The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) necessitated an abrupt transition from on campus, face-to-face sessions to online, distance learning in higher education institutions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of postgraduate dental learners and instructors about the transition to distance learning, including the changes to the learning and teaching and its efficaciousness. A convergent mixed methods approach to research was utilized. All the instructors and postgraduate learners in a dental college were invited to participate in an online survey. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential analyses on SPSS for Windows version 25.0, and for the responses to the open-ended questions, multi-staged thematic analysis was utilized. Both groups of stakeholders: learners and instructors, were satisfied with the rapid transition to distance learning due to COVID-19. Instructors were significantly more satisfied than the learners. The stakeholders adapted well to the change. The perception of the stakeholders regarding the case-based scenarios significantly influenced their level of satisfaction. As perceived by the stakeholders, the transition to distance learning entailed advantages and challenges. Going through the experience enabled the stakeholders to develop informed opinions of how best to sustain learning and teaching irrespective of how matters unfold in relation to the pandemic. In conclusion, the worldwide dental education community faced unprecedented challenges due to the onset of COVID-19. From a macro perspective, decision-makers must not miss out on the valuable opportunities, inherent in the experience, to reinforce curriculums, and maximize learning and teaching.

Objectives:Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is lifesaving. Yet, cardiac arrest survival remains low despite CPR intervention. Education has been highlighted as a strategy to overcome this issue. Virtual Reality technology has been gaining momentum in the field of clinical education. Published studies report benefits of virtual reality for CPR education; yet, perceptions of CPR instructors towards virtual reality remain unexplored. CPR instructors are key stakeholders in CPR education and their perceptions are valuable for the design and adoption of virtual reality-enhanced learning. The purpose of this study is therefore to understand the perceptions of CPR instructors towards using virtual reality for health professionals’ CPR education. The aim was addressed via three research questions: (1) What are the perceptions of CPR instructors towards current health professionals’ CPR education? (2) What are the perceptions of CPR instructors towards features of virtual reality ideal for health professionals’ CPR education? (3) What are the perceptions of CPR instructors towards the potential role of virtual reality in health professionals’ CPR education?Methods:A total of 30 CPR instructors were surveyed on their views towards current health professionals’ CPR education and the use of virtual reality for health professionals’ CPR education, before and after interacting with a CPR virtual reality simulation. Responses were analysed using interpretative thematic analysis.Results:CPR instructors perceived current health professionals’ CPR education as limited due to unideal test preparation (resources, practice, motivation, and frame of mind) and performance. They perceived fidelity, engagement, resource conservation, and memory enhancement as features of virtual reality ideal for health professionals’ CPR education. Virtual reality was viewed by CPR instructors as having potential as a blended learning tool, targeting both ‘novice’ and ‘experienced’ health professionals.Conclusion:The study highlighted the gaps in current health professionals’ CPR education that can be addressed using virtual-reality-enabled learning. Future research could investigate virtual reality simulations with features desirable for CPR education of target populations.

Virtual reality environments for health professional education (Protocol). Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews(Issue 2), article no. CD012090. For guidance on citations see FAQs.

In this chapter, we introduce the readers to the field of big educational data and how big educational data can be analysed to provide insights into different stakeholders and thereby foster data driven actions concerning quality improvement in education. For the analysis and exploitation of big educational data, we present different techniques and popular applied scientific methods for data analysis and manipulation such as analytics and different analytical approaches such as learning, academic and visual analytics, providing examples of how these techniques and methods could be used. The concept of quality improvement in education is presented in relation to two factors: (a) to improvement science and its impact on different processes in education such as the learning, educational and academic processes and (b) as a result of the practical application and realization of the presented analytical concepts. The context of health professions education is used to exemplify the different concepts.

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