Teaching and learning in biophotonics: Crossing the bridge between educators and students.

As a rapidly growing field, biophotonics demonstrates an increasingly higher demand for interdisciplinary professionals and requires the implementation of a structured approach to educational and outreach activities focused on appropriate curriculum, and teaching and learning for audiences with diverse technical backgrounds and learning styles. Our study shows the main findings upon applying this approach to biophotonics workshops delivered 2 consecutive years while updating and improving learning outcomes, teaching strategies, workshop content based on student and teacher feedback. We provided resources for a variety of lecture-based, experimental, computer simulation activities. Quality of subject matter, teaching, and overall learning was rated as "Very good" or "Good" by 88%, 76%, and 82% of students in average, respectively. Application of our teaching strategies and materials during short- and long-term workshops/courses could potentially increase the interest in pursuing careers in the biophotonics field and related areas, leading to standardized approaches in designing education and outreach events across centers.

Learning to produce and transcribe cardinal vowels: speech and language therapy students' perception of task difficulty.

Learning vowel transcription skills is crucial to function as a Speech and Language Therapist (SLT). However, vowel transcription is commonly regarded as particularly difficult and therefore often avoided. Despite the importance of accurate transcriptions, little is known about all the factors that influence the process of learning vowel transcription, which usually includes the learning of the Cardinal Vowel (CV) system. There are only a few studies that investigate how CVs are learnt and what factors lead to successful learning. The current study reports students' perceived difficulty of producing and transcribing CVs as a first step to identify how perceived difficulty affects phonetic learning. Perceived difficulty ratings for the production and transcription of 12 CVs collected from 155 students studying towards a qualification as an SLT were analysed. The results show that the classificatory features correlate with the perceived task difficulty of production and transcription. Implications for teaching are outlined.

Developing a framework for promoting interest and engagement of scholarship of teaching and learning for medical students.

BACKGROUND: The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) is a field of academic research that focuses on improving learning through reflective and informed teaching. Currently, most SoTL-related work is faculty-driven; however, student involvement in SoTL has been shown to benefit both learners and educators. Our study aims to develop a framework for increasing medical students' interest, confidence, and engagement in SoTL. METHODS: A student-led SoTL interest group was developed and a year-round program of SoTL was designed and delivered by student leaders of the group under the guidance of a faculty advisor. Individual post-session surveys were administered to evaluate participants' perceptions of each session. Pre- and post-program surveys were administered to evaluate the program impact. RESULTS: The year-round SoTL program consistently attracted the participation of medical students and faculty. Survey responses indicated strong medical student interest in the program and positive impact of the program. Increased interest and confidence in medical education research were reported by the student participants. The program design provided opportunities for student participants to network and receive ongoing feedback about medical education research they were interested or involved in. CONCLUSION: Our study provides insights for developing a framework that other institutions can reference and build upon to educate and engage students in SoTL.

Twelve tips for maximizing the potential of reflective writing in medical education.

Reflective writing (RW) is a popular tool in medical education, but it is being used in ways that fail to maximize its potential. Literature in the field focuses on why RW is used - that is to develop, assess, and remediate learner competencies - but less so on how to use it effectively. The emerging literature on how to integrate RW in medical education is haphazard, scattered and, at times, reductionist. We need a synthesis to translate this literature into cohesive strategies for medical educators using RW in a variety of contexts. These 12 tips offer guidelines for the principles and practices of using RW in medical education. This synthesis aims to support more strategic and meaningful integration of RW in medical education.

Implementation and Impact of an Adapted Digital Perioperative Competency-Building Tool to Enhance Teaching, Learning And Feedback in Postgraduate Competency-Based Medical Education.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this educational intervention was to introduce, iteratively adapt, and implement a digital formative assessment tool in a surgical speciality. The study also evaluated the intervention's impact on perioperative teaching, learning, feedback, and surgical competency. DESIGN: A participatory action research model with a mixed methods approach. SETTING: This study was performed over 10 months in an institutional hospital in South Africa with a general surgery department. PARTICIPANTS: Twelve supervising surgical trainers/faculty and 12 surgical trainees/residents consented to participate in the intervention. RESULTS: The first 4 months of the intervention focused on relationship building, a multi-stakeholder contextual needs assessment and training sessions to support a shared mindset and shift in the teaching and learning culture. The final adapted perioperative competency-building tool comprised a 23-item assessment with four open-text answers (Table 1). Over the following 6-month period, 48 workplace-based competency-building perioperative evaluations were completed. Most trainees took less than 5 minutes to self-assess (67%) before most trainers (67%) took less than 5 minutes to give oral feedback to the trainee after the perioperative supervised learning encounter. On average, the digital tool took 6 minutes to complete during the bidirectional perioperative teaching and learning encounter with no negative impact on the operational flow. All trainers and trainees reported the training and implementation of the digital tool to be beneficial to teaching, learning, feedback, and the development of surgical competency. Analysis of the completed tools revealed several trainees showing evidence of progression in surgical competency for index procedures within the speciality. The focus groups and interviews also showed a change in the teaching and learning culture: more positively framed, frequent, structured, and specific feedback, improved accountability, and trainee-trainer perioperative readiness for teaching. Highlighted changes included the usefulness of trainee self-assessment before perioperative trainer feedback and the tool's value in improving competency to Kirkpatrick Level 4. CONCLUSION: Implementing an adapted digital Workplace-Based Assessment (WBA) tool using a participatory action research model has proven successful in enhancing the effectiveness of supervised perioperative teaching and learning encounters. This approach has improved teaching and feedback practices, facilitated the development of surgical competency, and ultimately impacted the overall culture to Kirkpatrick level 4. Importantly, it has positively influenced the trainee-trainer relationship dynamic. Based on these positive outcomes, we recommend using this effective method and our relationship-centred framework for implementing formative competency-building tools in future studies. By doing so, larger-scale and successful implementation of Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) could be achieved in various contexts. This approach can potentially enhance teaching and learning encounters, promote competency development, and improve the overall educational experience for surgical trainees and trainers.

Picture book reading improves children's learning understanding.

Mental state reasoning is an integral part of children's teaching and learning understanding. This study investigated whether a picture book reading approach focusing on mental state discourse and contrasting perspectives in a preschool classroom setting would improve children's teaching and learning understanding and school readiness. In total, 104 children from four classrooms aged between 46 and 64 months (53 girls, M = 54.03 months, SD = 3.68) participated in the study. Half of the classrooms were randomly assigned to an experimental group where teachers read picture books rich in mental state discourse and engaged in intensive discussions with children for eight weeks. Children's false belief understanding and teaching and learning understanding were measured before and after the eight-week period. The result revealed that picture book reading improved children's learning understanding with a medium effect size, controlling for demographic variables, children's verbal ability, inhibition, and initial false belief understanding. The experimental group children further demonstrated more advanced school readiness 18 months after the intervention ended in a follow-up study using a teacher questionnaire.

Photovoice: An active learning tool with community nursing students.

OBJECTIVE: To assess nursing students' experiences of using photovoice as a pedagogical approach to active learning in the community. METHODS: A descriptive design with a cross-sectional mixed-method questionnaire was used with 108 students following an educational activity, in which their communities were photographed and the impact of the pandemic on vulnerable populations was reflected. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Seventy eight percent of the students felt that photovoice was an interesting and useful tool for nurses, 89% affirmed it helped stimulate reflection on social and health inequities in times of pandemic, 82% described that it developed many emotions and feelings and 86% would like to disseminate their photographs directly to stakeholders, citizens, and politicians. Three themes were identified in the data: "stimulate critical reflection", "develop emotional skills", and "encourage action". CONCLUSIONS: Photovoice is a successful active learning pedagogical approach that engages nursing students to develop critical awareness while connecting with their communities, with the real world. It fosters students' sensitivity and motivation and encourages them to take action. Teachers need to introduce new scaffolds for active learning, such as photovoice, to provide innovative academic support that nurtures and develops the next generation of nurses appropriately.

Use of OneNote class notebook as a combined electronic laboratory notebook and content delivery tool in an introductory biochemistry laboratory course.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced a shift in thinking regarding the safe delivery of wet laboratory courses. While we were fortunate to have the capacity to continue delivering wet laboratory experiments with physical distancing and other measures in place, modifications to the mechanisms of delivery within courses were necessary to minimize risk to students and teaching staff. One such modification was introduced in BCH370H, an introductory biochemistry laboratory course, where a OneNote Class Notebook (ONCN) was used as an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) in place of the traditional hardbound paper laboratory notebook (PLN) used prior to the pandemic. The initial reasoning for switching to an ELN was around safety-allowing course staff and students to maintain physical distancing whenever possible and eliminating the need for teaching assistants to handle student notebooks; however, the benefits of the ONCN proved to be significantly more. OneNote acted not only as a place for students to record notes but the Class Notebook's unique features allowed easy integration of other important aspects of the course, including delivery of laboratory manuals, posting of student results, notetaking feedback, sharing of instructional materials with teaching assistants, and more. Student and teacher experiences with the ONCN as used within a fully in person biochemistry laboratory course, as well as learned best practices, are reviewed.

Do we teach critical thinking? A mixed methods study of faculty and student perceptions of teaching and learning critical thinking at three professional schools.

INTRODUCTION: Critical thinking (CT) is an essential set of skills and dispositions for professionals. While viewed as an important part of professional education, approaches to teaching and assessing critical thinking have been siloed within disciplines and there are limited data on whether student perceptions of learning align with faculty perceptions of teaching. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors used a convergent mixed methods approach in required core courses in schools of education, government, and medicine at one university in the Northeast United States. Faculty surveys and student focus groups (FG) addressed definitions, strategies, and barriers to teaching CT. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Sixty-four (51.6%) faculty completed the survey, and 34 students participated in FGs. Among faculty, 54.0% (34/63) reported explicitly teaching CT; but students suggested teaching CT was predominantly implicit. Faculty-reported strategies differed among schools. Faculty defined CT in process terms such as 'analyzing'; students defined CT in terms of viewpoints and biases. Our results reveal a lack of explicit, shared CT mental models between faculty and students and across professional schools. Explicit teaching of CT may help develop a shared language and lead to better understanding and application of the skills and dispositions necessary to succeed in professional life.

Investigating the fundamental levels of a signature pedagogy in nursing education: A scoping review.

BACKGROUND: A signature pedagogy is a unique approach that provides a blueprint for curricular decision-making, as it reflects how we teach (surface structures), why we teach (deep structures), and what we believe are vital concepts or values all learners should embody (implicit structures). OBJECTIVE: To investigate what is known from the existing literature about a signature pedagogy to support undergraduate nursing education. DESIGN: This scoping review adopted Arksey and O'Malley's framework to guide the analysis of data. Two electronic databases were used to explore studies on educational strategies, content, and values published in Arabic, English, Filipino, French, Portuguese, and Spanish between 1972 and 2022. RESULTS: A total of 258 articles were included in this review. The analysis revealed that the majority of articles were at the surface (n = 189), followed by the deep (n = 123), with the least number examining the implicit level (n = 90) associated with signature pedagogy levels. Results reflect a limited focus on implicit level; the core concepts and values that all learners should understand and grasp for their future practice to construct their professional identity and engage in healthcare transformation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from this scoping review, should not be an isolated movement within nursing education. The first step is to engage in discourse amongst all stakeholders, educational and healthcare nurse leaders, regarding the state of the profession. As a profession we need to understand what is the preferred future of nursing and what are the necessary educational processes to ensure the profession is actualizing their mandate. A call to action to develop a unique signature pedagogy should provide synergy between education and practice to enhance learner's competencies as a future professional.

Teaching Style Preferences and Online Teaching Practices of Optometry Teachers During COVID-19: A Preliminary Study.

Purpose: Although research on teaching style preferences is available in the literature, there is limited information on the preferences of optometry teachers. The Coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has impacted educational practices in all sectors. This study focuses on the teaching style preferences and online teaching practices of optometry teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and Methods: The study used a case study research design and a self-administered online questionnaire and follow-up semi-structured interview for data collection. The Grasha-Riechmann teaching style inventory was used to explore the teaching style preferences (Expert, Formal Authority, Demonstrator, Facilitator and Delegator). Quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic content analysis respectively. Results: The optometry teachers were aged between 29 and 51 years (median = 45 years) and had between 3 and 25 years of teaching experience (median = 5 years). All teachers scored high in the Expert teaching style and most had scores categorized as high for the Delegator, Facilitator and Formal Authority teaching styles. The teachers reported that the initial adaptation to online teaching was difficult and challenging as they were not prepared for the rapid transition to online learning. They used various resources and materials but felt that student participation and engagement was lower in online teaching. Teachers noted that more time was needed to prepare materials for online teaching than for face-to-face teaching. Conclusion: Optometry teachers adopted a multidimensional approach preferring the different teaching styles to varying degrees. Teachers noted challenges with the initial transition and adaptation to online teaching and used a combination of resources to support student learning.

Making it happen: Development of an interprofessional deprescribing education programme.

Deprescribing is the planned and supervised reduction or discontinuation of medications that may be causing harm or are no longer benefiting a patient. The need for deprescribing to be a routine part of patient care is essential with an aging population and the rising prevalence of polypharmacy, which has been associated with increased adverse outcomes such as falls, hospitalizations and mortality. Deprescribing is a complex intervention that requires collaboration between the patient, caregivers and healthcare providers to adequately support all involved, as well as to ensure medications are not restarted in error. The objective of this article is to describe the stepwise approach to planning and ongoing development of an online, interprofessional deprescribing education programme for healthcare providers and students with the goal of enhancing deprescribing practice. There were four main planning and development components: (1) a needs assessment to provide guidance on programme design, development and delivery; (2) a consultative programme planning process with an advisory group of stakeholders and patient partners to inform programme learning outcomes and content; (3) a core development team for the creation of programme content; and (4) planning for programme evaluation. Based on the stepwise and consultative process, programme outcomes were identified, and five modules were developed.

Physiology quiz competition: the game of education or entertainment?

Questioning is an important activity in teaching. In medical colleges, on-stage quiz competitions are appreciated by students as well as faculty as they are an engaging way to connect with the discipline. We organized the Physiology Quiz Competition to assess the concepts of functional mechanisms of various organ systems. It was an academic tool for teaching and learning for 200 first-year Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) course students. It was conducted in four rounds: multiple choice question-based round 1 (R1), explanatory-type round 2 (R2), rapid-fire round 3 (R3), and image-based round 4 (R4). The postquiz feedback questionnaire included 23 total questions; 10 questions used a 5-point Likert scale, another 10 questions had dichotomous options, and the remaining 3 questions were used to collect general information about all rounds. Data were collected and analyzed. The outcome of academic learning was reported by 26% of students regarding R1, 30.5% regarding R2, 18.5% regarding R3, and 25% regarding R4 round. R4 and R3 were reported by 44.5% and 23% of students and R2 and R1 by 16% of students as a source of entertainment. A total of 67% of students found the quiz to be an excellent teaching and learning method. All students endorsed the quiz as innovative and interesting. In conclusion, the Physiology Quiz Competition can be used for edutainment as an innovative teaching and learning method, especially for first-year medical students.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The Physiology Quiz Competition is a method of teaching and learning that provides education with entertainment in a medical college. It increases students' interest in the subject of Physiology and helps them to understand and learn the subject effectively.

'It's more like checking in with an old friend': A qualitative study of medical students' experiences with longitudinal coaches throughout medical school.

PURPOSE: Coaching in medical education facilitates learners' growth and development through feedback, goal-setting and support. This study explored how coaching relationships evolve throughout medical school and the impact of longitudinal coaching relationships on medical students' approach to feedback and goal setting in the clinical years. METHOD: In this qualitative study using a constructivist paradigm, authors purposively sampled 15 senior medical students at University of California, San Francisco, to participate in individual semi-structured interviews (October-November 2021). The authors used an inductive approach to thematic analysis. RESULTS: The authors identified four themes: First, the student-coach relationship deepened over the course of medical school. Second, students identified factors that sustained and strengthened the student-coach relationship over time: a strong foundation to the relationship, the non-evaluative nature of the relationship, coach supportiveness and responsiveness, and coach knowledge of the institutional landscape. Third, coaches provided individualized advice, assessed trajectory, and guided feedback interpretation. Lastly, students applied skills of soliciting and responding to feedback and creating learning goals, originally learned through coaching experience. CONCLUSIONS: Coaching relationships, grounded in trust, evolve to meet students' changing needs as they grow into physicians. Students apply feedback and goal-setting skills learned with the coach in clinical settings with other supervisors.

Specialist training: workplace-based assessments impact on teaching, learning and feedback to support competency-based postgraduate programs.

BACKGROUND: Workplace-based assessments (WBAs) are part of a competency-based curriculum where training progression is dependent on the achievement of defined competencies in a real-world clinical environment. There is a significant literature gap on the impact of WBAs implemented in resource constrained countries and their contextual challenges. This study aimed to examine the use, impact, and educational context of WBAs in South African medical specialist training programs drawing on perspectives from both trainees and trainers to identify educational challenges and propose effective solutions. METHODS: A mixed methods national electronic survey was conducted with specialist medical trainees and supervising trainers from all eight specialist training institutions in South Africa involving 16 specialities. The survey responses were voluntary and anonymous. The survey was closed after seven months when data saturation was achieved. Descriptive statistical analysis was performed using SPSS Version 27 (SPSS Inc, 2012, Chicago, IL) for the quantitative analysis. The thematic coding framework for the qualitative analysis was facilitated by NVivo Version 12 software. RESULTS: There were 108 ethnically diverse supervising trainers and 248 specialist trainees' survey respondents. Across the 16 medical specialities, 45% of the respondents were using WBAs. Despite contextual resource and staff challenges, this study found that WBAs had a positive impact to Kirkpatrick level 2 in providing actionable feedback to improve competency. WBA users had a significantly higher rating for trainee supervision (p < 0.01), general quality of feedback on trainee competence (< 0.01) and the specialist training program (p = 0.03) compared to WBA non-users. They also had a higher rating for the assessment of the trainee as a professional (p < 0.01); scholar (p < 0.01); communicator (p < 0.01); collaborator (p = 0.001) and leader/manager (p < 0.001) based on the AfriMEDS competency framework. Racism, sexism and favouritism were challenges that negatively affected the training programs. CONCLUSION: Overall, this study reports that the use of WBAs had a substantially favourable impact on teaching, learning, feedback and supports a competency-based approach to specialist training programs. Addressing the contextual concerns that negatively impact training; training the trainees and trainers about their relationship, roles and responsibilities; and focusing on a trainee-centred, inclusive and empowering teaching approach will help further enhance its effectiveness.

Virtual patients improve history-taking competence and confidence in medical students.

PURPOSE: Klark is a novel online medical education tool (www.klark-cases.com) where students take histories from virtual patients with common presentations from multiple specialities. We investigated whether Klark could enhance student confidence and competence in history-taking, and whether students find Klark helpful. METHODS: A single cohort of first-year clinical medical students had access to Klark for three weeks. At both ends of the trial, participants were asked to complete feedback forms and participate in two mock Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) history stations. Outcome measures included self-reported confidence and competence in history-taking, performance in OSCE stations, and qualitative user experience data. RESULTS: Seventy participants successfully completed a case on Klark (mean 18.7), of which 63 (90% user retention) completed  ≥ 2 cases. Self-reported competence (p < 0.001) and confidence (p < 0.001) improved. Participants found Klark to be helpful, impactful, and would recommend it to other students. OSCE scores improved for medical (57% vs. 69%, p < 0.001) and surgical (58% vs. 70%, p < 0.001) histories. CONCLUSIONS: Klark improved competence and confidence in history-taking. Students found it helpful and chose to continue using the platform. By developing confidence and competence at their own pace in the Klark simulated environment, students can then maximise benefit from in-person clinical opportunities.

Gross Anatomy Teaching for Medical Undergraduates Through Computer-Based Simulation: Introduction and Evaluation of Effectiveness.

Background Cadaveric teaching has been the gold standard for gross anatomy instruction through the ages and across the geographic spectrum, but with issues of availability faced in many medical schools, there is a need to look for other options. Digital tools like virtual dissectors that simulate the cadaver have been around for some years now, but their acceptability to the teachers and students and effectiveness need to be validated in the settings where applied. Aim To evaluate the acceptability, feasibility and effectiveness of using computer-based simulation tools for teaching gross anatomy via online mode to undergraduate medical students. Methodology A prospective crossover randomized controlled study was conducted online on 200 (120 males (60%) and 80 females (40%), Year 1 medical undergraduates (mean age males: 19.67 years and females: 19.52 years), wherein two broad topics of head and neck region were taught by didactic lectures delivered online via Zoom. Dissection videos were prepared for both cadaveric and computer-based simulation teaching. Groups were divided by random allocation and pre- and post-tests and feedback surveys were conducted online. Results A significant increase from pre- to post-test scores was found in both cadaveric and computer-based simulation techniques. However, more change was found in the computer technique as its t-value was more than the cadaveric technique. The feedback from the students was that the computer-based simulation teaching method gave them a good insight into 3D understanding of the human body, increased understanding of relations of body structures and capacity to grasp surface anatomy. Conclusion The study concluded that teaching gross anatomy through computer-based simulation techniques is acceptable to both the students and faculty. The study also concluded that it is an effective and feasible method that can be used to complement cadaveric teaching to revisit areas already dissected and for quick revision.

Demystifying dimensionality reduction techniques in the 'omics' era: A practical approach for biological science students.

Dimensionality reduction techniques are essential in analyzing large 'omics' datasets in biochemistry and molecular biology. Principal component analysis, t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding, and uniform manifold approximation and projection are commonly used for data visualization. However, these methods can be challenging for students without a strong mathematical background. In this study, intuitive examples were created using COVID-19 data to help students understand the core concepts behind these techniques. In a 4-h practical session, we used these examples to demonstrate dimensionality reduction techniques to 15 postgraduate students from biomedical backgrounds. Using Python and Jupyter notebooks, our goal was to demystify these methods, typically treated as "black boxes", and empower students to generate and interpret their own results. To assess the impact of our approach, we conducted an anonymous survey. The majority of the students agreed that using computers enriched their learning experience (67%) and that Jupyter notebooks were a valuable part of the class (66%). Additionally, 60% of the students reported increased interest in Python, and 40% gained both interest and a better understanding of dimensionality reduction methods. Despite the short duration of the course, 40% of the students reported acquiring research skills necessary in the field. While further analysis of the learning impacts of this approach is needed, we believe that sharing the examples we generated can provide valuable resources for others to use in interactive teaching environments. These examples highlight advantages and limitations of the major dimensionality reduction methods used in modern bioinformatics analysis in an easy-to-understand way.