Browsing by Author "Dasanayaka, I.P.E.U."

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Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Cloud Storage among the Medical Students at Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya
(19th Conference on Postgraduate Research, International Postgraduate Research Conference 2018, Faculty of Graduate Studies,University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Hettige, S.; Hettiarachchi, W.G.; Solangaarachch, D.I.K.; Dasanayaka, I.P.E.U.; Ediriweera, E.P.D.S.
The rise of the healthcare spending on cloud services indicates the adaptation of the cloud technology in recent past. The aim of this study is to assess the attitudes and practice of cloud storage (CS) among the students at Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. Stratified sampling with proportional allocation was used to select students. Number of students selected from 1st to 5th year were 46, 49, 47, 50 and 43 respectively. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data after obtaining written informed consent. 261 returned questionnaires and 26 were removed due to incompleteness. Of 235, 75 (32%) were male students. 138 (59%) students were aware of CS, among them, 127 (92%) had used CS. 126 (54%) students believed CS is useful and 121(52%) students have used CS to save materials, among them (53%) for educational material, (36%) for personal information and (11%) for entertainment material. Among the students who were aware of CS, the main limiting factors of using CS were lack of time (40%) and knowledge (20%) and they were also concerned on limited accessibility (33%), lack of security (27%) and privacy (24%) in CS. Among the 41% who were not aware of CS, 74% mentioned that they would like to have training on CS and another 22% indicated that they are not interested on CS. The majority of students were aware of CS and lack of time and knowledge hinder CS usage. The accessibility, security and privacy are the main concerns about CS. Study shows majority of students are willing to learn on CS and teaching CS during undergraduate training would be beneficial to the students.
Open Educational Resources (OER) and Social Media (SM) for Academic Information Seeking at Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya
(International Postgraduate Research Conference 2019, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2019) Hettige, S.; Wickramaarachchi, G.K.; Dasanayaka, I.P.E.U.; Ediriweera, E.P.D.S.
Use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Social media (SM) for academic information seeking is a common practice among modern undergraduates. There are limited data in Sri Lanka on OER and SM use as educational tools. This study aimed to evaluate the use of OER and SM for academic purposes among the medical students at Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. We undertook a cross sectional study at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. Stratified sampling with proportional allocation was used to select students from each batch and 287 students were recruited from 1st to 5th year. Informed written consent was obtained and a self-administered questionnaire was given. The questionnaire consisted of questions on OER and SM use in academic activities along with the frequency of usage. 257completed questionnaires were analyzed. Of 257 (89.6%) respondents, 185 (72.0%) were females. The OER and SM use in education were 92.5% (95%CI: 89.3% - 95.8%) and 89.0% (95%CI: 85.2% - 92.6%) respectively. Both findings were not significantly different by gender or between academic years. The reasons for using OER in education included: the availability of information at any time (38.1%), easiness to search (33.9%), availability of detailed information (17.3%) and updated information (7.2%). Wiki sites (89.0%) were the most popular OER followed by Slide Share (37.2%) and e-journals (20.3%). 3.8% participated in medical forums. 53.4% believed information in wikis are reliable. Facebook (79.8%) was the commonest SM platform followed by YouTube (60.3%) and Google+ (50.2%). 79.0% used SM to follow the medical related web sites. 76.3% used SM to join education groups. 41.2% used SM in academic discussions and sharing information with group of foreign students. 35.8% could not find academic information via SM due to the information overload. 31.1% mentioned that the SM disturbed concentration on their academic works. 12.5% did not trust the contents in SM. Students also searched the web to find the information. 58.9% trusted the information without considering the source and only 36.4% specifically searched the information in educational and government related sites. Majority of students have used OER and SM for academic purposes. Wiki sites and Facebook were the most popular OER site and SM platform among students. Majority students trusted the information found on web search without considering the credibility of sources. E-journals are not popular among students. The majority had followed the medical related web sites and joined educational groups via SM. Disturbances to academic works and difficulty in finding accurate information were major concerns in using SM. This study highlights the importance of improving information literacy among the medical students
Prior experience of office package among new entrants at Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya
(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Hettige, S.; Dasanayaka, I.P.E.U.; Bandara, M.R.P.M.; Ediriweera, E.P.D.S.
BACKGROUND: Skill to work with an office package is essential for students. OBJECTIVES: To assess the level of confidence and frequency of usage on Microsoft Word (WORD), PowerPoint (PPT) and Excel (EXCEL) among new entrants. METHODS: Moodle based self-administered questionnaire was given to new entrants in 2015 and 2016 batches. RESULTS: The results are described according to the 2015 (n=159) and 2016 (n=147) batches respectively. Proportions who had used WORD before were 98% (n=156) and 97% (n=143). Those who used it more than once a week were 24% (n=38) and 35% (n=52) and 22% (n=35)) and 20% (n=29) were reported to have confidence in working with WORD. Proportions who had used PPT before were 96% (n=153) and 93% (n=137).Those who used it more than once a week were 14% (n=22) and 22% (n=33) and 19% (n=30) and 22% (n=33) were reported to have confidence in working with PPT. Proportions who had used EXCEL before were 82% (n=130) and 90% (n=132).Those who used it more than once a week were 7% (n=11) and 9% (n=13) and 6% (n=9) and 9% (n=13) were reported to have confidence in working with EXCEL. Level of confidence using WORD and PPT was not significantly different (P=0.9), but was significantly higher compared to EXCEL, p value being <0.01 for both comparisons. Frequency of using WORD was high compared to PPT (P<0.01) and EXCEL (P<0.01), and PPT compared to EXCEL (P<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: New medical entrants were more confident in using WORD and PPT and were regularly using WORD compared to PPT and EXCEL.
Social networking is popular among new medical entrants of Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya
(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Dasanayaka, I.P.E.U.; Hettige, S.; Bandara, M.R.P.M.; Ediriweera, E.P.D.S.
BACKGROUND: The rapid growth and adoption of social networking and internet telephony had affected many fields including education. OBJECTIVES: To assess the usage of social networking services (SNS) and Internet telephony (IT) and confidence in using SNS among new entrants to the Faculty of Medicine. METHODS: Moodle based self-administered questionnaire was given to new entrants in the 2015 and 2016 batches. Results: The results are described according to the 2015 (n=159) and 2016 (n=147) batches respectively. 93% (149(94%) in 2015 and 135(92%) in 2016, P= 0.53) had been SN and 52% (70(44%) in 2015 and 88(60%) in 2016, P<0.01) stated that they were confident in SN, among them 60% (21(49%) in 2015 and 36 (70%) in 2016, P<0.01) were males and 48% (49(42%) in 2015 and 52(55%) in 2016, P= 0.07) were females, where males were more confident in SN than females (P= 0.05). 65% (99(62%) in 2015 and 99(67%) in 2016, P= 0.35) had used IT and 23% (26(16%) in 2015 and 45(31%) in 2016, P<0.01 ) were confident, among them 29% (9(21%) in 2015 and 19(37%) in 2016, P= 0.09) males and 20% (17(15%) in 2015 and 26 (27%) in 2016, P= 0.02) were females, where the level of confidence was not different between males and females (P= 0.18). SN was high compared to IT usage (P< 0.01) and 2016 entrants showed high level of confidence in SN (P= 0.01) and IT (P= 0.01) compared to 2015. CONCLUSIONS: Even though the SN and IT are popular among students, confident level is low compared to the usage.
Usage of Internet among new entrants at Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya
(Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Dasanayaka, I.P.E.U.; Hettige, S.; Bandara, M.R.P.M.; Ediriweera, E.P.D.S.
BACKGROUND: The Internet has become a fundamental cornerstone of modern education, learning and health care delivery. OBJECTIVES: To describe the usage and confidence in the use of Internet, email and cloud storage services (CSS) among new medical entrants at the Faculty of Medicine University of Kelaniya. METHODS: Moodle based self-administered questionnaire was given new entrants in 2015 and 2016 batches. RESULTS: The results are described according to the 2015 (n=159) and 2016 (n=147) batches respectively Proportions who had previously accessed Internet were 99% (n=157) and 97% (n=143). Those who indicated confidence in browsing it were 50% (n=80) and 64% (n=94). Those who surfed it daily were 33% (n=53) and 50% (n=74). Proportions who had personal email accounts were 92 %( n=146) and 98% (n=144). Those who indicated confidence in using emails were 40% (n=63) and 58% (n=85). Those who accessed it daily in each batch was 13% (n=21 and 19 respectively). Proportions who had used CSS were 52% (n=82) and 63% (n=92). Those who indicated confidence in using CSS were only 4% (n=7) and 13% (n=19). Level of confidence in utilization of above services was significantly (p<0.01 for each batch) lower in comparison to the number utilizing the services, Significant differences were also observed with regard to students’ confidence in Internet browsing compared to using email (p= 0.04) and CSS (p< 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Majority of students have accessed internet and were in possession of email accounts. CSS are not popular among them. A proper training is recommended to improve the level of confidence in the use of Internet, email and CSS.
Usage of social media as an education resource among medical students at Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya
(Sri Lanka Medical Association, 2019) Dasanayaka, I.P.E.U.; Wickramaarachchi, G.K.; Hettiarachchi, W.G.; Hettige, S.; Ediriweera, E.P.D.S.
INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: Social media (SM) networks has become a popular educational tool at present. There is limited data in Sri Lanka on SM usage as an educational tool. The aim of this study is to evaluate the usage of SM for academic purposes among medical students of faculty of Medicine University of Kelaniya. METHODS: Stratified sampling with proportional allocation was used to select students from each batch and 287 students were recruited from 1st to 5th year. Informed written consent was obtained and a self-administered questionnaire was given. 255 completed questionnaires were returned. RESULTS: Of 255, 86.95% students used SM for educational purposes with no male and female difference (P=0.06). 90.6%, 61.6% and 56.1% accessed Facebook, Google + and YouTube respectively. Of them, 67.1%, 44.7% and 33.9% respectively accessed them daily for academic purposes respectively. 84.2% students followed medical related web sites through SM. 84.5% had joined educational groups in SM and 44.9% had joined academic discussions or information sharing groups in other local and foreign universities. 43.3% could not find information that they want due to information overload and 38.1% mentioned that SM disturbed their academic work. CONCLUSION: Majority had used SM for educational purposes without gender preference. Facebook, Google+ and YouTube are the commonest SM educational tools and majority had joined educational groups. SM had disturbed academic work of students and difficulty to find correct information was major concern among students.