Ten simple rules for delivering live distance training in bioinformatics across the globe using webinars

A Web-Based Education Program About Primary Palliative Care for Heart Failure: A Study Protocol of Wait-Listed Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND

The number of patients with heart failure (HF) is rapidly increasing as palliative care is being integrated into HF management and the need for a nursing workforce to meet these demands grows. To address this, we have developed a Web-based educational program on primary palliative care for HF among general registered nurses caring for patients with HF in Japan.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to evaluate the program's effectiveness on nurse-reported palliative care practice, difficulty, and knowledge.

METHODS

In this open-label, individual-level, wait-listed randomized controlled trial, 150 Japanese general registered nurses, with experience in caring for patients with HF and clinical ladder level ≥ 2 in inpatient, outpatient, and home-visiting care settings, will be randomly divided (1:1 ratio) into a Web-based educational program group and a wait-list control group. The follow-up period is 6 months after the intervention. The primary outcome is the nurse-reported practice score in primary palliative care, and the secondary outcomes are the nurse-reported difficulties score and knowledge score.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS

We herein describe the study protocol of a wait-listed randomized controlled trial regarding a Web-based educational program, which is a novel approach for these nurses. If the results of this study support our hypothesis, they could help expand primary palliative care, including daily nursing practices, such as symptom management and interdisciplinary collaboration, in the field of cardiovascular nursing.

An overview of key online resources for human genomics: a powerful and open toolbox for in silico research

Recent advances in high-throughput molecular methods have led to an extraordinary volume of genomics data. Simultaneously, the progress in the computational implementation of novel algorithms has facilitated the creation of hundreds of freely available online tools for their advanced analyses. However, a general overview of the most commonly used tools for the in silico analysis of genomics data is still missing. In the current article, we present an overview of commonly used online resources for genomics research, including over 50 tools. This selection will be helpful for scientists with basic or intermediate skills in the in silico analyses of genomics data, such as researchers and students from wet labs seeking to strengthen their computational competencies. In addition, we discuss current needs and future perspectives within this field.

Developing patient-centered outcomes research infrastructure in a rural community through patient and stakeholder engagement and education during the COVID-19 pandemic

In addition to facing numerous healthcare disparities, rural America is chronically underrepresented in clinical research. This gap was made more evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. St Lawrence Health, located in rural Upstate New York, established its Clinical and Rural Health Research Department in 2015 to help close this gap. The research department then launched the DISRUPTS (Developing InfraStructure for Research to Utilize Patient-centered Techniques at St Lawrence Health System) program to build the infrastructure to conduct Patient-Centered Outcomes Research (PCOR). Together with a diverse committee, the team used proven methods and frameworks to develop a model for engagement, content creation, and education delivery that was successfully used to create educational programs on PCOR and COVID-19. The resulting DISRUPTS webinars had a combined total of over 450 live attendees and over 1,110 views on recordings. Furthermore, nearly one-third of those who participated in the COVID-19 vaccines webinar indicated they were more likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after taking part. DISRUPTS can serve as an important model for other rural communities that aim to increase access to and engagement in PCOR, and which hope to improve outreach and education efforts in their communities.

Crash Course in Orthopaedics: Development and Evaluation of a 12-Week Online Trauma and Orthopaedics Teaching Program for Medical Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruption in clinical placements of medical students in the United Kingdom (UK), including trauma and orthopaedic surgery (T&O) rotations. Based on the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA) undergraduate syllabus, a 12-week online teaching program was designed to supplement T&O teaching for medical students across the UK while lockdown and social-distancing restrictions were in place. This study aims to describe the process of designing an online teaching program, evaluate the effectiveness of online education, explore medical student perceptions of the virtual learning environment, and report the lessons learned from this 12-week online program.

Methods

The “Crash Course in Orthopaedics” consisted of 12 webinars, with topics covering a range of acute and chronic T&O conditions, and was delivered through the online platform Zoom. Attendees were invited to complete a post-course questionnaire retrospectively and the results were used in this study. Qualitative data was assessed using thematic analysis. Quantitative data were presented as descriptive statistics. 

Results

The webinar series was attended by approximately 5150 participants, with the largest demographic group being clinical medical students (49%). Results from the survey revealed three broad themes which were:

1). Interactivity: question + answer (Q+A), multiple choice questions (MCQs), online tools

2). Content: case examples, orthopaedic examinations, objective structure clinical examination (OSCE) tips 

3). Accessibility: slides, recordings, duration of the session.

Our study found that the online teaching program improved students’ clinical knowledge of T&O and they found learning through interactive methods such as polls, the chat function on zoom, and case-based discussions to be most useful. Also, from the results of this study, a guide on “How to Run a Successful Webinar Series for Medical Students” was developed.

Conclusion

Online webinars effectively supplement T&O teaching and experience for medical students whose T&O placements were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results will be a helpful guide to those planning medical education webinars in the future.

Critical Self-Appraisal Towards the Better Use of a Webinar Series as an Online Tool for Postgraduate Teaching

Introduction: The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic adversely affected the conventional teaching mode, resulting in an exponential rise in online modalities such as webinars. Simultaneously, the lockdown provided substantial time to pursue potential academic content on the web. It is known that newly admitted postgraduate students of Physiology require a structured program that can guide them to conduct research for the completion of the course.

Methods: Gauging the opportunity, a webinar series was conducted on basic research methodology and thesis writing in Physiology. The series comprised hourly lectures delivered between 4:00 and 5:00 pm for seven consecutive days. Suggestions for future topics for webinars were sought through open-ended questions. Additionally, feedback for increment in students' knowledge at the end of the webinar was also inquired on a Likert scale. Open-ended answers were pooled into fields, and Likert scale scores were evaluated.

Results: There were 364 (35.8%) postgraduate students who registered for the webinar. The remaining were faculty (51.6%), research scholars (8.8%), and senior residents (3.8%). Among the postgraduate students who submitted the feedback, a majority (98.4%) of them agreed that their knowledge was enhanced at the end of the series. Most of the postgraduate students (31%) chose Biostatistics for future webinars.

Conclusion: Webinars are a useful tool for postgraduate teaching. They should be constructed with engaging infrastructure and relevant examples. The availability of recorded content on the online forum is beneficial for asynchronous learners. Having an idea about students’ choice for essential topics helps in the advanced planning of a demanding webinar.

Global survey to assess preferences when attending virtual orthodontic learning sessions: optimising uptake from virtual lectures

OBJECTIVES

Understanding the issues concerning the conducting of virtual orthodontic learning sessions (VOLSs) is essential. This study aims to identify attendees- and host-related aspects that could optimise learning and uptake from the VOLSs.

METHODOLOGY

Fourteen pre-validated questions were anonymously and electronically sent to 3000 orthodontic residents and specialists globally. The survey included demographic questions and questions to gauge attendees' engagement, memorising, and motivation-related factors. Reminders were sent at two-week intervals to non-respondents. The survey was closed when the sample size was met. Descriptive and inferential statistics were performed.

RESULTS

593 orthodontic residents and specialists (294 males and 299 females), primarily junior orthodontists and residents aged between 25 and 35 years of age, completed the survey. Post-VOLS recording was highly requested by the participants (8.84/10, 95% CI 8.67-9.00) with no significant influence of demographics on this trend (p > 0.05). Most of the participants were in favour of short post-VOLSs feedback (6.79/10 95% CI 6.58-6.99) with significant differences (p = 0.048) between participants from different regions of the world. The average number of screenshots taken was 6.1 per lecture. The learners' interests in attending on-line lectures were mainly to learn new clinical orthodontic tips (96.8%).

CONCLUSION

Implementing a short feedback survey after VOLSs, the provision of recording, and the provision of certificates of attendance need to be considered.

Evaluation of utility and usefulness of webinars on COVID-19 management: a questionnaire-based survey

Background

The COVID-19 pandemic and its consequent “social distancing” has fueled the use of social media platforms for educational purposes. Since the start of the pandemic, a plethora of experts and self-proclaimed experts have been keenly delivering webinars on COVID. This begs the question “Do webinars on COVID-19 really help in the improvement of knowledge base or management skills?”. The questionnaire was designed to assess information regarding COVID-webinars and their usefulness from the end-user standpoint. The response to the questions was measured using a 4- or 5-point Likert scale. The survey was open for a 4-week period with the extension of 1 week.

Results

The response rate was 54% as 270 out of 500 participants responded to the questionnaire. The majority of the respondents were anesthesiologists in-training, post-graduates, fellows, and seniors belonging to tertiary care settings with fewer percentages belonging to physicians and others. Most of the doctors had attended an average of 2 webinars per week. The tests of model effects showed a significant negative correlation of webinar quality ratings for district hospital healthcare setting of the attendees (of p value of 0.013) and for the number of COVID-related webinars attended per week (p value of 0.009).

Conclusions

Most respondents had favorable perceptions of webinars happening during the pandemic. However, there is a need for improvisation in the volume of webinars, target-audience-based delivery, and participant interaction to add value to this new dimension of teaching-learning.

Contextual attributes to promote positive social interdependence in problem-based learning: a focus group study

BACKGROUND

Problem-based learning (PBL) is classified as a collaborative learning approach, wherein students learn while contributing meaning to experiences and interactions with others. An important theoretical fundament of PBL is social interdependence theory (SIT) because positive social interdependence within a group has been found to be key to better learning performance and future attitudes towards team practice. However, most previous studies in health professions education focused on cognitive outcomes, and few studies have focused on collaborative behaviors in PBL groups. The lack of this empirical insight makes implementation of PBL difficult, especially in contexts where there is limited experience with collaborative learning. Therefore, the aim of this study was to elucidate what promotes or hinders positive social interdependence and how the attributes work during PBL.

METHODS

We conducted four focus groups among clinical year medical students (n = 26) who participated in PBL tutorials in the formal curriculum. We asked semi-structured questions that corresponded with the overall concept of SIT. We analyzed the transcript using constructivist grounded theory and developed a model to explain contextual attributes that promote or hinder positive social interdependence in PBL.

RESULTS

Two contextual attributes of "academic inquisition" and "desire for efficiency" affect social interdependence among a student group in PBL. Academic inquisition is students' desire to engage in their academic learning, and desire for efficiency is students' attitude toward learning as an imposed duty and desire to complete it as quickly as possible. These attributes are initially mutually conflicting and constructing social interdependence through multiple steps including inquisition from a case, seeking efficient work, sharing interest in problem solving, expecting mutual contributions, and complementing learning objectives.

CONCLUSION

These findings will contribute to understanding collaborative learning environments in PBL and may help explain contexts where PBL is less successful. The model can also be used as a tool to support innovation of PBL as collaborative learning.

Perception among ophthalmologists about webinars as a method of continued medical education during COVID-19 pandemic

PURPOSE

To ascertain ophthalmologist's perceptions about webinars as a method of continued medical education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

In a cross-sectional study, a 21-question survey was circulated using digital media platform to approximately 1400 ophthalmologists in India between 16th August 2020 to 31st August 2020. The questionnaire focussed on the quality and usefulness of webinars based on the Bloom's taxonomy. The responses (on 4- or 5-point Likert scale) were analyzed among three professional groups- ophthalmologists in-training, consultants in public sector, and private practitioners.

RESULTS

393 ophthalmologists participated in the survey, with a response rate of 28%. The mean age was 34.6 ± 9.7 years, and males constituted 49.6% (199/393) of the respondents. Forty-seven percent of the respondents perceived the quality of webinars as good or excellent (185/393), 72.8% reported knowledge gain from webinars (286/393), and 63.9% felt that webinars are important in clinical practice and should continue post-COVID-19 pandemic (251/393), with distinct responses among the professional groups. The drawbacks perceived were overt number of webinars (371; 94.4%), confusion regarding which webinars to attend (313; 79.6%), repetition of the information (296; 75.3%), limited opportunity for participant interaction (146; 37.2%) and disparate weightage to the core disciplines of Ophthalmology.

CONCLUSION

Most respondents had favorable perceptions of Ophthalmology webinars happening during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is need for improvisation in the volume of webinars, target-audience-based delivery, and participant interaction to add value to this new dimension of teaching-learning.

Integrating webinars to enhance curriculum implementation: AMEE Guide No. 136

Webinars have been used in medical education since 2006 and are now part of the educational offerings of many organizations, including universities, societies, and industry for healthcare trainees and professionals. They are frequently used for continuing medical education (CME) and continuing professional development (CPD) for internal medicine physicians, pharmacists, nurses, and surgeons. There is very limited evidence for the positive impact of these educational events on patient care, however, there is literature that suggests they have educational value for various audiences. Based on our own extensive experience, evaluation data, and key findings over the past decade and a review of the literature, this guide proposes best practices for planning, developing, delivering and evaluating webinars as a part of your curriculum. We propose six phases with steps and questions to help achieve the key purposes of each phase.

Application of a bioinformatics training delivery method for reaching dispersed and distant trainees

Many initiatives have addressed the global need to upskill biologists in bioinformatics tools and techniques. Australia is not unique in its requirement for such training, but due to its large size and relatively small and geographically dispersed population, Australia faces specific challenges. A combined training approach was implemented by the authors to overcome these challenges. The “hybrid” method combines guidance from experienced trainers with the benefits of both webinar-style delivery and concurrent face-to-face hands-on practical exercises in classrooms. Since 2017, the hybrid method has been used to conduct 9 hands-on bioinformatics training sessions at international scale in which over 800 researchers have been trained in diverse topics on a range of software platforms. The method has become a key tool to ensure scalable and more equitable delivery of short-course bioinformatics training across Australia and can be easily adapted to other locations, topics, or settings.

Open Targets Platform: supporting systematic drug-target identification and prioritisation

The Open Targets Platform (https://www.targetvalidation.org/) provides users with a queryable knowledgebase and user interface to aid systematic target identification and prioritisation for drug discovery based upon underlying evidence. It is publicly available and the underlying code is open source. Since our last update two years ago, we have had 10 releases to maintain and continuously improve evidence for target-disease relationships from 20 different data sources. In addition, we have integrated new evidence from key datasets, including prioritised targets identified from genome-wide CRISPR knockout screens in 300 cancer models (Project Score), and GWAS/UK BioBank statistical genetic analysis evidence from the Open Targets Genetics Portal. We have evolved our evidence scoring framework to improve target identification. To aid the prioritisation of targets and inform on the potential impact of modulating a given target, we have added evaluation of post-marketing adverse drug reactions and new curated information on target tractability and safety. We have also developed the user interface and backend technologies to improve performance and usability. In this article, we describe the latest enhancements to the Platform, to address the fundamental challenge that developing effective and safe drugs is difficult and expensive.

Online conferences for better learning

Conferences provide an invaluable set of opportunities for professional development. Online, virtual, and distributed conferences do not necessarily mean less opportunity for growth and innovation in science but varied and novel options for communicating the scientific process. Open science and many existing tools are in place in the practice of contemporary ecology and evolution to provide latitude for a much broader scope of sharing and thus learning from conferences. A brief overview of the science supporting online conferences and a highlight of some of the open science concepts in ecology and evolution are provided here to enable better learning through better planning for online conferences.

Twelve tips to present an effective webinar

Educators are increasingly invited to present via webinars rather than in-person. Webinars offer multiple advantages over in-person presentations, including the ability to speak to participants across a wide geographic area and the possibility of reduced financial and time costs for the webinar organizer, speakers, and participants. To capitalize on these advantages, educators need strategies to present effectively using this medium. Here we provide 12 tips for effective webinar presentations based upon best practices identified in the literature and the authors' experience organizing educational webinars. The 12 tips are: (1) Learn webinar logistics, (2) Conduct a needs assessment, (3) Write specific learning objectives, (4) Attend a webinar, (5) Create clear, engaging slides, (6) Develop interactive learning activities, (7) Familiarize yourself with the technology, (8) Practice your presentation, (9) Be organized, prepared, and energetic, (10) Evaluate participant learning, (11) Learn from feedback, and (12) Share your experience with the organizer. We hope these tips help presenters improve the quality and effectiveness of their webinars.

Ten simple rules for supporting a temporary online pivot in higher education

As continued COVID-19 disruption looks likely across the world, perhaps until 2021, contingency plans are evolving in case of further disruption in the 2020–2021 academic year. This includes delivering face-to-face programs fully online for at least part of the upcoming academic year for new and continuing cohorts. This temporary pivot will necessitate distance teaching and learning across almost every conceivable pedagogy, from fundamental degrees to professionally accredited ones. Each institution, program, and course will have its own myriad of individualized needs; however, there is a common question that unites us all: how do we provide teaching and assessment to students in a manner that is accessible, fair, equitable, and provides the best learning whilst acknowledging the temporary nature of the pivot? No “one size fits all” solution exists, and many of the choices that need to be made will be far from simple; however, this paper provides a starting point and basic principles to facilitate discussions taking place around the globe by balancing what we know from the pedagogy of online learning with the practicalities imposed by this crisis and any future crises.

Ten simple rules for making training materials FAIR

Everything we do today is becoming more and more reliant on the use of computers. The field of biology is no exception; but most biologists receive little or no formal preparation for the increasingly computational aspects of their discipline. In consequence, informal training courses are often needed to plug the gaps; and the demand for such training is growing worldwide. To meet this demand, some training programs are being expanded, and new ones are being developed. Key to both scenarios is the creation of new course materials. Rather than starting from scratch, however, it's sometimes possible to repurpose materials that already exist. Yet finding suitable materials online can be difficult: They're often widely scattered across the internet or hidden in their home institutions, with no systematic way to find them. This is a common problem for all digital objects. The scientific community has attempted to address this issue by developing a set of rules (which have been called the Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable [FAIR] principles) to make such objects more findable and reusable. Here, we show how to apply these rules to help make training materials easier to find, (re)use, and adapt, for the benefit of all.