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Graduate Theological Union launches new online platform

Graduate Theological Union launches new online platform

The Graduate Theological Union, a consortium for the graduate-stage examine of religion, introduced a new on-line discovering platform this week concentrated on the intersection of spirituality and activism.

The new on the internet hub, identified as GTUx, capabilities lectures and understanding modules by Graduate Theological Union college members, alumni and learners. Students explore topics ranging from ecospirituality to the intersection of spirituality and artwork to spiritual influences on the riot at the U.S. Capitol final yr. GTUx will also consist of digital artwork exhibits on religious or social justice themes, dwell conversations more than Zoom, and other alternatives for users to join with just about every other, which include a Slack channel and a Fb team for dialogue. Members are encouraged to donate an volume of their option to assist the undertaking, but any person can sign up for and access the material for absolutely free.

The union, primarily based in Berkeley, Calif., is produced up of a collective of establishments and applications representing a assortment of faith traditions and focuses on interreligious and interdisciplinary graduate instruction. The idea for GTUx was born out of a theory among the consortium directors that there is demand for instructional content about spirituality amid individuals interested in social activism and community arranging, in and exterior academia, regardless of whether they see themselves as affiliated with a religious tradition.

“Our perception is the globe is hungry for a spot to go to have loaded discussions and do some deep-dive mastering in a way that equips people today to facial area the troubles that we are experiencing in the entire world suitable now, from weather improve to racial injustice, religion and politics, and to have a place where folks can gather,” said Jennifer W. Davidson, incoming dean and vice president for educational affairs and a professor of theology and worship at the Graduate Theological Union.

The platform is an opportunity to engage with these issues “with a perception of hope and a way of drawing on these really deep means that we have in our wisdom and spiritual traditions,” she extra.

A 2015 report by the Pew Investigate Heart identified that the share of Us citizens who establish as unaffiliated with a faith has quickly grown, generating up 23 percent of the populace at that time, up from 16 percent in 2007. This rising detachment from religion is specifically noteworthy amid more youthful People in america 35 percent of millennials report obtaining no spiritual affiliation. Still numerous Us residents clearly show curiosity in spirituality, in accordance to a research by the Fetzer Institute, a private basis concentrated on fostering and finding out spirituality in the United States. The study included a 2020 survey of 3,609 grownups, conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan investigate group, which uncovered that 86 percent of respondents identified as non secular to some diploma, and far more than 66 percent explained their spirituality as guiding their habits. Respondents who explained on their own as moderately or quite spiritual also noted partaking in volunteer operate and civic action at larger prices.

J. Cody Nielsen, director of the Middle for Spirituality and Social Justice at Fairleigh Dickinson University, reported there is a “growing rejection of official spiritual practice” in the United States.

“More and a lot more persons in American modern society are wanting at the spiritual buildings in which they grew up in or which have dominated our countrywide landscape … and they are rejecting people,” Nielsen explained. “Yet people today are deeply tied to understandings about a kind of greater sense of goal, and people’s spirituality is primarily just switching.”

He pointed out that Americans are increasingly drawn to humanism or a number of spiritual traditions at at the time, rather than a one perception technique, and they are “coming back to deep concerns of philosophy.” So, the Graduate Theological Union is “on point” in building programming targeted on spirituality.

Leaders of the consortium say people today are in particular drawn to discussing spirituality and social justice through a pandemic that still left a lot of feeling isolated and amid the national reckoning with racism that followed the murder of George Floyd.

“The intersectional crises of general public overall health, common injustice, political strife and heartbreaking violence that we have weathered as a world community make it crystal clear that the need to have for this sort of useful resource is more urgent than ever,” Uriah Kim, president of the Graduate Theological Union, explained in a press release. “There is a deep drive for transform, and we are very pleased to have made a space that will allow learners and changemakers around the planet to come alongside one another in knowledge, dialogue, and motion.”

Frank Yamada, govt director of the Affiliation of Theological Colleges, a membership firm for graduate colleges that educate religion leaders, claimed theological universities are more and more devising new strategies to “serve nontraditional pupils by nontraditional implies,” a trend he claimed was accelerated by the pandemic.

“This innovation that GTU is promoting is … searching for to access digitally an audience with their academic mission that may possibly not be common, diploma-in search of pupils,” he reported.

He believes theological university leaders are enthusiastic by enrollment difficulties. General enrollment at Association of Theological Universities member institutions has held steady above 30 years—and the Graduate Theological Union has viewed enrollment gains in the past quite a few several years. But mainline Protestant establishments “have observed really precipitous declines in enrollment over the very last 15 to 20 decades,” he reported. These worries have led to administrators “getting inventive.”

Kim, the GTU president, pointed out in an e-mail that persons want a lot more chances to pursue a religion education “side by side with their existing vocation” and that this is mirrored in a “meaningful increase” in the number of section-time students and certification-software college students at the Graduate Theological Union.

Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, senior adviser for community affairs and innovation at Interfaith Youth Main, an firm centered on fostering interfaith cooperation and dialogue,​ said the consortium’s on-line system can open up bigger accessibility to training about religion.

It is an enjoyable and “long-overdue” development “for major theological schooling to get to out over and above the confines of their partitions and into the broader world,” he explained.

When Raushenbush thinks faith remains a potent force in people’s life and activism, he observed that the system could offer “a different entry point” for those people who may not consider of religious traditions as getting something to give them.

“If you assume of on your own as not religious or non secular especially, but you’re incredibly interested in ecology or you are pretty intrigued in racial justice, then you might … then go, ‘Oh, I didn’t even know that there was anything there for me,’” he mentioned. “They may possibly enter the exact same portal by a diverse lane.”

He also hopes GTUx will give men and women a likelihood to have interaction with faith traditions other than their very own because of the spiritual diversity of the consortium, which contains institutions and centers centered on Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism.

“I assume the target in this article is to position these distinctive valuable wisdom traditions on the same page and practically in discussion with a person a further and allow the world see that that’s attainable,” Raushenbush reported. “You could go there pondering, ‘You know what, I’m hunting for something about Christian ecospirituality’ and then see some thing about Jewish ecospirituality and be like, ‘I did not even know that was a thing’ … That is exactly where the magic takes place with education and particularly with some thing as effective as spirituality and religion.”

Nielsen reported participating a entire assortment of faith traditions is crucial to “foster a a lot more holistic academic experience” on the platform. He also thinks the academic examine of religion and activism requires to contain difficult discussions about “the historic approaches in which religion has been the two valuable and harmful” to social actions and marginalized groups, which requires becoming “interrogators of our very own histories and experiences.”

Davidson, the incoming dean of the Graduate Theological Union, reported the consortium is dwelling to a lot of students, faculty associates and directors that are by now having multifaith and academically demanding conversations about social motion and conducting applicable analysis.

“I feel lots of of them would recognize as people who are deeply spiritual … and who are also deeply committed to social justice,” she explained. “This is an organic venture for us that is seeking to share who we are with the world in buy to be a useful resource to other individuals.”

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Where Now For Online Learning? Coursera CEO Predicts The Next Wave

Where Now For Online Learning? Coursera CEO Predicts The Next Wave

Just after the incredible changes more than the previous two decades, for many in instruction a crucial issue is the place following for on line finding out?

And couple of men and women are in a superior position to response this than the CEO of Coursera, 1 of the world’s biggest on the internet mastering platforms.

Pre-pandemic, all-around 40 million folks all over the world were being enrolled with Coursera. One more 30 million signed up about the course of 2020, and full enrolments today stand at about 90 million.

And although the tempo of growth has fairly slowed considering the fact that the heady times of March and April 2020, the charge of registration is still drastically increased than before the pandemic.

And this encounter has helped Stanford MBA graduate and Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda get perception into how on-line learning is evolving and what the up coming wave will search like.

The to start with wave observed the creation of on the internet lectures, in the days when MOOCS ended up continue to a novelty, adopted by palms-on finding out, as VR and AR gave learners new depth to their expertise.

And the knowledge of the pandemic has laid the foundations for the theme of the subsequent wave: collaborative learning.

At the top of the pandemic, universities and universities shut to in-human being learning and shifted to on the web teaching, and workers commenced learning from dwelling as perfectly as doing work from property.

But even though the on the net finding out encounter may possibly have been shared across age teams, as we arise from the pandemic it will begin to diverge.

“The initially point about the pandemic is it gave most people a taste of on line mastering,” states Maggioncalda, who this calendar year marks five years at the helm of Coursera. “But the affect is distinct based on who the learner is and what they’re attempting to discover.

“For younger kids, on the internet discovering just can’t switch the bodily and social understanding that comes about in a schoolyard. So much of studying for younger kids is learning how to be a social creature.”

At the other stop of the spectrum, on-line discovering frequently labored definitely effectively for grown ups, allowing for them to suit classes all around their get the job done agenda.

In involving are college students in higher education, who missed out on the campus knowledge, but acquired the versatility offered by online understanding. It is right here that Maggioncalda predicts we will likely see a lasting shift.

“I imagine where we’re likely to conclusion up is pretty a great deal a hybrid world, where that encounter that was not online at all will unquestionably have a major on the internet component, even for kids who are on campus,” he claims.

“But the major point is the several people who are not on campus but need to study will have entry to significant excellent education and learning which is purely on the web.”

Quite a few of Coursera’s most well known classes all through the pandemic have been entry-level skilled certificates, a pattern mainly pushed by persons switching work, Maggioncalda notes.

These learners broadly fall into two categories: individuals with a degree who want to alter careers, and people with no a diploma but with an entry-level job who want to get credit score in direction of a diploma.

“It is a ramp to a new job but also the pathway to a degree,” he says. “We believe that is the long run of instruction.”

For learners, the attractiveness is obvious. A sequence of certificates gives a route to a college degree that is both equally much less expensive and speedier than a standard campus route, and can healthy around a work.

“Once you land in a work you like, you can then go and get a degree whilst you are functioning, so you do not have to forfeit your cash flow,” Maggioncalda says.

Even though this opens up opportunities, the impression will be felt in a different way by various universities, he argues.

The far more selective universities will experience minor tension to alter. Their levels will nonetheless be sought-right after by companies and their campus experience will nevertheless be wanted by learners, at the identical time as their potential to provide economic assist makes the cost far more workable.

But universities below this elite level are possible to see additional of an effect.

“I’m not saying really don’t get a college or university degree, but the way you get it will be distinctive,” suggests Maggioncalda. “More often than not, the degree is likely to be acquired on line and not just on campus.”

And it is not just how students discover that will be hybrid. Campus pupils will close up having short, entry-stage classes along with their degree, he argues.

“Maybe you are finding out English or art history, and you are not positive you’re going to get a job in that subject when you graduate, so you hedge your bets,” he says.

“You have a diploma and a fantastic household knowledge, but also a certificate that has experienced you to get a particular position.

“The environment is heading to be hybrid: some persons on campus and some folks on the internet. Even the qualifications will be hybrid, where you have a college or university diploma and a expert certification. When folks only get one particular or the other they will most likely be disadvantaged.”

This will prompt universities under the elite stage to appear even tougher at how they catch the attention of pupils, and will progressively prompt them to function additional closely collectively.

“The narrative is collaboration,” he claims. “We’re looking at much more and more universities embrace this group-based mostly approach.”

And this indicates not just information from other universities, but also from the likes of Facebook, Google and Amazon, allowing for universities to give a broader selection of know-how.

As an example, he cites a liberal arts faculty that could also supply college students a certificate in guide-retaining, without acquiring to set up a new college. And this circles round to all those pioneers of online understanding, the huge open on the internet study course (MOOC)

“There was a great deal of buzz and a lot of disappointment, but MOOCs are now the developing blocks of better education,” he states. “They are making it possible for universities to collaborate with every other.”

He expects this approach to blow-up the product of universities currently being a a single-end shop, capable to do all the things themselves and bringing all the disciplines beneath 1 campus. Rather, sector forces will direct to expanding specialization for universities beneath the elite tier.

“Once universities are topic to sector stress, they’re going to say what are we really good at? Incredibly number of schools will be good at everything.

“They will target on what they are definitely very good at and they will complement that with materials from others,” he claims.

This does not signify the residential knowledge will be confined to the prime tier of universities. As a substitute, he suggests there will be a emphasis on creating a student overall body that produces an immersive, innovative expertise that couldn’t be imitated online.

As an example of how the hybrid method could possibly function in practise, he cites a college with a powerful report in athletics drugs licensing a enterprise course, providing occupation-valuable techniques with no owning to set up a business school.

“Universities will consider their core disciplines and set on the internet programs all-around that,” Maggioncalda says.

Adhering to the creation of online lectures, and the advancement of palms-on discovering by digital and augmented truth, this tactic is mirrored in the following wave of on the internet learning, he provides.

This will see an expanding emphasis in creating resources to make it a lot easier for learners to do the job jointly, he predicts.

“The upcoming wave is going to be continued advancement in collaborative understanding,” he states. “How do we do tasks? How do we do group discussions? Collaborative learning on the net is the up coming frontier.”

And even though it could seem ironic to some, he suspects that this will enable bring the on line knowledge closer to the pre-on-line product.

“It will develop an knowledge that feels a little bit like the outdated-fashioned in-man or woman studying,” he claims.

No matter if it’s collaboration among universities or collaboration amongst learners, even as on the net finding out attempts to replicate its offline predecessor, there is no question that the pandemic has shifted the dial on what discovering will look like.

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Is online teaching serving the purpose?

Is online teaching serving the purpose?

Introduction

COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a significant and rapid shift in teaching and learning strategies across health professions education and educational programs worldwide. Significantly, the need for physical distancing severely constrained traditional face-to-face lectures and teaching strategies and encouraged a shift to be online and virtual teaching strategies.1–4 COVID-19 pandemic situation posed many challenges to healthcare worldwide and medical education. Rose observed that “The need to prepare future physicians has never been as focused as it is now in a global emergency”.5 The COVID-19 pandemic caused worldwide disruptions to the healthcare systems and medical education.5,6 Institutions of higher learning stopped operations physically, and most of the activities are online. Further, the response of medical schools to the COVID-19 pandemic was unprecedented.

Avalon University School of Medicine (AUSOM) is established in Curacao, the Caribbean region offering a Doctor of Medicine (M.D.) program. The M.D. program is of 4-year duration, with the first two years including basic science instruction and the next two years of clinical rotations/clerkships. The first two years of the program consist of basic science courses, including clinical skills. Basic science courses are spread over five semesters, which are from MD1 to MD5 semesters. Basic science courses are multi-disciplinary courses like Human Structure and Function (HSF) 1 and 2 (anatomy, histology, and physiology), Molecular Basis of Medicine (MBM) 1 and 2 (biochemistry and genetics), Mind, Brain, and Behavior (MBB) 1 and 2 (neuroscience and genetics), Diseases, Immunity, and Therapeutics (DIT) 1 and 2 (pharmacology, pathology and microbiology and immunology), epidemiology and biostatistics and clinical skills 1–4.

Face-to-face teaching is where the instructor and the learners meet in an established place for a scheduled time, for either one-on-one learning or, most commonly, in group classroom sessions. The advantages of face-to-face teaching are learners can concentrate better on learning because there’ll be fewer distractions, and learners can gain greater understanding, experiences, and real-world examples from teachers and other students. Learners have a greater chance of completing their course successfully in a classroom environment. (Completion rate of teacher-led classes is almost 5x higher than that of online learning). Learners may feel more comfortable and learn more efficiently in a familiar and traditional classroom environment. Learners can access more information. Learners have the opportunity to connect with, problem-solve, and socially interact with other diversified students from different backgrounds.

The Medical Education Unit (MEU) and dean’s office, in collaboration with the Information Technology (IT) department at AUSOM, provided training and resources for biomedical faculty to develop skills and expertise for delivering courses in virtual teaching methods. These actions were taken for the rapid transition to teaching and learning in virtual environments during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this context, drawing on faculty development program experiences and support during the COVID-19, which caused rapid teaching transition, we handled innovative teaching strategies in virtual environments. We designed and trained the faculty who are relatively new to virtual teaching and had no prior hands-on experience. Faculty with previous experience potentially benefit from new and different perspectives on the application and impact of education through technology presented below.

Online Teaching Platforms

Both content experts and the students needed to adapt to the new normal of using available tools on the internet to continue education.7 Popular platforms or software that are frequently used are WebEx®, Microsoft Teams®, Zoom®, and Google Meet® as these were provided free of charge. For example, Zoom® has forgone its time limit to use the Zoom® application widely. But these also have their limitations given vast usage around the globe as the whole world was being locked down.8 We have been using Google Meet® at AUSOM. All assessments were conducted using Examsoft software. Assessments were proctored using the Google Meet application (video-based proctoring).

Methods of Online Teaching

Methods of remote teaching and learning in medicine were primarily divided into two, which are synchronous and asynchronous teaching. Synchronous instruction is where the lecturer teaches and communicates with the students in real-time online using various video conference applications. Asynchronous teaching is where the lecturers record their lectures or hands-on clinical examinations or set up tasks and assignments for students to complete at a specified time. It is not on a real-time basis. These two methods also have limitations, mainly due to internet availability, connectivity, and time difference.9,10 At AUSOM, the main teaching method during this pandemic was synchronous teaching supplemented with recorded video libraries like “Lecturio.” AUSOM has adjusted the course learning objectives as per the requirement of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). AUSOM has given greater attention to students’ engagement during remote teaching. We focused on stimulating students’ interest, concepts around big ideas, required competencies and skills overarching the institutional learning objectives, and integrated multidisciplinary course modules. Different learning strategies, including small-group discussions, problem-based learning, and case-based discussions were employed.

For pre-clinical teaching, which is integrated with the United States Medical Licensing Examinations (USMLE) preparatory curriculum, usually requires clinical exposure and clinical skills right from the beginning. Online teaching posed a moderate challenge to this. Many universities evolved into eliminating lectures and using technology to replace face-to-face interaction, the so-called “active learning” strategy even before the pandemic. They moved towards promoting individualized teaching and enhancing interprofessional education11,12 through active learning strategies. The significant bulk of pre-clinical subjects can be conducted by various platforms, mostly through online, distance, or electronic learning without the face-to-face method. Subjects like physiology, neuroscience, biochemistry, and medical genetics and pharmacology can be taught online. According to Miller’s pyramid,13 most of the skills needed for these subjects are up to understanding the concepts. Hence, the need for face-to-face interaction is not as essential and manageable without face-to-face interactions and hands-on experiences. But it is not the same case for courses like anatomy, clinical skills, microbiology, histology, and pathology, which require labs and hands-on experiences. We aimed to identify advantages and difficulties with this new approach as a necessary replacement for traditional face-to-face lectures. The changes implemented at AUSOM in the first two years of the medical school’s education during the pandemic can be summarized as follows.

  • Basic science instruction- Online didactic live lectures, small group activities, and virtual labs
  • Basic science assessments- being conducted with video-based remote proctoring
  • National board of medical examiners (NBME) comprehensive basic science exams- continuing with video-based proctoring by Zoom

Online teaching has existed for quite some time in a few medical schools, especially during the preclinical period, and there is literature on online teaching and effectiveness. This study aims to study the effectiveness of emergency remote teaching (ERT), which was implemented during the pandemic at AUSOM. This study examines whether online instruction implemented during unprecedented times (ERT) was equally effective as on-campus teaching. This manuscript also explores the stimulators, obstacles, advantages, and disadvantages of remote teaching, which was implemented not as a normal change process but as an emergency change. The effectiveness of ERT and on-campus teaching were compared using course evaluations (student feedback) and students’ performance on assessments. The outcomes that were compared between on-campus instruction and online teaching were course evaluations and students’ performance on assessments (final grades). This is one of the studies comparing on-campus teaching and emergency online (remote) teaching outcomes.

Null Hypothesis- Emergency online (remote) teaching is not effective as on-campus teaching at AUSOM.

Alternate Hypothesis: Emergency online (remote) teaching is equally effective as on-campus teaching at AUSOM.

Methods

This is a mixed concurrent quantitative and qualitative research study. In September-December 2019 semester, the basic science instruction was completely on-campus. In January- April 2020 semester, the basic science instruction was on-campus till March 2020, but it became virtual from March 17th due to lockdown implemented on the island. We did not use the outcomes of the January-April semester to compare with September-December 2019 semester as the January-April semester had both on-campus and online teaching. The outcomes of the May-August 2020 semester which was completely online were compared with outcomes of the September-December 2019 semester. Same faculty members were involved in teaching the same courses between September-December 2019 semester and May-August 2020 semester. The admission criteria and the attributes like grade point average (GPA) remain the same for students of the September-December 2019 and May-August 2020 semesters. There were no changes in the admissions criteria for the selection process of students. The curriculum, including learning objectives, teaching methods, and assessments, were aligned to achieve Bigg’s constructive alignment.

We evaluated the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of students throughout the semester. The students’ “knows” and “knows how” levels (13) were assessed using multiple-choice questions (MCQs). MCQs were employed to assess knowledge, application, and analysis of students. The students’ “shows” level (13) was assessed using standardized patient-based assessments, which were also done virtually. We assessed students’ attitudes and professional behaviors during all sessions, including group activities like small-group discussions, PBL, and case-based discussions. The assessments based on MCQs were standardized using the compromised Hofstee method before the pandemic and during the emergency remote teaching. Clinical skills were assessed using virtual SP-based assessments using Google Meet software. Virtual SP-based assessments by Google Meet replaced the original SP-based assessments. Because we cannot conduct the face-to-face exam format, the students were conducting a telemedicine interview with the standardized patient. Then students type out the encounter after each telemedicine interview. Students will have to verbalize to the Standardized Patients (SPs) the maneuvers they would do if they were in a face-to-face encounter for the virtual exam. The SPs will listen, and after students have finished describing the maneuver, they will report to the student if the findings are normal or any other findings. The borderline group method was used to standardize for performance-based assessments like SP-based assessments before the pandemic and during the emergency remote teaching.

The Research and Ethics committee of AUSOM approved this study.

Quantitative data: Comprised of two components

  • Course evaluations- comparison of course evaluations between September-December 2019 (complete on-campus and face-to-face) and May-August 2020 semesters (complete online instruction)
  • Comparison of students’ performance (Mean class average) in basic science courses between September-December 2019 and May-August 2020 semesters

Quantitative data were collected from the central IT department of AUSOM, where all course evaluations at the end of the semester was compiled using Survey Monkey. Dean’s office and MEU gathered this data every semester for analysis by the dean, quality assurance committee, and curriculum committee. The questionnaire (course evaluations) included a total of sixteen questions (Appendix 1). The responses to the questionnaire were gathered on the Likert scale of one to five. One is strongly disagreeing, two is disagreeing, three is neutral/no opinion, four is agreeing, and five is strongly agreeing. The values of mean and standard deviation were analyzed. SPPSS software was used to calculate p-values by using a t-test to determine any statistically significant difference. The p-values were adjusted to the nearest second decimal values. The students’ performance (grades) on assessments was collected from the Students Information System (SIS). The assessments included multiple-choice questions, oral examinations, objective structured practical examinations, and standardized patient-based assessments. The examinations were similar between September-December 2019 and May-August 2020 semesters. The class averages were calculated using SPSS software and calculated the p-value using a t-test to examine any statistically significant difference. During the collection of data, no personal data was identified.

The research methodology was mixed methodology. After the initial analysis of quantitative data, identified that ERT (online teaching) was equally effective as on-campus teaching. Then we wanted to take the experiential account of students and faculty members of their perceptions and experiences regarding emergency remote teaching using the phenomenology approach. We conducted individual interviews (qualitative data) with students and faculty members to gather their experiences and perceptions regarding emergency remote teaching. The sampling strategy was simple random sampling for students and purposive sampling for faculty as these faculty had experience with remote teaching during the pandemic. We did conduct a total of 19 interviews during September-October 2020. We randomly selected two students from each semester from MD1 to MD5 semesters, and a total of ten students were invited to participate in the interview. We invited all 12 faculty members teaching basic science courses to participate in the interview. All participants were required to sign the consent form. The interview schedule consists of five questions (Appendix 2). All interviews took time around 10–15 minutes. Interviews were audio-recorded. Interviews were conducted either by telephone or personally. Two students who were involved in this research study as authors conducted all interviews to avoid bias due to power relationships. Students were trained on how to run the interviews by the principal investigator. The faculty authors did the data analysis.

All interviews were recorded and transcribed using Happy Scribe software. After verification of its content, we read the transcript carefully, line by line, for familiarization. The transcribed texts were shared with all interview participants for word member checking and validation. We used thematic analysis. The thematic analysis included familiarization, identifying a thematic framework, indexing, charting, and mapping and interpretation. Thematic analysis was done manually. Certain ideas cropped up in the transcript readily, and we gave these a preliminary code. The coding was done by two authors (SBA1 and SBA2). Both SBA1 and SBA2 are physicians by training, and SBA1 completed his master’s in health professions education. Once we generated codes, we shared them with all authors. If there was a disagreement on any of the codes, it was resolved after discussing with other authors. Then we began to identify themes or emergent concepts and engaged in re-coding to develop more well-defined categories.

Results

The response rate for course evaluations was as follows. The response rate for Mind, Brain, and Behavior 2 in September 2019 was eight out of 11 (73{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}), and in May 2020 semester was 11 out of 13 (85{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}). The response rate for Diseases, Immunity, and Therapeutics 1 in September 2019 semester was nine out of 11 (82{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}), and in May 2020 semester was 10 out of 14 (71{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}). The response rate for Human Structure and Function 1 in September 2019 semester was 12 out of 12 (100{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}), and in May 2020 semester was 19 out of 19 (100{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}). The response rate for Human Structure and Function 2 in September 2019 semester was eight out of 10 (80{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}), and in May 2020 semester was 10 out of 13 (77{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}). For Clinical Skills I (CS 1), in September 2019 semester, the response rate was eight out of 10 (80{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}), and in May 2020 semester was 17 out of 19 (89.4{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}). The response rate for Clinical Skills 2 (CS-2) in September 2019 semester was nine out of nine (100{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}), and in May 2020 semester, 16 out of 16 (100{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}). Students’ responses for most of the questions, mean values have no statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between on-campus teaching and online teaching (Tables 1–Table 4). The t-test was used to assess the statistical significance as the responses on course evaluations were normally distributed with homogeneous variance. Even if there is a difference, the mean values or students’ responses were better with emergency online (remote) teaching (Tables 1–4). Students’ performance in assessments in each course was compared between September 2019 and May 2020 semesters. Students’ grades were normally distributed with homogeneous variance, and the t-test was used to assess the statistical significance. There was no statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between the two semesters (Table 5) except for two courses, Mind, Brain, and Behavior 2 and clinical skills 2.

Table 1 Comparison of Course Evaluations for the Courses Mind, Brain, and Behavior (MBB) 2

Table 2 Comparison of Course Evaluations for the Courses Diseases, Immunity and Therapeutics (DIT) I

Table 3 Comparison of Course Evaluations for the Courses Human Structure and Function (HSF) 1 and 2

Table 4 Comparison of Course Evaluations for Clinical Skills 1 and 2 Courses

Table 5 Comparison of Students’ Performance in Different Courses Between Two Semesters

We were able to interview all ten students out of ten students that were invited for the interviews (100{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} response rate). We were able to interview nine faculty members out of 12 faculty members that were invited for an interview (75{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} response rate). Thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified the following themes.

Earlier Experience with Online Teaching and Learning

Most faculty members said they did not have any previous experiences with online teaching. Four faculty members did distance learning programs for their education. All other faculty members felt that this online teaching and training were new. Few students did some online courses in the past but not in medical school. Before joining the medical school, the students who did online programs felt that it could help the students with part-time jobs. Most faculty members felt that they had never thought of online teaching in medical school before the pandemic.

Stimulators for Emergency Remote Teaching

Current Circumstances and Ongoing Pandemic

All faculty members and students felt that the major stimulator for remote teaching in the current circumstances is the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19. All of them felt that this pandemic forced us to do remote teaching. Online instruction for basic science courses is the only option to complete education, especially in this tough and unprecedented time. One of the faculty members quoted that,

we have all kinds of resources and technologies and this can be simulated on devices like laptops, mobiles, and then the students can learn and practice using those technologies that are available. (faculty interviewee 1)

Saving Time

The other major stimulator mentioned by students is saving time. One student quoted that, “I think it’s

Time, even before if I wake up at 6 am, I will spend most of the time in getting dressed up for school and getting ready and now even though I wake up at 6 am I will spend 15 min for fresh up, and I can use the rest of the time to pre-read (student interviewee 1)

Students also felt that online education could be helpful for students with financial issues and physical disabilities.

Obstacles for Emergency Remote Teaching

Technological Difficulties and Technical Challenges

The major barriers mentioned by faculty members and students are technological difficulties, power issues, and network problems, sometimes. Some of the faculty members might not understand or acknowledge the technical challenges that students are going through. The other obstacle is time differences (different time zones). This is especially an issue with synchronous remote instruction.

Online Fatigue and Lack of Personal Interactions

The other obstacle for synchronous remote instruction is that faculty members get fatigued with online education as they must spend more time explaining the same concept. It could have been done in less time in on-campus teaching. One student felt that some of the faculty members were not ready for remote classes. One student felt that class could be very monotonous in remote education when no personal interaction between the students and faculty members.

Advantages of Emergency Remote Teaching

Convenience and Flexibility

The major advantages of remote teaching are the availability of many resources and technologies and complementing the didactic lectures with these technologies. Remote teaching is very convenient and flexible. The other advantage cited by the faculty members and students is that remote teaching can have sessions recorded, and recorded videos can be played again. Students can always go back to the point where there was a conclusion that, as in in-person lectures, we cannot do that. The other advantage mentioned was that faculty and students could be anywhere in the world.

Saving Time and Other Benefits

One of the most important advantages students mentioned is saving time with remote teaching, as they are not required to go to the school’s campus. The other advantage is that introverts and shy students became very communicative and interact well during online classes.

Disadvantages of Emergency Remote Teaching

Limited Hands-on Experience and Personal Interactions

Most of the faculty members and students felt that the major obstacle to remote teaching is the lack of hands-on experiences and personal interaction. Even though we were conducting virtual labs, some faculty members and students felt that they were missing labs and hands-on experiences, especially for courses like anatomy and clinical skills. Remote teaching lacks classroom experience, which is the major disadvantage of missing personal connection. One faculty member quoted that “there is verbal communication and there is nonverbal communication.

As a teacher, you can look into the students” eyes and ask them questions, and they can also look into the teacher’s eye and answer or ask questions (faculty interviewee 3)

Professional training requires visual, auditory, tactile, and every part of your faculties to be ministering to the student. Sometimes students can switch off the camera and disappear from the class. Some faculty members quoted that it is very difficult to track students’ attendance during class hours.

Lack of Motivation

Another disadvantage associated with remote teaching is the lack of motivation for students. Procrastination is one of the problems in online learning and training. Students must be kept motivated, and communication between faculty and students is the key. One of the faculty members quoted that,

The main obstacle for online teaching is the students” self-motivation might be missing. In face-to-face interactions, they learn from group studies and with the faculty interaction and then the personal experiences they have and then hands-on experiences. They are missing like a lot of group interaction (faculty interviewee 7)

.

Discussion

The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing and will remain to disrupt medical teaching and training. COVID-19 has caused unprecedented interruption to the medical education process and healthcare across the globe.14 The current COVID-19 pandemic presented various challenges like challenges to faculty in shifting from face-to-face to online teaching challenges to students in moving to remote learning, challenges in conducting the assessment, challenges in accessing the internet and using digital technology, and challenges to an institution in organizing online teaching and learning activities during the lockdown. It is said that challenges bring opportunities. COVID-19 may also bring opportunities. Medical educators have initiated the process of transforming education and improving quality before the COVID-19 outbreak. The COVID-19 pandemic has, however, changed the landscape of medical education. The situation has forced medical educationalists to think “out of the box” and act innovatively using advanced digital technology. The existing COVID-19 pandemic has motivated us to transform education methods, modalities, and processes, initially requiring greater effort. Still, it provides teachers, faculty, and facilitator impetus to keep pace with current technology trends, eg, digital gadgets, programs, and software, modified forms of media with innovative audiovisual aids. This is a new experience or opportunity to learn, understand, and update unique needs and new modes of delivery of medical education for all stakeholders involved. It may also have a long-lasting impact on healthcare.

The attitude and readiness of educators running or engaging in remote education are crucial. As key stakeholders, educators should be seen as educators and be supported and developed, including the faculty development in both delivery and design of online teaching.15 This could be evident in our efforts to emphasize the requirement of faculty development activities for our biomedical educators. We did a few faculty development activities just before the transformation to emergency remote (online) teaching. These faculty development activities were focused on how to use digital technologies for online teaching. This led to successful emergency online (remote) teaching for our basic science courses, which is evident in course evaluations.

The literature on remote learning in medical students before the COVID-19 pandemic has found that though students feel it complements their education, they do not see it as an acceptable replacement for in-person learning.16,17 By now, many medical schools due to COVID-19 have created online coursework so that students can continue education and training from home.18,19 In most medical institutions, alternative virtual coursework was adopted, such as e-learning modules, video vignettes, and virtual reality simulators.20 Although the significant amount of time in the medical curriculum in pre-clerkship is allotted for didactic lectures, anatomy labs (Grant’s Dissector Videos), clinical skills lab sessions (telemedicine/telehealth concepts), small group sessions, problem-based Learning (PBL) sessions, and other labs (virtual labs like virtual microscopy in histology and pathology) at AUSOM also implemented and incorporated in emergency remote (online) teaching and training. This allowed students’ active engagement and participation during online instruction, which was done during these emergent times. This could be evident from course evaluations. The last but one question on the survey (courses evaluations) is that if students contribute constructively to in-class activities, there is no statistically significant difference between on-campus teaching and remote teaching (Tables 1–4). We recommend adapting interactive remote learning lectures using highly sophisticated technologies and virtual clinical case-based discussions. Such measures would help students adjust to this way of medical teaching even during emergent times.

Emergency remote (online) teaching could be successful if learning objectives, teaching methods, and assessment methods are in alignment, which is referred to as constructive alignment.21 The other important key factor is students’ engagement in classroom activities. This was achieved by emphasizing the pedagogy of adult learning principles. Adult learning principles were implemented using various teaching-learning strategies, including small group discussions, self-directed learning, pre-reading assignments, and hands-on experiences, including labs employed during our emergency online (remote) teaching. This led to sufficient satisfaction of learners, which could be evident in course evaluations.

Students’ satisfaction with feedback was satisfactory because of providing effective and specific feedback provided on time,22 even during the emergency remote (online) teaching. The feedback was provided to all students using the Google Meet platform. All departments were instructed to give feedback at least twice a semester. In addition, students can request an appointment and meet with the faculty member to receive feedback and academic guidance using the Google Meet platform. Students’ responses for most of the questions, mean values have no statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between on-campus teaching and remote teaching (Tables 1–4). Even if there is a difference, the mean values or students’ responses were better with remote teaching (Tables 1–4). Students’ were satisfied, and they felt they were achieving course learning objectives, and they were actively engaged in classroom activities because of innumerable opportunities for them. This was achieved due to small group activities, including case-based discussions and PBL, virtual labs, and clinical skills teaching using standardized patients. Students practiced history taking and interviewing skills with standardized patients using Google Meet, verbalizing physical examination, and physical examination videos.

Students’ performance in assessments in each course was compared between September 2019 and May 2020 semesters. There was no statistically significant difference (p<0.05) between the two semesters (Table 5) except for two courses, Mind, Brain, and Behavior 2 and clinical skills 2. AUSOM has given greater importance to Bigg’s constructive alignment (21) during this emergency remote teaching. The course learning objectives, instructional methodologies, student involvement in classroom activities, and assessments are aligned. This could be evident in course evaluations (student feedback). Students were satisfied with course learning objectives, and students were aware of course learning objectives. Students were satisfied with teaching methods, and they felt that they were achieving course learning outcomes and involved in classroom activities. Students also felt that the assessments were in support of course learning objectives.

Even though the quantitative data have shown no statistically significant difference between on-campus teaching and remote teaching, we did interviews to investigate whether quantitative and qualitative data complement each other. The data analysis of interviews has shown both advantages and disadvantages to emergency remote (online) teaching. The advantages include the availability of different technologies, resources, and platforms for online teaching. The other advantage is remote teaching is flexible and convenient. The other most important advantage is saving time for students as they do not need to get prepared and travel to the campuses. Students and faculty are well adopted during difficult and unprecedented times. All students and faculty agreed that emergency remote (online) teaching is the only option to teach basic science courses during this pandemic as campuses are not open. This change in medical education is seen as an emergency change rather than as a standard change process.

But most of the faculty members and students also have expressed their dissatisfaction with emergency remote (online) teaching. The main disadvantage of remote teaching is the lack of classroom experience and personal interaction. The other disadvantage is limitations on labs and hands-on experiences even though virtual labs are conducted. This was of major concern for anatomy and clinical skills courses. The biggest challenge for students is not having study groups as they are not on campus and lacking motivation. This can be rectified if students contact their peers using social media and online platforms and adequate communication with their faculty members. The other difficulties with online teaching are technical challenges and network issues.

Limitations

This study was conducted at a single institution. Another limitation is the cross-sectional nature of the study design. This necessitates the requirement of conducting longitudinal studies in different institutions. Another limitation of our study is the small sample size that was used for quantitative data. But the sample size for qualitative data is adequate as we were able to do 19 interviews, and there was no further new information added after some interviews.

Conclusions

We found that medical students had different knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the emergency remote (online) learning process. Our quantitative data results have shown no statistically significant difference in either course evaluations or students’ performance on assessments with a very few exceptions. This shows that emergency remote (online) education served the purpose in the first two years of medical school during the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of effectiveness regarding students’ performance in assessments and students’ feedback on course evaluations. The thematic analysis of interviews revealed the advantages and disadvantages of emergency remote (online) teaching. The advantages of online instruction are flexibility and comfort, and students are able to save time. The disadvantages are technical challenges, network issues, students lacking motivation, lack of personal interaction, and limitations on lab and hands-on experiences. The results may not be generalized to other institutions. Further studies in different institutions must validate them to see the remote learning platform’s utility as a teaching and learning mode, especially for basic science courses. Such replication studies in multiple institutions could help determine whether remote education can replace traditional medical lectures in the first two years of medical school. Medical schools might look at didactic lectures online either during urgent times or as a regular change process, and small group discussions, seminars, and labs require on-campus instruction. Remote education in the first two years of medical school can succeed if students and faculty are appropriately engaged and actively involved in in-class activities. Provide structure to the classroom activities, give students time, and provide feedback to students to make online education successful.

Abbreviations

AUSOM, Avalon University School of Medicine; M.D, Doctor of Medicine; HSF, human structure and function; MBB, Mind, Brain, and Behavior; DIT, Diseases, Immunity, and Therapeutics; MEU, medical education unit; IT, Information Technology; USMLE, United States Medical Licensing Examinations; NBME, National Board of Medical Examiners; GPA, grade point average; MCQ, multiple choice questions; PBL, problem-based learning; SIS, student information system.

Data Sharing Statement

Raw data and materials are available.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

This study is approved by the Research and Ethics committee of Avalon University School of Medicine. Informed written consent was taken from all participants (students and faculty members) and they had a right to decline participation in this study.

Consent to Publish

We haven’t used any identifiable personal information or 3rd party images or videos.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge all faculty members and students who participated in the interviews.

Funding

No external or internal funding received.

Disclosure

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest for this work.

References

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Los Angeles Unified to expand online learning, improve independent study

Los Angeles Unified to expand online learning, improve independent study
AP Picture/Jeff Chiu
Los Angeles Unified to expand online learning, improve independent studyAP Picture/Jeff Chiu

To accommodate an anticipated increase in the range of pupils in remote finding out once its university vaccine mandate can take outcome, the Los Angeles Unified University District is creating new online educational facilities that will open in the drop.

The colleges will choose the force off the district’s latest unbiased review application, which was inundated with college students this university yr just after the state’s length finding out statute expired previous summer season. The district’s independent research program, Metropolis of Angels, was the primary solution for college students who didn’t return to in-person instruction in the slide. This calendar year, it enrolled approximately 10 occasions the quantity of college students it did prior to the pandemic.

Although Metropolis of Angels will go on in some form, there also will be new on-line colleges that will divide college students into lesser, extra manageable universities that will each have their possess directors. The vaccine mandate, intended to slow the spread of Covid-19, will prohibit unvaccinated learners from coming on to college campuses for in-individual instruction, despite the fact that college students can enroll in impartial research. It will go into result for the upcoming college calendar year.

Los Angeles Unified’s board recently permitted the proposal to produce up to six on the net colleges. The district is however in the setting up levels as it navigates what the composition and curriculum will glimpse like.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said in an job interview with EdSource that the new on the net educational institutions are a probability to generate a more arduous and sturdy on the net understanding ecosystem for students, akin to in-human being college. The district will establish on classes acquired from this year’s unbiased analyze method, which was put with each other promptly to meet up with condition and group requires, he additional.

“City of Angels was a necessary move that needed to be taken to at the very least preserve some degree of relationship — the tissue that would link the child and the family to the faculty system,” Carvalho mentioned. “It labored in some situations, but it unsuccessful in other individuals. We will need to acknowledge that and be genuine about it.”

District officials will unveil ideas for the educational institutions in a couple of weeks, and enrollment will start off sometime in March. In the meantime, college officers and mom and dad are asking about what modifications to hope and what lasting effects the new faculties will have on the district, which is by now navigating staffing shortages and declining enrollment.

At present, City of Angels properties the district’s Virtual Academy, which gives distant understanding for family members unable or unwilling to deliver their kids to university in person. The Digital Academy opened this tumble as the district’s independent examine alternative that was demanded by the point out. It at the moment enrolls practically 18,000 students, quite a few of whom the district expects to keep on on the net upcoming university 12 months, in addition to individuals who stay unvaccinated.

Just about every new faculty will enroll up to 2,500 students and will have a distinct tutorial concept. The district plans to protect the cost of nonteaching team and assets with federal Covid-19 aid money for the initial two years, up to $16.2 million for each calendar year. Subsequent several years will count on point out funding.

As ideas progress, some dad and mom are elevating queries. The district is sending conflicting messages, mentioned Evelyn Aleman, a father or mother in the district who sales opportunities the Latino parent group Our Voice/Nuestra Voz. The district, she stated, is at the same time pushing kids to return to college in man or woman although also encouraging them to keep on the web by directing resources towards this extra lasting enlargement. Some households who are unable to send their young children to in-particular person university really do not have online accessibility at dwelling or may have restricted computing capabilities, she additional.

“We have not tackled the initial problem, which is the digital divide and electronic literacy for our families,” Aleman said, noting that some mothers and fathers in the group really do not know how to use email. “Our family members wouldn’t be capable to further more support students, as it is.”

University board member George McKenna has introduced up comparable problems about the growth of on the net educational institutions, inquiring what steps would be taken to bridge the digital divide. The college board is arranging to talk even further about it as soon as the last options are introduced.

The electronic divide also worries moms and dads like Alicia Baltazar, who reported net connectivity has been an difficulty for her sixth-quality son from the start out of the pandemic. Her son is at this time enrolled in Town of Angels and will most likely keep on on the web upcoming college 12 months simply because she is immunocompromised and fears he could provide the virus property if he returns to campus. She’s anxious the district is growing sources without the suitable foundation, like dependable web access and substantial-excellent instruction.

“Everybody told me, ‘OK, sixth quality: Be organized for all the homework,” Baltazar said. “I was completely ready for that. And no, suitable now he’s by now finished college, accomplished with all his do the job for the working day. It just can make me sit below and speculate like, ‘What are we losing? What are we missing?’”

Rocio Elorza, a dad or mum who is component of Our Voice/Nuestra Voz whose small children are currently attending classes in particular person, problems about that, as well. She thinks the district really should focus on fixing the methods it has instead than growing its on line options.

“The youngsters will need a good deal of tutoring the kids have to have a great deal of help to achieve their grade amount for the reason that they missing a large amount of educational understanding,” she mentioned in Spanish. “They need to aid them, not make new faculties.”

Irrespective of the district’s programs to extend online discovering, Carvalho emphasized the relevance of returning to school in particular person. As element of his 100-day strategy, produced Thursday, he laid out plans to invite people who have remained distant to go to open up homes and other university functions to persuade them to return. He also mentioned the district will goal to reengage with remote households via house visits and wellness checks.

“We need to do a ton of perform in conditions of educating the moms and dads, conversing with the moms and dads about the choice that they manufactured for their little one, and, to the extent doable, return kids back to the schoolhouse for a far more organic, substantially more effective training,” he stated.

Los Angeles Unified has however to announce what the colleges will seem like and how they will differ from the latest program at Metropolis of Angels. Carvalho reported the new educational facilities will count on a mix of synchronous and asynchronous schooling. In the same way, the Virtual Academy presently relies on a blend of are living instruction and independent operate, which contains guidance from on the web curriculum application, this sort of as Edgenuity.

“Folks are doing the job definitely hard to see how we can all over again leverage every single single lesson figured out from this year and feel smarter about how to increase the effectiveness and shipping of instruction, checking of instruction,” district Main of Educational institutions David Baca explained at a school board meeting in early February.

The existing kind of online instruction, however, has annoyed families like that of Erika Mora, who said her sophomore daughter is not getting the educational guidance she wants. Mora mentioned she experienced currently fallen driving because of the delays in enrolling in Metropolis of Angels in the fall, as the college struggled with unprecedented demand from customers. On best of that, she’s had difficulty connecting with some of her lecturers.

“I’m hoping that they see the kids are owning problems in that region,” she mentioned. “I am hoping that the district does just take that into thought, and maybe have some further instructors that are additional skilled to teach the college students and have a digital Zoom course like they utilized to when we had been in quarantine, so young ones could reward extra from it.”

Los Angeles Unified is at this time collecting knowledge and conducting target teams between moms and dads, academics and directors as it decides how to framework the on-line faculties. The success, together with much more in depth designs for the educational facilities, will be offered for the board to vote on at the time finalized.

“We foresee enrollment expanding, not lowering, so it does cause us to consider about arranging in a different way — building a leadership construction to assist this, even with the learners we have appropriate now, 17,900,” Baca reported. “[These are] sizable needs. That is all distinct understanding profiles — English learners, learners with disabilities, you name it.”

Lecturers have also lifted problems about addressing scholar desires. Associates of United Teachers Los Angeles, the union that represents district instructors, questioned at the board assembly what the colleges would look like and which students would be prioritized and supported.

UTLA consultant Ingrid Gunnell questioned that the district “provide a apparent plan for the public and university board to critique and display us how this plan will be built with equity in intellect to assistance our most susceptible college students and prioritize people that most need an on the web option.”

The district reported it will modify its reliance on retired directors and substitute teachers to operate the application. Deputy Main Human Methods Officer Ileana Davalos claimed that the on the web faculties will be handled like any other university in the district, as will employees transfers. The on the internet faculties will very first be staffed by instructors who have asked for to be there for wellbeing explanations and people who categorical fascination, she claimed.

Nonetheless, as some board associates have claimed, that technique will very likely pull teachers from other educational facilities in the district when the district is previously battling with staffing shortages. The district has also been dealing with a decline in student enrollment, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Enrollment this year reduced by approximately 6{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}, according to district facts.

“The district has failed miserably to meaningfully interact with these communities and labor partners,” claimed Gunnell, the UTLA representative, asking that the strategy acquire staffing and enrollment difficulties into thing to consider. “We have an option to do this the appropriate way, to get the guidance of UTLA and the local community.”

As the district proceeds to place with each other the plan for the new on the net colleges, it will look at the feed-back presented by community users, board customers and academics, interim Superintendent Megan Reilly explained at the final board assembly.

“This generation of an online academy, which explores and expands unbiased review in a broader way, [is] about applying technologies and to create the greatest quality solution,” Reilly mentioned. “Every child is entitled to general public training.”

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Online Education: Advantages, Problems, and Solutions

Online Education: Advantages, Problems, and Solutions

Around the previous decade, the on the net training neighborhood has reached remarkable development. On the web system enrollment is on the rise and flipped classrooms and hybrid plans are turning out to be significantly preferred.

Understanding is evolving, and educators and administrators have to adapt. Progressively, selected cases demand some people to learn on-line. This contains higher education, K-12, and even certification plans.

Whilst on line training has disadvantages, these a few rewards reveal why e-understanding may be the greatest instructional revolution of our time:

 

1. Flexibility in Training

Universities can reach out to extra folks by way of on the net finding out. This features individuals who might not be able to attend courses in individual. College students may possibly have to commute large distances or juggle schedules for small children, preventing them from enrolling in conventional classroom classes.

People returning to college later in everyday living are most likely to have employment that prevents them from touring to classes. As a result, on the internet instruction lets them to research anytime it is effortless for them.

 

2. Enhanced Enrollment

Folks who normally would not have attended courses can do so on the web. Therefore, there is an increase in enrollment. Numerous college students are wanting for a area to interact with others, without leaving the stability and consolation of their dwelling.

We know that student involvement boosts student fulfillment and enthusiasm to master. On top rated of that, it lowers feelings of isolation and enhances on line program achievement. On line college students have less opportunities to interact with the establishment but commit more time forming interactions with teachers and classmates.

 

3. Maximize in Usefulness of Schooling

Directors creating and delivering classes look at their focus on audience. In addition, they choose into account their user encounter, on-line environment, and study course delivery layout. This normally improves the success of the content shipping and delivery.

Today’s most current technological know-how lets pupils to join by way of blogs, dialogue message boards, journals, and video clip/audio suggestions. Design and style is crucial when it arrives to attracting students to be engaged and pleased with their on the internet understanding knowledge.

 

Analyzing the Troubles of On line Learning

When it comes to on line discovering, there is nevertheless space for advancement. The market is speedily building novel remedies to ensure that students’ online education and learning continues to be profitable. To guide educators in conquering their fears, below are 3 hurdles and strategies for working with them:

 

1. The Anxiety of Know-how

Issue: Irrespective of the advantage of on the web finding out, preceding generations may possibly be hesitant to depend on engineering for a total training course.

Answer: To control an on-line application easily, professors require the correct teaching, instruments, and mentors. In addition, learners want assistance means to assist them navigate on-line finding out. When they’re researching on the weekend or late at night time, a conventional help desk will be ineffective.

It’s crucial to assess a student’s technological aptitude before they enroll in an on the web program. If they aren’t well prepared to attend a selected study course, added applications and means really should be delivered in advance.

 

2. Lack of Individualized Instruction

Issue: Some remote learning programs show up to just take a one particular-size-fits-all solution. They do not provide individualized instruction which might have an effect on retention.

Resolution: Adaptive learning employs artificial intelligence to tailor the know-how to a person’s unique demands. This helps prevent the 1-measurement-suits-all technique. When learners are provided an education personalized to their skills, plans, limitations, and engagement patterns, they excel.

 

3. Worry of Cheating

Difficulty: The heightened threat of dishonest is another big problem and problem of on the web instruction today. Faculty and administrators may perhaps be discouraged by the excessive attempts learners would get to cheat. Having said that, the actuality is that pupils who want to cheat will come across a way, irrespective of whether in particular person or on the internet.

Resolution: In today’s on line classroom, employing remote proctoring remedies can be a good way to strengthen integrity. They’re safe and permit students to consider checks each time it is most handy for them. In addition, most remote proctoring techniques contain anti-cheating protections.

As remote proctoring systems advance, they’re becoming far more preferred for large-stakes testing.

 

On the web Training Is Right here To Keep

By 2023, the world on line instruction sector is envisioned to mature to $287 billion, up from $159.52 billion in 2017. This continuous progress demonstrates that enhancements in on the net schooling these days will continue on to have a favorable effects on greater education.

 

Image Credit: August de Richelieu Pexels Thank you!

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KT&G actively supports youth in Indonesia, online class fully opens in February

KT&G actively supports youth in Indonesia, online class fully opens in February

– Indonesia Sangsang Univ‧Korean Language School, Common on-line course opens this year… Assist for youth competency Development

– From language classes to job progress programs… Outstanding use of on-line channels in the Covid-19 Period

SEOUL, South Korea, Feb. 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — KT&G, a international Korean firm, is aiding Indonesian youths create their abilities through numerous online training applications with the unfold of COVID-19.

Sangsang Univ Indonesia&#x002019;s online class being held

Sangsang Univ Indonesia’s on-line class staying held

According to KT&G, KT&G Sangsang Univ and Korean Language School in Surabaya have been working whole-fledged on line instruction courses for Indonesian youths due to the fact February.

Sangsang Univ Indonesia prepares youth job exploration & abilities development systems

Sangsang Univ Indonesia has been conducting standard on the web courses for 4 months from February 14th. A total of 12 courses are being held, and about 2,000 young folks are using courses of their very own pursuits. Big applications include newbie/intermediate Korean, crafting, movie modifying, and electronic advertising and marketing.

Online lecture for Beginner Korean class by KT&amp;G Sangsang Univ&#39;s Korean Language School

On the internet lecture for Starter Korean course by KT&G Sangsang Univ’s Korean Language University

In unique, Sangsang Univ operates a specific proportion of the complete course as a instruction system to help youth work. Courses this kind of as interviews, resume producing, and profession growth are also integrated in the lectures opened this February, assisting Indonesian youths to increase their job techniques.

The on the internet lessons prepared by Sangsang Univ in reaction to COVID-19 has presently been perfectly acquired by local youth. Very last year, 12 online lessons had been held, and 34,000 school pupils participated in this procedure.

In distinct, the on the web class natural environment evoked a favourable ripple outcome to split absolutely free from the restrictions of community bases. For case in point, in the on the internet classes held previous year, the proportion of college students outside the house of Jakarta, wherever Sangsang Univ is found, reached a whole of 80{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}.

Youthful talents from many areas these types of as Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan were being supplied possibilities for self-growth by means of various classes of Sangsang Univ centered on the contactless educational ecosystem.

Dede Rahma (Siliwangi National College, 22 many years previous), who participated in the Sangsang Univ on the net course past year, claimed, “I received new expertise and information by using the knowledge administration and digital promoting courses with a comfy listening environment and many class assignments.” “I want to endorse it to my close friends who have never expert it for the reason that of the superb instructors and higher-high-quality on the net classes available,” he included.

Korean Language University opens the common initially semester…Supporting Language ability Enhancement

KT&G Sangsang Univ’s Korean Language University, found in Surabaya, With Yamandala Heart, also started off the common initially semester of Korean language instruction from February 7th.

1 hundred sixteen pupils registered in ten courses, confirming the interest of Indonesian youth in Korean. The on the net course is divided into a starter and intermediate Korean course and a conversation course and will carry on for ten weeks.

Previous 12 months, the Korean Language Faculty offered Korean language instruction for Indonesian youth centered on a serious-time on-line lecture environment optimized for a non-experience-to-confront atmosphere. Through this, 34 classes were operated last yr via the frequent three semesters and exclusive semester, and 376 college students realized Korean.

In addition, in October of past yr, the Korean Language University held a Korean society competition consisting of programs these as Korean society expertise, drawing contest, and engage in on the celebration of Hangeul Day, the anniversary of the creation of the Korean alphabet. On this occasion, 289 younger people today skilled Korean lifestyle as a result of on the net channels.

Jaeyoung Cho, Main of World wide Headquarter of KT&G, said, “Primarily based on numerous on line classes these types of as occupation competencies advancement and language schooling, we are offering schooling applications required for Indonesian youth in the confront of COVID-19.” “We will go on to talk with local communities during Indonesia and attempt to supply high-quality education and learning services,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, KT&G is the world’s fifth-major tobacco enterprise in phrases of market share and product sales volume. In Korea, the corporation has a current market share of 64.6{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} (as of 2021), keeping the No. 1 position in the Korean tobacco sector. In addition, inspite of the world wide COVID-19 pandemic, it has developed into a globally tobacco company by increasing its export territory to far more than 120 countries.

KT&G exceeded 5 trillion received in yearly product sales on a consolidated basis for two consecutive a long time from 2020 to past calendar year. The enterprise is also a group company with important enterprise portfolios this sort of as health functional foods, true estate, biopharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and tobacco.

In February 2013, KT&G established PT KT&G Indonesia, a corporation responsible for immediate distribution and logistics in Indonesia. Considering that 2016, it has been taking the lead in making nearby careers by utilizing about 900 new positions every single yr and a cumulative total of 4,800 people today in Indonesia.

(PRNewsfoto/KT&amp;G Corporation)

(PRNewsfoto/KT&G Company)

Resource KT&G Corporation