas State University. The results are quite encouraging both in terms of learning outcomes and student engagement and interest.

Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). This article draws on data from a small qualitative study of men on care-based degree pathways in one university in England. There is little research that specifically considers the experiences of working-class men on these courses. The article explores aspects of men’s experiences and responses to so-called ‘active learning’. It considers knowledge in care-pathway pedagogy and how students on these programmes are enabled to draw on both disciplinary and practice-knowledge. The article argues that active learning must go beyond a dominant preoccupation with self-development to initiate students into disciplinary knowledge appropriately recontextualised for their practice careers. Classed and gendered classrooms are an example of where this might occur. Implications for access and participation and for teaching and learning on care pathways are identified. University of Winchester Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund and the Access and Participation Team.

The current paper aimed to identify the relation between ecological intelligence (EI) and the types of multiple intelligences (MI); and pointed out how ecological awareness could be raised through activities of MI. Data was gathered from the freshman students (N = 68) who studied at the Department of Primary Education. Four measures were used in this case study: interviews, multiple intelligence inventory (MII), ecological intelligence scale (EIS), and students' 5-min notes. Correlation analysis was used to find the relationship between the students’ ecological intelligence and the types of MI. The responses to interview questions were coded into discrete themes. Findings indicated that the intelligence type which had the most correlation with the sub-dimensions of EIS was InterP. Moreover, moderate relations were determined between the sub-dimensions of EIS and the types of MI which were Bodily/Kinesthetic (BK) and Visual/Spatial (VS). Although the students had difficulties in activities such as drama and role-playing for BK intelligence, they enjoyed, and had better motivation to learn collaboratively during the activities through visual tools. Ecological intelligence relates to various types of MI. Based on this assertion the activities of MI should be integrated in-class environmental activities for students to acquire ecological awareness and sensitivity.

Air traffic controller (ATC) fatigue is receiving considerable attention in recent studies because it represents a major cause of air traffic incidences. Research has revealed that the presence of fatigue can be detected by analysing speech utterances. However, constructing a complete labelled fatigue data set is very time-consuming. Moreover, a manually constructed speech collection will often contain only little key information to be used effectively in fatigue recognition, while multilevel deep models based on such speech materials often have overfitting problems due to an explosive increase of model parameters. To address these problems, a novel deep learning framework is proposed in this study to integrate active learning (AL) into complex speech features selected from a large set of unlabelled speech data in order to overcome the loss of information. A shallow feature set is first extracted using stacked sparse autoencoder networks, in which fatigue state challenge features from a manually selected speaker set of are exploited as the input vector. A densely connected convolutional autoencoder (DCAE) is then proposed to learn advanced features automatically from spectrograms of the selected data to supplement the fatigue features. The network can be effectively trained using a relatively small number of labelled samples with the help of AL sampling strategies, and the addition of a dense block to the convolutional automatic encoder can decrease the number of parameters and make the model easier to fit. Finally, the two above-mentioned features are combined using multiple kernel learning with a support-vector-machine classifier. A series of comparative experiments using the Civil Aviation Administration of China radiotelephony corpus demonstrates that the proposed method provides a significant improvement in the detection precision compared to current state-of-the-art approaches.

International negotiations, particularly in international organisations with a large number of members, can be long and fraught. Reaching consensus between a large number of countries is not an easy task and this point is often ignored in news reports relating to international negotiations. This article argues that when teaching students about the conduct of international negotiations, their understanding can be greatly enhanced by the use of active learning techniques such as role playing, simulations and games. However, much of the literature describes simulations which take time to prepare and are often run over several hours or days. This article argues that we need to develop shorter, seminar length simulations which students can relate to, in order to help their understanding of the issues and processes around negotiations. Highlighting the consensus process in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and drawing on experience of teaching students about the WTO, this article elaborates a seminar length exercise which can be used to illustrate some of the negotiation processes in the WTO, while at the same time teaching students about the process and difficulties of consensus building with a familiar scenario.

B-cells that induce antigen-specific immune responses in vivo produce large numbers of antigen-specific antibodies by recognizing subregions (epitopes) of antigenic proteins, in which they can inhibit the function of antigen protein. Epitope region prediction facilitates the design and development of vaccines that induce the production of antigen-specific antibodies. There are many diseases which are difficult to treat without vaccines. And the COVID-19 has destroyed many people’s lives. Therefore, making vaccines to COVID-19 is very important. Making vaccines needs a large number of experiments to get labeled targets. However, obtaining tremendous labeled data from experiments is a challenge for humans. Big data analysis has proposed some solutions to deal with this challenge. Big data technology has developed very fast and has been applied in many areas. In the bioinformatics area, big data analysis solves a large number of problems, particularly in the area of active learning. Active learning is a method of building more predictive models with less labeled data. Active learning establishes models with less data by asking the oracle (human) for the most valuable samples to train models. Hence, active learning’s application in making vaccines is meaningful that the scientists do not need to do tremendous experiments. This paper proposed a more robust active learning method based on uncertainty sampling and K-nearest density and applies it to the vaccine manufacture. This paper evaluates the new algorithm with accuracy and robustness. In order to evaluate the robustness of active learners, a new robustness index is designed in this paper. And this paper compares the new algorithm with a pool-based active learning algorithm, density-weighted active learning algorithm, and traditional machine learning algorithm. Finally, the new algorithm is applied to epitope prediction of B-cell data, which is significant to making vaccines.

This study measured the impact of virtual three-level collaboration (3LC) exercises on participants’ perceived levels of collaboration, learning, and utility (CLU) at hospitals in the southern region of Saudi Arabia. Our 3LC exercise is a tabletop training tool used to facilitate disaster education and document CLU. This model enables the practitioner to acquire new knowledge and promotes active learning. An English version of the CLU scale, the validated Swedish survey tool, was applied to 100 healthcare managers or leaders in various positions at both the operational and tactical levels after conducting the 3LC exercises. The response rate was 100%, although not all questions were answered in some cases. The results show that most participants strongly agreed that the exercises focused on collaboration (r2 = 0.767) and that they had acquired new knowledge during the exercises. There was a statistically significant association between participation in the collaboration exercises and perceived learning (r2 = 0.793), as well as between perceived learning and utility (r2 = 0.811). The collaboration exercises enhance the perceived effects of CLU. They also improve the ability of participants to adapt situational strategies to achieve a safer society. Although exercises were conducted virtually, they were well received by the participants and achieved a value M = 4.4 CLU score, which opens up new dimensions in collaboration simulation exercises.

Background and purpose The purpose of this study was to assess impact on knowledge, communication skills, and self-confidence of an oral presentation through integrated learning within a pharmaceutical sciences course and a pharmacy practice course within the first year of a three-year, accelerated pharmacy curriculum. Educational activity and setting First-year, first-quarter students were assigned to research, prepare, and give an oral presentation of an immunology topic pertaining to an autoimmune disease or an immune deficiency. In addition to assessments of content (immunology) and delivery (communications), students completed a 15-item, four-point Likert scale anonymous post-presentation survey, which provided an opportunity for the students to provide feedback about the assignments. Students were also encouraged to provide subjective feedback. Findings A total of 140 students (88%) completed the survey. Results indicated favorable student response to the assignments. On average, students viewed this activity as a positive experience (total mean = 1.44 (95.71%)). Furthermore, students strongly agreed that the activity helped with public speaking and reinforced basic immune system concepts. Analysis of student responses and comments indicated positive reaction to active learning and self-directed learning. Summary Overall results indicated an improvement in student confidence in ability to communicate specific material learned in a pharmaceutical sciences course. Curricular integration through oral presentations is one approach to increase student knowledge of pharmaceutical sciences and improve confidence and student self-awareness of personal communication skills.

Contribution: An education innovation in control engineering using practical setups and its evaluation based on a three-year student feedback study and examination grades. Background: Based on extensive research, education’s transition toward active learning and more practical experience has been shown to increase learning outcomes. Contrary to virtual and remote labs, a practical session with an individual setup for each student provides the most practical experience. Intended Outcomes: To show a positive effect on learning performance by integrating practical sessions in basic control engineering. Application Design: Presenting low cost setups that can be mass produced and adapt to the course’s growing complexity. These setups are evaluated during a three-year feedback study. Findings: The developed setups increased understanding of theoretical concepts. The new methodology significantly improved students’ average grades. The students’ interest in control theory is triggered. This case study could guide other institutions toward successfully implementing highly individual practical sessions for large groups.

There continues to be an increase in enrollments in various computing programs at academic institutions due to many job opportunities available in the information, communication, and technology sectors. This enrollment surge has presented several challenges in many Computer Science (CS), Information Technology (IT), and Software Engineering (SE) programs at universities and colleges. One such challenge is that many instructors in CS/IT/SE programs continue to use learning approaches that are not learner centered and therefore are not adequately preparing students to be proficient in the ever-changing computing industry. To mitigate this challenge, instructors need to use evidence-based pedagogical approaches, e.g., active learning, to improve student learning and engagement in the classroom and equip students with the skills necessary to be lifelong learners. This article presents an approach that combines learning and engagement strategies (LESs) in learning environments using different teaching modalities to improve student learning and engagement. We describe how LESs are integrated into face-to-face (F2F) and online class activities. The LESs currently used are collaborative learning , gamification , problem-based learning , and social interaction . We describe an approach used to quantify each LES used during class activities based on a set of characteristics for LESs and the traditional lecture-style pedagogical approaches. To demonstrate the impact of using LESs in F2F class activities, we report on a study conducted over seven semesters in a software testing class at a large urban minority serving institution. The study uses a posttest-only study design, the scores of two midterm exams, and approximate class times dedicated to each LES and traditional lecture style to quantify their usage in a face-to-face software testing class. The study results showed that increasing the time dedicated to collaborative learning, gamification, and social interaction and decreasing the traditional lecture-style approach resulted in a statistically significant improvement in student learning, as reflected in the exam scores.

For food research, control, and production,valid and trustworthy analytical data are important. Our practical chemical food safety course for engineers therefore uses real-life studies for the ease of understanding the concept and the needed requirements for high analytical quality in relation to enabling correct evaluation of chemical food safety. Concepts of chromatography and mass spectrometry were applied and left open for inquiry-based learning and students’ search for information for their actual case study during this 3 week practical course. Three case studies, with three different analytical chemistry challenges, were addressed, namely, iodine, ethyl carbamate, and N-nitrosamine determination by ICP-MS, GC–MS,and LC–MS/MS, respectively. Each group of students successfully concluded one case study by integration of method validation and other appropriate analytical quality concepts with practical conduction of the analysis. The assignment included obtaining their own results,and evaluation of the results in the context of a food safety assessment.Successful vocabulary attainment and learning of quality assurance,analytical concepts, and data evaluation were communicated in report writing as well as oral presentations in front of the other students(in groups) and at the final examination (individually).

Introduction Team-based learning (TBL) is a small group active learning andragogy promoting the development of critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills. Across higher education, the adoption of educational technology is often driven by many purported benefits, features, and conveniences, including learning from anywhere, easy access to materials and assessment, task automation, performance tracking, engagement monitoring, and higher fidelity for simulated experiences. Institutions may also choose to adopt technology to boost program reputation and visibility. However, unexpected effects following the adoption of new technology may interfere with active learning, trust, and cohesion between learner-learner or learner-instructor. Perspective In many cases, the potential long-term impact of technology on teaching and learning is overlooked. This commentary calls awareness to and discusses the potential impact of adopting technology on active teaching and learning processes in the context of TBL. Implications A systematic process for programs to explore the influence of technology on the essential elements of teaching and learning, to support decision making, and to focus on quality educational processes is proposed. Programs should systematically consider influences on quality, access, independent work, peer interactions, and contextual approach when adopting technology.

The manuscript that we examined contains the introduction of gamification into e-learning lecture activities in universities. A literature study will explain conceptual differences between the techniques and methods of mechanics and game dynamics used by students. Gamification will be combined into e-learning at a university, and this has various benefits in the learning process, such as higher motivation, more fun learning, and active learning. This Paper shows the importance of gamification in learning, including in higher education. The manuscript that we created presents a different perspective on the concept of gamification in the University. The innovation in this paper describes incorporating characteristics of gamification and e-learning that can demonstrate the practical use of gamification in e-learning. The method used is a literature study. Further research expected that this framework can be applied in various universities.

Technology continues to disrupt higher education around the world. The fast adoption of blended and online learning coupled with growing interest in offering MOOCs by higher education institutions warrants a systematic study of the learning environment and how learners perceive it. This study builds on previous studies that investigated digital status, online practices and learners’ preferences for learning environments in Pacific Island Countries. A total of 945 learners (873 undergraduate and 72 postgraduate) were investigated for their preferences towards psycho-social features of their preferred learning environments. In addition, 112 instructors’ perceptions demonstrated their understanding of learners’ preferences and the gaps in their understanding of their learners. The undergraduate learners place highest preference for learner interaction and collaboration and authentic learning, whereas postgraduate learners opted for instructor support, active learning and authentic learning. The instructors’ perceptions highlighted the importance they place on their role by rating their assumption for learners’ highest preference for instructor support and least satisfaction of learners towards distance education. The learners and instructors’ contradictory perceptions indicate the need for instructors to ‘listen’ to their learners and redesign technology integrated learning environments. These findings have implications on course design and delivery in higher education and MOOCs.

Within the context of the global learning crisis and calls to focus on the quality of education, one international organisation took a systematic and holistic approach to improve learning, wellbeing, and development in schools. Known as the Quality Learning Environment (QLE) Framework, it conceptualised the quality of the learning environment in schools with four guiding principles: emotional and psychological protection of learners, physical wellbeing of children, active learning processes, and close collaboration between school and parents/community. From 2013 – 2017, the framework was piloted in three countries of Cambodia, Uganda, and Zimbabwe to improve learning environments and outcomes while documenting the process, methods, and results of the QLE pilot in their country. The interventions in the three countries were closely tracked by a longitudinal research study. This paper explores the ambition of global and national research firms to carry out rigorous cross-country research alongside contextualized and evolving school interventions.

There are increasing calls for the use of research-based teaching strategies to improve engagement and learning in engineering. In this innovation paper, we detail the application of research-based teaching strategies in a computer programming focused biomedical engineering module. This four-week, one-credit undergraduate biomedical engineering (BME) programming-based image processing module consisted of a blend of lectures, active learning exercises, guided labs, and a final project. Students completed surveys and generated concept maps at three time points in the module (pre, mid, and post) to document the impact of integrating research-based teaching strategies. Students demonstrated a significant (p 4 out of 5) perceptions of gains in knowledge and attitudes toward instructor support. Overall, the novel design utilized multiple research-based pedagogies and increased students’ conceptual knowledge, self-efficacy, and perceived usefulness of material. The proposed design is an example of how multiple research-based instructional strategies can be integrated into an undergraduate biomedical engineering course. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s43683-021-00057-w.

The fourth industrial revolution determined Education 4.0, which brings out both the clear presence of technology in the educational process and connects electronic devices in the real and virtual world during learning, and during activities of interest, according to personal preferences and experience. However, the requirements and conditions for the use of technologies to increase learning outcomes are much more important. The objective of the study is the construct "technology-based decision making". The research aims to study the influence of the technology-based decisions for the active learning of the students from the higher educational institutions /HEIs/. A scientific study was conducted with 74 students from HEIs. The results show that technology-based decision-making increases learning activity and provides opportunities for learning to be a constructive and active process. Technology-based decisions of university students are defined as a specific motivator for their active learning.

Mentorship in the field of service-learning has many variations. The utilization of peace circles has been on the rise as a way of bringing inclusion and cultural awareness when interacting with diverse perspectives in a group setting. Research on the impact of service-learning experiences on college students reflects that participation in these high-impact practices in higher education lead to positive outcomes through engagement in active learning practices that will impact their future careers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential factors that impact college students’ own growth and development within mentorship service learning experiences in virtual settings with school-aged students. Using Likert-style retrospective survey questions with open-ended responses, this mixed-methods research explored the impact of participating in mentorship service learning on college students’ development of social-emotional and cultural competence. The findings of the study are presented in a descriptive approach which led to conclusions and recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the Mediator Mentors program at Fresno State University to positively impact the growth and development of college students in the areas of social-emotional expertise and cultural competence.

Recreating the social aspects of face-to-face teaching in an online environment became more challenging in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. With limited or no face-to-face interaction with students, lecturers had to explore alternative ways to recreate aspects of an engaging and supportive face-to-face learning environment. This article focuses on the use of online discussion forums through the lens of the Community of Inquiry (COI) framework to meaningfully engage a mathematics community of learning. The COI framework, comprising social, cognitive and teaching presences, has been widely applied to online learning. We investigate the question: ‘How can online discussion forums support the development of a learning community in a fully online Vector Calculus course?’ We do this through evaluating our online discussion forum as a COI and consequently recommend design principles. Data from engineering students taking Vector Calculus in an extended degree at a South African university includes interviews, surveys, discussion forum content, and learning platform analytics. Analysis of data using the COI framework shows that discussion forums contributed to social presence, cognitive presence, and teaching presence. Design principles and directions for further research are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science & Technology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Active teaching methodologies have been placed as a hope for changing education at different levels, transiting from passive lecture-centered to student-centered learning. With the health measures of social distance, the COVID-19 pandemic forced a strong shift to remote education. With the challenge of delivering quality education through a computer screen, we validated and applied an online course model using active teaching tools for higher education. We incorporated published active-learning strategies into an online construct, with problem-based inquiry and design of inquiry research projects to serve as our core active-learning tool. The gains related to students’ science learning experiences and their attitudes towards science were assessed by applying questionnaires before, during and after the course. The course counted on the participation of 83 students, most of them (60,8%) from post-graduate students. Our results show that engagement provided by active learning methods can improve performance both in hard and soft skills. Students participation seems to be more relevant when activities require interaction of information, prediction and reasoning, such as open-ended questions and design of research projects. Therefore, our data shows that, in pandemic, active learning tools benefit students and improve their critical thinking and their motivation and positive positioning in science.

Aim The aim of this study was to understand the concept of active learning and its potential use in nursing academia. Background The demands for innovative teaching-learning strategies in higher education increased in the past decade to foster higher level of thinking. The nurse educator must prepare students entering the nursing profession, which mandates safe patient care, using a pedagogical learning process such as active learning. Method The Walker and Avant method guided this concept analysis. Results The attributes of the concept are learner-centered; dynamic, meaningful, and engaging learning environment; bidirectional collaborative interaction between educator and learner; and ongoing constructive and nonjudgmental feedback. The identified antecedents include the educator's active learning expertise and the learner's capacity for higher order thinking. Conclusion Nurse educators are responsible for providing effective learning environments based on a sound pedagogical approach. Active learning's desirable outcomes call for educator support as experts in implementation.

The promotion of spatial skills is essential in chemistry education. However, the process of acquiring these skills can be monotonous if learning is limited to the memorization of Newman projections or 3D molecular kits. Existing approaches to learning using visualizing tools require physical models which limit learning activities to within the classroom. Augmented reality (AR) in chemistry education allows students to see actual compound representation in a 3D environment, inspect compounds from multiple viewpoints, and control compounds interaction in real-time in any location. This facilitates the understanding of the spatial relations between compounds. We developed a methodology to use and assess an AR program to teach chemistry to associate degree science students. Figures of small organic molecules together with customized AR cards were used to let students appreciate the complexity of a 3D compound structure by viewing and rotating the depicted compounds. The effectiveness of learning chemistry using AR technology was evaluated. Quantitative questionnaire feedback results from students showed that 87% found that using AR technology for chemistry subjects was an effective teaching method that enhanced their learning, and students were satisfied with the AR educational app and the AR materials used. In a pre- and post-test evaluation of a group activity, students learned better and remembered more information about functional groups and drawings of complicated compounds after using AR technology. On the basis of our results, we can conclude that using AR has a positive impact on enthusiasm and learning in higher education chemistry courses for subdegree students, and this technology should be broadly used as a digital tool to promote active learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Field experiences are a fundamental and well-loved tool for teaching in the natural sciences. However, a number of concerns threaten continued incorporation of field experiences into courses, inclu...

BACKGROUND The motivation to learn begins with a problem. The ideology of problem-based learning (PBL) is to encourage the students to think beyond the books and apply the basic knowledge to various clinical scenarios. Problem based learning has been a concept in existence for decades, yet its implementation in medical education is limited. So the study on PBL was taken up to know analytical skills, comprehensive understanding of disease process and inculcate the practice of self-directed learning in physiology. METHODS This was an educational interventional study carried out on 60 first MBBS students chosen by simple random sampling. Students were further randomly divided into two groups containing 30 students in the control group and 30 students in the study group. Control group was taught by didactic lectures. 10 clinical scenarios were given to study group and discussions were conducted under the moderation of faculties. Objective evaluation was performed using pre-test and post-test examination for both groups. Subjective evaluation of attitude in study group towards PBL was recorded using self-developed questionnaire using Likert’s scale. Data was analysed by using paired students t test. RESULTS The mean pre-PBL (9.83±4.88) and post-PBL scores (15.61 ± 2.99) in study group were significant (p < 0.00001). The comparison of mean scores of postdidactic lectures (12.88 ± 3.13) in control group and post-PBL (15.61 ± 2.99) in study group were significant (p < 0.001). Subjective evaluation using Likert’s scale revealed increased interest in active learning, better confidence, communication, comprehension, and motivation amongst the PBL group. CONCLUSIONS From the results of this study, it can be concluded that problem-based learning is a good supplementary tool in teaching physiology, and it can be included in the regular medical teaching programmes so that the students have a better understanding of the various challenges in the field of medical education and research so that newer strategies for better health care provision can be planned. KEYWORDS Active Learning, Medical Education, Problem Solving, Self-Directed Learning

Introduction Continuing education (CE) standards by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education emphasize that educational methodologies should contribute to the development of participants' critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Employment of serious gaming can meet this expectation through motivation, timely feedback, and challenging all performance levels. Current literature is lacking regarding use of game-based learning, such as “escape rooms” in pharmacy CE programming. Methods This pilot study enrolled participants at a two-hour medication error CE presentation. Study investigators utilized the first hour for lecture and the second hour for application through an “escape room” activity. During this activity, participants used critical thinking and teamwork to unlock puzzles for root cause analysis (RCA) creation in a provided timeframe. An optional, online anonymous survey was emailed to attendees. Responses were rated on a five-point Likert scale; descriptive statistics were represented by percent distributions. Results A total of 40 pharmacists and seven technicians responded to the perception survey. Most respondents felt this activity emphasized critical thinking (87%) and was appropriate for the topic of medication errors (83%). The majority (63%) agreed this activity helped them to better understand a RCA, 48% felt the group sizes were appropriate, and 76% felt instructions for the activity were clear. Over 75% would like to see this type of activity utilized in another CE programs. Conclusions This activity was well received by participants and may emphasize critical thinking and understanding of topics presented. Further studies assessing pre−/post-program knowledge are needed to ensure adequate retention of information.

Disruptive technology and a generation with an increased interest in using that technology to aid their learning has caused a need to change the current educational landscape. Student Response Systems are a contemporary means to integrate digital technology in the modern classroom. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the perspectives that impact students' engagement when using Student Response Systems in a technology enhanced classroom environment. The study was guided by qualitative methods of inquiry through non-participant observations, examination of the course material, and semi-structured interviews. The in-depth interviews ( n = 14) were conducted with graduate students who participated in the technology enhanced flipped classroom (TEFC) during their STEM degree studies in southern Sweden. The collected data were analyzed through the means of content analysis. The results of the study show that Student Response Systems are an effective and innovative method to increase students’ engagement in the classroom and embrace a modern learning environment. The participants expressed a positive impact on their willingness to participate in classroom discussions and share their respective views. A drawback that was mentioned is the dissatisfaction to invest more time in preparation ahead of the discussion, compared to lecture-based learning. The Student Response Systems increased the graduate students’ esteem to comfortably engage in classroom discussions and offers educators an additional tool to enhance their current pedagogical methods. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by closing an identified research gap that lacks perceptions from graduate students in a STEM program in southern Sweden. There are a few limitations that the reader should consider. The collected data pertains to graduate-level studies in a STEM degree program. Further, ample data were collected through multiple sources; however, the reflections are limited to 14 interview participants and are, therefore, not generalizable to other populations than those examined in the context. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.20.9.6

This article discusses a pedagogical technique for utilizing breakout rooms for small group discussions and synchronous drawing features in Zoom to create crowdsourced solutions to mathematical pro...

There is growing concern among educators regarding the difficulty in recruitment of trainees to pediatric nephrology, and the importance of developing a strong foundational knowledge in nephrology for all pediatric trainees. This review highlights the factors that may influence trainee interest in nephrology, as well as what educators can do to demystify nephrology. A large percentage of fellowship positions go unmatched in pediatric nephrology in the USA. Adult nephrologists have faced similar workforce concerns and have worked to overcome perceived barriers to trainee interest. Trainees choose specialty careers based on interest in subject matter, perceived quality of life, role models, and geographical constraints. Pediatric nephrologists can make content more accessible through active learning methods. Increasing visibility throughout medical school and providing mentorship can be valuable. Finally, broadening the scope of nephrology from being solely an academic research–focused specialty can increase relevance for trainees.

The adoption of A Framework for K-12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) across the U.S. requires that the field of science education develops high-quality instructio...

The eLene4Life project aims to support curriculum innovation in higher education (HE) through the development of active learning approaches for transversal skills, with the ultimate aim of improving students’ employability. The MOOC “Active Learning for Soft Skills Development”, one of the project outputs, has been put in place as a space for learning through experience sharing and discussion. The MOOC aims at fostering the exchange of results achieved by instructors after the concrete experimentation of active learning methods and at increasing their sensibility and knowledge of the most effective modalities through which to implement those methods. This paper outlines the genesis of the MOOC. Its three main objectives are: (a) collecting and valorising different voices of the teachers who directly experimented one or more methodologies of active learning in their classroom (most of them during the pandemic); (b) embracing and sustaining experiences, as well as addressing doubts coming from a wider audience interested in putting into practice such methods oriented to soft and digital skills’ development; (c) offering a non-formal learning opportunity in line with European indications about micro-credentialing through developing synergies with the ECCOE project (European Credit Clearinghouse for Opening up Education).