Teaching Strategies during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

During the quarantine imposed by the COvid-19 pandemic we teachers, all over the world, had to convert our classroom-based teaching to e-learning. Despite the special condition of some institutions that had already relevant previous experience in implementing virtual teaching, others had to start from scratch. Many different strategies and platforms were and are being used, including the recording of lectures, videoconferences, Moodle, or LT learning platform as a replacement for practical classes and internships, etc. In this symposium we intend to share with the audience the challenges that teachers of different continents experienced when implementing e-learning and how these may impact the way we will teaching after the pandemic, in a new normal.

Medical physiology olympiad: before, during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

Indonesian Medical Physiology Olympiad (IMPHO) is a physiology competition for undergraduate medical students organized by Physiology Department of Faculty of Medicine Airlangga University in Surabaya-Indonesia since 2017. This is an annual physiology quiz based on the original international medical physiology quiz that was introduced by Prof. Cheng from Malaya University. At first, this competition was aimed to prepare Indonesian Medical students before they compete in the international events. However, it has grown up into one of the greatest medical competitions in the national level. Each year, more than 60 teams from different universities follow this event. Although this competition was disrupted in 2020 due to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, fortunately, this competition came back in 2021 with completely transformed to an online-based competition. All aspects of this competition were conducted online because of the face-to-face restriction. In this symposium, we will review comprehensively the aspect of management of this quiz before and during COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we will also explore the learning strategy of medical students and their perspective about the engagement to physiology education through their participation in this quiz. Furthermore, we will also present which aspects should be maintained after the recovery of this pandemic.

Ensuring student engagement in online learning in the pandemic: role of technology and teachers

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, the education field suffered a drastic transformation with the shifting of teaching-learning activities from onsite to online. As a result, challenges were faced by both students and teachers. Face-to-face teaching had the opportunity of ensuring student engagement. This has been found to be immensely compromised in the new setting with both staff and students struggling globally. Students, via online facility, have the flexibility of deciding when, how, and what content and activities they would like to be engaged in, keeping teachers as a facilitator in their circle. Another area that has been impacted is assessment. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors quickly learned that giving exams that were used in the face-to-face classroom setting was not effective in assessing student knowledge online. Alternative exams where students find a journal article directly related to class material, analyze and summarize it, describe the relevance, and hypothesize next steps is a more effective way to assess student knowledge and also promote their engagement in learning. Technology has aided in the delivery of lessons and the conduct of classes. Usage of technological tools has also been a matter of concern. This symposium aims to address the issues. The four speakers will attempt to share experiences and also provide insight by citing evidence-based methods of student engagement during this pandemic thus recommending a set of good practices.

Chair:

Dr. Robert Carroll, Professor, East Carolina University
carrollr@ecu.edu

Speakers:

1. Dr. Patricia Halpin, Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire at Manchester,United States
   Patricia.Halpin@unh.edu
   Title of talk: The use of alternative assessments in synchronous and asynchronous courses
2. Dr. Puja Dulloo ,Professor, Pramukhswami Medical College, Bhaikaka University , India
   pujad@charutarhealth.org
   Title of talk: The role of technology and teachers in Self-directed learning
3. Dr. Mangala Gunatilake, Professor, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka
   mangalagunatilake@hotmail.com
   Title of talk: Technology applications and student engagement in the pandemic: Sri Lankan experience
4. Dr. Sarmishtha Ghosh, Professor, Health Professions Education, Bhaikaka University, India
   essjee63@gmail.com
   Title of talk: Student engagement in online learning- is visibility essential?

Online Experiments for Physiology Education

Experiments for teaching physiology to both medical and science or undergraduate physiology students are critical for developing students’ knowledge and understanding of how physiological experiments are performed within the laboratory. Additionally, they provide students with opportunities to develop their scientific research skills and can foster students’ interest in physiology.

During the Covid pandemic most students studied via online lectures and small group discussions and had little opportunity for participation in face-to-face laboratory classes. Replicating the experiences and learning gains of an experimental laboratory class in an online setting is challenging, particularly as online programs are limited both in number and scope or are expensive to access.

In this symposium, we will hear from 5 experienced educators describing how they created and used online physiology laboratory experiments to meet these challenges.