Medical students’ and junior doctors’ leadership and teamwork skills improved after involvement with Simulation via Instant Messaging-Birmingham Advance (SIMBA)

BackgroundLeadership and teamwork skills are essential components of medical education. Simulation via Instant Messaging-Birmingham Advance (SIMBA) is an innovative simulation-based learning tool mainly delivered by medical students and junior doctors. This study aimed to investigate the effect of SIMBA on leadership and teamwork skills of medical students and junior doctors during COVID-19.MethodsAll medical students and junior doctors involved in the delivery of SIMBA were invited to complete the Leadership Trait Questionnaire (LTQ) and Teamwork Skills Questionnaire (TSQ) assessing their views pre-SIMBA and post-SIMBA involvement. The changes in scores were analysed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Open-ended questions were reviewed in an inductive thematic analysis.ResultsA total of 33 SIMBA team members completed both questionnaires. There was improvement in all traits measured in the LTQ and TSQ, significant in 9/14 LTQ traits, and all 6 TSQ traits (p<0.05). ‘Decision making’ had the highest improvement (p<0.0001). Response to open-ended questions reported positive effects on personal development, medical professionalism, communication skills and medical/clinical knowledge.ConclusionsSIMBA is an effective model to inculcate leadership and teamwork skills among medical students and junior doctors. Prospective studies are underway to assess long-term impact.

Teamwork skills pada peer consultant writing center dan mahasiswa pengguna jasanya

Introduction. Writing centers (WC) as a writing consultation would help students complete their scientific writing and improve their non-technical skills. This study aimed to determine the effect of WC on students' teamwork abilities. Data Collection Methods. This research is a cross-sectional descriptive and explorative study. The quantitative method measured students' teamwork utilizing the Teamwork Skills Questionnaire at three points of collection. The qualitative method collected data from in-depth interviews. Both types of data came from peer-consultants (PC) and users of WC services. Data Analysis. Quantitative data analysis used the repeated measure of one-way ANOVA, and qualitative data analysis used the content analysis. Results and Discussion. We found that the p-value is 0.857 for the PC and 0.044 for the user from the data analysis. Results showed a significant increase in the user's teamwork ability. Although the quantitative results of the PC were not significant, from the qualitative analysis, PCs explained that the WC could train teamwork indirectly through communication skills, adaptation, leadership, and collaboration. Conclusion. The teamwork skills that students have before and after the WC program was categorized as high. WC had a subtle influence on the teamwork ability of the PC and its users. We suggest that the university elaborate the WC as one of the students' services.

FORMATION OF TEAMWORK SKILLS AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL OF THE PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY OF FUTURE TEACHER OF MATHEMATICS

The article highlights the relevance and features of the formation of teamwork skills in future teachers of mathematics, in particular, in the process of methodological training. The essence of the team as a social group operating in a particular field of activity is defined. It is noted that teamwork improves communication, inspires, increases motivation and mutual responsibility, helps to overcome fear and teaches to fight criticism, creates an environment where students learn from each other, generate new ideas and enjoy their activities. The advantages of collaboration and the conditions, the presence of which ensures coherence and efficiency of partnership, are described and discussed. They are as follows: the presence of an atmosphere of security and comfort, the presence of a leader, a clearly defined purpose and well-distributed tasks, meaning of the activity and a single “vision” of the required result by all members of the team, availability of reliability and responsibility. Essential teamwork skills include listening, communicating, building relationships, reaching agreements, resolving conflicts, controlling emotions, making decisions, solving problems, making presentations, organizing and planning activities. Different methods of developing team spirit are presented by the author. This study indicates that training is one of the effective technologies for developing the teamwork skills of future mathematics teachers. Some specific examples of the proposed methods at different stages of training are considered, which contribute not only to the development of professional skills and abilities of their practical use in future professional activities, but also to the formation of students’ teamwork skills. Keywords: professional competence; professional activity; future mathematics teachers; team; team work; team work skills; methodical training; training.

PEDAGOGICAL INFLUENCE IN THE INTEGRATION OF SOFT SKILLS AMONG HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Soft skills are non-academic competencies that complement a student's academic achievement to face the world of work in the future. This study aims to identify ways of implementing soft skills and the kind of soft skills emphasized in the teaching and learning of the Malay language among secondary school students in nine selected schools in Kedah, Penang, and Perak. The study involved focus group interviews and individual interviews consisted of 119 students and 26 Malay language teachers. The findings show that soft skills apply directly and indirectly through various learning activities in Malay Language subjects. Respondents from normal schools received less exposure to soft skills compared to respondents from high-performing schools (HPS). Among the soft skills identified in this study are teamwork skills, self-confidence, communication, critical thinking, leadership, influencing skills, critical and creative thinking skills (CCTS), and problem-solving skills. Communication skills and teamwork skills were among the most detected soft skills in the three high-performing schools involved in this study. Meanwhile, the activities carried out to apply soft skills are group discussions, presentations, acting, poetry recitation, storytelling, public speaking, forums, and question and answer. Although this study is not comprehensive in terms of the number of schools and respondents, the findings of this study are important to explain the real scenario of the level of mastery and integration of soft skills, especially in the nine cases of this study.