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Qualitative research and mixed methods are core competencies for epidemiologists. In response to the shortage of guidance on graduate course development, we wrote a course development guide aimed at faculty and students designing similar courses in epidemiology curricula. The guide combines established educational theory with faculty and student experiences from a recent introductory course for epidemiology and biostatistics doctoral students at the University of Zurich and Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich. We propose a student-centred course with inverse classroom teaching and practice exercises with faculty input. Integration of student input during the course development process helps align the course syllabus with student needs. The proposed course comprises six sessions that cover learning outcomes in comprehension, knowledge, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. Following an introductory session, the students engage in face-to-face interviews, focus group interviews, observational methods, analysis and how qualitative and quantitative methods are integrated in mixed methods. Furthermore, the course covers interviewer safety, research ethics, quality in qualitative research and a practice session focused on the use of interview hardware, including video and audio recorders. The student-led teaching characteristic of the course allows for an immersive and reflective teaching-learning environment. After implementation of the course and learning from faculty and student perspectives, we propose these additional foci: a student project to apply learned knowledge to a case study; integration in mixed-methods; and providing faculty a larger space to cover theory and field anecdotes., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association.)

Background: Our instructional team at the The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led an innovative project that used IDEO.org's design thinking process to create a brand-new interdisciplinary graduate course, housed in the school of public health, titled Design Thinking for the Public Good . We offer our course design process as a case study of the use of design thinking for course design. Methods: We collected data and generated insights through a variety of inspiration, ideation, and implementation design thinking methods alongside members of our three stakeholder groups: (1) faculty who teach or have taught courses related to design thinking at our higher education institution; (2) design thinking experts at ours and other institutions and outside of higher education; and (3) graduate students at our institution. Results: We learned that interdisciplinary design thinking courses should include growth-oriented reflection, explicit group work skills, and content with a real-world application. Conclusions: Our course design process and findings can be replicated to design courses regardless of area of study, level, or format., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Skywark, Chen and Jagannathan.)

A critical aspect of evaluator education and professional learning is to educate evaluators who know the major evaluation models and learn how to manage relationships and solve complex problems when conducting, critiquing, developing and interpreting evaluations. The American and Australian Evaluation Associations have specified desired evaluator competencies, although developing a core curriculum for evaluation still seems elusive. It is suggested that these various competencies can be considered in terms of their levels of cognitive complexity. A model of cognitive complexity is utilised to explore the tasks and thinking of evaluators, leading to an important distinction between 'knowing that' and 'knowing how' in relation to evaluation tasks. As an illustration of this posited relationship, the Australian 'Evaluators Professional Learning Competencies' were coded according to their cognitive complexity. Two-thirds of these competencies were classed as 'knowing that' or surface thinking, and one third were classified as 'knowing how' or deeper thinking. A taxonomy is offered as a method to understand models of learning necessary for evaluator education and training, as well as for further development of professional evaluator competencies., (Crown Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The Master Plan for Medical Studies 2020 places additional emphasis on curricular development processes. In addition, institutes may recognize a need to optimize their courses, for example because of poor evaluations. Frequently, however, the resources required for comprehensive optimizations are not available. In the present study, we aimed to use the example of a biochemistry seminar that takes place in the preclinical part of the medical degree at Ulm University Medical School to show how a course can be successfully optimized in small steps and evaluation results can be used for quality assurance. Methods: Similar to a continuous improvement process (CIP), over the course of five years a biochemistry seminar was gradually optimized in three steps. This process used structural, methodological, and content components, such as vertical integration, the inverted classroom method, and competence orientation. For quality assurance, we analyzed the official, standardized evaluation sheets from a total of n=1248 students. We evaluated the optimization process on the basis of responses to evaluation statements that were arranged into categories such as "organization, structure, implementation" and "quality of teaching," free text information, and the results of a pilot study conducted in parallel. We then determined the usefulness of the students' evaluation results for evaluating the optimization process. Results: Each developmental step resulted in a significantly more positive overall evaluation of the seminar by the students. This result was independent of whether the development was on a structural or methodological/content-related level. In addition, the evaluations of the categories that were optimized were significantly better. For example, the vertical integration and introduction of the inverted classroom method were accompanied by a better evaluation of the "quality of teaching" and a change in the structure led to a higher score in the category "organization, structure, implementation." A comparison with the free text evaluation sheets and the results of the pilot study supports the results. Conclusion: Although optimization of a curriculum or course is a major task, it can also be successfully completed in small steps. With this approach, new learning goals, for example as required in the Master Plan for Medical Studies 2020, can be continuously integrated and student satisfaction with a course can be increased. Student evaluation results can represent a kind of quality assurance in this process and can provide important impulses for optimization., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests., (Copyright © 2019 Schneider et al.)

Background: Clubfoot is a common congenital musculoskeletal disorder that causes mobility impairment. There is a lack of trained mid-level personnel to provide clubfoot treatment in Africa and there is no standard training course. This prospective study describes the collaborative and participatory approach to the development of a training course for the treatment of clubfoot in children in resource constrained settings., Methods: We used a systems approach to evaluate the development of the training course. Inputs: The research strategy included a review of context and available training materials, and the collection of data on current training practices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven expert clubfoot trainers. A survey of 32 international and regional trainers was undertaken to inform practical issues. The data were used to develop a framework for training with advice from two technical groups, consisting of regional and international stakeholders and experts., Process: A consensus approach was undertaken during workshops, meetings and the sharing of documents. The design process for the training materials took twenty-four months and was iterative. The training materials were piloted nine times between September 2015 and February 2017. Processes and materials were reviewed and adapted according to feedback after each pilot., Results: Fifty-one regional trainers from Africa (18 countries), 21 international experts (11 countries), 113 local providers of clubfoot treatment (Ethiopia, Rwanda and Kenya) and local organising teams were involved in developing the curriculum and pilot testing. The diversity of the two technical advisory groups allowed a wide range of contributions to the collaboration. Output: The resulting curriculum and content comprised a two day basic training and a two day advanced course. The basic course utilised adult learning techniques for training novice providers in the treatment of idiopathic clubfoot in children under two years old. The advanced course builds on these principles., Conclusion: Formative research that included mixed methods (both qualitative and quantitative) was important in the development of an appropriate training course. The process documentation from this study provides useful information to assist planning of medical training programmes and may serve as a model for the development of other courses.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields play a critical role in the advancement of society and are expected to grow rapidly in the coming years. This study examines the development of a STEM education course and its impact on teachers' self-efficacy and course experiences. The study involves a mixed-methods approach, using survey and course assignment results gathered from 52 mathematics master's degree candidates who took an online STEM education course. Teachers' self-efficacy, STEM knowledge, reflections from reading materials, and lesson plans were quantitatively analyzed while content analyses was employed for the teachers' opinions on the role of each STEM subject and overall course evaluation. Results showed a significant increase in teachers' self-efficacy in teaching STEM subjects after completing the course. Additionally, teachers reported positive experiences related to course content, activities, and assignments. The study provides insights into the design and implementation of effective STEM courses and provides practical implications for designing operative STEM courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the health effects of climate change, leaders in healthcare have called for action to integrate climate adaptation and mitigation into training programs for health professionals. However, current educators may not possess sufficient climate literacy and the expertise to effectively include such content in their respective healthcare curricula. We, an international and interprofessional partnership, collaborated with experts to develop and deploy curriculum to increase health educators’ and graduate health profession students’ knowledge and competencies on climate change. In a tri-step process, the first phase included recruiting interested faculty members from two institutions and varying health professions. In phase two, faculty members collaborated to develop a faculty symposium on climate change including educational competencies required of health professions, practice standards, guidelines, and profession-specific content. Symposium outcomes included broader faculty member interest and commitment to create an interprofessional climate change course for healthcare graduate students. In phase three, course development resulted from collaboration between faculty members at the two institutions and faculty members from the Global Consortium on Climate and Health Education (GCCHE), with course objectives informed by GCCHE competencies. Climate experts and faculty members delivered the course content over a 10-week period to 30 faculty members and students representing seven health professions, who were surveyed (n = 13) for feedback. This course can serve as an example for international collaborators interested in developing climate change courses for health profession students. Lessons learned in this process include: climate change novice faculty members can develop impactful climate change courses; students and faculty members can be co-learners; diverse representation in course attendees enriches the learning experience; and collaboration is key.

Curriculum ideological & political education is to "foster virtue through education", that is, in the spirit of "ten years of nurturing a tree while a hundred years of training a man", to play an effective synergistic role in fostering students' virtue throughout their whole process of study. In this paper, we share our pedagogical view of course development for ideological & political education via sorting out new education and cultivation objectives, new teaching schemes and new design of example cases in the course of "General chemistry (H)" at Zhejiang University. Also, we share our experience by relying on the teachers as the main executors, the course development as the basic approach and the classroom as the primary location for effectively practicing ideological & political education along with integrating cultivation of chemistry subject knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay addresses a nursing discipline- specific approach to teaching a course about lifespan growth and development. This course may be a requirement for the baccalaureate degree in nursing, offered as a pre-requisite to the nursing major or relevant content may be integrated into clinical courses. Noteworthy is that the content for the course frequently is drawn from the field of developmental psychology. In this essay, I offer a nursing-discipline specific approach guided by Meleis' transitions framework and the Roper-Logan-Tierney model of nursing based on activities of daily living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of Big Data and related applications and technologies have largely changed the process and practice of the accounting, and led to essential changes in the construction and teaching contents and practice of the undergraduate accounting curriculums. In response to the changes and practical needs in accounting education, in this paper we propose the rationale and procedures of integrating data analytics into the undergraduate accounting curriculum. Based on the extensive literature review of Big Data and data analytics processes, techniques, and technologies, we discuss key strategies, procedures, contents, and specific pedagogies for the integration of data analytics into the undergraduate accounting classroom. Following the data analytic implementation framework of Dzuranin et al. (2018), we introduce our teaching practice in a large public university in the U.S.A. and exemplify the integrative process and activities of incorporating data analytics topics into the existing accounting curriculums in a large public university in the U.S.A. This paper shall contribute to the teaching practice and pedagogies in integrating data analytics into the undergraduate accounting curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several subjects, including antenna engineering in a communication engineering program, is a math- intensive subject where most students say that it is difficult to understand and visualize. Students are unable to relate theoretical knowledge to real world applications. To overcome this issue, we proposed to motivate students' curiosity using fun and interesting ways of teaching based on real cases in the community. In an antenna engineering course, there are folklores that performance of an antenna can be improved by attaching items such as basins to the antenna or using everyday objects as an antenna. Theoretical explanations have not been developed yet. In this research, we aim to propose the idea of using folklores as a case-based learning (CBL) exercise. Based on the process of CBL, a 15-week course plan starts with establishing the case in the first week, followed by weeks of theoretical study, lectures and group discussions. Group discussions on the case are established on the 5th and the 10th weeks to share the problems and the new findings. The results of the study are presented in the 15th week. Impressively, the pre- evaluating result shows that 97.5% of students who never attend an antenna engineering class were interested in joining the challenge. The proposed idea will be applied in an antenna engineering course for 4th year students in communication engineering, at the University of Phayao, in the first semester of the 2017 academic year in August 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper chronicles the experience of academic staff in developing a course to enhance the critical thinking skills of environmental management undergraduates. We outline our considerations and process for course development, discuss insights from course evaluations, and reflect on the challenges encountered. We believe these perspectives will be useful for others who are developing critical thinking skills curricula, especially first year courses. Aspects of the course design which were considered particularly effective were the use of scaffolded assessment, the application of threshold concepts, and well-structured collaborative learning activities paired with quality tutors. The key learning for the authors from the evaluation of the course was that while the tools and strategies developed were very useful, interweaving these tools into year 2 and 3 courses would help students see the ongoing value of critical thinking in their work. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes a framework for development of e-learning system for computer programming. The proposed framework includes not only the necessary course materials and the corresponding tests and exercises, but also offers an integrated environment to test written programming codes. The described approach corresponds to recent trend in distance education by providing massive open online course for unlimited participation and accessible through the Internet. The modern capabilities of ICT and database are integrated to support the learning process in a user friendly environment. The functionality of the e-learning framework is composed of five basic modules for learning content, testing, exercises, questions and answers, and help module. The described framework is implemented in developed e-learning system for C programming language. The e-learning system was tested in real educational environment and was very well accepted both of students and teachers. The preliminary results show applicability of the system leading to improvement in the acquired knowledge and C programming skills. This was confirmed by decreasing the number of students failed on the C programming exam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As traditional publishing becomes more digitized, the responsibilities of its professionals become increasingly distributed. This is especially true in situations where copy editors are required to work within a mark-up (increasingly XML) paradigm. In developing our curriculum, we have shaped our teaching of editorial practice to consistently reinforce the underlying structure of a publication, as inferred from the technology and practices of a production department. As such, the philosophy of creating a publication from an informed structural perspective has become one of our key driving concepts reinforced over the course of several modules in our degree and continuing professional development programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes an innovative elective nursing course developed and implemented in a private, liberal arts school of nursing grounded in Dominican values of study, reflection, and action. Course development, course content, and highlights and lowlights of the first cohort experience and implications for the community are discussed, along with background about veteran-centered care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet Based learning is an emerging concept in distanced education now-a-days. Quality Benchmarks were also equally important to consider. The study was aimed to investigate the impact of flexibility in internet based distance education on quality benchmarks. A self-administered 7 point likert scale questionnaire was adopted for primary data collection. Virtual University of Pakistan has been chosen as target organization under judgmental sampling technique. 205 faculty members of Virtual University of Pakistan recorded their responses. Correlation and regression analysis was run in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) 19.0 for data analysis. Findings proved that flexibility has positive impact on quality benchmarks. Data shows that flexibility explains 18.9% variation in quality benchmarks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past few years have been characterized by a proliferation of hybrid courses in many educational settings. Hybrid learning is designed to integrate the best features of face-to-face learning with technology-based online learning management systems (LMS). The blending of traditional and distance deliveries is gaining momentum at many institutions of higher education. As faculty are increasingly encouraged to develop hybrid courses, the need for defined policies is becoming evident. Currently there is no clear benchmark for such policies and there are few guidelines as to how to compartmentalize and "sell" a hybrid course. Is it an online course enhanced with face-toface gatherings or primarily a campus-centered course with technological tools incorporated? This study examines and compares how two universities of similar size have developed their hybrid programs. Both have strong traditions in face-to-face and distance delivery. Each has taken a different approach to incorporating hybrid courses with other course offerings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies and analyses some of the challenges that arose in a development process of changing from a content-based teaching environment to a student-centred environment in an undergraduate physics course for medicine and biology students at Universidad de los Andes. Through the use of the Critical Research model proposed by Skovsmose and Borba, the development process was formed as a close cooperation between academics and researchers in both the construction of pedagogical changes and the responses to particular educational problems during the process. The analyses of the development process highlight a number of difficulties in relation to the introduction of specific student-centred approaches in relation to both the structure of the course and the conception of the content of the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper reports on part of an ongoing research project in England concerning the Nature of Science (NOS). The particular focus is on the initial thinking of the graduate scientists starting a one-year, Postgraduate Certificate of Education (PGCE) course and the way the course approaches adopted influence their views and understanding of NOS and their teaching. The research is set against a wealth of literature indicating that teachers find it difficult to teach curricula that emphasise NOS. Thus a key impetus for research in this area has been to look for ways that beginning teachers might be better prepared to face such challenges. Sample The paper draws on data from three cohorts of secondary PGCE students in a university–schools partnership, involving a total of 169 students. Design and method The research lies within a design research tradition. It has used mixed methods, involving written tasks, interviews and focus groups, with an iterative approach where the outcomes from one cohort have been used to inform course developments in successive years. Results The results from these cohorts suggest that, while the students starting the course have a less restricted view of NOS than indicated by some other studies, in most cases there is a lack of breadth and depth to their understanding. There is some evidence that the use of specific tasks focusing on NOS in university-based sessions may be helping to develop and deepen understanding. However, the impact of current approaches remains fairly limited and attempts to develop teaching practices often face considerable barriers in the school-based practicum. Conclusions Graduate science students’ understanding of NOS as they embark on the PGCE is not highly developed. Hence, the emphasis on aspects of NOS in the school curriculum presents a considerable challenge. This study suggests that there is a need to both further develop an explicit focus on NOS in university-based sessions and to develop closer relationships between schools and university faculty in seeking to support developments in classroom practice in this difficult area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since public concerns about the environmental issues have increased, several universities all over the world have been establishing environmental engineering programs. Environmental engineering programs in Iran at graduate level have been developed since 1990. At the present time, there are ten universities are presenting environmental engineering programs at graduate levels. The environmental engineering education systems of almost all Iran universities are quite traditional. As the environmental engineering problems have become very diverse and complex, it is necessary to define the new scope of environmental engineering, especially in developing countries, to cope with environmental problems and sustainable development concerns. Therefore, the Environmental Engineering programs of Iran Universities must be modified in the near future. For example several courses such as "Green Chemistry", "Energy Management", "Environmental Law", "Environmental Economics" and 'Environmental Ethics and Philosophy", "Environmental Sociology" and "Sustainable development" are suggested to add to the curriculum of the all environmental engineering programs in Iran. The aim of this paper is to explain the present situation and challenges of environmental engineering education in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many presentations on curriculum tend to focus upon the best practices. This article is not one of those. Instead this article is a collection of the pitfalls to avoid when building a computer security course, program, or degree. The intent is not to hope that programs fail but to give educators some guidance on the pitfalls to avoid when building computer security programs. This article results from more than seven years of managing, traveling, and lecturing on computer security program development issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing a course for online instruction requires content knowledge and understanding of the interactivity, technological requirements, and possibilities in the asynchronous environment. Using a case study method, the researchers investigated the development of an online humanities course by a team of faculty and instructional designers. Data were collected through observation of face-to-face planning meetings, document analysis of group postings at the online site, and interviews with the team members. Using Berge’s typology of online facilitator roles and Stark and Luttuca’s framework on academic plans, this study examined the roles assumed by team members and the curricular decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A synchronous cooperation model between institutes of higher learning for course development was implemented at the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) and at the Far East College (FEC) in Taiwan. Synchronous computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) tools such as videoconferencing, application sharing, electronic whiteboard, and file transfer, through hybrid ISDN/Internet network services, were adopted for communication, coordination, and sharing of knowledge and equipment in two joint engineering laboratory course: ‘Remote collaborative reverse engineering’, based at the FEC, and ‘Computer-integrated manufacturing’, based at the NCKU. The major teaching objective of both courses was to present examples of complete industrial processes, rather than to demonstrate the hardware and software used to support the presentation between the two institutions. These industrial examples were presented synchronously and interactively to students at both the FEC and the NCKU to illustrate the importance of knowledge sharing and device integration with diverse synchronous CSCW methods. The industrial processes related to mold design and the forging of a metal part. The framework of the layered, synchronous, collaborative course presentation described in this paper also applies to the collaborative course development model, which has advantages over conventional engineering laboratory courses. The adoption of this model will relieve the cost of investment in teaching resources and equipment, as these may thereby be shared between institutions. The model has proved both feasible and extensible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

MIS curricula in business schools are challenged to provide MIS courses that give students a strong practical understanding of the basic technologies, while also providing enough hands-on experience to solve real life problems. As an experimental capstone MIS course, the authors developed a cluster-computing project to expose business students to the technologies of distributed computing, parallel computing, networking, securing networked environments and designing an application for distributed computing. Building such a cluster requires the integration and application of concepts including operating systems, networking, parallel computing, and computer architecture, making it an excellent subject for a capstone project. This paper describes the author's experience in developing a cluster-computing course, the use of a cluster-computing project to integrate the knowledge of various MIS courses and, a blueprint of the authors' recommendations to other faculty interested in developing a cluster-computing course. Building a Beowulf cluster was a rewarding project for a capstone course in which students learned many MIS and project management concepts. Based on the authors' experiences, building a Beowulf cluster as a senior project for a capstone course is highly recommended. Students reported that this course enhanced their understanding of operating systems, networking, security, and parallel computing concepts. The purpose of this paper is to share the experiences of cluster computer implementation in a business curriculum and how cluster computing capstone course could be used for integrating MIS concepts and provide strong hands on experience. The theoretical and technical challenges make it an absorbing and rewarding capstone project for an undergraduate education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]