Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Benefits Of Audio-Visual Aids Lectures

Benefits Of Audio-Visual Aids Lectures Students’ perception on role of audio-visual aids used in didactic lectures Abstract: Background objectives: Medical teachers have conventionally been using different teaching methods to educate medical students. Nowadays audiovisual aids such as power point slides, animation videos are being used. The optimum use of audiovisual aids is essential for deriving their benefits. This study was done to know the students’ preferences regarding the various audiovisual aids, with an aim to improve their use in didactic lectures for better understanding of concepts in medical science. Methods: Cross sectional observational study was undertaken in 113 undergraduate medical students . A set of questionnaire was distributed and students were directed to choose the most appropriate option as per the Likert scale. The responses were analyzed using SPSS 17.0. Results: Out of 113 students,45.1% preferred use of combination of audiovisual aids during a didactic lecture.27.4% preferred animation videos,15.9% preferred PowerPoint slides 11.5% preferred use of blackboard. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that use of combination of audio-visual aids is the most preferred mode of teaching by the students. For better understanding of a subject and improvement of student’s performance, a teacher should match the lectures with preferred audiovisual aids and use them prudently. The subjects wanted animations to be incorporated frequently into medical education. Key Words: Animations, Audiovisual aids(AV),Blackboard, didactic lectures, Medical students, Powerpoint slides Introduction: Today we are living in the era of Information and communication technology. The power of technology has captured the minds of new generation and this influence could be seen in the field of medical education too. The technology for teaching students in this competitive scenario is the use of Audio-Visual aids in the form of power point presentations, animation videos, movies etc or can be the combination of both1. Lectures are the most traditional, old fashioned and didactic method of teaching which are meant for one way delivery of information and are especially useful when a large number of learners must be taught at one time. Well organized lecture remains one of the most effective ways to integrate and organize information from multiple sources on complex topics2.Lectures are often supported by audio-visual aids by emphasizing key points on the black board, the projection of written or printed matter on transparencies via an overhead projector(OHP) or increasingly nowadays via a computer based system, notably Microsoft power point(PP) animation videos3. The traditional chalk-talk methodology provides strong student-teacher interaction, but its effectiveness declines as the number of students in the class increases. Furthermore, maintenance of discipline and drawing attention gets hampered4.OHPs lack the ability to display moving images, have poor visibility and optical focus. Microsoft PP slides, accompanied with multimedia projectors, have remarkably revolutionized teaching. Texts as well as audiovisual clips can be easily played on PP slides. Animations refer to 3D video clips that can be played on a multimedia projector (MP). They provide a visual simulation that is particularly handy in sustaining interest and understanding complex medical concepts5. Students favour teaching methods employing audiovisual aids over traditional lectures using blackboard 3.However, the optimum use of audiovisual aids is essential for deriving their benefits6 . There is no conclusive study stating the superiority of one method over the other. Garg A et al. have observed that students want the teachers to include audiovisual aids during the lectures, but it is not certain whether it improves their understanding or performance in the examinations7. Baxi SN et al. have observed that there was marked improvement in examination results when PPT replaced the use of OHP 8. So there is a mixture of views based on the recent studies and it is not clear whether the use of a particular lecture delivery method is superior to others. Therefore, this study was undertaken to get the feedback from the medical students regarding their preferences in using newer modalities of teaching methods like animation videos, PowerPoint slides, and pre-recorded lectures along with blackboard teaching with available resources and progressively improve lecture delivery for their better understanding. Material methods: The cross-sectional, observational study was conducted with prior permission from the authorities and approval from ethical committee. A self administered questionnaire based on previous study4,6,16 was distributed to 130 students of 2nd 3rd year MBBS aged 18-22 years selected by random convenient sampling after obtaining their informed consent.The questionnaire was asked to complete anonymously.Participation was voluntary and dependent on subjects willingnes.The participants were asked not to reveal their names,registration number or any personal information so they can answer freely without any influence. Responses were taken from the students present in the class on the day of survey. Those who were absent or refused to participate were excluded from the study.113 students out of 130 who returned the filled questionnaire became the participants in the current study. The questionnaire consists of twenty questions designed in two parts, first part composed of information regarding schooling, HSC board HSC percentage of the participants. Second part contained questions related to the preferences and opinions for use of AV aids in lecture delivery, in which twelve attributes were measured, based on Likert’s scale of grading as strongly agree/Agree/ No opinion/ Disagree/ strongly disagree. The scores allotted in the aforementioned sequence are 5/4/3/2/1.The participants were encouraged to furnish their independent and unbiased opinion without revealing their identity in the questionnaire. The sum of the all students grading on each attribute was taken for calculating the final weighted score. The response was analyzed using SPSS 17.0 for data entry and statistical significance was found by using Friedman ANOVA test. Results: Association between attributes and preference of AV-aids is depicted in (TABLE- 1).To analyze the best method of audio visual aid in use for independent attributes, ranking scale was adopted allotting the sequence in ascending order. It is evident that mean ranking for blackboard ,PPT prerecorded lectures were lower than that of animation videos for most of the attributes. On application of â€Å"Friedman test† a significant association was found (p Table 1: Association between attributes and preference of AV-aids Attributes Blackboard PP slides Animation videos Prerecorded lectures Combination Stat. Sig (Friedman’s test) Mean SD Median Mean SD Median Mean SD Median Mean SD Median Mean SD Median Lectures were well organized 2.99 .966 4.00 3.23 .798 4.00 3.93 .659 5.00 1.73 1.036 3.00 3.12 .891 4.00 P Contents were well informative 2.87 .992 4.00 3.38 .793 4.00 3.74 .566 4.00 2.06 1.036 3.00 2.96 .908 4.00 P Lectures clear understandable 3.43 .862 4.00 3.11 .833 4.00 3.64 .651 4.00 1.90 1.059 3.00 2.94 .932 4.00 P Clarity was good 2.83 .937 4.00 3.51 .958 4.00 3.41 .879 4.00 2.23 1.092 3.00 3.03 .936 4.00 P Well audible 3.20 .744 4.00 3.13 .908 4.00 3.31 .789 4.00 2.35 1.073 4.00 3.01 .926 4.00 P Stimulated interest 2.91 1.015 4.00 3.20 .983 4.00 3.63 .966 5.00 2.22 1.143 3.00 3.04 1.069 4.00 P Advanced understanding of topics 3.12 1.045 4.00 3.13 .966 4.00 3.44 .962 4.00 2.32 1.108 3.00 2.98 .671 4.00 P Delivery was interesting 2.86 .955 4.00 3.06 .958 4.00 3.52 .852 4.00 2.47 1.112 3.00 3.08 .642 4.00 P Able to take notes/diagrams 3.74 .967 4.00 3.36 1.136 4.00 2.50 1.123 3.00 2.28 1.145 3.00 3.12 1.126 4.00 P Effective in clearing concept remembrance 3.25 .50 4.00 3.00 .963 4.00 3.46 .973 4.00 2.36 1.157 3.00 2.94 .942 4.00 P Concentration/ attention span maintained 3.40 1.140 4.00 3.07 1.134 4.00 3.28 .946 4.00 2.32 1.175 3.00 2.93 .949 4.00 P Explanation/ summarization 3.21 .973 4.00 3.25 1.062 4.00 3.37 .869 4.00 2.27 1.126 3.00 2.89 .964 4.00 P Table 2: Preferred aid Preferred aid Total Animations blackboard Combination Ppt slides Gender Female Count 14 7 35 11 67 % within gender 20.9% 10.4% 52.2% 16.4% 100.0% % within Preferred aid 45.2% 53.8% 68.6% 61.1% 59.3% Male Count 17 6 16 7 46 % within gender 37.0% 13.0% 34.8% 15.2% 100.0% % within Preferred aid 54.8% 46.2% 31.4% 38.9% 40.7% Total Count 31 13 51 18 113 % 27.4% 11.5% 45.1% 15.9% 100.0% Discussion: The current study was conducted to get feedback from the medical students regarding their opinion on audiovisual aids used during didactic lectures using a Questionnaire. It is an obvious observation that gradually the use of electronic media has become more common in medical colleges over conservative teaching methods that utilized blackboards9. For centuries, a blackboard remained the mediator for displaying information in a persistent manner, and can give the audience a consistent view of far more information than can be held in short- term memory. Anderson R noted that blackboards encourage note-taking and student-teacher interaction10 which was also found in our study. Seth V et al. noted that by using blackboard taking down the simply-drawn diagrams is easy, the teacher makes natural pauses and power breaks do not interfere with the lecture4.Its limitation is that information-rich contents like complex tables, graphs and vivid images cannot be displayed and the orga nization of the presentation is poorer as compared to electronic slides5.He also noted that the majority of medical students preferred PPT presentations, while dental students preferred chalkboard. Baxi SN et al.8 observed that an equal number of students preferred blackboard-based or multimedia-based lectures and insisted to consider the need of using multimedia modalities to present lectures to students11. In our study it was revealed that the students preferred animation videos over Powerpoint presentations or blackboard. Majority of the students opined for the use of combination of audiovisual aids in didactic lectures for better understanding of concepts in medical science which correlates with the study done by Kaushik Bhowmick et al12.The training program in UG teaching uses a judicious mixture of didactic lectures with audiovisual aids and problem based learning methods, clinical teaching and practical experiments 6.Optimum use of audiovisual aid is essential for deriving their benefits6.Audio visual aids can be effectively used to show the photographs and the animated pictures related to the topics13.Animations, with their unique three-dimensional presentation, have been accredited with simultaneously being able to increase interest and motivation, to draw attention, to illustrate procedures and to explain how things work14 . Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that lecture delivered by using a combination of audio visual aids was most appreciated by the students. To understand complex concepts and to retain facts, the participants desired animations to be incorporated frequently into medical education as they are interesting it breaks the monotony of lecture.It motivates students to attend lectures as they are very curious to see or hear what the teacher is going to show them in the upcoming class, by seeing animated effects, colorful presentation and hearing recording they are able to concentrate more1. References: Arora A. Impact of Audiovisual aids on students at university level. Altius Shodh Journal of Management commerce.2013;ISSN 2348-8891. Richardson D. Don’t dump the didactic lecture; fix it. Adv Physiol Educ. 2008; 32(1): 23-24. Bennal A, Itagi V, Taklikar RH.Role of Audiovisual aids in physiology lecture. National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy Pharmacology.2014;4(2):109-111. Seth V,Upadhyaya P,Ahmad M,Moghe V.PowerPoint or chalk and talk: perceptions of medical students versus dental students in a medical college in India. Adv Med Educ Pract 2010;(1):11-16. Naqvi SH,Mobasher F, Afzal MA,Muhammad U,Naeem A. Effectiveness of teaching methods in a medical institute: perceptions of medical students to teaching aids. JPMA.2013; 63: 859. Mohan L,Sankar P R, Kamath A, Manish M S, Eesha B R. Students attitudes towards the use of audio-visual aids during didactic lecture in pharmacology. Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research 2010; (4): 3363-3368. Garg A, Rataboli PV, Muchandi K. Students opinion on the prevailing teaching methods in pharmacology and changes recommended. Indian J Pharmacol 2004; (36):155-8. Baxi SN, Shah CJ, Parmar RD, Parmar D, Tripathi CB. Students perception of different teaching aids in a medical college. African Journal of Health Professions Education. 2009; 1(1):15-16. Seth V, Upadhyaya P,Ahmad M,Kumar V. Impact of various lecture delivery methods in pharmacology. Excli journal 2010;(9):96-101. Anderson R. Beyond PowerPoint: building a new classroom presenter. Syllabus 2004; (17): 31-3. Lowry RB. Electronic presentation of lectures – effect upon student performance. University Chemistry Education. 1999; (8):18-21. Bhowmick K,Mukopadhyay M,Chakraborty S. Assessment of perception of first professional MBBS students in India about a teaching learning activity in Biochemistry. South East Asian Journal of Medical Education 2009;(3):8. Metcalfe DH, Mathura M. Students perception of good and bad teaching: a report of a critical incident study. Medical Education.1995;29(3): 193-197. Lowe R, Schnotz W (eds.). Learning with animation: research implications for design. UK: Cambridge University Press. 2008. Chavan SK,Chavan KD,Giri PA,Jogdand SS. Perceptions of Medical Students Regarding Use of Audio-visual Aids in Lecture Delivery.IOSR Journal of Research Method in Education .2014;(4):28-32. Kumar A,Singh R,Mohan L,Kumar M. Students views on audiovisual aids used during didactic lectures in a medical college. Asian Journal of Medical Science 2013;(4):36-40.

Monday, January 20, 2020

Animal Farm, by George Orwell :: Animal Farm Essays

The author of my book is George Orwell. The book I am reading is entitled Animal Farm. My book is a fiction book with talking animals. The animals rebel against Jones and his farm and how their food was low and they had to work to much to just make food for Jones and his family. The animals were victorious in gaining control of the farm. Then the pigs slowly take over the farm and slowly turn it back into just what it had been when Jones had been there. The story takes place on a farm in the country side. Old Major is the first pig and the ruler who gives all the other animals hope of a rebellion. Snowball is the pig who actually put the rebellion into affect and started the whole rules and laws to start their own farm. Then there’s Napoleon who kicks Snowball out of the farm and takes over the farm and slowly he turns the farm back into what it had been with Jones with him and his partner pigs getting lots of food for no work and the workers getting little food for a lot of work.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The story starts with Old Major calling for a meeting of the animals where he tells them of the way animals should live and that he only has a few years left to live, but that the animals must carry out a rebellion one day in the future. So Old Major passes away and one day when the animals had been starved for a few days straight the animals broke into the food room and started eating the food. Jones and his men came out to fight them off, but the animals were to strong for them. The animals drove them out of the farm and declared what used to be called â€Å"The Manor Farm† into what they called â€Å"Animal Farm.† Snowball took over as their new leader and served them good especially when Jones came back with some men and guns and tried to take back his farm and Snowball took control and stopped Jones from winning the fight.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Then Snowball gets an idea that they should build a windmill that symbolizes their farm and could be used for hay storage. Napoleon, another pig who wanted to take rule, said that was a stupid idea and Napoleon went on to plant fake evidence that Snowball

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Face Recognition Ability Inherited Separately from IQ Essay

This article supports the modularity hypothesis of the brain where it is expressed that the human brain is like a Swiss knife that is represented as â€Å"a general purpose tool with special-purpose devices† (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010, n. p. ). Such kind of mentality is based on the idea that specialized genes are located in various regions of the brain which function for specific cognitive abilities like face recognition. In attempt to further investigate this issue, the researchers studied the relationship of face recognition to heritable characteristics by utilizing the help of 102 pairs of identical twins and 71 pairs of fraternal twins. The experiment made use of black-and white images of 20 different faces which were shown to each participant on a computer screen each for one minute and this step was followed by the mixing of 10 of the original 20 faces to 20 new faces. Results showed that identical twins, whose genes are 100% common, were more likely to provide matched results of the face experiment (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010). Moreover, 39% of the variance is attributed to genetic effects thereby suggesting that face recognition is a heritable trait. IQ relatedness of face recognition, on the other hand, was investigated by employing the participation of 321 students which revealed that the ability to recognize faces is independent of IQ (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010). The results gathered in this study affirm the hypothesis that some cognitive skills are not correlated with IQ which is the indicator of general intelligence (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2010). Subsequent studies are intended to investigate if other cognitive abilities like language processing, navigation, reading and the likes are related to IQ. Consequently, the significance of these findings is seen on the study of autism and dyslexia because these heritable developmental disorders might also be dictated by specific genes on the human brain. Lastly, the findings presented on this paper are believed to be credible because they are grounded on empirically derived evidence. However, it is suggested that a larger sample size must be used to further confirm the statistical acceptability of the results. Nevertheless, the researchers made substantial and highly qualified efforts on the choice of participants because identical and fraternal twins are really the most appropriate subjects for studies that investigate heritable properties. In general, this study is a timely research endeavor that can lead to a series of promising effects in the fields of neurobiology and developmental psychology. Reference: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2010, January 20). Face recognition ability inherited separately from IQ. Science Daily.

Saturday, January 4, 2020

Is the Cost of College Worth the Price - 732 Words

Despite of whether going to college is worth it or not, recent college graduates have become more successful in their lives. Some people may think that attending college is a waste of time and money, while others feel that college gives them valuable skills in the real world. College will help the person gain the necessary work skills for his or her future job career. Moreover, the job that a person gets after college can outweigh the money and time the person spent in college. College graduates will be more favorable to have a better job than those who does not have a college degree. As our generation is rapidly changing, the work- force is getting tougher which means having a higher education is important in today’s world. Having a college degree is an obvious part of the candidate and is expected by the many employers. 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