Medical Student Video Use and Summative Exam Performance during the First-Year Pre-Clinical Coursework and Implications in Distance Education

ABSTRACT

Medical student use of lecture video (live-streaming and/or recorded) at a regional medical school campus that utilized distance educational technology to deliver first-year pre-clinical lecture content, was examined. Additionally, medical student video lecture use was compared to student performance on summative exams and final course grades. All learners achieved desired scientific competencies across all courses irrespective of their use of live-streamed or recorded video formats. Throughout the course of the year, medical student video use partitioned into one of two groups: students that only watched lecture in live-streaming format, and those that watched lecture only in recorded format. Interestingly, those medical students that predominantly preferred view lectures using the live-streaming format tended to achieve better summative test scores and final course grades compared to their peers that primarily utilized recorded video to obtain lecture content. Retrospectively, dimensions of personality scores were compared between the two groups (live-streaming viewers versus recorded viewers), and, of the five dimensions of personality, only the domain of conscientiousness differed between the two groups. This study suggests that, while medical students reached academic milestones utilizing either recorded or live-streamed video for obtaining lecture content during their first-year pre-clinical courses, there may be factors of learner personality influencing video use preference which in turn enhances student performance on summative exams and final course grades. These findings may have implications in curriculum design for other distance educational formats emphasizing classical scientific competencies in post-undergraduate study that rely on video delivery of lecture content.     

Reading Standards in Aberdeen 1962‐72

The 1962 reading survey in Aberdeen was repeated in 1972, with 99 per cent coverage of year‐groups (over 2,500) of 8‐year old and 11‐year‐old pupils: Reading comprehension tests used were NFER Sentence Reading Test AD and Test NS6. The 1972 averages on these tests were within one point of score of the 1962 averages: at age eight, the average was slightly but not significantly higher in 1972; at age 11, it was slightly and significantly lower. The children whose fathers were in semi‐skilled or unskilled jobs showed a particularly sharp decline in average performance over the ten‐year interval, whereas the standard of performance had improved or been maintained among children from professional homes.     

Proposal for national targets in the framework of the European reduction goal for early school leaving

According to the European Commission’s “Europe 2020” strategy, the early school leaving (ESL) rate in European Union (EU) Member States must be reduced to a maximum of 10 per cent by 2020. This paper proposes a nonlinear distribution method based on dynamic targets for reducing the percentage of early school leavers. The aim of this method is to provide policymakers with alternatives in terms of transferring the EU-wide headline target to individual national targets. Weighting was based on four indicators: ESL rate, unemployment rate, expenditure on education as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP), and expenditure on schools per student. As a result, nine possible scenarios for ESL reduction have been constructed for each of the EU Member States in three groups: the whole EU up to June 2013 (EU27), EU Member States which joined before 30 April 2004 (EU15) and EU Member States which joined after 30 April 2004 (EU12). This method allows the European policy to be translated into specific national targets that would converge in the aggregate goal.     

In and of the City: Theory of Action and the NYU Partnership School Program

This article explores the theory of action underlying New York University's (NYU's) Partnership Schools Program—explaining in the process what a theory of action is, and how it can be constructed for other innovations in other contexts. NYU's Partnership Program involves 23 schools, K-12, spanning several of New York City's most economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. It operates on the basis of what the authors call “mutual self-interest” and exploits what they call “complementarity.” The authors illuminate the program's original as well as its evolving intentions, and the environmental conditions necessary to enact them and to sustain the program over a decade. They also describe the program's core design elements, with a view to how these may be replicated elsewhere. Finally, they look closely at the Partnership's theory of action in action, employing action research data to portray a meeting where professors and teachers discuss the teacher education residency experiment they have collaboratively launched.     

A Cognitive Approach to the Development of Early Language

A controversial issue in the field of language development is whether language emergence and growth is dependent solely on processes specifically tied to language or could also depend on basic cognitive processes that affect all aspects of cognitive competence (domain-general processes). The present article examines this issue using a large battery of infant information-processing measures of memory, representational competence, processing speed, and attention, many of which have been shown to predict general cognition in a cohort of full-terms and preterms. Results showed that various aspects of infant memory and representational competence (a) related to language at both 12 and 36 months, (b) predicted similarly for the two groups, and (c) predicted 36-month language, independently of birth status, 12-month language, and the 12-month Bayley Mental Development Index. Additionally, the results established predictive validity for the MacArthur 12-month language measure. These findings support a domain-general view of language.     

Fatigue does not conjointly alter postural and cognitive performance when standing in a shooting position under dual-task conditions

This study investigated the effects of fatigue on balance control and cognitive performance in a standing shooting position. Nineteen soldiers were asked to stand while holding a rifle (single task – ST). They also had to perform this postural task while simultaneously completing a cognitive task (dual task – DT). Both the ST and DT were performed in pre- and post-fatigue conditions. In pre-fatigue, participants achieved better balance control in the DT than in the ST, thus suggesting that the increased cognitive activity associated with the DT improves balance control by shifting the attentional focus away from a highly automatised activity. In post-fatigue, balance control was degraded in both the ST and DT, while reaction time was enhanced in the first minutes following the fatiguing exercise without affecting the accuracy of response in the cognitive task, which highlights the relative independent effects of fatigue on balance control and cognitive performance.     

Bridging professional teacher knowledge for science and literary integration via design-based research

We offer insights for using design-based research (DBR) as a model for constructing professional development that supports curriculum and instructional knowledge regarding science and literacy integration. We spotlight experiences in the DBR process from data collected from a sample of four elementary teachers. Findings from interviews, focus groups and researcher field notes elucidated: the value in establishing a collaborative foundation for professional discourse, the teacher participants developing nascent knowledge of curricular integration in science and literacy, and their apprehensions about using digital technology to support their professional development. Implications are presented for professional development facilitators and researchers using DBR as an innovative approach for teacher development.     

服务创新与网络:全球学习与本土学习的模式

从第三、第四欧共体创新调查(CIS-3、CIS-4)的实证结果,可得出以下结论:在创新过程中,服务企业一般比制造企业有更高的合作倾向,尤其是商业和金融中介服务行业.数据还揭示了这样一个重要趋势:商业服务企业比其他服务企业更倾向于合作.国际创新合作的趋势也表明不同的行业和不同国家中的情况也不一样.本文探索了不同区域的服务创新的相互影响,确定创新过程中全球及本土合作联系的部门性模式.全球互动在一些服务行业的创新过程中发挥着日益重要的作用,这些服务行业在知识的跨国传播中也发挥了作用.这个全球性的学习过程与这些服务活动市场的国际化有关.同时,实证结果表明地区/国家间的合作对多数服务活动实际上是非常重要的.     

A Sport Education Fitness Season’s Impact on Students’ Fitness Levels,Knowledge, and In-Class Physical Activity

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a sport education season of fitness could provide students with recommended levels of in-class moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) while also increasing students’ fitness knowledge and fitness achievement. Method: One hundred and sixty-six 5th-grade students (76 boys, 90 girls) participated in a 20-lesson season called “CrossFit Challenge” during a 4-week period. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run, push-ups, and curl-ups tests of the FITNESSGRAM® were used to assess fitness at pretest and posttest, while fitness knowledge was assessed through a validated, grade-appropriate test of health-related fitness knowledge (HRF). Physical activity was measured with Actigraph GT3X triaxial accelerometers. Results: Results indicated a significant time effect for all fitness tests and the knowledge test. Across the entire season, the students spent an average of 54.5% of lesson time engaged in MVPA, irrespective of the type of lesson (instruction, free practice, or competition). Conclusions: The results suggest that configuring the key principles of sport education within a unit of fitness is an efficient model for providing students with the opportunity to improve fitness skill and HRF knowledge while attaining recommended levels of MVPA.