Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"Practice-Based Design Research provides a companion to masters and PhD programs in design research through practice. The contributors address a range of models and approaches to practice-based research, consider relationships between industry and academia, researchers and designers, discuss initiatives to support students and faculty during the research process, and explore how students' experiences of undertaking practice-based research has impacted their future design and research practice. The text is illustrated throughout with case study examples by authors who have set up, taught or undertaken practice-based design research, in a range of national and institutional contexts\"-- Provided by publisher.

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students are often encouraged to maximize their engagement with supervised research and minimize teaching obligations. However, the process of teaching students engaged in inquiry provides practice in the application of important research skills. Using a performance rubric, we compared the quality of methodological skills demonstrated in written research proposals for two groups of early career graduate students (those with both teaching and research responsibilities and those with only research responsibilities) at the beginning and end of an academic year. After statistically controlling for preexisting differences between groups, students who both taught and conducted research demonstrate significantly greater improvement in their abilities to generate testable hypotheses and design valid experiments. These results indicate that teaching experience can contribute substantially to the improvement of essential research skills.

This qualitative multi-case study explores the exercise and development of the design judgment of eight instructional design (ID) students working on design projects over one semester in graduate programs at four different institutions in the USA. Their design processes were explored through interviews and their design documents using the concepts of design judgment as reported by Nelson and Stolterman (The design way: Intentional change in an unpredictable world, MIT Press, Cambridge, 2012) and reflection-in-action as reported by Schön (The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action, Basic Books, New York, 1983) to characterize the exercise and development of their design judgment across the semester. Findings reveal that these ID students make multiple design judgments concurrently and constantly. Their prior design experience, the course requirements and their design practice in class influence both the exercise and development of their design judgment. Lastly, the development of their design judgment is both perceptible and personal. In light of these findings, recommendations are made for how to support the development of ID students’ design judgment.

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.

Background There is currently no consensus among universities regarding the content and format of Oral Biomaterials courses for graduate dental students. This course was designed to maximize instructional efficiency within a limited timeframe and to promote the sharing of educational resources. The aim is to cultivate interdisciplinary thinking, enhance clinical diagnostic reasoning, and increase research awareness, all while providing a solid foundation in materials science. Methods To develop a robust curriculum, we surveyed 89 dental educators from 18 universities across 14 provinces in China. Their feedback informed the selection of effective teaching strategies, the design of course content and structure, and the development of comprehensive assessment methods. As an elective, the course was attended by 14 graduate students whose performance was evaluated through both course grades and survey questionnaires. These results were then compared with the academic outcomes of 10 students who experienced traditional teaching methods. Results Survey data revealed that approximately 57.3% of the teachers supported establishing a dedicated Oral Biomaterials course, and 61.8% endorsed scheduling the course during the graduate period. For the course design, 61.8% recommended an equal balance between theoretical and practical instruction, while 76.4% believed that 25–35 class hours provided the most effective teaching duration. These differences were statistically significant ( P  < 0.001). After one semester, the experimental group achieved an average comprehensive score of 88.77, significantly higher than the 79.33 average observed in the group taught by traditional methods ( P  < 0.05). Conclusion By gathering and analyzing the insights of dental educators from major Chinese universities, this study developed an online curriculum system that overcomes the spatial and temporal limitations of traditional instruction. The system addresses the current shortage of accessible online resources for Oral Biomaterials courses and promotes inter-institutional resource sharing. The one-semester implementation and subsequent evaluation confirmed that this innovative teaching approach significantly improved learning outcomes and received positive feedback from students.

Background Traditional methods of training in ultrasound technology make it difficult for postgraduate reproductive medicine students to rapidly develop into doctors who can perform clinical examinations independently. It is necessary to explore an efficient method for ultrasound training. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the step-by-step (SBS) teaching improves the ultrasound diagnosis and clinical work level of reproductive medicine graduate students. Methods A total of fifty postgraduate reproductive medicine students who participated in ultrasound room training were selected at random and divided into two groups: a traditional teaching control group and a stepwise teaching experimental group. A comparison was subsequently conducted between the two groups in terms of theoretical level, skill operation, comprehensive ability and teaching evaluation. Results In terms of theory, skills, and comprehensive assessment, the experimental group exhibited superior performance compared to the control group ( P  < 0.05). The experimental group rated the instructors’ teaching ability and methods significantly better than did the control group ( P  < 0.05). The experimental group’s overall satisfaction with the training was better than that of the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant ( P  > 0.05). Conclusions The stepped teaching model has the potential to facilitate the acquisition of clinical ultrasound detection and diagnostic techniques by postgraduate reproductive medicine students, thereby enhancing their overall competence and satisfaction with the teaching process.

Coding is a ubiquitous part of the qualitative research process, but it is often under-considered in research methods training and literature. This article explores a number of questions about the coding process which are often raised by beginning researchers, in the light of the recommendations of methods textbooks and the factors which contribute to an answer to these questions. I argue for a conceptualisation of coding as a decision-making process, in which decisions about aspects of coding such as density, frequency, size of data pieces to be coded, are all made by individual researchers in line with their methodological background, their research design and research questions, and the practicalities of their study. This has implications for the way that coding is carried out by researchers at all stages of their careers, as it requires that coding decisions should be made in the context of an individual study, not once and for all.

As the design thinking approach becomes more established in the instructional design (ID) discourse, the field will have to reconsider the professional identity of instructional designers. Rather than passively following models or processes, a professional identity rooted in design thinking calls for instructional designers to be dynamic agents of change who use reflective thinking to navigate the design space and develop solutions to ill-structured problems. Graduate programs in ID will also need to prepare students to manage the complexities they will encounter in their professional practice, including the establishment of design precedents, reflective thinking skills, and the foundations of professional identity. This research explored the use of reflective writing assignments in an introductory ID graduate course, with results indicating that most students are able to engage in meaningful reflection in relation to prompts concerning design concepts, experiences, and identity attributes, although no clear patterns of improvement emerged over time. Future directions for research include the use of feedback and the structure of prompts (including frequency of writing assignments and wording of prompts) to support improved student performance.

Background Standardized training for orthopedic and traumatology residents is a crucial component of postgraduate medical education. Traditional teaching methods, such as Lecture-Based Learning (LBL), often fail to stimulate student initiative and clinical thinking. To address this, our study aimed to explore the effectiveness of a combined Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and Standardized Patients (SP) teaching method in enhancing the clinical skills and self-learning abilities of orthopedic residents. Methods A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 59 orthopedic residents from three medical institutions in China. The participants were randomly divided into a control group ( n  = 29) receiving traditional LBL combined with SP and a study group ( n  = 30) receiving PBL combined with SP. Both groups were instructed on common orthopedic diseases for 21 h. Teaching effectiveness was assessed through self-designed electronic questionnaires, classroom performance metrics, and final exams. Results Compared with the control group, the study group demonstrated significantly greater levels of self-study initiative, teamwork ability, classroom learning efficiency, learning interest, and clinical processing ability ( P  < 0.05). The study group also showed greater improvement in their ability to handle clinical problems and had higher postclass knowledge retention and learning interest scores ( P  < 0.05). Practical exam scores and overall scores were significantly higher in the study group ( P  < 0.05), although written exam scores did not differ significantly. Conclusions The combined PBL and SP teaching method was found to be superior to traditional LBL in improving the clinical skills and self-learning abilities of orthopedic residents. This approach enhances student engagement, clinical thinking, and overall educational outcomes, suggesting that it is a valuable addition to orthopedic resident training programs.

Background Traditionally, doctoral student education in the biomedical sciences relies on didactic coursework to build a foundation of scientific knowledge and an apprenticeship model of training in the laboratory of an established investigator. Recent recommendations for revision of graduate training include the utilization of graduate student competencies to assess progress and the introduction of novel curricula focused on development of skills, rather than accumulation of facts. Evidence demonstrates that active learning approaches are effective. Several facets of active learning are components of problem-based learning (PBL), which is a teaching modality where student learning is self-directed toward solving problems in a relevant context. These concepts were combined and incorporated in creating a new introductory graduate course designed to develop scientific skills (student competencies) in matriculating doctoral students using a PBL format. Methods Evaluation of course effectiveness was measured using the principals of the Kirkpatrick Four Level Model of Evaluation. At the end of each course offering, students completed evaluation surveys on the course and instructors to assess their perceptions of training effectiveness. Pre- and post-tests assessing students’ proficiency in experimental design were used to measure student learning. Results The analysis of the outcomes of the course suggests the training is effective in improving experimental design. The course was well received by the students as measured by student evaluations (Kirkpatrick Model Level 1). Improved scores on post-tests indicate that the students learned from the experience (Kirkpatrick Model Level 2). A template is provided for the implementation of similar courses at other institutions. Conclusions This problem-based learning course appears effective in training newly matriculated graduate students in the required skills for designing experiments to test specific hypotheses, enhancing student preparation prior to initiation of their dissertation research.