Publications

Education research explains how healthcare professional training could be more efficient and effective by integrating simulation technology. Despite its relevance in training medical students, the evidence of its effectiveness in the manual skill training of physiotherapy students remains limited. The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of 3-dimensional (3D) images of real objects produced by photogrammetry and traditional 2-dimensional (2D) images when introducing manual therapy skills to undergraduate physiotherapy students via an online course.

Inviting industry guest speakers has become a very effective way of bridging the gap between academic institutions and industry and enhancing applied learning (Davis, 2009; Feng, Chiang, Su, & Yang, 2015). Different parties including students, teachers, universities and industry practitioners can all benefit from guest speaker events. For example, guest speakers can enrich students’ classroom experience (Lowman, 1995) and help students to realize career opportunities (Metrejean et al., 2015). However, most studies focused on one guest speaker or guest speaker events of one programme. By interviewing academic scholars across different disciplines of a higher educational institution in Singapore, the investigators aim to identify the common patterns of informants’ best practices in engaging guest speakers. Interviewing students sitting in those guest speaker sessions can help to triangulate the findings. Another major objective of this study is to explore innovative ways of incorporating guest speaker sessions into curricula and evaluate the effectiveness of those new methods. Theoretically, this study will contribute to applied learning through exploring innovative ways of engaging industry guest speakers and providing valuable pedagogical aids to the academic community. The promotion and dissemination of guest speaker engagement can also expand universities’ scholar work in learning and teaching modalities. Practically, the formation of a standard procedure and a flow chart of engaging guest speakers will provide supplementary documents facilitating teachers’ engagement of industry practitioners. The findings of this study will also provide innovative solutions to connect students with industry professionals and expand universities’ network of expertise.

Early prediction of students' performance is important in identification and providing remedial help to academically weaker students. At the Singapore Institute of Technology, an online learning platform in Mathematics is available to the students three months before official classes start. Through the online platform, students will learn and recall the fundamental mathematical knowledge needed for their Mathematics courses. There are also tests that students take before reviewing the online materials (pre-test), after reviewing each topic (topical tests) and after reviewing all the materials (post-test). Here, we report that the topical tests and post-test scores from the online platform are predictive of students' performances in their first year Mathematics courses.

The use of standardised patients has become integral in the contemporary healthcare and medical education sector, with ongoing discussion on exploring ways to improve existing standardised patient programs. One potentially untapped group in society that may contribute to such programs are persons with disabilities. Persons with disabilities have journeyed through the healthcare system, from injury to post-rehabilitation, and can provide inputs based on their experiences beyond their conditions. This paper draws on our experiences gained from a two-phase experiential learning research project that involved occupational therapy students learning from persons with disabilities. This paper aims to provide eight highly feasible, systematic tips to involve persons with disabilities as standardised patients for assessments and practical lessons. We highlight the importance of considering persons with disabilities when they are in their role of standardised patients as paid co-workers rather than volunteers or patients. This partnership between persons with disabilities and educators should be viewed as a reciprocally beneficial one whereby the university and the disability community learn from one another.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate students' perception of growth in the area of work-related skills through their participation in an integrated work study programme (IWSP). In Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), 368 students across a range of six programs took part in an IWSP lasting six to twelve months. Students reported self-perceived improvements after IWSP in their work-related skills, encompassed by six domains.

This cross-sectional study examines students' and faculty members' perceptions on their use of active learning classrooms in a university in Singapore. The study targets students (398) and faculty (6) who use active learning classrooms—Applied and Collaborative Learning Environment (ACE) rooms. It investigated whether novelty to the learning environment plays a part in the perceptions and experiences of the rooms.