Abstract:

In a pandemic context, the education process can suffer a sudden change due to social distancing imposing. During the initial phase of the COVID 19 pandemic, the Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy (MIR) traditional classes were taught, mainly, in an emergency remote teaching (ERT) context1,2. Subjects with strong laboratorial practice (P) required the adoption of new strategies or the delay of activities. It assumes particular importance in healthcare education in which students were prevented from attending P classes and/or clinical placements.
This work reports the adaptations of Teaching & Learning (TL) strategies in the MIR Degree during the second semester of the 2019/2020 academic year, as experienced by teachers and students, excluding the postponed clinical placements.

Students and teacher’s perceptions about ERT in the present pandemic context were assessed using a questionnaire with two blocks of questions (one common and another specifically for the two groups), to collect data about demography, resources, work environment, TL strategies, assessment and influence in skills development.

74 (M= 25; F=49) answers from 62 students (out of 83) and 12 teachers (out of 14) showed that 97% worked remotely at home and 84% had already the required infrastructures (58% shared resources). The adjustment to the new daily routine was difficult for 46% of the respondents. The majority had responsibilities along the day (64%), only 18% could work 8h per day but were able to stick to schedules (60%).
Teachers agreed that the adaptation of TL strategies lead them to spend more time to prepare classes, and the students felt more workload due to self-study. Students evaluated the strategies and resources of theoretical and theoretical-practical classes as efficient; and P classes as less efficient.

Students identified practical worksheets (87%), case study analysis (84%), online resources (81%) and scientific papers analysis (66%) as the more used TL strategies, which aligns with the teachers’ options. Globally, the students consider that the adopted strategies allowed skills acquisition; however, the scores vary significantly for each curricular unit, requiring a deeper analysis.

During ERT, students developed digital skills, self-study and remote communication (> 45%). The students pointed out, as difficulties, schedule compliance (86%), lack of academic social interaction (60%) and socialization (42%).

On the other hand, teachers developed remote TL strategies (92%) and skills to use tools for remote communication and teaching (83%), as well as online assessment (75%). Schedule compliance (67%) was the most felt difficulty.

In case of future distance teaching scenario, teachers assume to implement other strategies besides the aforementioned, such as computer simulation environment or recording of demonstration videos.

Besides the clearly negative effect of clinical placements suspension, this study reveals that the impact of ERT was felt by students and teachers, mainly, in the P activities, strategies and skills acquisition. Another reported restraint was the lack of academic interaction and socialization.

References:
[1] Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T. & Bond, A. The Difference Between Emergency Remote Teaching and Online Learning. Educ. Rev. (2020).
[2] Bozkurt, A. & Sharma, R. C. Emergency remote teaching in a time of global crisis due to CoronaVirus pandemic. Asian J. Distance Educ. 15, (2020).

Keywords:

Emergency Remote Teaching, Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy education.