Biomedical subjects

M Siemer

Publications and source records attributed to M Siemer.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

German dental faculty attitudes towards computer-assisted simulation systems correlated with personal and professional profiles.

BACKGROUND: Computer technology is increasingly used in practical training at universities. However, in spite of their potential, computer-assisted simulation (CAS) systems still appear to be underutilised. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the practical usage of CAS/computer-assisted learning (CAL) systems, the familiarity and level of use of CAS systems, as well as the acceptance of approved learning content and English as the language of instruction in CAS/CAL systems. METHODS: A survey was conducted in the Departments of Conservative Dentistry and Prosthetic Dentistry of all 32 dental schools in Germany. Besides investigating the usefulness of, familiarity with and level of current usage of CAS systems, the questionnaire also contained questions regarding each respondent's gender, age, academic rank, experience in academia and computer skills, all of which correlated with the responses. RESULTS: The response rate was 90% (112 out of 125). The use of CAS/CAL systems was considered 'partly' to 'very' useful for evaluating the acquisition of knowledge (83.9%), qualitative issues (73.2%) and processes (72.3%) of dental preparation exercises and complex treatment strategies. However, only about half the respondents reported that they knew of, and even fewer used, the following systems in preclinical or clinical training: EDUnet (KaVo, Germany) (46.3%/0.9 %), PREPassistant (KaVo, Germany) (50%/0.9%), or the DentSim system (DenX, Israel) (52.8%/1.9%). The virtual simulation system VRDTS-CP (Novint, USA), used by none of the respondents, was known to only 16.5%. Responders agreed at least partly to accept approved learning content (74.9%) and English as the language of instruction (82.1%) as the standards for CAS systems. CONCLUSION: The survey indicates a distinct discrepancy between a generally positive attitude towards the usefulness of computer technology for dental education, the level of familiarity with current computer systems and their actual use. However, two prerequisites for ultimately decreasing the cost and increasing the usage of CAS systems--the acceptance of approved learning content and English as the language of instruction in CAS systems--seem to be generally accepted by respondents.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

German dental faculty attitudes towards computer-assisted learning and their correlation with personal and professional profiles.

BACKGROUND: Compared with its potential, computer technology use is still lacking in medical/dental education. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the primary advantages of computer-assisted learning (CAL) systems in German dental education, as well as the reasons for their relatively low degree of use correlated with personal and professional profiles of respondents. METHOD: A questionnaire was mailed to heads in the departments of conservative dentistry and prosthetic dentistry in all dental schools in Germany. Besides investigating the advantages and barriers to the use of computer technology, the questionnaire also contained questions regarding each respondent's gender, age, academic rank, experience in academia and computer skills. RESULTS: The response rate to the questionnaire was 90% (112 of 125). The results indicated a distinct discrepancy between the desire for and actual occurrence of lectures, seminars, etc. to instruct students in ways to search for and acquire knowledge, especially using computer technology. The highest-ranked advantages of CAL systems in order, as seen by respondents, were the possibilities for individual learning, increased motivation, and both objective theoretical tests and practical tests. The highest-ranked reasons for the low degree of usage of CAL systems in order were the inability to finance, followed equally by a lack of studies of CAL and poor cost-advantage ratio, and too much effort required to integrate CAL into the curriculum. Moreover, the higher the computer skills of the respondents, the more they noted insufficient quality of CAL systems (r = 0.200, P = 0.035) and content differences from their own dental faculty's expert opinions (r = 0.228, P = 0.016) as reasons for low use. CONCLUSION: The correlations of the attitudes towards CAL with the personal and professional profiles showed not only statistical significant reinforcements of, but also interesting deviations from, the average responses.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

[Affect and performance in simple problems].

We investigate the effects of emotional mood states on solving simple pattern comparison tasks. It is assumed that the effects of mood are mediated through response biases as well as effort expenditure. Departing from these assumptions, trend hypotheses are derived for the response biases evaluated by means of a signal detection analysis, for the response latencies, and for an adequate index of the underlying ability. The data support the hypotheses, and in particular, a positive mood state is found to improve performance. The assumption of mood-dependent differences in effort expenditure provides a parsimonious and integrative account of our results, while a reduced-capacity view cannot explain the findings obtained under positive mood induction.

Adult↗