Challenges faced by teachers of postgraduate health professions blended learning programs: a qualitative analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Blended learning, which integrates classroom face-to-face teaching with both asynchronous and synchronous online learning elements, has swiftly gained acceptance in educational environments. However, the implementation of blended learning presents challenges that impact all stakeholders, necessitating thoughtful consideration. Teachers play a central role in shaping the instructional experience among these stakeholders. To fully realize the potential of comprehensive blended learning, it is imperative to identify the challenges faced by these teachers and develop strategies that sensibly address and overcome them. METHODOLOGY: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted with twelve teachers involved in the postgraduate blended learning health professions program at Khyber Medical University, Peshawar in 2022. One-on-one semi-structured Interviews were conducted via WhatsApp/ZOOM, transcribed by Otter AI, coded on NVivo & analyzed using Braun/Clarke's Thematic Analysis. RESULTS: Three themes of challenges faced by teachers of postgraduate blended learning programs were constructed namely (1) Skills, such as (i) digital, (ii) instructional, and (iii) online class management, and (2) Administrative barriers in terms of (iv) resources (iv) training, and (3) Faculty resistance. CONCLUSION: This study provides profound insights into the daunting challenges that postgraduate blended learning program teachers encounter in terms of skills, administrative barriers, and faculty resistance. These findings offer a valuable opportunity for program directors to identify the critical requirements of these faculties in their pursuit of effective teaching and learning, ultimately transforming the landscape of blended education. This study emphasizes the need for ongoing faculty development and institutional support to address the identified challenges and improve the quality of postgraduate blended-learning programs.

"Smartphone as an educational tool" the perception of dental faculty members of all the dental colleges of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: With the increasing advancement in the field of information technology, it's about time we realize that our future will be shaped by this field. With more and more people using smartphones, we need to adapt them to the medical field. Already many advancements in medical field are done thanks to the advancement of computer science. But we need to implement this into our teaching and learning as well. Almost all students and faculty members use smartphones in one way or another if we can utilize the smartphone to enhance the learning opportunities for our medical students, it would greatly benefit them. But before the implementation, we need to find out if our faculty is willing to adopt this technology. The objective of this study is to find out what are the perceptions of dental faculty members about using a smartphone as a teaching tool. METHODOLOGY: A validated questionnaire was distributed among the faculty members of all the dental colleges of KPK. The questionnaire had 2 sections. First one contains information regarding the demographics. The second one had questions related to the faculty members' perception regarding using a smartphone as a teaching tool. RESULTS: The results of our study showed that the faculty (Mean 2.08) had positive perceptions regarding using a smartphone as a teaching tool. CONCLUSION: Most of the Dental Faculty members of KPK agree that smartphone can be used as a teaching tool, and it can have better outcomes if proper applications and teaching strategies are used.

Educational Environment In The Transition Phase Of Curriculum At Ayub Medical College Abbottabad, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Evaluation of the educational environment is key to the delivery of high-quality medical education. Especially, when an institute is in the transition phase of curriculum. In curriculum transformation phase of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad, no such evaluation has been done. This study aimed to find the direction of Educational environment in the transition phase curriculum of Ayub Medical College Abbottabad and compare different domains of educational environment with gender, residency, pre-medical education's medium of instruction, and doctors among sibling or parents. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among students of integrated and traditional curriculum of Ayub Medical College, Abbottabad from 1st December 2019 to 29th February 2020. By Non-probability convenience sampling technique, pre-validated Dundee Ready Educational Environment Measure questionnaire was used. Descriptive and inferential statistics were calculated in SPSS v22. RESULTS: A total 149 (100%) participants, 66 (44.3%) males and 83 (55.7%) females with mean age of 20.5±1.07 years responded. Among total, 76 (51%) were from integrated curriculum and 73 (49%) were of traditional curriculum. Significant difference was found among different aspect of education environments and both classes. CONCLUSIONS: The current transitional phase of curriculum at Ayub Medical College Abbottabad is more positive than negative. Some areas like student social-self-perception still need improvement. Moreover, gender and place of birth affect student's perception about their learning environment.

Roadblocks to Integration; Faculty's perspective on transition from Traditional to Integrated Medical Curriculum.

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to explore the faculty's opinion regarding factors impeding practical transition from traditional to integrated medical curriculum at the outset and a few years after the process. METHODS: This qualitative exploratory study was conducted from April 2018 to October 2018 at two undergraduate medical colleges; one where integrated curriculum was at the outset and the second running it successfully. A total of 12 semi-structured interviews (six from each college) were recorded and transcribed. Thematic content analysis was carried out and faculty's perceptions about factors impeding practical transition to integrated curriculum were explored at two stages, i.e., at the outset and after its implementation. RESULTS: Four impediments identified at the outset were deemed genuine by faculty who had gone through the experience including, faculty's resistance, lack of training, lack of incentives, and insufficient resources. Four more impediments were identified after the experience including lack of leadership, lack of attention to faculty's concerns, lack of communication and difficulties in setting appropriate assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Several factors if ignored can result in failure of integration of curriculum in undergraduate medical colleges. Relevantly appropriate policies should be outlined by the regulatory body to ensure the control on the impediments.

Emotional intelligence as an indicator of coping skills among undergraduate dental students at Peshawar: A correlational study.

OBJECTIVE: To determine correlation between emotional intelligence and academic stress. METHODS: The quantitative correlational study was conducted in 2016 at the Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar, Pakistan, and comprised undergraduate dental students in the 2015-16 session regardless of age, gender and the academic year. Emotional intelligence and dental environmental stress were calculated and compared. Data was analysed using SPSS 20. RESULTS: Of the 298 students, 98(32.89%) were males and 200(67.11%) were females. The overall mean emotional intelligence score was 81.23±22.8, while the overall mean dental environmental stress score was 109.54±19.5 with a trend of decreasing stress levels from first to final year. A Pearson correlation test was run. Significant negative relationship was found between emotional intelligence and academic stress (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The gradual increase of emotional intelligence from first to final year showed the importance of teaching and learning methods that incorporate certain emotional intelligence trends.

Learning Based On Principles Of Cognitivism.

Sometimes, knowledge or information becomes difficult to understand and/or memorize. Cognitive load theory aids a learner to gain information effectively. It provides a scientific roadmap to the design of learning materials. Through a complex set of mental processes, information is acquiring, process, retain, and comprehend information. Applying mental effort for remembering is a very crucial phenomenon. The core of memory process is apprehending and saving of information into long term memory. Because of limited capacity of working memory, delivering or acquiring of information should not be overloaded with irrelevant materials. Based on cognitive load theory dozens of strategies can be intervened at different loci of cognitive process and every piece of information is easily remembered. Not only learners, but teachers can also get benefits from them. In this commentary, John Sweller ideology is further discussed and strategies are presented for better comprehension and memorization of difficult information.

Comparison between facilitator and peer assisted learning: an interventional study at Peshawar Medical College.

OBJECTIVE: To compare peer-assisted learning with facilitator-assisted learning in small group format comprising undergraduate medical students. METHODS: The interventional study was conducted from March to August 2016 at Peshawar Medical College, Peshawar, Pakistan, and comprised 2nd year medical students who were randomised into two groups; Group 1 was exposed to peer-assisted learning while Group 2 had facilitator-assisted learning. A validated multiple-choice questionnaire was used for data collection both before and after the intervention. SPSS 19 was used for data analysis. RESULTS: Of the 80 subjects, there were 40(50%) in each of the two groups, and the groups had 20(50%) males and as many females each. Mean age of Group 1 was 18.90±0.68 years and in Group 2 it was 18.40±0.72 years. There was no significant difference between academic scores of the two groups (p=0.65). Within the groups, pre- and post-intervention test scores showed significant difference (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Peer-assisted learning was found to be as good as facilitator-assisted learning and it can be introduced as a method of effective teaching.

Relationship between admission criteria and academic performance: A correlational study in nursing students.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: An admission criterion is one of the key indicators of academic success. The purpose of admission process is to select best candidates for the particular program who will complete the program successfully. Thus rigorous admission criteria can predict academic performance, decrease failure rate and successful completion of degree. The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between various variables in the existing admission criteria and academic performance. METHODS: A cross sectional study design was chosen. Data (2009-2017) was gathered from the records of Institute of Nursing Science, Khyber Medical University. Variables in the admission criteria included age, gender, previous academic performance, entry test score and experience. The dependent variable was academic performance measured in CGPA. The data was analyzed using correlation and regression analysis through SPSS and STATA. RESULTS: The results reported a significant relationship between admission criteria and the academic performance of nursing students. Various variables in the admission criteria i.e. SSC marks (r=0.32, p=>0.001), previous academic score at diploma level (r=0.48, p=>0.001) and entry test scores (r=0.26, p=>0.001) have significant relationship between academic performance. However, previous academic scores at diploma level were better predictors of the academic performance. CONCLUSION: The study concludes to use integrated admission criteria for the selection of students and bring changes in the traditional admission process.

Developing and validating a questionnaire to Measure Ethical Sensitivity of Freshly Graduated Dentists.

OBJECTIVE: To develop an instrument for assessing the ethical sensitivity of freshly graduated dentists.. METHODS: This instrument development study was done at Sardar Begum Dental College, Peshawar, Pakistan, from September 2014 to April 2015. The instrument developed was the Dental Ethical Sensitivity Scale in accordance with the guidelines for the development of educational instruments. Data was obtained from freshly graduated dentists through the instrument containing vignettes related to three domains of ethics; beneficence, autonomy and confidentiality. Content validity index and Angoff's method were used to determine the validity and cut-off passing score respectively. Reliability analysis comprised internal consistency and test re-test. RESULTS: Of the 138 house officers approached, 107(77%) responded. Of them, 37(34.5%) were males and 70(65.4%) were females. The overall mean age was 23.7±1. 1 years. Overall, 51(47.6%) subjects were ethically sensitive whereas 50(46.7%) were partially sensitive and 6(5.6%) were insensitive. The CVI for the instrument was 0.8; cutoff score was 83%; internal consistency was 0.63; and test re-test reliability was 0.71. Relation between ethical sensitivity, gender and class attendance of the participants was insignificant (p>0.05 each). CONCLUSION: Dental Ethical Sensitivity Scale was found to be effective in providing a valid and reliable assessment instrument for measuring ethical sensitivity of freshly graduated dentists.