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The aim of this study was to develop an electronic performance support system (EPSS) to improve students' performance in the topic of scientific research methods. A review of the literature shows that EPSSs are usually developed using advanced programming technologies. This limits the widespread use of EPSS for educators and researchers. In this study, a mid-level EPSS was developed by integrating Moodle to a static (non-interactive) educational system, without using advanced programming. The study was designed and carried out using the developmental research method. Study participants were second year students from the Faculty of Medicine of Hacettepe University in Turkey. The system was designed by taking students' needs into account, as well as other issues that the literature identified as points of consideration when developing an EPSS. The mid-level EPSS developed within the framework of this study increased the students' academic achievement and students stated that the system met their expectations.

A review of literature reveals serious problems in the validity and reliability of the measurement tools used in simulation technology acceptance studies conducted in the context of various technology acceptance models. To address this gap in literature, this study proposes a measurement tool that will allow a valid and reliable measurement of students' acceptance levels. The study was conducted in the 2017-2018 academic year and involved a group of 409 health sciences students. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to examine the construct validity of the conclusions based on gathered measurements. At the end of the EFA, a construct with a single factor and 24 items which explained 54.87 percent of the total variance was obtained. Based on the findings of the research, it was concluded that simulation acceptance scale produced from the EFA could be used for valid and reliable measurements regarding the general acceptance of simulation technologies by the health sciences students.

Virtual patient (VP) is a concept used in the teaching of communication skills, and like physical examinations and other professional skills, must be taught with utmost care. In Turkey, as VPs are yet to be used in medical training, the usual practice when teaching such skills is to use standardised patients (individuals pretending to be patients). The main purpose of this study was to design, develop and evaluate a 3D VP application that can move, has speech-over lip sync, allows written communication and is supported by a strong scenario to improve the communication skills of students. The study was designed and carried out using developmental research methods. The implementation phase involved a pretest posttest quasi-experimental design. The participants in the study consisted of academics specialising in medicine, software experts, an education technology expert, an assessment and evaluation expert, and medical students. The study found that VP applications were accepted by students and were as effective as standardised patients for the teaching of communication skills. The students reported that the VP application developed was very successful in terms of visual and behavioural reality.

This study examined the effect on the learning and motivation of students of a flipped classroom environment enriched with technology. A mixed research design using a pretest or posttest experimental model, combined with qualitative data, was conducted in a public middle school in Turkey for 2 weeks (three class hours) within a science course. Participants consisted of two groups of sixth-grade students. A variety of electronic materials to support a flipped classroom environment was distributed to students in the experimental group 3 days before the class. Before the normal class hour, the basic outline of the subject was discussed with the students, problem situations were created and solutions suggested, issues that were not understood were focused on, and, most importantly, student-teacher interaction was carried out at the highest level. It was determined that the flipped classroom yielded both greater academic achievement and greater motivation compared with the control group.

Background: Literature shows that Virtual Patients (VPs) find extensive usage in the field of health sciences, especially in the post-pandemic period. VPs are successfully utilized in developing various effective skills like medical interview. However, this technology is quite new in Turkey and has not yet been used in communication skills training in a structured form. This research aimed to develop a virtual patient to improve the communication skills of medical students. Methods: Developmental research method was used in the study. The implementation phase involved the one group posttest quasi-experimental design. The study group comprised of experts in various fields and 213 medical students. Needs Analysis Form, Scenario Building Form, System Validation Form, Communication Skills Assessment Form, and Interview Form were used as data collection tools. The research primarily concentrated on ensuring minimal errors within the system and enhancing students' communication skill scores. Results: The study found that VP was effective in teaching communication skills. Communication skills improved from a mean score of 36.74 in the first interview with 15 students to 74.2 in the final application with 198 students. It was determined that the students who practiced repeatedly (n = 26) made 17% more effective interviews than their first practices (score: 89.2). The script matching of the VP was 83%. Other data obtained from the students generally showed that the VP application was developed in accordance with the purpose, that it was user-friendly, and that the scenarios were adequate. Conclusion: VPs like this have the potential to develop skills such as history taking, clinical reasoning, etc., which are very important in the field of health sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of anchored instruction on the students in secondary school math studies classrooms. This study adopted a quasi-experimental design. This research involved both quantitative and qualitative methods to investigate the effects of anchored instruction on students' academical achievement, permanence and perceptions about anchored instruction method. Tests used were; before performing the unit pre-test, after completing the unit post-test and to determine the permanence of the information that has been learned permanence-test. Overall, the findings suggest that the students in the experimental group were more successful than students who were taught traditional method in control group. In addition, content analysis results showed that this method was fun and effective for learning.

The aim of this study was to develop an electronic performance support system (EPSS) to improve students' performance in the topic of scientific research methods. A review of the literature shows that EPSSs are usually developed using advanced programming technologies. This limits the widespread use of EPSS for educators and researchers. In this study, a mid-level EPSS was developed by integrating Moodle to a static (non-interactive) educational system, without using advanced programming. The study was designed and carried out using the developmental research method. Study participants were second year students from the Faculty of Medicine of Hacettepe University in Turkey. The system was designed by taking students' needs into account, as well as other issues that the literature identified as points of consideration when developing an EPSS. The mid-level EPSS developed within the framework of this study increased the students' academic achievement and students stated that the system met their expectations. Implications for practice or policy: • Educators can support scientific research methods courses with EPSSs. • Educators and researchers may take advantage of detailed steps in this research, if they want to develop such an EPSS. • A mid-level EPSS is taken as reference when developing an EPSS without advanced programming skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Virtual patient (VP) is a concept used in the teaching of communication skills, and like physical examinations and other professional skills, must be taught with utmost care. In Turkey, as VPs are yet to be used in medical training, the usual practice when teaching such skills is to use standardised patients (individuals pretending to be patients). The main purpose of this study was to design, develop and evaluate a 3D VP application that can move, has speech-over lip sync, allows written communication and is supported by a strong scenario to improve the communication skills of students. The study was designed and carried out using developmental research methods. The implementation phase involved a pretest posttest quasi-experimental design. The participants in the study consisted of academics specialising in medicine, software experts, an education technology expert, an assessment and evaluation expert, and medical students. The study found that VP applications were accepted by students and were as effective as standardised patients for the teaching of communication skills. The students reported that the VP application developed was very successful in terms of visual and behavioural reality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to design and validate an electronic performance support system that enables educators to use instructional technologies effectively and efficiently. The study was designed and conducted using developmental research methods and with the participation, at different stages, of educators and educational technology and software experts. The tangible product of the designed system is a session plan independent of the content. The system’s activity database contains 44 activities. The system works as follows. Based on the learning outcome, student, educator, and environment characteristics, activities not deemed suitable are eliminated, the most suitable activities are presented for the educator to select, and the educator makes a selection. The educator then accesses a session plan produced by the system and can edit this plan as desired. The system has additional features that were created based on the opinions of educators and educational technology experts. These features are tools for supporting academic, technical, administrative, and professional cooperation. To validate the designed system, the views and recommendations of educators and software and educational technology experts were collected. All three groups confirmed the validity of the design. Nevertheless, based on the feedback received, improvements were made before giving the design its final shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effect on the learning and motivation of students of a flipped classroom environment enriched with technology. A mixed research design using a pretest or posttest experimental model, combined with qualitative data, was conducted in a public middle school in Turkey for 2 weeks (three class hours) within a science course. Participants consisted of two groups of sixth-grade students. A variety of electronic materials to support a flipped classroom environment was distributed to students in the experimental group 3 days before the class. Before the normal class hour, the basic outline of the subject was discussed with the students, problem situations were created and solutions suggested, issues that were not understood were focused on, and, most importantly, student-teacher interaction was carried out at the highest level. It was determined that the flipped classroom yielded both greater academic achievement and greater motivation compared with the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of technology on every aspect of life has resulted in a change in the curricula of many Faculties of Medicine all around the world. The longstanding classical sense of education in Faculties of Medicine has given way to integrated and interactive applications, and more active applications, e.g. electronic learning (e-learning), have been distinguished among others over the last decade with the help of ever-developing technology. The first stage of this research involved assessing attitudes of 414 first-, second- and third-year students at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine towards e-learning. The second stage, involving a session of “Ethics and Professionalism” within good medical practice (GMP), was synchronously conducted as a distance learning application with the participation of 17 students which was followed by receiving students' opinions. This study revealed that students' attitudes toward e-learning were neutral. With regards to the variables of gender, classroom level and academic success, faculty of medicine students' attitudes towards e-learning significantly differed in the variables of gender and academic success whereas it did not differ in the variable of classroom level. On the other hand, the students expressed that the distance learning application they had was very beneficial in terms of time. However, the students stated that the session of distance learning had limits for communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]