Improving the student learning and placement experience through technology-supported collaboration in small groups
Pat Colliety and Lee-Ann Sequeira Faculty Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey
The session will be streamed live from this page
Supporting students and facilitating their learning while they are on placement or in practice is a perpetual challenge. This seminar reports on a SCEPTrE Fellowship project aimed at improving opportunities for collaborative learning while students were on placement in the ‘Conceptual Analysis of Child and Mental Health’, a Level 3 module in the nursing degree programme. In this module students spend half of the 14 weeks in practice on work placement but the structure of the module meant that the students had very little time to discuss the requirements of the portfolio before they went into practice. As the students are spread across a wide geographical area, there was also limited opportunity for them to discuss their work or share placement experiences with each other, and some experienced a sense of isolation. Another problem, from a tutor support perspective, is that students are working on their academic and practice assignments with limited access to tutorial support for most of the module.
By using small groups, the university’s virtual learning environment, a wiki and virtual surgeries using virtual classroom software, the tutor was able to facilitate the integration of theory and practice whilst maintaining the dynamic of learning when the students were in practice, and increase and improve the level of tutor and peer interaction while on placement. This was achieved through a combination of responsive planning, student participation and investment and allocation of time, technology and resources; making this a model that may be replicated in similar modules where placement makes up a significant part of the module. The seminar will feature a film that was made about the process and students’ responses to the approach that was used.
If you would like to attend the seminar please let Susan Wood know sceptre@surrey.ac.uk