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KOJI AWARENESS is a newly developed self-rating whole-body movement assessment system that includes 11 domains and 22 tests. The primary aim of this study was to investigate the intersession reliability of KOJI AWARENESS, and the secondary aim was to determine whether a fixed bias existed between self-rating and external examiner rating. Fifty university students rated their movement ability in two separate sessions; an external examiner also rated the students' movement ability. Participants were blinded to their scores at the first session as well as the external examiner's rating scores. The primary analysis included examining the intersession reliability of the total score with intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). ICC values were interpreted as follows: insufficient, <.7 and sufficient, ≥.7. To achieve the secondary aim, Bland–Altman analysis was performed. ICC for the intersession reliability was.86 with a 95% confidence interval (CI) of.77 to.92 and a minimum detectable change (MDC) of 5.15. Bland–Altman analysis revealed fixed bias as the 95% CIs of the mean difference between the two different rating scores (−3.49 to −2.43 and −3.94 to −2.98 in the first and second sessions, respectively) did not include 0 in the data of each session. However, no proportional bias was identified because no statistically significant Pearson's correlation (P >.05) was noted between the means of the two methods and the mean difference between the two different methods in each session. This study identified that KOJI AWARENESS has sufficient intersession reliability among relatively young and healthy participants. External examiner rating tended to have lower total scores than self-rating; however, the bias was below the MDC and seemed not to be clinically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Empathy is a key competency and is essential for doctor-patient relationships. Studies have proven a continuous reduction of empathy in medical students during their study period. The use of SPs is positively evaluated for competency acquisition and real patient communication training has positive effects on empathy empowerment. Therefore, the present study focusses on the impact of simulated patient (SP) vs real patient (RP) communication training on empathetic behaviour in undergraduate medical students. Methods: The prospective evaluation took place during a 210-minute skills lab unit on medical communication for 3rd year medical students. Study participants were allocated in advance to one of three groups: one group trained with an SP (SP-group) and was informed about the fact that it was an SP; another group trained with an SP but assumed to encounter an RP (incognito patient group (IP-group)); the last group trained with an RP and was correctly informed about it (real patient group (RP-group). Self-assessed empathy was measured by using Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy (JSPE) and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), as these are the most commonly used instruments for assessing empathy. Study participants were evaluated on empathetic behaviour by their group-associated patient using the Consultation and Relational Empathy (CARE) scale. Results: 146 students participated. There was no significant difference in self-assessed empathy between groups for JSPE and IRI. External assessment via CARE showed a statistically significant difference between SP-group and IP-group , as well as between SP-group and RP-group. There was no significant difference between IP-group and RP-group. This means that students training with real patients (or who believed them to be real) did receive significantly lower performance ratings on their empathy. Conclusion: The results demonstrate a significant lower external empathy rating for students who had trained with a real patient or if they were in the belief of having encountered a real patient; this may be due to inhibitions and a lack of routine. Therefore, we recommend implementing SPs in the early study period with the gradual integration of RPs in the student's further course of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How physical education teachers approach standards-based assessment of the new National Physical Education Standards is yet to be determined. But the use of technology for assessments may be one way to support and empower students in the education process toward physical literacy. This article focuses on the ways in which educators have adopted a particular technology, called Plickers, and how its use as an assessment tool can move physical education teachers' practice forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Oral forms of assessment remain a common part of competency‐based assessment systems, yet their feasibility is being challenged. The focus on individual competence is problematic given the need to prepare health professionals for teamwork. The present study aimed to investigate how the assessment of collective competence compares to individual assessment, and to explore whether there is a need for individual assessment at all in community or population‐based practice. Methods: A behavioural‐based interview assessment was developed and trialled and correlated to performance as a team on placement. Correlation between student performance on individual behavioural‐based interview and teamwork artefacts was assessed using Spearman rho. Differences between performance on individual oral assessment and team performance on artefacts at the cohort level was determined using the Mann–Whitney U‐test. Bland–Altman analysis was completed to analyse agreement between performance on the individual oral assessment and team performance at the student level. Results: Students were final year nutrition and dietetics students from 2020, 2021 and 2022 years (total sample = 216) from one Australian university. There was a difference in performance between assessment types in each year and as a total cohort (p < 0.001) with students performing better in teamwork. There was no correlation between individual oral interview and team performance across all years. The results of the Bland–Altman analysis showed little agreement between the two assessment tasks. Conclusions: Assessment of teamwork performance as part of a program of assessment is essential. More valid and reliable tools are needed to assess collective competence. Highlights: A behavioural‐based interview assessment was developed and trialled as a novel form of individual student oral examination and correlated with performance on team artefacts developed as part of dietetics student placement.There was no correlation or agreement between individual behavioural‐based interview and team performance across all years. Students generally performed better in teamwork artefacts.Assessment of teamwork or collective competence is essential with more valid and reliable tools needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second year of college is a time when students remain at increased risk of departure. Compared to widely available first-year resources, institutional support for second-year students is more limited. The purpose of this study was to compare second-to-third year retention between students who participated in a comprehensive second-year experience program (SEP; n = 2,622) with students who did not participate (n = 4,823). Because students' participation in SEP was optional, we used propensity score matching to account for potential selection bias. Students who participated in SEP were retained at higher rates than students who did not participate, even when accounting for potential selection bias. Retention differences were especially notable among participants and nonparticipants from systemically minoritized backgrounds. These findings extend prior research that meaningful involvement in high-impact practices supports second-year students' retention. We conclude with implications for leaders responsible for second-year programing on their campus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditioned reinforcement for math, or math enjoyment, may be critical for students. If so, this should be established as early as pre-kindergarten, as conditioning the components of math as reinforcement arguably leads to more complex mathematical operations thus impacting individuals' future math ability and literacy (Engel et al., 2013), A multiple probe across dyads design with a nested multiple probe across dyads design was used to determine if establishing a preference for math influenced students' rate of learning math. The intervention tested the effect of the individualized reinforcement procedures, based on a sequence of conditioning procedures proposed in Buttigieg and Greer's (2023) study, on establishing conditioned reinforcement. Three participants required learn units, two participants required the stimulus–stimulus pairing procedure, and one participant required observational conditioning-by-denial to establish conditioned reinforcement for math. The dependent variable was each participant's rate of learning as measured by the number of learn units required to meet mastery criterion for four units of the Equivalence Based Functional Math Curriculum (EBF-Math; Weber et al., 2023). Results showed an educationally significant acceleration of learning following the establishment of conditioned reinforcement for math across all six participants. Results are discussed in terms of the significance of early math instruction and literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student socialisation into the norms and environment of their institution is a crucial process during their college experience. During the COVID-19 pandemic, these processes were disrupted, and little published research exists exploring comparisons of these student socialisation processes before and during the pandemic. Accordingly, we report on a quantitative study conducted at a large mid-western university in the United States, which compared survey data from 2018 to data collected in 2021. We operationalised student socialisation processes using Ashford and Black’s proactive behaviours scale to explore how these behaviours and relevant socialisation outcomes changed from before to during the pandemic. The primary socialisation outcomes of interest were engineering identity and social capital. During the COVID pandemic, students reported lower levels of social capital. However, we simultaneously observed higher ratings of students’ engineering identity. Next, using multivariate linear regression, we examined which proactive behaviours best predicted socialisation outcomes in both datasets. We found all proactive behaviours were significant predictors of social capital. Proactive behaviours did not influence student’s sense of engineering identity. This study contributes to the growing literature on the pandemic's impact on engineering undergraduate students and how proactive behaviours are related to their socialisation outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This column shows that Filipino instructors and administrators collectively acknowledge AI as a transformative tool with the potential to enhance teaching, streamline administrative tasks, and boost research productivity. They highlight AI's benefits in facilitating learning with specific examples, but recognize its limitations, particularly in contextualizing experiences. While they positively regard AI tools at work, they have some concerns such as cheating, data fabrication, and potential decline in creativity and critical thinking. Hence, they emphasize the necessity of regulatory policies and ethical guidelines governing AI use in higher education. They also report whether their home institutions have created AI policies. This column advocates for Philippine educational institutions to reassess their stance on AI's increasing presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given k ≤ 9 points (xi, yi) ∈ ℙ2 × ℙ2, we characterize rank deficiency of the k × 9 matrix Zk with rows x i ⊤ ⊗ y i ⊤ in terms of the geometry of the point configurations {xi} and {yi}. In [3] we presented results for the cases k ≤ 6. In this paper we deal with the remaining cases k = 7, 8 and 9. The results involve the interplay of quadric surfaces, cubic curves and Cremona transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of technology on primary students' self-regulated vocabulary learning (SRVL) over time and its dynamic relationship with vocabulary outcomes have been scarcely studied. This quasi-experimental study reports a longitudinal inquiry into the effect of a mobile-assisted self-regulation scheme on primary students' SRVL and the relationship between the changes in the perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcome. The study lasted seven months. Participants were 174 Grade 4 students (89 girls) from four classes at a primary school in Mainland China. Two classes were randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups. Students in both groups used the app named Vocab+, the former with and the latter without a mobile-assisted self-regulation scheme. Data collection included questionnaires on students' perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary tests. Latent Growth Modelling (LGM) was used to analyse data. The results showed that perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes increased over time. The findings further revealed that students in the experimental group exhibited a steeper increasing trend in perceived SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes. Besides, the association between the growth rates of students' perception of SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes was stronger with the experimental group than with the control group. Our results provided theoretical implications for understanding the relationship between SRVL skills and vocabulary learning outcomes from a developmental perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a detailed study of elliptic fibrations on Fourier-Mukai partners of K3 surfaces, which we call derived elliptic structures. We fully classify derived elliptic structures in terms of Hodge-theoretic data, similar to the Derived Torelli Theorem that describes Fourier-Mukai partners. In Picard rank two, derived elliptic structures are fully determined by the Lagrangian subgroups of the discriminant group. As a consequence, we prove that for a large class of Picard rank 2 elliptic K3 surfaces all Fourier-Mukai partners are Jacobians, and we partially extend this result to non-closed fields. We also show that there exist elliptic K3 surfaces with Fourier-Mukai partners, which are not Jacobians of the original K3 surface. This gives a negative answer to a question raised by Hassett and Tschinkel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work external accrediting bodies are moving towards competency-based models that require educational providers to demonstrate that students meet specific competencies at graduation. It is expected that all social work students at accredited social work programs in Australia will have acquired specific graduate attributes and demonstrated the associated learning outcomes by the completion of their degree. The purpose of this study was to investigate the experiences and benefits of using an ePortfolio with Master of Social Work students (n = 43) to critically reflect on their own learning and demonstrate how they met the Australian Association of Social Work graduate attributes necessary for accreditation. The findings revealed that students' perceived level of readiness for practice and identity as a professional social worker increased with the successful completion of the ePortfolio. The study also identified barriers and enablers in implementing the ePortfolio as an assessment piece to document overall program learning outcomes. The conclusion discusses how ePortfolios are a viable assessment tool in the online and blended learning space that has benefit for both the student and the program in demonstrating learning outcomes and compliance with accreditation graduate standards. Academic ePortfolios are an effective tool for student reflection and communication of competence of required graduate outcomes. Student self-assessment of graduate attributes can strengthen professional identity and preparedness for professional practice. The ePortfolios benefit students and social work educators by sharing the accreditation-obligated responsibility of ensuring that AASW graduate competencies are met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Experiential learning using high-fidelity simulation is a valuable tool for teaching Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students the cardiopulmonary examination. There are currently no standardized assessment tools to evaluate student performance and provide feedback on these skills. The cardiovascular and pulmonary section of the American Physical Therapy Association recently published recommended competency levels for entry-level physical therapists including examination skills. The primary aim of this study was to create and assess inter-rater reliability of a cardiopulmonary examination skills checklist that aligns with these recommendations and can be used in the simulation environment. Methods: A skills checklist with 6 sections was developed to assess student performance on the cardiopulmonary examination within a high-fidelity simulation experience. Training videos on the cardiopulmonary examination and checklist use were created and given to 3 graders. Seventy-three DPT students performed the cardiopulmonary examination within simulation while being recorded. Three graders then assessed the same 25 randomly selected videos using the checklist. Inter-rater reliability, item % agreement and student performance were analyzed. Results: The overall interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of the checklist was calculated to be 0.858, demonstrating strong agreement between graders. The ICC for individualized checklist sections ranged from 0.659 to 0.960, demonstrating good to near perfect agreement. The average percent correct achieved by students was 80.48 (6.91%), R = 65% to 93.33%. There were >80% agreement for 55/60 items and .90% agreement for 44/60 items. Conclusion: The checklist provided an effective tool to assess student performance on the cardiopulmonary examination and demonstrated consistent scoring between graders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active learning is a paradigm where students take a more active role in their learning process. In this paper, two team-based evaluation activities are established for students according to the principles of active learning in order to assess their knowledge, skills and attitudes. These activities were based on scenarios related to network administration issues, and at a later stage, each team had to make a pitch presentation about what they did and how they did it to address them. Each presentation was rated by all students with a specific construct on a peer review basis, which had previously been validated by a panel of experts. The results obtained revealed quite high values with low variability and an acceptable reliability. Additionally, the level of motivation was also assessed, indicating a high level of motivation while undertaking the activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Core reading instruction and interventions have differential effects based on student characteristics such as cognitive ability and pre-intervention skill level. Evidence for differential effect based on affective characteristics is scant and ambiguous; however, students with problem behavior are more often non-responsive to core reading instruction and intensive reading interventions. In this study, we estimated the range of students' behavior ratings in which a core reading instruction intervention was effective using a data set including 3,024 students in K-3. Data came from seven independent studies evaluating the Individualized Student Instruction (ISI) Tier 1 reading intervention and were pooled using integrative data analysis. We estimated Johnson–Neyman intervals of student behavior ratings that showed a treatment effect both at the within and between classroom level. ISI was effective in improving reading scores (b = 0.51, p =.020, d = 0.08). However, students with very low or very high behavior ratings did not benefit from the approaches (range of behavior rating factor scores: −0.95–2.87). At the classroom level, students in classrooms with a higher average of problem behaviors did not benefit from ISI (average classroom behavior rating factor score: 0.05–4.25). Results suggest differentiating instruction alone is not enough for students with behavior problems to grow in reading ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Despite the importance of collaboration and communication in global health, existing educational approaches often rely on traditional one-way instruction from instructor to student. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a newly developed undergraduate curriculum on global health in enhancing nursing students' competencies in global health and communication, problem-solving, and self-directed learning skills. Methods: A 15-week course "Global Health and Nursing" was designed for undergraduate nursing students, and a collaborative project-based learning method was used. Study participants were undergraduate nursing students enrolled in the course. The study was a multi-method study and included quantitative and qualitative components. It employed a one-group pretest–posttest design to quantitatively assess the impact of the curriculum. Additionally, student experiences with the learning process were qualitatively explored through a focus group interview. A total of 28 students participated in this study, and 5 of them participated in the focus group interview. Results: The collaborative project-based learning method significantly improved global health competency (t = − 10.646, df = 22, p < 0.001), with a large effect size. It also improved communication skills (t = − 2.649, df = 22, p = 0.015), problem-solving skills (t = − 3.453, df = 22, p = 0.002), and self-directed learning skills (t = − 2.375, df = 22, p = 0.027). Three themes were found through the focus group interview: (a) Promoting global health competency; (b) Fostering life skills through collaborative projects; and (c) Recommendations for future classes. The focus group interview indicated that overall, the study participants were satisfied with the collaborative project-based method for global health education. Conclusions: This study confirms that project-based learning significantly boosts the competencies and skills of students, recommending its broader adoption in nursing education. Nursing instructors should consider adopting this teaching approach for global health education at the undergraduate level. Future studies may employ a longitudinal design to assess the prolonged effects of the collaborative project-based learning approach, particularly focusing on the long-term retention of skills and the broader applicability of this model across different educational settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies mathematical properties of reaction systems, which is a formal model introduced by Ehrenfeucht and Rozenberg and inspired by biochemical reactions that occur in living cells. Numerous studies have focused on reaction system ranks of functions specified by minimal reaction systems, where the rank refers to the smallest size among the specifying reaction systems. We particularly study the reaction system ranks for a class of union-additive functions specified by minimal reaction systems introduced by Salomaa, which is closed under taking composition. More precisely, when the signature size is two, we obtain a general formula for the reaction system ranks that shows the reaction system rank of each function from this subclass depends on the characteristic of the function. Then, we study the reaction system ranks of such functions with signature size three, as well as establishing a general upper bound for reaction system ranks of such functions with one-to-one signatures for any background set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The availability of large datasets is providing the impetus for driving many current artificial intelligent developments. However, specific challenges arise in developing solutions that exploit small datasets, mainly due to practical and cost-effective deployment issues, as well as the opacity of deep learning models. To address this, the Comprehensive Abstraction and Classification Tool for Uncovering Structures (CACTUS) is presented as a means of improving secure analytics by effectively employing explainable artificial intelligence. CACTUS achieves this by providing additional support for categorical attributes, preserving their original meaning, optimising memory usage, and speeding up the computation through parallelisation. It exposes to the user the frequency of the attributes in each class and ranks them by their discriminative power. Performance is assessed by applying it to various domains, including Wisconsin Diagnostic Breast Cancer, Thyroid0387, Mushroom, Cleveland Heart Disease, and Adult Income datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of employment rate of graduated students can greatly help education authorities to make informed decisions as well as for universities to adjust their teaching plans. Unfortunately, prediction of the employment rate of graduated students is still a difficult problem because the historical employment rate data exhibits fluctuations. In this paper, a new method is proposed for employment rate prediction using fractional gray GM(1,1|$$ \mid $$sin) model, which aims to alleviate the effect of data fluctuation on prediction accuracy and increase the contribution of new data in the prediction procedure. To further decrease prediction error, a Fourier series is adopted to model the residual series. The proposed model, called Fourier Fractional GM(1,1|$$ \mid $$sin) Model (FFGMsin), is used to predict the employment rate of graduated students of Yanshan University from 2010 to 2019. Results show that the proposed method can obtain more accurate prediction results than GM(1,1) model and its variants. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building land-use type classification using earth observation data is essential for urban planning and emergency management. Municipalities usually do not hold a detailed record of building land-use types in their jurisdictions, and there is a significant need for a detailed classification of this data. Earth observation data can be beneficial in this regard, because of their availability and requiring a reduced amount of fieldwork. In this work, we imported Google Street View (GSV), light detection and ranging-derived (LiDAR-derived) features, and orthophoto images to deep learning (DL) models. The DL models were trained on building land-use type data for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). The data was created using building land-use type labels from OpenStreetMap (OSM) and web scraping. Then, we classified buildings into apartment, house, industrial, institutional, mixed residential/commercial, office building, retail, and other. Three DL-derived classification maps from GSV, LiDAR, and orthophoto images were combined at the decision level using the proposed ranking classes based on the F1 score method. For comparison, the classifiers were combined using fuzzy fusion as well. The results of two independent case studies, Vancouver and Fort Worth, showed that the proposed fusion method could achieve an overall accuracy of 75%, up to 8% higher than the previous study using CNNs and the same ground truth data. Also, the results showed that while mixed residential/commercial buildings were correctly detected using GSV images, the DL models confused many houses in the GTA with mixed residential/commercial because of their similar appearance in GSV images. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study empirically investigates how school-based bullying victimization affects students' learning outcomes, taking into consideration international and gender perspectives. The main objective of the present research is to provide a better understanding of the consequences of bullying victimization in the learning process of adolescents. We estimate a statistical function that empirically establishes the relationship between the students' outcomes in mathematics, reading, and science (output) and a wide set of explanatory variables (educational factors), one of which is that of being bullied. The present study uses a large sample of 612,004 students between 15 and 16 years old, attending 21,903 schools in 79 countries. The data come from the 2018 round of the Programme for International Student Assessment. The results indicate that bullying victimization is associated with decreases in academic achievement in mathematics, reading, and science. In addition, no relevant differences by gender are observed in reading and science but, other factors being equal, bullied males score less than bullied females in mathematics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

According to the World Health Organization, a clean, safe, and healthy environment is essential for children to develop and thrive. Environmental insults to human health and well-being take on many forms, including environmental contaminants, lack of sanitation, socioeconomic concerns, and climate change factors--to which children are at heightened vulnerability. Supportive interventions in children's environmental health will affect not only the future lives of children but also the lives of families and communities. Translating knowledge to action provides a path forward in efforts to protect children. The 12 critical competencies developed by Del Rio et al. (2023) outlined an interdisciplinary approach to grappling with environmental health threats to children. These associated performance indicators map the proficiencies needed for competent performance in the public health sector and accurate assessment of environmental threats to children's health. The performance indicators for each critical competency were developed and intended as a guide for education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychosocial correlates and consequences of peer victimization are well documented. However, there is limited knowledge about whether different forms of peer victimization (relational and physical) are predictive of school-based social and motivational factors among adolescents from non-Western cultures. The present study examined the relationship between individual and school-level forms of peer victimization and school adjustment among Japanese adolescents, and the mediating role that these factors may play. The Japanese sample (N = 6109 from 185 schools, Mage = 15.78, SD = 0.29, 51% girls and 49% boys) was drawn from a large international dataset, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018. Results showed that school-level relational victimization was associated with individual-level relational victimization, and school-level physical victimization was associated with individual-level physical victimization, after controlling for age, gender, and socioeconomic status. Individual-level relational victimization was also uniquely associated with indices of school adjustment (negative affect, positive affect, and fear of failure) over and above physical victimization. While controlling for relational victimization, individual-level physical victimization was associated with indices of school adjustment (positive affect and meaning in life). In further findings, school-level relational and physical victimization were indirectly, but not directly, related to some of students' school adjustment through individual-level relational and physical victimization. These parallel and differential associations suggest the importance of considering the role of relational and physical victimization in school adjustment among Japanese adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current literature recommends assessment of communication skills in medical education combining different settings and multiple observers. There is still a gap in understanding about whether and how peers assessment facilitates learning in communication skills training. We designed a qualitative study using focus group interviews and thematic analysis, in a medical course in the Netherlands. We aimed to explore medical students' and teachers' experiences, perceptions, and perspectives about challenges and facilitating factors in PACST (Peer assessment in medical communication skills training). Most of the participants reported that peer feedback was a valuable experience when learning communication skills. The major challenges for the quality and credibility of PACST reported by the participants are the question whether peer feedback is critical enough for learning and the difficulty of actually engaging students in the assessment process. Teachers reviewing students' peer assessments may improve the quality and their credibility and the reviewed assessments can best be used for learning purposes. We suggest to pay sufficient attention to teachers' roles in PACST, ensuring a safe and trustworthy environment and additionally helping students to internalize the value of being vulnerable during the evaluation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have evaluated the final-year Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine (PAM) summative Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) examinations in a four-year graduate medical degree program, for the previous three years as a baseline comparator, and during three years of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022). A de-identified analysis of medical student summative OSCE examination performance, and comparative review for the 3 years before, and for each year of the pandemic. Internal reliability in test scores as measured by R-squared remained the same or increased following the start of the pandemic. There was a significant increase in mean test scores after the start of the pandemic compared to pre-pandemic for combined OSCE scores for all final-year disciplines, as well as for the PAM role-play OSCEs, but not for the PAM mental state examination OSCEs. Changing to online OSCEs during the pandemic was related to an increase in scores for some but not all domains of the tests. This is in line with a nascent body of literature on medical teaching and examination following the start of the pandemic. Further research is needed to optimise teaching and examination in a post-pandemic medical school environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Despite a long history of using human donor dissection (HDD) for physical therapy (PT) anatomy education, there are no PT guidelines that require HDD. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to determine if Doctor of Physical Therapy students who used HDD had different grades both within anatomy and within courses that require retention and application of anatomical knowledge (kinesiology and a foundational musculoskeletal course) compared with those who used virtual 3-dimensional anatomical software (VAS). Review of Literature. Numerous factors affect the decision to use HDD within PT anatomy, and few PT studies have compared the effectiveness of VAS to HDD. Subjects. All students who took anatomy in an entry-level PT program from 2018 to 2021 (232 total students, 115 who used HDD in 2018-2019 and 117 who used VAS in 2020-2021). Methods. Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare anatomy grades (course, written examination, and practical examination) and future grades in kinesiology and a foundational musculoskeletal course for students who used HDD or VAS. Results. Physical therapy students who used VAS had statistically significant higher anatomy course grades (VAS 93.81% 6 4.99% to HDD 92.20% 6 4.53%) and higher practical examination grades (VAS 97.43% 6 2.91% to HDD 93.55% 6 4.39%) compared with those who used HDD. However, there were no significant differences between groups on written anatomy examinations (VAS 89.42% 6 7.21% to HDD 90.40% 6 4.94%), kinesiology grades (VAS 91.86% 6 4.52% to HDD 92.80% 6 4.27%), or foundational musculoskeletal grades (VAS 89.50% 6 3.89% to HDD 89.77% 6 3.83%). Discussion and Conclusion. The causalcomparative study design prevents concluding that PT student grade differences were due exclusively to either anatomy laboratory method. It does provide preliminary evidence that the PT anatomy laboratory method did not practically affect anatomy performance or long-term application of anatomy knowledge in future coursework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stereotype content model (SCM) describes that groups of people are mainly appraised according to two dimensions: warmth and competence. The present study's aim was to investigate possible stereotyped perceptions held by Grade 12 students in Flanders (the northern part of Belgium) of students in the three major educational tracks. They were asked for ingroup and outgroup evaluations, both in general and for different personality traits. As expected, evidence was found for ingroup favouritism, meaning that respondents rated students from their own educational track more positively compared to students in other educational tracks. The status hierarchy between educational tracks in Flanders was reflected in the judgements of respondents from the general track and respondents from the technical track. Respondents from the vocational track showed a reverse pattern, which can be explained by social identity theory and an anti-school culture in vocational education. Finally, for positively formulated personality traits, the warmth-competence dimensionality of the judgements was confirmed together with the compensation hypothesis of the SCM, stating that lower ratings on warmth covary with higher ratings on competence (and vice versa). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a protocol for a Campbell Review following JBI scoping review methodology. The objectives are to answer the following questions: What has been reported in the literature about collaborative learner‐educator design, implementation, or evaluation of learner assessment in health professional education? (1) Where is learner‐educator co‐creation of assessment occurring? (i.e., which disciplines, course types, level of learner, year of study). (2) What course assessment decisions are influenced or being made together? (i.e., assessment instructions and/or grades). (3) How much influence do learners have on decision‐making? (i.e., where does it fall on Bovill and Bulley's ladder of participation). (4) How do learners and educators go about making decisions together? (i.e., discussion or voting, with a whole class or portion of the class). (5) What are the perceived benefits, disadvantages, barriers, and/or facilitators reported by the authors? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To determine factors affecting successful research and publication among medical students, a cross-sectional survey study was carried out at four Thai medical schools during 2018–2022. Medical students who had previously performed research under research advisors' supervision and their research advisors were included. There were 120 participants, 78 medical students and 42 research advisors. The most common problems reported by the students were student's lack of knowledge of research design (78%) and research topic (53%), while the most common problems reported by the advisors were student's lack of knowledge of research topic (55%) and how to prepare documents for ethics committee approval (48%). The promoting factors for research success commonly reported by the students and advisors were "an advisor helps with protocol writing and reviewing the manuscript", "research teaching in the curriculum", "provision of an example of a written ethics committee protocol", and "arranging a special session so that advisors can talk to students about their research of interest". Among the 78 participating students, 20 (26%) had successfully published their research in journals. These 20 students were more likely than those without publications to be from an institute that had a special research project or conference for medical students (20% vs. 0%,) and to suggest that teaching protocol writing helped in promoting research success (70% vs. 43%). These findings suggest that teaching research, a special research project or conference for medical students, and faculty development of research advising could potentially increase the success rate of students' research publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Engineering students should develop critical-thinking skills and insist on appropriate performance levels both from themselves and from their colleagues during their training. In doing so, they will adopt critical attitudes toward their own and others' work. This will help them to successfully perform their future professional work with the highest standards. Methods: In this research, peer- and self-assessments of in-class presentations through a survey-based program were used to analyze the development of critical-thinking skills among engineering students. The program included two key features: firstly, formative assessments were repeatedly conducted over time; secondly, teachers' ratings were provided to students as comparative benchmarks. This approach encouraged students to reflect on their ratings over time using the reference of the teacher. Results: From a general perspective, the analysis of survey responses showed that students assigned lower ratings in assessments conducted at a later stage, despite receiving higher ratings from their teachers over time. Therefore, students became more demanding throughout the experience in spite of the increased quality of their work according to the teachers' assessments. Moreover, students tended to closely attune their evaluations to their teachers' ratings. Comparing peer- and self-assessments, it was noted that students were more demanding toward the work of their peers in the long term, and especially their ability to explain concepts, than they were toward their own work. Nevertheless, high temporary increases were observed in students' own self-assessments of presentation-file quality. Finally, students did not conduct overall assessments with the same level of demand as their teachers at any time during the experience. Discussion: The results demonstrate that this program and similar initiatives are useful to help engineering students to develop critical-thinking skills and to broaden their expectations with respect to their own and their colleagues' work. However, other relevant aspects could be evaluated in lengthier programs, such as whether the students' levels of critical thinking and expectations are maintained when the comparative reference of a teacher's assessment is unavailable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Educational institutions are now concentrating to develop new initiative methods for recognizing the ability of the students through evaluation of the student's answer sheets. The manual evaluation of the answer sheet is a burdensome process for the tutors, which consumes more time and increases stress of the tutors. Hence, the advanced method is required for the automatic assessment of the student's mark sheet which saves the time of the tutors and meets the demand of the educational institution. In this research, the student performance is evaluated through the MCQ test using the neural networks in the VLab platform. The computational complexity and the overfitting issues are greatly reduced by the feature extraction process through Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) technique. The effectiveness of the proposed method is manifested through the comparative analysis. The accuracy, precision, and recall attained by the proposed student's performance prediction based on Neural Network while considering training percentage are found to be 0.9416, 0.9364, and 0.9502 respectively. The accuracy, precision, and recall attained by the proposed student's performance prediction based on Neural Network, while considering the K-fold value are found to be 0.9475, 0.9474, 0.9538, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the growing mental health needs of college students (especially during the COVID-19 pandemic) and emphasizes the importance of early intervention and support. It highlights the fact that while the severity of mental health disorders may not have increased significantly, the complexity and disruptiveness of these disorders in students' lives has grown.

As experienced physiotherapy educators in Brazil, we observed that COVID-19 elucidated challenges in the pedagogy of entry-level education overall, and directions for their remediation. In this commentary, we describe our observations with particular attention to the opportunity for digital and distance teaching and learning in Brazil's exemplary middle-income country. First, the legislation in Brazil around health professional education, specifically entry-level physiotherapy education, is described concerning distanced learning. Then, we contrast such education before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the aftermath of its peak. Our observations reinforce the need to preserve teaching and learning excellence in physiotherapy education with various approaches including distanced and digital learning; be aware of both advantages and disadvantages; and identify means of balancing these for optimal delivery and learner outcomes. Our collective experience and insights strongly support the need for change in the legislative document governing physiotherapy education in Brazil. We hope our experiences will enable other educators to evaluate their contexts, reflect on how best to deliver entry-level physiotherapy education in general and during a pandemic, and reinforce the essentiality of practical face-to-face classes in achieving physiotherapy competencies. Only in this way will global standards of practice be ensured, through quality professional education and the factors that inform and govern these. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The use of simulation is extremely useful in pregraduate students. However, there is a very small number of simulators adapted to paediatric dentistry. A paediatric simulator was created to use in simulated scenarios for paediatric dentistry using an actress in the role of mother. The objectives of the present study were three. First, to analyse the perception of clinical competencies acquired by the students. Second, to examine the realism perceived by the students. Finally, to analyse the influence on the perception of clinical competencies after the integration of a handmade simulator in the Paediatric Dentistry III course. Materials and Methods: Eight clinical scenarios were carried out with a modified Erler Zimmer simulator for children, a professional actress in the role of the mother and two students (in the roles of dentist and assistant) on a paediatric dentistry case of pulpal pathology. The educational intervention was evaluated on 114 students by means of questionnaires with Likert‐type answers applied pre‐ and post‐simulation. Results: The perception of clinical competence in the students increased an average of 0.956 points in relation with the initial clinical evaluation, finding a strong correlation between the perception of subsequent competence and all the perceived realism, with significant statistical differences in all cases. The realism of the simulated participant (professional actress) was the best rated by the students, although not significantly. The realism of the mannequin was positively and strongly correlated with the perceived realism of the cabinet. Conclusion: Simulation using a handmade mannequin with a professional actress in a simulated dental office increased the perception of clinical competence in 4th year dental students and raised the level of overall realism perceived by the student. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with disabilities have an inviolable right to equitable access and participation in tertiary education and support systems are known to be indispensable in making this right a reality. This article presents the voices of students with disabilities regarding aspects that influence their successful access and participation in tertiary education in Ghana. A qualitative approach was adopted for the study with data collected through interviews with 12 students with disabilities in three public universities. From the perspective of these students, successful inclusion of people with disabilities in tertiary education in Ghana is influenced by enrolment practices, the built environment, teaching and learning approaches, and assessment provisions. The context influenced provisions and support provided. Attitudes of the university community and lack of knowledge of inclusive practices such as Universal Design play a role in students' access and participation. Comprehensive awareness-raising on disability and inclusive practices is recommended to address this issue. This paper explores inclusion practices in three Ghanaian public universities focussing on the combined voices of students with disabilities. The context of the three universities influences the provisions and support available for people with disabilities. The students with disabilities involved in the study reported that access to the university environment and support for academic engagement impact their university experience. The attitude of the university community is a factor in ensuring access, participation and success of people with disabilities in higher education. Creating awareness of disability issues within the university community is pivotal in building and sustaining inclusive culture. The application of universal design principles is essential to improving access and participation of people with disabilities in higher education institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student retention is a critical issue for universities, and nearly half of the students who start degree programs in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) do not complete them. The current study tracks the progress of STEM students taking part in an entry-to-graduation program designed to build community, provide academic and social support, and promote engagement in academically purposeful activities. Although it had no effect on the number of students who changed their major, the program more than doubled the number of students who graduated in their original major. Black or Hispanic students taking part in the program also graduated at twice the rate of comparator students, largely attributable to the success of women in these groups. The results provide needed real-world insights into how to create an equitable environment that promotes the persistence and graduation of students, including those from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Theoretical knowledge and clinical placement are the main components of nursing education. There are a number of studies that have focused on students' assessments of theory and clinical placement in nursing education. Few studies have focused on the significance of theory and clinical placement courses for nursing students' professional competence after completing their nursing education. Objective: The study aimed to examine nursing students' assessments of theory and clinical placement courses and their self-reported nursing competence. It also aimed to look more closely at the significance of theoretical knowledge and clinical placement for students' nursing competence. Method: This is a cross-sectional study of nursing students at an educational institution in Norway who completed their education in 2019. The data were collected using an online questionnaire. Nursing competence was measured using the Nurse Professional Competence Scale Short Form $NPC Scale--SF%. The response rate was 63%. Results: In terms of preparing them for the nursing profession, nursing students attribute statistically significant greater importance to clinical placement than theory courses in their education. The students have high scores in all competence areas, but score highest in the competence area 'Value-based nursing care' and lowest in 'Development, leadership and organisation of nursing care'. The analysis shows a correlation between students' assessments of theory and clinical placement courses and several of the nursing competence areas. Theory courses have somewhat greater significance for nursing competence than clinical placement courses. Conclusion: The study shows that students consider clinical placement courses to be the most important for their future nursing career. It also shows that theory courses have a somewhat greater significance for students' nursing competence than clinical placement courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Care for the women during labor needs skillful and well prepared health care providers including maternity nursing students. Therefore, clinical teaching is an opportunity for nursing students to apply and develop problem solving strategies and critical thinking. There are varieties of clinical teaching methods which include; simulation and interactive video based training. The aim of this study: was to evaluate the effect of implementing training program based on simulation versus video on nursing students' performance regarding care during normal labor. Subjects and method: The study was conducted at the Clinical Obstetrics Laboratory Skills of Faculty of Nursing, Tanta University. Subjects: A simple random sample of 170 nursing students, third academic year were included in this study out of 600 students during the first semester 2022-2023, before attending the clinical labor section. They were divided into two equal study groups. Two tools were used for data collection; Tool (I): Nursing students' knowledge regarding normal labor. Tool (II): Observational checklist of nursing students' practices regarding care during normal labor. Results: The findings of the present study revealed that simulation based training program was more effective than video based training program in improving nursing students' performance regarding care during normal labor immediately and one month later compared to preprogram implementation. Conclusion: Nursing students' performance regarding care during normal labor was higher after simulationbased training program than video-based training program. Recommendations: Simulation refreshing courses, workshops and conferences based on the evidence based practice should be provided for maternity nurses to improve their knowledge and practice regarding care during normal labor. Evaluate the impact of simulation on knowledge retention, transferability to parturient women situations and maternal & neonatal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: High-quality clinical placement experiences are important for preparing undergraduate student nurses for practice. Clinical facilitation and support significantly impact student placement experiences and their development of skills, knowledge, and attitudes in the healthcare setting. Aim: This research aimed to explore university-employed clinical facilitators' perspectives on providing quality clinical facilitation and student learning on placement. Design: An exploratory, descriptive research design was used to examine the perspectives of n = 10 university-employed clinical facilitators working in regional New South Wales, Australia (March 2020-December 2021). Methods: Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the experiences of a purposeful sample of university-employed clinical facilitators. Data was thematically analysed using Miles et al.'s (2014) qualitative data analysis framework. Results: Five key themes were identified 1) relationships at the core of quality, 2) a culture of commitment to student learning, 3) connection to the curriculum, 4) examining the model, and 5) empowering growth and development. Clinical facilitators perceive their role as misunderstood, undervalued, and isolating and that they require further preparation and ongoing professional development to provide quality facilitation. Building rapport and relationships with staff and students was at the core of quality clinical facilitation. Conclusions: The clinical facilitator role has an important function in preparing student nurses for practice and needs further recognition and continued professional development. Education providers and healthcare organisations need to examine strategies to provide inclusive and supportive work environments, building communities of practice for clinical facilitators and stakeholders to share their experiences and knowledge, promoting individual and group learning, thus improving the student placement experience and fostering the professional identity of clinical facilitators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current postgraduate curriculum assessment focuses predominantly on knowledge rather than clinical proficiency. Workplace-based assessment (WPBA) is an emerging novel concept in medical education. Mini-clinical evaluation exercise (Mini-CEX) is one of the WPBA tools in which student performance is assessed during clinical interaction followed by immediate feedback. It is a widely accepted assessment tool globally, but it is underutilized in India with questionable feasibility and acceptability. Hence, this study is to implement and evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and effectiveness of Mini-CEX as a formative assessment tool in Indian settings of surgical postgraduate training. Following sensitization with the concept of Mini-CEX and effective feedback, 14 faculty and 26 postgraduates from the department of general surgery participated in Mini-CEX. Postgraduates were assessed for clinical skills in different settings of in-patient, outpatient, postoperative ward and surgical intensive care units using the structured format for each, followed by feedback. In the end, perceptions of postgraduates and faculty regarding the value and acceptance of Mini-CEX were taken using pre-validated questionnaires. Results were analyzed using SPSS-20 software. Twenty-six residents underwent 124 Mini-CEX in 10 months, with 4–5 encounters each in all competencies. Each faculty conducted one Mini-CEX per month, which seems feasible. The mean assessment time was 20 min, and the feedback time was 4 min. The study participants reported reasonable satisfaction with Mini-CEX and accepted it as a feasible, effective formative assessment tool (100%). Mini-CEX is a feasible, acceptable effective formative assessment tool of potential value to be incorporated into the postgraduate curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In putatively meritocratic societies, doing well in school is a pivotal precondition for accessing further and higher education, which, in turn, has a pervasive, long-term influence on adulthood development. Yet, doing well in school may also predict "real-life success" outside formal education settings and independent of the educational qualifications that a person attains. Such predictions are likely to become salient during emerging adulthood, a life period characterized by career explorations and social-emotional adjustment. Here, we tested the predictive validity of end-of-compulsory school grades at age 16 years in a U.K.-representative population cohort sample of up to N = 6,488, who were born between 1994 and 1996, for a broad range of occupational, financial, and social-emotional outcomes at age 23. End-of-compulsory school performance accounted for 1%–20% of the variance across occupational, financial, and social-emotional outcomes in emerging adulthood. Educational attainment attenuated these associations only slightly, with school grades at age 16 accounting for variance in emerging adulthood outcomes independent of later educational attainment. We found that school grades were equally predictive for boys' and girls' outcomes. In children from lower family socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, school grades were more predictive of their educational attainment, financial attitudes, and anxiety compared to higher SES children, with varying effect sizes (i.e., 0.3%–4.2%). Our findings suggest that school-leaving grades facilitate the successful transition from adolescence to adulthood, independent of educational attainment, and that they might enable children from low-SES families to compensate for some of their background disadvantages. Public Significance Statement: The findings from this study indicate that school grades are important predictors for a wide range of financial, occupational, and social-emotional development in emerging adulthood, independent of an individual's highest educational qualification. In particular, school performance is more predictive of educational attainment for students from under-resourced backgrounds, suggesting that good grades may be a key factor in compensating for family background disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming healthcare, and there is a critical need for a nuanced understanding of how AI is reshaping teaching, learning, and educational practice in medical education. This review aimed to map the literature regarding AI applications in medical education, core areas of findings, potential candidates for formal systematic review and gaps for future research. This rapid scoping review, conducted over 16 weeks, employed Arksey and O'Malley's framework and adhered to STORIES and BEME guidelines. A systematic and comprehensive search across PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, and MedEdPublish was conducted without date or language restrictions. Publications included in the review spanned undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education, encompassing both original studies and perspective pieces. Data were charted by multiple author pairs and synthesized into various thematic maps and charts, ensuring a broad and detailed representation of the current landscape. The review synthesized 278 publications, with a majority (68%) from North American and European regions. The studies covered diverse AI applications in medical education, such as AI for admissions, teaching, assessment, and clinical reasoning. The review highlighted AI's varied roles, from augmenting traditional educational methods to introducing innovative practices, and underscores the urgent need for ethical guidelines in AI's application in medical education. The current literature has been charted. The findings underscore the need for ongoing research to explore uncharted areas and address potential risks associated with AI use in medical education. This work serves as a foundational resource for educators, policymakers, and researchers in navigating AI's evolving role in medical education. A framework to support future high utility reporting is proposed, the FACETS framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Federal and state laws require schools to be accountable for student performance on measures of academic achievement in literacy, mathematics, and science skills; monitor high school graduation rates; and track student growth and academic progression throughout the grade levels. Success on these measures gives students pathways to postsecondary options in the workforce, technical education, or college/university education. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can utilize existing data sources in the school in conjunction with their knowledge of diagnostics and treatment of cognition, language, and culture to maximize student outcomes beyond the therapy room and in the curriculum standards. Method: This clinical focus article will review methods of data collection from existing sources in the students' grade level and academic content curriculum. Utilization of information and input from parents, teachers, paraprofessionals, and others who support the student's academic endeavors will be discussed for Individualized Education Program Present Levels of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance and goal development. Procedures for the SLP to collect independent data aligned to standards-based curriculum will be explored. Consideration will be given for utilizing data to develop future goals and objectives. The benefits of data collection for monitoring student progress and success in the grade-level or alternate standards will be highlighted through case examples. Techniques for classroom-based services, model lessons, coaching, and co-teaching will be presented. Conclusions: SLPs are recognized as specialized instructional support personnel who have unique knowledge and expertise for diagnosing and treating speech/ language impairments (S/LI) disabilities. By understanding how they can use existing data and apply it to developing intervention plans, SLPs can ensure students with S/LI disabilities experience the maximum potential for outcomes in academic and functional success. Data-driven tools and methods aligned to the grade-level standards and curriculum are one of the most powerful tools in an SLP's toolbox [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The release of the 2022 Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) exam passage rate report confirmed what many test takers who failed their exam believe. The ASWB exams are biased, with differential passage rates based on the test taker's race, age, and "English as a second language" status. However, the report only offered basic descriptive statistics and lacked insight into the test takers' experience. The present study addresses this gap. Results are from a 2022 survey of individuals who had taken the ASWB master's level licensing exam (N = 1,045) highlighting test taker identity and experience. Thirty percent of the study sample identified as neurodivergent, 29.1 percent as primary caregivers, and 27.1 percent as Black, Indigenous, or persons of color. White respondents had the highest first-attempt passing rates (95.7 percent), followed by Latinx and Black respondents (84.9 percent and 78.2 percent, respectively). Forty-four respondents reported taking the test three or more times before passing. Among this group, 52 percent identified as Black, 25 percent as White, and 18 percent as Latinx. Respondents were asked how they felt their identity impacted their experience, and three interrelated themes emerged: privilege, challenges, and critique of the exam. Respondents discussed the impact of having or not having privilege; the emotional, physical, and financial challenges of preparing for the exam; and the ways in which they experienced the exam as biased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This mixed-methods observational pilot study compared clinician-supervisor and student satisfaction (surveys and semi-structured interviews), and final placement scores for two different physiotherapy clinical placement models: hybrid (half-onsite, half-remote) and traditional (onsite). All supervisors and students involved were invited to participate; ten supervisors and seven students completed the survey, and nine supervisors and one student participated in interviews. Qualitative data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Students and supervisors reported similar levels of satisfaction for either model. Supervisors reported some reservations and higher workloads with the hybrid model. The interviews identified three themes for satisfying placements: it is structure, not location that matters; managing competing demands on clinician-supervisors; and learning requires psychologically safe relationships. Final scores for both placement models were comparable. This pilot study with a small sample found the hybrid model was acceptable and achieved comparable outcomes to the traditional model. Remote structured learning has potential to innovate and support sustainable clinical placements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the central importance of physical examination (PE) skills to patient evaluation, early trainees struggle with its correct application and interpretation. This struggle may reflect the instructional strategies of PE courses which have largely ignored the clinical reasoning necessary to accurately apply these skills. The "core + cluster" (C + C) is a recent approach to teaching PE to clerkship-level medical students that combines a basic 'core' exam with 'cluster' based on the student's hypothesis about their patient's clinical presentation. Our institution developed a novel C + C curriculum to teach PE to preclinical students. We aimed to assess the impact of this new curriculum on students' clinical skills and course evaluations in comparison to the traditional "head-to-toe" approach we'd used previously. Methods: This was a retrospective study comparing two consecutive medical school cohorts exposed to the new (C + C) and prior (HTT) curricula respectively. We studied two complete cohorts of first-year medical students at our institution who matriculated in 2014 and 2015. The 2014 cohort received PE training via an HTT approach. The 2015 cohort received PE training via a C + C approach. Outcomes included performance scores on a statewide clinical performance exam (CPX) and student course evaluations. Results: We found no statistically significant difference in mean CPX scores between the two cohorts. However, student course ratings were significantly higher in the C + C cohort and students rated the C + C format as highly useful in clinical encounters. Conclusions: The C + C curriculum appears to be as effective a method of teaching PE to preclinical students as the HTT approach and is better received by students. We believe that this approach more appropriately reflects the way PE is used in clinical encounters and may help students with diagnostic hypothesis generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We sought to understand the relative risk of COVID-19 infection and identify risk factors for infection to identify targets for mitigation among medical students. Methods: An observational cohort study of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine students was conducted from June 2020 to July 2021. Blood samples were collected and tested at three visits to assess for antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, a questionnaire was administered at each visit to collect demographic information and assess potential social and behavioral risk factors. Results: 264 students enrolled in the study, and 38 participants completed all study requirements by study end. Roughly 6% of the first- and second-year classes had a reported positive COVID-19 test compared to 5% of third- and fourth-year students. By visit 3, 92% of medical students had detectable antibodies against COVID-19 compared to 4% during the study enrollment period. From study enrollment to visit 3, there was a 10-fold increase in the percentage of students reporting attending large social gatherings and dining in restaurants. Conclusions: Overall, few COVID-19 cases were found among medical students, even those on clinical rotations. As the study progressed, students reported engaging in higher-risk social behaviors in conjunction with increasing vaccination rates among students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health professionals are increasingly called upon and willing to engage in planetary health care and management. However, so far, this topic is rarely covered in medical curricula. As the need for professional communication is particularly high in this subject area, this study aimed to evaluate whether the objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) could be used as an accompanying teaching tool. Methods: During the winter semester 2022/2023, 20 third- and fifth-year medical students voluntarily participated in a self-directed online course, three workshops, and a formal eight-station OSCE on planetary health care and management. Each examinee was also charged alternatingly as a shadower with the role of providing feedback. Experienced examiners rated students' performance using a scoring system supported by tablet computers. Examiners and shadowers provided timely feedback on candidates' performance in the OSCE. Immediately after the OSCE, students were asked about their experience using a nine-point Likert-scale survey and a videotaped group interview. Quantitative analysis included the presentation of the proportional distribution of student responses to the survey and of box plots showing percentages of maximum scores for the OSCE performance. The student group interview was analyzed qualitatively. Results: Depending on the sub-theme, 60% -100% of students rated the subject of planetary health as likely to be useful in their professional lives. Similar proportions (57%-100%) were in favour of integrating planetary health into required courses. Students perceived learning success from OSCE experience and feedback as higher compared to that from online courses and workshops. Even shadowers learned from observation and feedback discussions. Examiners assessed students' OSCE performance at a median of 80% (interquartile range: 83%-77%) of the maximum score. Conclusions: OSCE can be used as an accompanying teaching tool for advanced students on the topic of planetary health care and management. It supports learning outcomes, particularly in terms of communication skills to sensitise and empower dialogue partners, and to initiate adaptation steps at the level of individual patients and local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]