The Effect of Synchronous Discussion Sessions in an Asynchronous Course

Teachers’ CALL professional development in synchronous, asynchronous, and bichronous online learning through project-oriented tasks: developing CALL pedagogical knowledge

The popularity of online education has prompted computer-assisted language learning (CALL) teachers to attend online teacher professional development (OTPD) courses. Online education has necessitated a deeper look into online delivery in professional development courses. Hence, an exploratory qualitative case study was conducted to investigate how synchronous, asynchronous, or the blend of both, called bichronous online learning, could develop teachers’ CALL pedagogical knowledge through project-oriented tasks. In light of data from technology-review projects and discussions, it was revealed that bichronous online learning benefited teachers significantly in acquiring CALL pedagogical knowledge, specifically in selecting, developing, and evaluating CALL materials. Bichronous online learning incorporates the best affordances of synchronous and asynchronous modalities. The findings showed that synchronous and asynchronous modalities complement each other and should not be substituted for each other. This study could be considered a contribution on account of informing the community of inquiry about the pedagogical affordances of bichronous online learning and proving that bichronous online learning is an ideal learning setting to aid CALL teacher education programs.

Impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown on study satisfaction and burnout in medical students in Split, Croatia: a cross-sectional presurvey and postsurvey

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the impact of the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 on the burnout and study satisfaction of medical students.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study with a presurvey and postsurvey.

SETTING

University of Split School of Medicine (USSM), Split, Croatia. The lockdown in the COVID-19 pandemic lasted from late March to mid-May 2020. There was a full switch to e-learning at the USSM during this period, and all clinical teaching was stopped.

PARTICIPANTS

Students enrolled in the 2019/2020 academic year. Data were collected before lockdown in December 2019 and January 2020 and again after the end of lockdown in June 2020.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES

Study satisfaction was assessed using the study satisfaction survey. Burnout was assessed using two instruments: Oldenburg Burnout Inventory and Copenhagen Burnout Inventory. We used Bayesian statistics to compare before-and-after differences.

RESULTS

437 independent responses (77.2% response rate) were collected before and 235 after lockdown (41.5% response rate). 160 participant responses were eligible for pairing. There was no significant difference for both paired and unpaired participants in study satisfaction before (3.38 on a 1-5 scale; 95% credible interval (95% CrI) 3.32 to 3.44) and after (3.49, 95% CrI 3.41 to 3.57) lockdown. We found no evidence (Bayes factor (BF10) >3.00 as a cut-off value) for an increase in the level of burnout before and after lockdown, both in independent and paired samples.

CONCLUSIONS

It seems that the first pandemic-related lockdown and a switch to e-learning did not affect burnout levels among medical students or their perception of their study programme. More insight is needed on the short-term and long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical students and their education. Well-structured longitudinal studies on medical student burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic are needed.