Objective: Bank clerks were among the high risk groups in experiencing physiologic and psychological symptoms during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. This present study aims to ...investigate the changes in the knowledge and anxiety of bank clerks during the COVID-19 pandemic, before and after the educational intervention via mobile health technology in the south of Fars province, Iran in 2020. Material and Methods: This present study is a quasi-experimental work with a pretest-posttest design. The participants were recruited according to the lists provided by the bank authorities, and then assigned, through non-random sampling, into a control group from three banks (45 subjects) and 48 subjects from three other banks into intervention group. The intervention group received education via mobile phones, and the control group received the routine information broadcasted by social media. Data were collected using a demographics questionnaire, a researcher-made COVID-19 knowledge questionnaire, and Spielberger’s Anxiety Inventory at baseline (before) and follow-up (two weeks after intervention). The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics in Statistical Package for the Social Science version 23. Results: There were no drop-outs of participants during the study phase. The results showed that the mean knowledge score of the participants were improved in the both control and intervention groups, significantly (p-value<0.001), and there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the knowledge scores in pretest and posttest (p-value<0.001 and p-value=0.001, respectively). The results of the t-test also showed that the mean scores of state and trait anxiety levels were increased in the control group (p-value<0.001 and p-value=0.932, respectively), while decreased significantly in the intervention group (p-value<0.001). However, there were significant differences between the two groups regarding the state and trait anxiety levels in pretest and posttest (p-value<0.001). Conclusion: The results show that e-education via mobile phones can help to increase the knowledge, and decrease the anxiety of bank clerks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, it is suggested that this method of education be employed to raise the COVID-19 awareness of the employees in other organizations. Indeed, limitations; such as, low sample size and long-term outcomes should be considered in future studies.
This study — carried out in May 2020, early on during the COVID-19 pandemic - examines the situation in the Polish e-education market, as perceived by secondary school and university students who ...consume e-education services and by the providers of such services. Firstly, to set the stage, in-depth interviews were carried out with eight owners of companies offering commercial e-education services. Next, an extensive online survey was carried out among secondary school and university students in the 2019–2020 school/academic year using the CAWI method on a sample of 803 respondents — with secondary school students (group I) accounting for 30% of the sample and university students (group II) making up the remaining 70% — concerning their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with e-education services. Taken together, the findings allow for an assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of distance learning and point to the increased demand for e-education services during the pandemic, in tandem with a continually shifting e-education services market.
Recently, the use of digital skills as a tool to alleviate unemployment concerns of university graduates has gained considerable attention among governments in developing economies. The present study ...examines the impact of the E-education program (a digital initiative to train university graduates to get self-employed) on the unemployment reduction of young graduates of higher educational institutes (HEIs). We also explore the mediating influence of innovation in the association between E-education and unemployment reduction. The target population of the study was students who have successfully completed the E-education program. The convenient sampling technique was used for data collection from 416 respondents through a structured questionnaire. Collected data were analyzed using different statistical techniques, such as descriptive statistics (reliability analysis, normality analysis, and correlation) and structural equation modeling for measurement of the structural model. The study findings assert that the E-education program has significant effects on the unemployment reduction of graduates. Furthermore, innovation also significantly mediates the association between E-education and reduce unemployment among students. It implies that the HEIs should also roll out E-education programs, which would eventually help reduce unemployment and promote the growth of the E-education industry in the country. Finally, policy prescriptions are discussed on the role of an E-education-driven innovation to curtail unemployment in developing countries.
BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: During the COVID-19 pandemic, burden on healthcare facilities has increased worldwide; which has led to acceptance of the ‘telehealth services’ by the pediatricians. Objective ...of this study was to determine the impact on frequency of use of tele-health services by pediatricians during the COVID-19 pandemic; and to determine the factors promoting and preventing the use of tele-health services by pediatricians.
METHODOLOGY: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out from August 2020 to January 2021 among the pediatricians of Children Hospital Faisalabad and other affiliated hospitals of Faisalabad Medical University, Pakistan. An e-questionnaire was circulated among 357 pediatricians, which was filled and submitted by 114 pediatricians online. Demographic details and other data were collected and analyzed by SPSS v.20. P-value <0.05 was taken as significant.
RESULTS: Out of 114 participants, 29(25.4%) paediatricians were already using Telehealth before the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas, 101(88.6%) participants used Telehealth during the pandemic. There was an increase in frequency of telehealth use during the pandemic by 72(63.2%) paediatricians (p-value= 0.037). Most common factor promoting the use of telehealth during pandemic was ‘decreased chance of cross infection and maintenance of social distancing’. Most frequent factor preventing its use was ‘lack of confidence on virtual examination findings’.
CONCLUSION: Telehealth provided an effective means of practicing social distancing by the paediatricians without any breach in healthcare provision. However, there are a few factors contributing to hesitancy towards it. Therefore, more platforms must be provided and incentives to be given to paediatricians to promote the use of telehealth.
Background and Objective: Diabetes is a common chronic diseases that different factors play an important role in controlling it as well as in its patients’ self-care behaviors. The Survey shows the ...traditional cares performed so far have not been enough. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the effect of electronic education on self-care behaviors among the patients with type II diabetes who were a member of Babol Diabetes Association. Methods: The present research was a controlled intervention study conducted on 180 people with diabetes. These patients were assigned to two groups of 90 through simple random sampling: the case group and the control group. Only the case group were trained through electronic method for 3 months. The information about the patients’ self-care behaviors were collected in both pre-intervention and post-intervention phases using the standard diabetes self-care questionnaire and the data were analyzed using SPSS as well as descriptive tests (Frequency, Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation) and analytic statistical tests (Chi-Square and Paired T-test). Results: The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean self-care scores acquired before and 3 months after the educational intervention (0/001< P). The mean self-care score acquired 3 months after the educational intervention increased in the case group, in as much as it had statistically significant difference (0/001< P). The mean self-care score acquired 3 months after the educational intervention decreased in the control group, so that it had statistically significant difference in a reverse order (0/001> P). Conclusion: The electronic education has a positive effect on self-care behaviors of patients with diabetes, and the patients’ mean self-care score improves.
Nowadays under COVID 2019, e-learning has become a potential prop approach of technology in education that provides contemporary learners with authentic knowledge acquisitions. As a practical ...contribution, electronic examination (e-exam) is a novel approach in e-learning designed to solve traditional examination issues. It is a combination of assorted questions designed by specialized software to detect an individual’s performance. Despite intensive research in this area, the performance of e-exams faces challenges such as authentication of the examinee’s identity and answered papers. This paper aims to present the experiences of educational organizations in e-exam and e-evaluation as an essential tool of e-learning in various countries. The paper recommends that under the global pandemic COVID 2019 evaluating students using intensive continuous evaluation, including e-exam supported by authentication methods, which may help detect and reduce or even prevent student violations. The results show that the most used LMS tools were the Moodle and proprietary solutions which were 75% both among many other LMS tools i.e., Blackboard and eFront. The least develop countries are prefer to use open source and proprietary due to the zero cost of these solutions. The internet speed, cost and authenticity were the most challenges faced e-exams centers, which were 99%, 82%, and 68%, respectively.
One of the most critical areas of concern in the online learning process is to design engaging courses that are easy to follow and interactive to keep the audience attracted when there is no ...in-person communication between instructor and learner. Online courses may be challenging for learners, instructors, and institutions as well. However, the employment of creative approaches incorporates into online training strategies aims to make learning more interactive for learners. This case study discusses the employment of a range of creative e-learning strategies and online technological tools to deliver knowledge in a virtual environment based on collaborative learning, learning by doing, and team-based learning techniques. Common challenges of e-learning faced by the instructor and learners and the way they are approached are also discussed. The introduced approach has been employed in a Management Information Systems course as a case study.
E-education or e-learning delivers education or any training by electronic teaching methods. The paper investigates foreign models of e-education and e-government development. The large-scale use of ...information technology in the management of education and government feedback requires huge costs for processing big data and the need to ensure the security of information stored in the e-government and e-education system. A descriptive-analytical method is utilized to meet the study’s aim, and several relevant articles and sauces are taken into account. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the services defined in the Concept for the phased creation and development of a new digital platform in Russia have already been created and function in one form or another in several foreign models.
The contemporary development of education is marked by the rapid expansion of online educational applications and platforms. Consequently, it is becoming clear that teachers must consider them and in ...light of their changing role, know what they can offer in their field to be able to recommend them to students to get additional knowledge or even to integrate them into their teaching. As students in the field of computer science and informatics are particularly accustomed to considering online knowledge resources, we decided to investigate their perception of educational applications and platforms. Based on the analysis of the results of their testing of educational platforms and applications, we found that for them the most important is content, followed by personal preferences, reason, user experience, price, etc., and only in the last place is a certificate. The most frequent word in their research reports proved to be knowledge, which we included under the code reason, followed by research, content, time, free, variety, and quality. It also turned out that students’ experience of testing educational applications and platforms is predominantly positive and has even improved over the course of the last three years, which we attribute to the effects of the Covid-19 coronavirus epidemic. The comparison of pre-pandemic and post-pandemic data also revealed that positive sentiment came to the front, while students now prioritize user experience, reason, and quality over the content and personal preferences compared to the pre-pandemic period, while they are still aware of the need for exploration.
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