Reflections on the transition to online teaching for health science education during the COVID-19 pandemic

Evaluating Critical Thinking Disposition, Emotional Intelligence, and Learning Environment of Nursing Students: A Longitudinal Study

BACKGROUND

The COVID-19 pandemic may have inhibited the development of critical thinking and emotional intelligence of nursing students due to the transition from traditional to online learning environments.

OBJECTIVE

The objective was to evaluate the development of critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and the perceived learning environment of nursing students during the pandemic from their first to second year.

METHODS

This was a longitudinal study of 82 nursing students from 2 universities in Greece. We measured critical thinking disposition, emotional intelligence, and the students' perceptions of the learning environment in 2 phases, separated by a 10 month interval, before and during the pandemic.

RESULTS

Students had moderate-to-high critical thinking and emotional intelligence and perceived the learning environment as more positive than negative in both phases. However, there were no statistically significant changes between phases in critical thinking disposition (mean score 44.3 vs 45.1, p = .224) and emotional intelligence (mean score 5.05 vs 5.06, p = .950) between the 2 phases. Nevertheless, students rated the online learning environment (phase 2) higher than the traditional (mean score 137.8 vs 132.2, p = .005).

CONCLUSIONS

Critical thinking and emotional intelligence did not change, but students favored the online learning environment over the traditional. These findings suggest that nurse educators persevered, adapted, and maintained the quality of the learning environment despite the pandemic. Moreover, the utilization of an online learning environment may have led to enhanced enjoyment and engagement for students, which could potentially result in improved learning outcomes.

Description of Medical Students' Behavioral, Cognitive, and Psychological Engagement with Faculty Online Teaching Styles

Purpose

The teacher-student dyad is the heart of an institute. A teacher's instructional role significantly influences the student engagement that indirectly measures the institutional outcome. The online transition of medical education changed the milieu of medical education where a virtual link between teacher and student is the only hope for the learner to continue the learning. There were no studies on the relationship between student engagement and teaching styles during online medical education.

Patients and Methods

The present study was an online survey-based descriptive study on medical undergraduates from two universities in the United Arab Emirates. Google forms containing consent statements, teaching styles inventory in higher education (TSIHE), and online student engagement questionnaires were emailed to all medical students requesting to participate in the study. Completed survey questionnaires were analyzed descriptively for the degree of student online engagement, and a chi-square test was used to correlate the relation between faculty online instructional methods and students' engagement.

Results

A total of 423 of 927 students from two universities participated in the survey. There was no significant perception difference among the students from the two universities regarding their faculty online teaching styles. Thirty-three percent of students at first university and 41% of second university students showed engagement during online classes, which is statistically significant. However, the degree of students' disengagement from both universities was high compared to their engagement for online classes. Both university students' cognitive and behavioral engagement was moderate to strongly correlated with four domains of teaching style. Interestingly, there was no correlation between online faculty instructional methods and students' psychological engagement from both the universities.

Conclusion

The present study establishes the relationship between students' cognitive and behavioral engagement and teaching instructional practices. However, there is a need to develop robust evidence on students' psychological engagement and the influencing factors during online and blended contexts.

Listening to the minority: A qualitative study exploring male students' perceptions of the nursing profession and reasons for choosing nursing as a career

INTRODUCTION

Nursing is a rapidly growing profession that has traditionally been dominated by women. Research has highlighted various challenges associated with increasing the number of male nurses, such as cultural challenges and stigma related to nursing. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has experienced an increase in male students enrolling in nursing programs. To ensure this is sustainable, it is important to understand how male students perceive nursing and clarify factors that influence their decision to choose nursing as a career.

OBJECTIVES

To explore male nursing students' perspectives of the nursing profession and understand why they chose nursing as a career.

METHODS

Participants in this qualitative analysis were 30 male students that were selected using purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data about participants' experiences. We used a qualitative content analysis to guide the data analysis.

RESULTS

Three main themes were identified that described male students' perspectives of and reasons for choosing nursing: (1) perceptions of nurses and nursing profession; (2) individuals as facilitators or role models in choosing the nursing profession; and (3) barriers to choosing the nursing profession.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Our results regarding barriers and facilitators for male students in choosing to study nursing may be useful to help improve the recruitment of and learning opportunities for male nursing students. Highlighting the male presence in the nursing profession and positive male role models may encourage males to enter the profession. Therefore, understanding the experiences of male nursing students in choosing nursing as a career has important implications for nursing practice and education.

Speech–language therapy educator reflections on the planning and implementation of education and training during the COVID-19 pandemic

Background

Universities across the world experienced lockdown and closure of all learning institutions around March 2020 because of the advent of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This lockdown and closure presented challenges to the traditional pedagogical approaches in the health sciences, which typically include both campus-based and clinical site-focused activities involving face-to-face interactions and work integrated learning. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a shift to emergency remote teaching (ERT) and learning.

Objectives

This study aimed to explore speech–language pathology (SLP) educators’ experiences of the planning and implementation of ERT and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Method

A qualitative, descriptive narrative design was adopted to meet the objectives of the study. Seven SLP educators from a single university in South Africa participated in this study by constructing narratives on their experiences. The narratives were analysed using thematic analysis.

Results

Five themes emerged from the data analysis, and these included (1) uncertainty, (2) educator feelings, (3) capacity development, (4) influence of circumstances on teaching, learning and assessment and (5) troubleshooting. Current findings provide insight into the challenges encountered and strategies utilised by educators in planning and implementing ERT and learning.

Conclusion

Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, most educators believe that a hybrid model would address some concerns identified, such as that of missing face-to-face contact, but that it would still allow for the full exploitation of online activities for teaching, learning and assessment required during clinical training.