Interdisciplinary Journal of Virtual Learning in Medical Sciences
Volume:13 Issue: 2, Jun 2022

The fourth industrial revolution or industry 4.0 has brought a variety of technologies to different societies. One of these technologies is the Internet of Things (IoT), primarily conceptualized in engineering fields and then found its way to the field of education. Internet of Everything (IoE) has been discussed in the evolution of the IoT concept. IoE mainly focuses on things, people, processes, and data. This paper aims to investigate different studies from the emergence of IoT concept and its development to IoE based teaching-learning process.

The integrative review was applied as the research method, Web of Science and Scopus databases were directly investigated and 139 articles were finalized as the result of this integrative review.

Findings of this study demonstrated that the teachinglearning process with the focus on IoE could be categorized into logic models, including inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes, and external factors. Based on extracted components, the final model showed that the teaching-learning approach with the focus on IoE is a process that mainly occurs through integration and connection of IoT-based infrastructures, stakeholder’s interactions, teaching and learning activities. Eventually, this has brought personal and general outputs to achieve sustainability, Green IoT, and meeting the needs of industry. Simultaneously with the implementation or application of this system, several challenges can arise in the process, namely Security, Privacy, Financing, Reliable connectivity, and Cloud infrastructure.

Therefore, this model can help policymakers or educators to be aware of the different parts of an IoE-based education system.

Massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course that is open, meaning there are no barriers to entry, and entails no special educational costs or features. Recently, MOOCs have received increasing popularity throughout the world. Regardless of the subject taught and the university providing the course, the dropout rate of MOOCs is one of the most important challenges ahead. The objective of this systematic review is to estimate the global rate of MOOCs dropout and factors affecting this frequency. 

This systematic review will search MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics), Embase (Embase.com), ASSIA, CINAHL, Education Research, BEI, and Eric databases systematically according to predefined criteria without language restrictions to retrieve prospective and retrospective observational studies conducted between the 1st of January 2000 and 30th of December 2021, evaluating the frequency of leaving MOOCs throughout the world. Discordances between the two different authors through the processes of screening, selection, quality assessment, and data extraction will be settled via discussion and if the issue cannot be resolved, a third expert advice will be requested. For all studies, forest plots will be shown to represent the separate and pooled frequency along with their 95% confidence intervals. To examine statistical heterogeneity, the Q-statistic test and the I2statistic will be utilized. To investigate potential reporting bias and non-significant study effects, funnel plots will be employed. Tests, such as Begg’s and Egger’s will also be carried out. The time trends for MOOCs dropout rate will be calculated using a cumulative meta-analysis. 

As dropout rate is one of the most challenges that universities may encounter, this systematic review will help universities extend their view, save their resources, or maybe design their MOOCs differently. This protocol is registered in Open Science Framework (OSF), available at: https://osf.io/jgyqx/

Healthcare workers are frequently too preoccupiedwith their jobs to attend regular educational sessions. E-learning isone of the most effective ways to empower healthcare workers andbetter utilize their skills. In the present study, we aimed to measurethe correlation between the attitude toward E-learning and teachingeffectiveness through self-assessment after the E-learning coursesfor healthcare staff. In this cross-sectional study, all the healthcare staff workingin Bushehr urban healthcare center, Bushehr, Iran, were enrolled viathe census sampling method from April to June 2019 (n=219). Thetopics covered in the E-learning courses were poisoning, introductionto the pre-hospital management system, occupational risks, infectioncontrol, and psychological wellbeing. We used the Attitude towardE-learning questionnaire, consisting of 20 questions, in addition toSelf-assessment of Teaching Effectiveness questionnaire, comprising35 questions. SPSS software version 21 was utilized for data analysis. Overall, 102 (46.6%) men and 117 (53.4%) women wereenrolled in the study. The total mean score of the attitude towardE-learning on-the-job courses was 62.86±6.14 and the total meanscore of self-assessment of teaching effectiveness was 115.4±26.75.According to the obtained results, there was a weak, positive,significant correlation between these two scores (r=0.20, P=0.003).The mean score of the attitude toward E-learning on-the-job courseswas significantly lower in the high-educated staff in comparisonwith that in the other staff (P<0.001). We observed a higher score for attitude towardE-learning on-the-job courses among the health care staff comparedwith the score of self-assessment of teaching effectiveness. In orderto create a positive attitude in employees about virtual courses,policymaking can contribute to increasing the effectiveness of thosecourses and improving employee performance.

The spread of coronavirus in Iran, caused virtual education in cyberspace to replace face-to-face education. On the other hand, one of the main tasks of teachers in the process of virtual education is to share management information and selfmanagement. Therefore, the present study aimed to explore the lived experiences of Shiraz (public) elementary school teachers of self-management in cyberspace.  In this qualitative study, Husserl’s phenomenological method was used. Participants in the study were 17 teachers with teaching experience in the central and suburbs of Shiraz. They were selected by purposive sampling and criterion sampling approaches The data was collected by a semi-structured interview. To measure the initial validity of the data, the credibility criteria (the triangulation method was used and tried to collect sufficient data from different resources to create believability) and reliability (this criterion is referred to the stability of results at different times and conditions and is equivalent to reliability in quantitative research) was used. After encoding the data, the thematic analysis method was used to form a network of self-management themes in cyberspace.  Results classified as follows: The organizing themes were: 1) self-management skills related to students’ challenges (student participation in e-learning, encourage unmotivated students in cyberspace, etc.) 2) Self-management skills about the challenges of colleagues (formation of virtual groups between colleagues for co-thinking between teachers, content production by consulting colleagues with each other, etc.) 3) Self-management skills about management challenges (online planning to set the timing of online teaching, managing student attendance in the online classroom for students who did not attend online class, etc.) 4) Self-management skills were divided about educational challenges (producing attractive content to prevent students ‘cyberspace boredom, online student evaluation, etc.)  An exploratory model was formed in a global theme called teacher self-management in cyberspace.

Given the dramatic expansion of e-learning in the world and also its increasing use in Iranian universities and considering the fundamental role of students in educational systems, it is necessary to further study the structure of their knowledge and attitude in using e-learning method. The present study was designed to determine the level of satisfaction with virtual education among the students of Larestan University of Medical Sciences in 2021. The present study is a survey conducted in 2021 on students at Larestan University of Medical Sciences. The sample size was 132 people. Available (convenient) sampling method was used for sampling. A researcher-made questionnaire (Content Validity Ratio=0.99, Cronbach’s alpha reliability=0.82) was used to collect data on the students’ satisfaction with virtual learning. SPSS software version 25 and independent t-test and one-way analysis of variance were used for statistical analysis. Out of 132 students participating in the present study, 88 (67.70%) were girls. The only correlation was between the students’ semester and the total satisfaction score, where the higher the student’s semester, the lower their satisfaction was (P=0.002). The overall mean score of satisfaction with virtual learning was 3.02±0.84. In general, due to the significant expansion of virtual education around the world, despite the short life of those efforts to improve the facilities and infrastructure of hardware and network ,paying attention to the diversity and appeal of training using diverse solutions, providing appropriate content based on the results of needs assessments, and more interactions between professors and students can lead to the development of this type of education and maximize student satisfaction.

Today, e-learning has become one of the basic components of education process, especially in higher education. Institutions and universities employ e-learning extensively in their educational operations. In light of this, the goal of the current research was to determine the advantages, disadvantages, possibilities, and dangers associated with e-learning in the Iranian higher education system. The present research is applied in terms of purpose and with a qualitatively exploratory approach. The participants of present study were experts in the field of e-learning in public universities of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology in 2021.Using purposive sampling and snowball sampling methods, 16 e-learning experts were selected as the participants. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data and thematic analysis was employed to analyze the obtained data.  After analyzing the obtained data from the interview, the total number of 116 free codes were extracted from interviews content was 116 codes, which were classified in 18 concepts and finally were identified strengths (Use of office automation in universities, Establishment of information and communication technology centers in universities, Development of e-learning in universities, Familiarity of faculty members and students with virtual environments, The place of e-learning in upstream documents and university perspectives), weaknesses (Lack of proper infrastructure, equipment and facilities for e-learning, Lack of specialized manpower, Lack of formal regulations for e-learning in the field of higher education, Insufficient knowledge about e-learning), threats (Threats related to cost, facilities and time, Management threats, Threats to change the nature of the university, Threats related to interactions) and training opportunities (Increas access to e-learning, Expanding international and intercultural interactions, Environmental benefits, Providing economic opportunities , Development of educational justice) of e-learning in Iranian higher education system.  Considering the research findings, to develop educational justice and the possibility of more population access to the University of the Student community, reviewing existing approaches and educational methods and using e-learning as a new educational strategy for higher education system are necessary

The experimentation of skills’ development and measurement tools for clinical innovation is presented in two case -studies concerning telemedicine and HCV eradication. 71 professionals from 5 Healthcare Units of Lazio region, Italy, were enrolled in an individual and team coaching course aimed at enhancing a core skill for “service design “competence, composed by 5 soft skills (communication, result orientation, emotional intelligence, conflict management, networking). The core skill “service design” and the use of the new techniques were measured at the beginning and at the end of the course (9 months), on which the Covid-19 emergency had an impact. The 19.4% of professionals improved all the 5 skills and reached the threshold of excellence, demonstrating the effectiveness of individual and team coaching, mentoring, experiential training, according to an objectively measurable structure and achieving the 65% of the system target in a 6 months’ time, with 90 hours’ person -days allocated.

Educational technology and innovations as well as creative approaches to teaching, learning, and training have become increasingly integral to the delivery of medical education. Arguably, the COVID-19-related challenges of the years 2020-2022 would mark a watershed point in terms of the integration of digital technology and innovations into education, especially medical education. This article presents an operational matrix, aligned with learning in the primary domains, namely cognitive, psychomotor, and effective domains, to support the medical education-associated technology and innovations. It is therefore named the ASIC-CPA operational matrix or the alternative ASIC Framework operational matrix relative to the originally developed and published matrix. Accordingly, the ASIC Framework has been developed, as a foremost instrument to ensure the adaptation, standardisation, and integration of technology in compliant ways. An operational tool or matrix is conducive to ensuring that this ASIC Framework could be used in the most beneficial ways. This article presents an operational matrix that has been developed with emphasis on how EdTech and innovations influence learning in the domains of knowledge or the cognitive, skill-related, or psychomotor and attitude or the affective. Utilizing this tool, technology operators can specifically align their use of educational technology and innovations with learning in these basic domains.