RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES The Socratic method has long been a traditional teaching method in medicine and law. It is currently accepted as the standard of teaching in clinical wards, while the didactic teaching method is widely used during the first 2 years of medical school. There are arguments in support of both styles of teaching. MATERIALS AND METHODS After attending a radiology conference...

Acceptability is a required quality for a sound assessment. For students, acceptability of a test is strongly influenced by perception of fairness. Computer-based assessment has been reported to be preferred by students provided that strict controls to prevent cheating are in place. This may be difficult to achieve as e-assessments are often taken in learning environments where computer screens...

One of the biggest challenges facing distance education programs is that of attrition. One potential way of reducing attrition is to foster a sense of community among students. Students who are emotionally and intellectually invested in each other and in their program are more likely to prosper in a multi-year distance program. This paper briefly explores those effects ascribed to community tha...

The prevalence of distance education is steadily increasing in institutions of higher education in the United States and abroad. Colleges and universities are seeking new avenues to deliver curricula to students in remote areas and/or to nontraditional students. Distance education is a relatively new venture for dental hygiene education. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence...

Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs) are the major mechanism by which Open University (OU) students receive feedback on their academic progress. This paper shows how the OU has used ICT to improve both the quality of feedback and speed of response to student work, reduce feelings of isolation and make the university seem less remote. The paper examines the system for online submission and return of ...

BACKGROUND As assessment has been shown to direct learning, it is critical that the examinations developed to test clinical competence in medical undergraduates are valid and reliable. The use of extended matching questions (EMQ) has been advocated to overcome some of the criticisms of using multiple-choice questions to test factual and applied knowledge. METHODS We analysed the results from ...

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in social presence among students who had participated in a traditional video conference environment and a 3D virtual world for distance education. Also, characteristics of the 3D environment most affected their social presence, and the users’ opinions concerning the 3D environment were revealed. For this purpose, an exploratory, mixed resear...

The expansion of distance education in nursing is undeniable, be it undergraduate, graduate, continuing, or health education. Informatics enables a growing mediation and increases opportunities to reach different audiences, thus lessening geographic distances. That happens because social relations being established in the beginning of the 21st century are different than before, especially when ...

We developed a multimedia satellite network system based on the Internet protocol (IP) and personal computers. The system enables collaborative distance education between outdoor and indoor environments. Integration of IP technologies and satellite communications enhances the flexibility of the network system. The satellite communication system enables communicating to and from outdoor environm...

Comprehensive sexuality education and sexuality education that is inclusive to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth is thought to educate and support youth in their social relations. Despite the obligation for Dutch schools to cover sexuality education in their curricula, including the topic of sexual diversity, the content that is covered varies widely acro...