A free course by an assistant professor from India at Taipei Medical University has attracted more than 3,000 registrations one week after going online, mainly from the US and Europe.
The university teamed up with FutureLearn, the largest free online course platform in Europe, to offer courses by several of its professors. Among them, Shabbir Syed-Abdul’s class “Social Media in Healthcare: opportunities and challenges,” was one of the most popular.
Syed-Abdul said that information on the Internet has its pros and cons, and many people believe everything they read online. Teaching people to discern correct information is one thing that modern medical staff must pay attention to, he said.
He also said that the Internet can be used to upgrade a patient’s understanding of the fight against a disease.
For example, he once invited a patient to attend his class. The man was suffering from kidney cancer and doctors had advised him to undergo surgery to remove the lesions or to undergo chemotherapy, but by browsing online information he was able to find that interferon was an effective treatment.
Syed-Abdul first studied medicine in Russia. He then received a master’s degree in Norway before obtaining his doctoral degree at National Yang Ming University in Taipei.
He said that he loves living in Taiwan, describing it as a safe place.
He feels he can go out at night without fear, and even count his money on the street, which he said is not possible in the US or India.
He said that he finds Taiwanese students to be shy and not very confident when expressing themselves.
He thinks that expressing oneself in English might be a problem for Taiwanese students and they need to practice expressing their views in English.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
PROMOTION: Travelers who want a free stopover must book their flights with designated travel agents, such as Lion Travel, Holiday Tours, Cola Tour and Life Tours Air Canada yesterday said it is offering Taiwanese travelers who are headed to North America free stopovers if they transit though airports in Japan and South Korea. The promotion was launched in response to a potential rise in demand for flights to North America in June and July next year, when the US, Canada and Mexico are scheduled to jointly host the FIFA World Cup, Air Canada said. Air Canada offers services to 13 of the 16 host cities of the tournament’s soccer games, including Toronto and Vancouver; Mexico City, Guadalajara and Monterrey in Mexico; Atlanta, Georgia; Boston; Dallas; Houston;
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