Enhancing Scientific Communication Skills: a Real-World Simulation in a Tertiary-Level Life Science Class Using E-Learning Technology in Biomedical Literature Perception, Reflective Review Writing on a Clinical Issue, and Self and Peer Assessments

Abstract

This educational study aimed to explore the feasibility and acceptance of a literacy exercise adopted from the realworld of scientific publishing in a cell and tissue biology course. For that purpose, a tertiary-level multimodality science course, which integrated a blended learning faculty and student lectures, journal club, and wet laboratory sessions including a research project as well as examinations, was complemented by essaywriting of a review and peerreviewing of five manuscripts. All tasks contributed to the final course mark. Special emphasis was laid on the usability of different E-Learning applications for scientific writing and teacher-and peerassessment procedures. Further, potential influences of student characteristics on their peerand self-assessments as well as their acceptance of the feedback from their peers were evaluated. Seventy-five undergraduate students from different Bachelor programs were included in the study. Plagiarism check and double-blind assessments of the essays were performed using "Turnitin.com." Students self-assessed their paper and received feedback from five peers and the teacher. Peer assessment was more severe than the teacher-or self-assessment, and the peer mark correlated best with the final course mark. Students with better marks assessed more generously, and there had moderate tendencies for influences of gender and background on peer feedback behavior. The students perceived the writing and assessment exercises, especially being peer-assessed, as demanding, but rewarding and a great learning experience. The additional tasks were feasible using E-Learning technology, which should foster future biomedical courses to train writing skills and the ability to cope with different roles in the scientific community.

Body painting, ultrasound, clinical examination, and peer‐teaching: A student‐centered approach to enhance musculoskeletal anatomy learning

“…To date, peer‐ or near‐peer‐teaching is used mainly for shared learning experiences including manuals and textbooks, problem‐based tutorials and in‐course preparation and testing (Nieder et al, 2005; Vasan et al, 2008, 2009; Mason et al, 2023), and to a lesser extent for plenary lectures (Eppler et al, 2018, 2021). In the present study, teams of second‐year medical students prepared plenary lectures guided by faculty to communicate core anatomy contents, instead of faculty lectures.…”

“…The course took place on‐site on eight Friday afternoons during the spring semester starting with an introductory lecture of 45 min by the course coordinator (L.F.) covering teaching objectives, content, and administrative information including allocation of the topics for peer‐presentations (Table 2) and self‐allocation of the students to the team activities. The introductory lecture also presented scientific skills such as literature search, scientific presentation, and the issue of plagiarism as previously described (Eppler et al, 2018, 2021). The teaching and learning platform Moodle learning management system (2023) serves for course administration, information about content and instructions on the activities, and for submission of student work, monitoring, and performance feedback.…”

“…After cessation of the course, students were invited to voluntarily answer an anonymous online questionnaire, adapted from an original standardized students' satisfaction perception questionnaire previously applied for medical and biomedical students (Eppler et al, 2018, 2021). The questionnaire designed in French and German language intended to cover all research questions and comprised a combination of Likert‐type scale with predominantly 4‐5 answer possibilities and free‐text (Supplement 4).…”

“…topics for peer-presentations (Table 2) and self-allocation of the students to the team activities. The introductory lecture also presented scientific skills such as literature search, scientific presentation, and the issue of plagiarism as previously described (Eppler et al, 2018(Eppler et al, , 2021. The teaching and learning platform Moodle learning management system (2023) serves for course administration, information about content and instructions on the activities, and for submission of student work, monitoring, and performance feedback.…”

“…At the end of the 4th week, the first session of 3 h with focus on clinical anatomy took place, and at the end of the 9th week, the second session on clinical and pathological aspects of locomotion outlining anatomical structures, pathology, clinical investigation, radiological imaging, therapy modalities, and prognosis (Table 2). Teacher and peer students assessed the team presentations using a questionnaire, which had been originally adapted from didactic recommendations by Laura Goering (2003) at Perlman Center for Learning and Teaching of the Carlton College in Northfield (MN) and applied in other biomedical courses (Eppler et al, 2018(Eppler et al, , 2021. In brief, the students rated whether the presenters used clear and concise language, the pace of the lecture was appropriate, the lecture flowed logically, the PowerPoint slides were clear and easy to read, the examples/figures clearly explained, and references sufficient.…”