Promoting Intergenerational Engagement Within the College Classroom: Faculty Training Needs

As population aging accelerates worldwide, institutions of higher education are increasing efforts to focus on ways to meet the growing needs of older adult learners. Many institutions are addressing these needs by joining the Age-Friendly University (AFU) Global Network. Affiliated institutions are required to promote intergenerational learning to facilitate the reciprocal sharing of expertise between learners of all ages, including older adults. However, these institutions will need to provide instructors with the training to ensure that intergenerational engagement is being actively fostered in the classrooms. In this study, we examine the perspectives of faculty members who have opened their classrooms to older adult auditors. The research question was: What types of training do faculty recommend to promote intergenerational engagement in the classroom? In-depth face to face interviews were conducted with 27 faculty members. Qualitative content analysis of the data yielded the following four themes: 1) Provide accessible training to teach faculty their role 2) Educate faculty about the importance of becoming aware of generational time periods/context 3) Learn to approach auditors with a mindset that they are adults and have had careers/experiences, and 4) Train faculty on how to foster discussion. Overall, these findings point to a need for training that focus on intergenerational curricular design and multigenerational classroom management.

Expansion of telehealth curriculum: National survey of clinical education leaders

Introduction In response to the COVID pandemic and the rapid changes in delivery of and education on telehealth services, the Research Committee of the Alliance of Clinical Education (ACE) surveyed its multidisciplinary group of medical educators to determine how telehealth was being taught pre-COVID versus during-COVID. Methods An online survey was developed by the ACE Research Committee and sent via email to the ACE delegation. The objective of the survey was to determine changes in telehealth curriculum for medical students due to the rapid transition to telehealth, and the barriers for developing and delivering a telehealth curriculum. Results Forty-nine percent of recipients (31/63) responded representing eight different disciplines in addition to institutional curriculum developers. Most programs had no formal didactics and no clinical experiences in telehealth prior to the pandemic. Most respondents added didactics and clinical telehealth encounters during COVID, although few schools required this of all students. Discussion Given the barriers of faculty training to pivot to telehealth, and the potential benefits to healthcare cost and patient satisfaction, there is a need for more formal study on best practices for teaching telehealth to prepare our future physicians.

Factors and Levels of Student Engagement in a State College: A Mixed-Methods Study

This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study determined the factors and levels of student engagement among the 493 students in Northwestern Mindanao State College of Science and Technology, Tangub City, Philippines. The quantitative data gathered using survey questionnaires revealed the following: the students’ levels of perception on the importance of competence, autonomy, relatedness, student-teacher transaction, and student-institution transaction to students’ engagement are very important; the levels of affective engagement, cognitive engagement, and behavioral engagement are very high, and social engagement is high; the factors and levels of student engagement have positive correlation; and the student-teacher transaction is the best predictor of student engagement. Using in-depth interviews of 12 participants picked using criterion purposive sampling, the qualitative data, analyzed using Braun and Clarke analysis, arrived at nine themes for the importance of the factors to students’ engagement and 15 themes for the students’ engagement in the four dimensions. The factors of student engagement are important since students are given the freedom to accomplish their dreams and develop themselves through good relationships with classmates, desirable personal and professional qualities of the teachers, and the support of the college. The students’ engagement in the four dimensions can be attributed to the goals that they have to achieve, the support from teachers and the school, their active participation, the guidance from the more knowledgeable others and the harmonious relationship with peers. It is recommended that the College invest in various support services to create a pleasant learning environment, devote itself to faculty training to prepare them for teaching, and implement activities that will enhance student engagement.

Barriers to Including Indigenous Content in Canadian Health Professions Curricula

Indigenous peoples in Canada continue to face health care inequities despite their increased risk for various negative health outcomes. Evidence suggests that health professions students and faculty do not feel their curriculum adequately prepares learners to address these inequities. The aim of this study was to identify barriers that hinder the inclusion of adequate Indigenous content in curricula across health professions programs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 faculty members at a university in Canada from various health disciplines. Employing thematic analysis, four principal barriers were identified: (1) the limited number and overburdening of Indigenous faculty, (2) the need for non-Indigenous faculty training and capacity, (3) the lack of oversight and direction regarding curricular content and training approaches, and (4) the limited amount of time in curriculum and competing priorities. Addressing these barriers is necessary to prepare learners to provide equitable health care for Indigenous peoples. Keywords: Indigenous health, health professions, curricula, faculty perspectives, barriers, Canada

Student Self-Disclosure and Faculty Compassion in Online Classrooms

Compassion fatigue is well documented among professionals working in social service fields such as healthcare, emergency response, social work, and education. In higher education, there is a growing demand for faculty led student mental health support and life coaching services to support student retention and success. Students in online settings tend to disclose personally traumatic experiences and circumstances more openly in communications with faculty to seek support and extensions. In this study, we surveyed faculty to explore the relationship between student self-disclosure and faculty compassion fatigue in online classrooms. We hypothesized that student self-disclosure of personal challenges is common and may be related to faculty compassion fatigue and burnout. Results supported the hypothesis that student self-disclosure of personal challenges and trauma was common, experienced by 96% of surveyed faculty. Most faculty had low to average compassion fatigue scores; however, demographic and professional factors were associated with faculty compassion fatigue and burnout. Younger faculty, less experienced faculty, and female faculty had higher levels of compassion fatigue and burnout than older faculty, more experienced faculty, and male faculty. This study provides insight into the personal challenges and trauma students self-disclose to faculty, faculty variables that are associated with disclosure, and the impact student disclosure may have on faculty.Keywords: online teaching, compassion fatigue, student support, self-disclosure, faculty training

Pedagogical Practices of Accounting Departments Addressing AACSB Technology Requirements

Technology skills are essential for accounting professionals and should be equally important in the accounting curricula. Educational institutions measure technology-related curricular innovations in part through compliance with AACSB Standard A5. We investigate how institutions are preparing for accreditation review as it relates to technology in accounting curriculum by surveying AIS educators from 85 universities and examining efforts to meet the AACSB Standard A5 accreditation requirements. Quantitative results suggest that most institutions feel they are prepared but also contain some contradictory information that, when combined with qualitative feedback, raises questions about the degree of progress in technology integration. Common issues include a widespread lack of increased faculty training, an over-reliance on AIS classes to meet accreditation standards, and the inclusion of basic spreadsheet and visualization skills as "technology" or "data analytics." We provide a suggested pathway to improve accounting pedagogy as it relates to technology through phased curricular changes and issue a call for administrators to support increased accounting faculty technology training.

Pre- and Early-Pandemic Graduating Students’ Perceptions at a United States Business School

Two separate samples of graduating business students completed online surveys in the Spring 2019 (pre-pandemic, n = 724) and Spring 2020 (early pandemic, n = 376). This research study explored changes in student grading assessment learning perceptions (GALP) between Spring of 2019 to Spring of 2020, as well as perceptions of video vault use, number of internships/co-ops completed, satisfaction with major, and satisfaction with business degree. With the abrupt change from face-to-face to all online classes in the middle of the Spring 2020 semester due to the pandemic, individual engagement GALP (e.g., attendance, participation) declined but video vault use increased. Reassuringly, other GALP scales as well as both satisfaction measures remained stable. Testing for changes in correlations from 2019 to 2020, using the four GALP scales, video vault use, and internships/co-ops completed as the independent variables and satisfaction with major and satisfaction with business degree as the dependent variables, there were several significant correlational changes. The correlation of video vault use to satisfaction with major increased from 2019 to 2020. Increased Individual Creative GALP – satisfaction with business degree, and Individual Engagement GALP – satisfaction with business degree correlations were also found. The positive Spring 2020 video vault use findings, and maintained GALP scale perceptions were at least partially due to the immediate online Zoom faculty training facilitated by the Business School Online and Digital Learning Department. However, there was a negative correlation from 2019 to 2020 in the internship/co-op completed – satisfaction with business degree. . Study limitations and future research issues with the continuing pandemic are discussed.

Attitudes and Practices of Educators Towards e-Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background The novel coronavirus outbreak is now shifting the way educational institutions operate around the world. This study aims to assess the online learning experience during the pandemic and recognize its perceived barriers according to university professors in Jordan. Methods This is a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional, and descriptive study. A web-based survey was distributed to all university professors and lecturers in public universities across Jordan. Results A total of 508 educators responded to this study. Males (67.5%, n=343) dominated the study population compared to females (32.5%, n=165). Educators spent an average of 20.2 ± 15.9 hours/week using the internet for educational purposes during the pandemic. Positive attitudes towards online teaching were seen, as 65.7% reported being prepared for online teaching, while 40.8% were comfortable communicating with students via online platforms. Institutional support for online learning also appears to have increased following the coronavirus outbreak. An overwhelming majority (81.9%, n=416) stated that their universities supported online education during the pandemic, compared to 56.5% (n=287) before. The main recognized barriers for online teaching were poor internet connection (78.3%, n=398), disadvantages in old learning tools (e.g., uploading capacity) (70.9%, n=360), and family atmosphere (69.3%, n=352). Participants also recognized technical (74.0%, n=376) and computer skills (49.2%, n=250) as areas requiring development. Conclusion Despite the positive attitudes of educators towards online teaching, many barriers need to be overcome before the shift from traditional learning is implemented. Faculty training and inter-departmental communication are warranted for the success of online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Instructors’ Readiness to Teach Online: A Review of TPACK Standards in Online Professional Development Programmes in Higher Education

Online learning has been developed in higher education offering a flexible environment for learners. Faculty knowledge is among the most important domains required to be updated in order to ensure a successful integration of instructional technology and online learning in higher education. This update can be performed by providing faculty training on how to use technology. However, this should be integrated with pedagogical knowledge, which is represented in the Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge framework (TPACK). This paper reviewed the literature to find how higher education institutions support online instructors with professional development programmes and, moreover, to discover how these programmes are shaped by the TPACK framework. The paper also summarises the effective online teaching practices based on the TPACK framework presented in the literature. Teaching online is a challenge and does not mean having to move traditional instructions and activities into the online platform, but this does mean a shift might require building a whole new material to ensure the quality of online teaching and learning. Reviewing the previous literature regarding the available professional development programmes increases the need to integrate online teaching competence as a main objective into teacher education and professional development programmes to follow up with the skills of the 21st century students. The framework includes three main domains of teachers’ knowledge: Content (CK), which is related to the subject matter and answers the question “what will be taught?” such as concepts, theories and terms; Pedagogy (PK), which refers to teaching strategies required for addressing the students’ learning needs; and Technology (TK), which refers to the variety of technologies and instructional materials used, such as learning management systems.