scholarly journals SOLO-based task to improve self-evaluation and capacity to integrate concepts in first-year physiology students

2019 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 486-494
Author(s):  
Mark T. Williams ◽  
Lesley J. Lluka ◽  
Jan H. F. Meyer ◽  
Prasad Chunduri

An accurate self-assessment of student work can enhance student learning and subsequently improve academic performance. Instructors can facilitate this process by providing “standards” that students can utilize as feedback when self-evaluating their understanding. Traditional forms of feedback, such as marked assessment tasks, are limited in their ability to serve as standards, as they do not adequately capture variations corresponding to different levels of understanding. To develop a complex understanding in physiology, students have to integrate concepts pertaining to different subcomponents of body systems. The present study attempted to ascertain if exposing students to variations in complexity would refine their ability to self-evaluate their understanding and capacity to integrate concepts. Students were tasked to answer an essay-length, open-ended physiology question to expose their current understanding of the topic. The change in students’ self-marking of their answer before and after being exposed to the variations in conceptual understanding of the topic were used to determine whether improvements in self-evaluation accuracy occurred. These variations were presented as instructor-generated answers to the open-ended question, framed using the structure of the observed learning outcome (SOLO) taxonomy. Student scores in the integrative questions of the end-of-semester exam were used as a measure of student ability to integrate concepts. Findings indicated that this intervention led to improvements in student self-evaluation and exam performance, and the positive outcomes were replicated across multiple iterations of the activity.

Author(s):  
Ira Janowitz ◽  
Arlie Stern ◽  
Don Morelli ◽  
Eileen Vollowitz ◽  
Mark Hudes ◽  
...  

The authors developed a validated office ergonomics checklist that focused on outcomes instead of workstation features. The workstation is evaluated primarily through observed working postures and movement patterns while the subject performs their usual tasks. A guidebook for the improvement of computer workstations is keyed to the checklist, to lead the user in reducing risk factors and improving workstation ergonomics. The checklist was first validated in a field test with three expert evaluators. The checklist and guidebook were later tested with a large employer and used as a self-evaluation instrument, by a co-worker, and by an Ergonomics Coordinator with training and experience. Workstations were evaluated by an independent ergonomist before and after interventions were made. Results indicated that the checklist and guidebook were effective in making significant improvements in workstation conditions when administered by an Ergonomics Coordinator, but not when used as a self-assessment or by an untrained co-worker.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. ar25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacqueline Carnegie

Postsecondary education often requires students to use higher-order cognitive skills (HOCS) such as analysis, evaluation, and creation as they assess situations and apply what they have learned during lecture to the formulation of solutions. Summative assessment of these abilities is often accomplished using short-answer questions (SAQs). Quandary was used to create feedback-oriented interactive online exercises to help students strengthen certain HOCS as they actively constructed answers to questions concerning the regulation of 1) metabolic rate, 2) blood sugar, 3) erythropoiesis, and 4) stroke volume. Each exercise began with a SAQ presenting an endocrine dysfunction or a physiological challenge; students were prompted to answer between six and eight multiple-choice questions while building their answer to the SAQ. Student outcomes on the SAQ sections of summative exams were compared before and after the introduction of the online tool and also between subgroups of students within the posttool-introduction population who demonstrated different levels of participation in the online exercises. While overall SAQ outcomes were not different before and after the introduction of the online exercises, once the SAQ tool had become available, those students who chose to use it had improved SAQ outcomes compared with those who did not.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Sónia Rolland Sobral ◽  
Catarina Félix de Oliveira

Self-assessment is one of the strategies used in active teaching to engage students in the entire learning process, in the form of self-regulated academic learning. This study aims to assess the possibility of including self-evaluation in the student’s final grade, not just as a self-assessment that allows students to predict the grade obtained but also as something to weigh on the final grade. Two different curricular units are used, both from the first year of graduation, one from the international relations course (N = 29) and the other from the computer science and computer engineering courses (N = 50). Students were asked to self-assess at each of the two evaluation moments of each unit, after submitting their work/test and after knowing the correct answers. This study uses statistical analysis as well as a clustering algorithm (K-means) on the data to try to gain deeper knowledge and visual insights into the data and the patterns among them. It was verified that there are no differences between the obtained grade and the thought grade by gender and age variables, but a direct correlation was found between the thought grade averages and the grade level. The difference is less accentuated at the second moment of evaluation—which suggests that an improvement in the self-assessment skill occurs from the first to the second evaluation moment.


Pharmacy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 6
Author(s):  
Ulyana Kucherepa ◽  
Mary Beth O’Connell

As social determinants of health (SDOH) and health disparities are integrated with cultural competence in healthcare education, tools assessing multiple topics are needed. The Self-Assessment of Perceived Level of Cultural Competence (SAPLCC) survey is validated in student pharmacists and includes SDOH. The research objective was to determine if the SAPLCC survey can quantify cultural competence and SDOH course learning. First-year student pharmacists (N = 87) completed the SAPLCC survey anonymously before and after a social and administrative sciences course. The survey had 75 items with 1–4 Likert scales (4 high, total 300 points). All items were summed for the total score. Each item was assigned to a domain and factor. Factors were assigned to domains. The baseline total score was 190 ± 29 points, increasing by 63 ± 33 points post-course. All domains (i.e., knowledge, skills, attitudes, encounters, abilities, awareness), 13 of 14 factors, and total scores statistically increased. The SAPLCC tool captured student pharmacists’ self-reported changes in cultural competence and SDOH.


2020 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 647-652
Author(s):  
Darin Brink ◽  
David Power ◽  
Eric Leppink

Background and Objectives: The majority of medical students receive some of their training with a community preceptor. Nearly all of these preceptors are motivated by a desire to give back to their profession through teaching and they want to learn how to teach more effectively. Designing effective educational programs to improve preceptor teaching is important to upholding the quality of medical education. Methods: We designed an educational program consisting of readings, short videos, handouts and posters, as well as one-on-one sessions with a trained standardized medical student. The standardized student visited the community physician’s office both before and after the preceptor engaged with the educational materials related to a subject area of the preceptor’s choosing. We assessed the preceptor’s teaching using three tools: self-evaluation, student reporting of observed behaviors, and an overall rating of teaching effectiveness. Results: Thirteen preceptors took part in this the educational intervention. Per the self-assessment, preceptors showed improved teaching competency for all items on the questionnaire, with 12 of the 21 items (57%) showing statistically significant results (P<.05). The standardized student reported that preceptors used more of eight desired teaching behaviors in the second mock preceptor encounter than they used in the first, with a mean increase of 1.46 (P=.001). Overall teaching effectiveness scores increased, with a mean increase of 1.15 (P=.001) on the 10-point scale. Moreover, all participants indicated they were either satisfied or highly satisfied with the program and that they would recommend this program to a colleague. Conclusions: Our preceptor-improvement intervention led to demonstrable improvement in preceptor teaching, as measured by preceptor evaluation and evaluation by the standardized student. More research is needed to see if these results can be replicated and, in particular, to determine which aspects of the intervention were most useful.


Author(s):  
Chris Evans ◽  
Luis Palacios

This study focuses on how Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) can best be used by Brunel University students to enhance their learning. The study considers the impact that different levels of interactivity have on the memory and understanding of the students. In particular, it considers the use of interactive self-assessment questions (ISAQs) as a mechanism to help them learn from an eLearning system. One mechanism that has been employed for over four years is the use of a bespoke multimedia eLearning system available over the Web to first-year undergraduates. A common feature of many eLearning systems is the use of ISAQs to allow students to evaluate their grasp of the material with a view to revisiting it if they feel it necessary. However, ISAQs are time-consuming to develop and implement. This case study considers whether the incorporation of ISAQs has a measurable impact on learning as indicated by their performance in tests.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kostas Kalokasidis ◽  
Meltem Onder ◽  
Myrto-Georgia Trakatelli ◽  
Bertrand Richert ◽  
Klaus Fritz

In this prospective clinical study, the Q-Switched Nd:YAG 1064 nm/532 nm laser (Light Age, Inc., Somerset, NJ, USA) was used on 131 onychomycosis subjects (94 females, 37 males; ages 18 to 68 years). Mycotic cultures were taken and fungus types were detected. The laser protocol included two sessions with a one-month interval. Treatment duration was approximately 15 minutes per session and patients were observed over a 3-month time period. Laser fluencies of 14 J/cm2were applied at 9 billionths of a second pulse duration and at 5 Hz frequency. Follow-up was performed at 3 months with mycological cultures. Before and after digital photographs were taken. Adverse effects were recorded and all participants completed “self-evaluation questionnaires” rating their level of satisfaction. All subjects were well satisfied with the treatments, there were no noticeable side effects, and no significant differences were found treating men versus women. At the 3-month follow-up 95.42% of the patients were laboratory mycologically cured of fungal infection. This clinical study demonstrates that fungal nail infections can be effectively and safely treated with Q-Switched Nd:YAG 1064 nm/532 nm laser. It can also be combined with systemic oral antifungals providing more limited treatment time.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 4663
Author(s):  
Janaina Cavalcanti ◽  
Victor Valls ◽  
Manuel Contero ◽  
David Fonseca

An effective warning attracts attention, elicits knowledge, and enables compliance behavior. Game mechanics, which are directly linked to human desires, stand out as training, evaluation, and improvement tools. Immersive virtual reality (VR) facilitates training without risk to participants, evaluates the impact of an incorrect action/decision, and creates a smart training environment. The present study analyzes the user experience in a gamified virtual environment of risks using the HTC Vive head-mounted display. The game was developed in the Unreal game engine and consisted of a walk-through maze composed of evident dangers and different signaling variables while user action data were recorded. To demonstrate which aspects provide better interaction, experience, perception and memory, three different warning configurations (dynamic, static and smart) and two different levels of danger (low and high) were presented. To properly assess the impact of the experience, we conducted a survey about personality and knowledge before and after using the game. We proceeded with the qualitative approach by using questions in a bipolar laddering assessment that was compared with the recorded data during the game. The findings indicate that when users are engaged in VR, they tend to test the consequences of their actions rather than maintaining safety. The results also reveal that textual signal variables are not accessed when users are faced with the stress factor of time. Progress is needed in implementing new technologies for warnings and advance notifications to improve the evaluation of human behavior in virtual environments of high-risk surroundings.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
R Bosco ◽  
S Gambelli ◽  
V Urbano ◽  
G Cevenini ◽  
G Messina

Abstract Background Sanitizing the operating theatres (OT) is important to minimize risk of post-operative infections. Disinfection procedures between one operation and another is less aggressive than final cleaning procedures, at the end of the day. Aim was assessing the difference of contamination: i) between different levels of disinfection; ii) before and after the use of a UVC Device (UVC-D). Methods Between December 2019/February 2020 a cross sectional study was conducted in OT in a real clinical context. 94 Petri dishes (PD) were used in 3 OT. Three different sanitation levels (SL1-3) were compared pre- and post-use of UVC-D: i) No cleaning after surgery (SL1); ii) after in-between cleaning (SL2); iii) after terminal cleaning (SL3). UVC-D was employed for 6 minutes, 3 minutes per bed side. PD were incubated at 36 °C and colony forming unit (CFU) counted at 48h. Descriptive statistic, Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests were performed to assess the contamination levels in total, pre/post use of UVC-D, and between different sanitation levels, respectively. Results In total we had a mean of 3.39 CFU/PD (C.I. 2.05 - 4.74) and a median of 1 CFU/PD (Min. 0 - Max. 39), after UVC-D use we had a mean of 2.20 CFU/PD (C.I. 0.69 - 5.09) and a median of 0 CFU/PD (Min. 0 - Max. 133). The UVC-D led to a significant reduction of CFU (p < 0.001). Without UVC-D we had a significant CFU drop (p < 0.05) between SL1 and SL3. Using UVC-D, we observed significant reductions of contamination (p < 0.05) between SL3 and SL1. Comparing SL1 (median 0) post UVC-D use vs SL2 pre UVC-D use (median 0.5), and SL2 post UVC-D use (median 0) vs SL3 pre UVC-D use (median 1) we had a significant reduction of contamination (p < 0.05). Conclusions UVC-D improved environmental contamination in any of the three sanitation levels. Furthermore, the use of UVC-D alone was better than in-between and terminal cleaning. Although these encouraging results, the cleaning procedures executed by dedicated staff has to be considered. Key messages UVC are efficient to decrease contamination in operating theatres regardless of sanitation levels. The additional use of UVC technology to standard cleaning procedures significantly improves sanitation levels.


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