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Academic Environment (academic + environment)
Selected AbstractsA comparative study of student performance in traditional mode and online mode of learningCOMPUTER APPLICATIONS IN ENGINEERING EDUCATION, Issue 1 2007Qiping Shen Abstract There has been interest for many decades in comparing the effectiveness of technology-delivered instruction with traditional face-to-face teaching and measurable student outcomes have been an important indicator. Having pointed to salient aspects of the current academic environment and to some of the key literature in this area, this article analyses the performance of two groups of students studying in the traditional mode and the online mode in a masters program delivered by a Department of Computing at a university in Hong Kong. Over 2,000 students have participated in the study between 2000 and 2004. This article includes a comparison of the results between different delivery modes of study each year as well as between different classes over the 4-year period. Although traditional mode students have achieved a slightly better performance in examinations in comparison with online mode students, the article concludes that there are no significant differences in overall performance between the students. With the impact of technologies on higher education and the demands of a complex and rapidly changing society in the 21st century, this Hong Kong study contributes to the literature that finds mode of study is not a key determinant of success. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 15: 30,40, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20092 [source] The academic environment: the students' perspectiveEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 2008K. Divaris (nci) Abstract Dental education is regarded as a complex, demanding and often stressful pedagogical procedure. Undergraduates, while enrolled in programmes of 4,6 years duration, are required to attain a unique and diverse collection of competences. Despite the major differences in educational systems, philosophies, methods and resources available worldwide, dental students' views regarding their education appear to be relatively convergent. This paper summarizes dental students' standpoint of their studies, showcases their experiences in different educational settings and discusses the characteristics of a positive academic environment. It is a consensus opinion that the ,students' perspective' should be taken into consideration in all discussions and decisions regarding dental education. Moreover, it is suggested that the set of recommendations proposed can improve students' quality of life and well-being, enhance their total educational experience and positively influence their future careers as oral health physicians. The ,ideal' academic environment may be defined as one that best prepares students for their future professional life and contributes towards their personal development, psychosomatic and social well-being. A number of diverse factors significantly influence the way students perceive and experience their education. These range from ,class size', ,leisure time' and ,assessment procedures' to ,relations with peers and faculty', ,ethical climate' and ,extra-curricular opportunities'. Research has revealed that stress symptoms, including psychological and psychosomatic manifestations, are prevalent among dental students. Apparently some stressors are inherent in dental studies. Nevertheless, suggested strategies and preventive interventions can reduce or eliminate many sources of stress and appropriate support services should be readily available. A key point for the Working Group has been the discrimination between ,teaching' and ,learning'. It is suggested that the educational content should be made available to students through a variety of methods, because individual learning styles and preferences vary considerably. Regardless of the educational philosophy adopted, students should be placed at the centre of the process. Moreover, it is critical that they are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. Other improvements suggested include increased formative assessment and self-assessment opportunities, reflective portfolios, collaborative learning, familiarization with and increased implementation of information and communication technology applications, early clinical exposure, greater emphasis on qualitative criteria in clinical education, community placements, and other extracurricular experiences such as international exchanges and awareness of minority and global health issues. The establishment of a global network in dental education is firmly supported but to be effective it will need active student representation and involvement. [source] Developing Research in Graduate ProgrammesEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DENTAL EDUCATION, Issue 2 2006G Eliades The aim of this presentation was to provide an overview of the current status of research activities in the graduate programmes of European Dental Schools, their scope, structure, funding and assessment. The key issues explored included the aims, goals and perspectives of research activities in relation to the challenging and educational aspects of research, criteria for selection of research topics, development of skills for augmentation of basic and applied science, build up of creative thinking for data analysis and synthesis, the advisor's contribution, research assessment and feedback to the academic environment, aspects of research funding to support educational needs and ethical aspects of research. [source] Mentoring: A Key Strategy to Prepare the Next Generation of Physicians to Care for an Aging AmericaJOURNAL OF AMERICAN GERIATRICS SOCIETY, Issue 7 2009Heidi K. White MD Mentoring is an important instructional strategy that should be maximally used to develop the next generation of physicians who will care for a growing population of frail older adults. Mentoring can fulfill three specific purposes: (1) help learners choose an area of specialty, (2) help fellows and new faculty navigate advancement in the academic environment, and (3) help new physicians enter a local medical community and develop a high-quality, professionally rewarding, financially viable practice that meets the needs of older adults. The components and process of mentoring are reviewed. Current and potential mechanisms to promote mentoring for the specific purpose of increasing the quality and quantity of physicians available to care for the older adult population are discussed. [source] Prospective study of complier individuals under periodontal maintenance therapy: analysis of clinical periodontal parameters, risk predictors and the progression of periodontitisJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PERIODONTOLOGY, Issue 1 2009Telma Campos Medeiros Lorentz Abstract Aim: This prospective study aimed to evaluate the progression of periodontitis and the influence of risk variables among individuals attending a programme of periodontal maintenance treatment in an academic environment. Material and Methods: A total of 150 individuals diagnosed with chronic moderate-advanced periodontitis, and who had finished active periodontal treatment, were incorporated into the periodontal maintenance therapy. Social, demographic and biological variables of interest from subjects were collected at quarterly recalls, over a 12-month period. The effect of variables of interest and confounding on the periodontal status and progression of periodontitis was tested by univariate and multivariate logistic analysis. Results: A total of 130 subjects (86.7%) showed stable periodontal status, whereas 20 subjects (13.3%) presented periodontitis progression. Twenty-eight subjects (18.66%) presented tooth loss that resulted in a total of 47 lost teeth (1.38%). Diabetes was not found to be associated with periodontitis progression (p=0.67). Smoking was significantly associated with a greater progression of periodontitis (OR=2.7, 95% CI 1.01,7.22). Conclusions: Periodontal maintenance programmes in academic environment can stabilize the periodontal condition obtained after active periodontal therapy as well as control the action of risk variables for the progression of periodontitis. [source] Native American Graduate Nursing Students' Learning ExperiencesJOURNAL OF NURSING SCHOLARSHIP, Issue 2 2000Suzanne Steffan Dickerson Purpose: To identify learning experiences of Native American graduate nursing students in a university-based nurse practitioner program. Design: The phenomenological approach of Heideggerian hermeneutics. Method: A purposive sample of 11 Native American graduate students in a nurse practitioner program were given the choice of participating in a focus group or completing an individual interview to elicit common meanings and shared experiences. Findings: Four themes and two constitutive patterns: (a) Native American students' worldviews reflected unwritten knowledge that served as a background of common understanding, (b) academic environment as a rigid environment with only one way to learn and constant evaluation, (c) faculty-student relationship barriers to establishing a supportive learning environment, and (d) strategies to survive, including a commitment to succeed, conforming to unwritten rules, helping each other, and ultimately changing themselves. Constitutive patterns were: (a) value conflicts when students' values conflicted with academic behavioral values, and (b) on the fringe, when students felt isolation from the main student body, and open to attack (evaluation). Students struggled to be successful in their commitment to complete the degree, but often questioned the applicability of the program in their cultural setting. Conclusions: A more flexible supportive environment is needed to support students' goals to attain degrees, as well as to encourage dialogue on differing cultural values. Faculty who teach culturally diverse students may need to examine rigid behavioral standards that mandate an assertive practitioner persona and may be a barrier to attainment of goals. [source] Student learning experiences in a diversified academic environmentMEDICAL EDUCATION, Issue 5 2010Dianne Manning No abstract is available for this article. [source] Short-term impact of a robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy ,mini-residency' experience on postgraduate urologists' practice patterns,THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MEDICAL ROBOTICS AND COMPUTER ASSISTED SURGERY, Issue 1 2006Elspeth M. McDougall Introduction To assist practising urologists acquire and incorporate robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP) into their practice, a 5 day mini-residency (M-R) programme with a mentor, preceptor and potential proctor experience was established at the University of California, Irvine, Yamanouchi Center for Urological Education. The follow-up results from the initial 21 RALP M-R participants are presented. Methods Between September 2003 and September 2004, 21 urologists from six states and four countries underwent a RALP M-R. Each participant underwent 1:2 teacher:attendee instruction over a 5 day period, which included inanimate model skills training, animal/cadaver laboratory skills training and operating room observation experience. Participants were also offered a proctoring experience at their hospital if they so desired. A questionnaire survey was mailed 1,14 months (mean 7.2 months) following completion of the mini-residency and these results were tabulated and reviewed. Results A 100% response rate was achieved from the mailed questionnaires. The mean M-R participant age was 43 years (range 33,55 years). One-third of the M-R participants were practising in an academic environment. Most of the participants (55%) had no fellowship training. Of those with fellowship training (45%), three (15%) were in laparoscopy and three (15%) were in oncology; 25% of the participants were in large (>6 physicians), 25% in small (2,6 physicians) and 15% in solo practices; 70% of the participants were located in an urban setting. The majority of the participants (80%) had laparoscopic experience during residency training and had performed 20,60 laparoscopic cases prior to attending the M-R programme. Within 7.2 months after M-R (range 1,14 months), 95% of the participants were practising robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy and 25% of the RALP M-R participants had also performed robotic-assisted laparoscopic pyeloplasty. Of the M-R participants, 38% availed themselves of the preceptor/proctor component of the programme; among these, 100% reported that they were performing RALP vs. only 92% of the MR participants who did not have a proctor experience. The 5 day length of the M-R was considered to be of satisfactory duration by 90% of the participants, while 1 participant considered it too brief and 1 considered it too long. All but one of the participants rated the M-R as a very or extremely valuable experience. All the M-R participants indicated that they would recommend this training programme to a colleague. Conclusions A 5 day intensive RALP M-R course seems to encourage postgraduate urologists, already familiar with laparoscopy, to successfully Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] IUSAM-APdeBA: A higher education institute for psychoanalytic trainingTHE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PSYCHOANALYSIS, Issue 5 2009Hector Ferrari The history of the last century shows the almost constant presence of psychoanalysis in the academic setting and, simultaneously, the incredible absence of analytic training at the universities. This paper outlines the project of the Buenos Aires Psychoanalytic Association (APdeBA) to create a higher education institution of its own (IUSAM) specifically aimed at lodging psychoanalytic training within a university setting. The project was approved by the Argentine educational authorities in 2005 and received the economic support of the International Psychoanalytical Association (IPA). The academic structure of the university is described, whose goal is broadened to the interdisciplinary field of mental health with psychoanalysis as an integrating axis. Some of the characteristics of the traditional ,university model' as well as its relationship with psychoanalysis are pointed out. With the IUSAM, psychoanalytic training is not included as a part of an already established university, it rather creates a new one, with the support of a well-known psychoanalytical association (APdeBA) which endorses its activities and guarantees its identity. IPA's requirements for analytic training (didactic analysis, supervisions and seminars) have been fully preserved in this new context. Finally, some of the advantages and disadvantages of including analytic training into an academic environment are listed. [source] A series of molecular dynamics and homology modeling computer labs for an undergraduate molecular modeling courseBIOCHEMISTRY AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY EDUCATION, Issue 4 2010Donald E. Elmore Abstract As computational modeling plays an increasingly central role in biochemical research, it is important to provide students with exposure to common modeling methods in their undergraduate curriculum. This article describes a series of computer labs designed to introduce undergraduate students to energy minimization, molecular dynamics simulations, and homology modeling. These labs were created as part of a one-semester course on the molecular modeling of biochemical systems. Students who completed these activities felt that they were an effective component of the course, reporting improved comfort with the conceptual background and practical implementation of the computational methods. Although created as a component of a larger course, these activities could be readily adapted for a variety of other educational contexts. As well, all of these labs utilize software that is freely available in an academic environment and can be run on fairly common computer hardware, making them accessible to teaching environments without extensive computational resources. [source] Leadership in education: Effective U.K. college principalsNONPROFIT MANAGEMENT & LEADERSHIP, Issue 2 2003Fabio Sala College leaders face increasing challenges to manage complex responsibilities. They must possess a wide variety of managerial and leadership skills to be successful in academic environments, which are beginning to resemble more traditional organizational frameworks. The study examined in this article explored the relationships among managerial style, organizational climate, and several measures of college-student performance with a sample of British further education college principals (similar to U.S. community college presidents). While considering the influence of various background factors, such as the size of the college, student funding, and years of experience, several significant relationships emerged demonstrating a significant association between principals' managerial behaviors and measures of college and student performance. [source] | ||||||||||