Background: Student's learning style preference is an important consideration for effective and high quality teaching and learning process. Different teaching approaches may not suit students' preferences, hence, producing a gap between learning and delivery instructions. The aim of this study was to assess the learning style preferences among the first year pharmacy students of public sector university of Malaysia. Methods: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted during non-lecture hour using validated VAK (visual, aural, and kinaesthetic) questionnaire. After a brief description about the study, the questionnaire was distributed to investigate student's learning mode preferences. Results: A total of 118 responses were received, giving a response rate of 100%. Unimodal learning style was preferred by majority of the students (94.07%). Specifically, visual approach of learning was commonly reported by the participants (53.4%), followed by kinaesthetic mode (22.88%) and auditory mode (17.8%) respectively. Bimodal and tri-modal learning approach was preferred by 5.08% and 0.85% patients respectively. Gender, residency, number of siblings and parent's income did not influence learning preferences of pharmacy students indicating no significance association between the factors and learning styles of the students. Conclusion: The study concluded that teaching styles should be adapted to accommodate the preferences of learning styles among pharmacy students to improve the quality of the teaching and learning experiences of pharmacy students.

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BACKGROUND: Research is the basic component of health science curriculum. AIM: The objective of the study is to determine the knowledge, attitude, and barriers regarding health research among health science students. METHODS: It is a cross-sectional study and 294 study participants were selected through stratified random sampling from different health science colleges (medicine, dental, nursing, and applied science). A validated, structured, and pre-tested questionnaire was used. Knowledge and attitudes were determined through scales. Analysis of variance and t-test were applied to determine the mean scores of knowledge and attitude, and multiple regression analysis was used to determine the factors which affect on knowledge and attitude. RESULTS: Knowledge and attitude mean scores were 4.36 ± 2.44 and 2.74 ± 1.17, respectively. Knowledge and attitude were increase significantly with increasing academic year of study in all health science colleges (Regression coefficient 0.043 [p = 0.032] and 0.005 [p = 0.040] for knowledge and attitudes, respectively). Most common barriers for research were lack of proper mentoring from the faculty staff and lack of time due to over burden with educational activities CONCLUSION: Health science students had moderate level of knowledge and attitude toward health research with common barrier which was lack of proper mentoring from the faculty. There is need for address the barrier for research and more integration of curriculum with research which improved the knowledge and attitude level.

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The study was motivated by the need to harness technological advancement to enhance agricultural production in Osun State. The study assessed the utilization of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) tools for sharing of agricultural related information in Osun State, Nigeria. The study illustrated the socio economic characteristics of the Respondent, identified the available ICT tools for sharing of various agricultural related information, identified agricultural related information shared through various available ICT tools, measured the frequency of utilization of the identified ICT tools and assessed the severity of challenges encountered by Respondent in the utilization of ICT tools in the study area. Sixty percent of Extension Agents in each of the three zones in the study area were sampled. The data collected were examined using descriptive statistics tools while regression analysis was used to test the significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of Respondents and their frequency of utilization of ICT Tools for sharing of agricultural related information in the study areas. The analysis of the data was carried out with the use of SPSS version 22. The findings revealed that the average age of Respondents was 39 years; more than half of the respondent (67.1%) were male; most (81.4%) of the respondent were married; majority (68.6%) of the respondent were Christian; about (70%) of the respondent had tertiary education. The mean household size was 5 members per household; majority of the respondents belonged to one association or the other and they access the internet with their own data plan. Radio (wms 2.7) was ranked first as most available ICT tools for sharing information in the study area. Furthermore, information on availability and sources of farm inputs (wms2.3) was ranked most shared information while information on storage facilities (wms1.0) was ranked the least shared information by the Respondents. Also, the initial cost of procurement of ICT gadgets, cost of maintenance, risk of theft of gadget, and fluctuating power supply were the major challenges encountered with the use of various ICT tools. Regression analysis identified a significant relationship between selected socio-economic characteristics of the Respondents and frequency of Utilization of ICT Tools for sharing Agriculture related information. The study recommended use of Radio as medium through which agricultural related information should be shared bearing in mind its ease of access, little cost of procurement and maintenance, extent of reach and frequency of usage among the respondents. Provision of access to internet facility was recommended in order to afford respondents a limitless right to use information on the World Wide Web. Finally, alternative source of power to enable respondents recharge their ICT gadgets was recommended to make up for unreliable electricity supply.