The waiting game

Well, so far none of the students have commented on the prototype blog. So I will keep on waiting....

I realise that I may be a bit impatient - they have just finished their final practical exams and may still be celebrating that. But then, this is a new experience for me - and all the questions that start going through my head - Will anybody write anything? Do they know how to do it? Should I have given more instruction - although I doubt that, but who knows? I suppose this is the reality of e-learning. Wait and see what happens.

Development: Addie and the 5 Rules of Zen

I found this interesting article at http://bdld.blogspot.com/2010/03/addie-and-5-rules-of-zen.html  . It states (among other things) that one should remember not to add too much content in your e-learning designs, as you  can easily overwhelm learners with too much information. We should also not try and create the perfect learning platform - leave some blanks to draw the learner in and let them fill in the blanks. Definitely something for me to think about.

Prototype

I have designed a prototype for my blog, but will only inform the students tomorrow regarding the web address, as they are still doing their practical exams today and tomorrow. My goal with this prototype is:

•  to get feedback from the students regarding their use of the blog;
• to see how they interact on the blog (hopefully they will);
• to find out how much instruction they need in the use thereof; and
• to experience the use of a survey.

You can all find this prototype at http://otwhatnow.blogspot.com/2011/10/new-beginnings.html

 Please let me know what you think. 

Learning tools

I have just found this website that I think will be of value http://c4lpt.co.uk/directory-of-learning-performance-tools/

I hope I have now put it in correctly - this is a first attempt.

Maybe it can help someone else too.

Design phase

Trying to understand the Design phase made me realise that, in my mind,  I have this very broad plan for e-learning, but that I will have to consider each aspect in much more detail if want to ensure any measure of success.

My main goal will be to facilitate the process of collaborative learning among the students during their fieldwork experience and to enhance their clinical reasoning through a process of reflection and discussion. Learning objectives will be written accordingly.

I am still unsure about the way in which I will measure some of the objectives, especially the type/depth of reflection/s by students. Our students are evaluated in many different ways during their clinical block and I am just worried that another possible 'evaluation' may have a negative effect on their participation and their motivation. In my survey with the students they emphasized that students should enjoy using the blog. On the other hand, this blog must facilitate learning and how will I know whether they have learnt. I will have to think about this one.

The students' feedback regarding the blog (at the end of the clinical block) will be essential to keep the ADDIE process going. Any suggestions for that?

In a more personal/affective sense I have to confess that I feel a bit overwhelmed by this module. Just as I think that things are starting to make sense,  I realise that that is actually not the fact and that I am on a very steep learning curve. I keep climbing!

Student survey

My discussion with the students regarding the use of a blog during their fieldwork experiences indicated the the following:

• All the students were of the opinion that a blog would have added value during their fieldwork experiences in the past, especially during their 3rd year of study when they often had to ask for assistance from fourth year students. According to them a blog can act as an 'easy connection' to other students, especially for students who do not stay in the residences on campus, and as a way in which collaborative learning can be facilitated.  It can also assist students in formulating their opinions in the written form; they can share interesting literature and case studies; and it can possibly act as a source of information for newly qualified OTs during their Compserve year.
• Some of the students appeared to be more computer literate than others. One student stated that she grew up in a small town where she did not use any computers before coming to SU, and still does not use it when she goes home. Only one of the four students was familiar with blogs and read them on a regular basis. I found this very interesting as I just assumed that the younger, educated generation would be more computer literate. Even these young students spoke about the 'younger generation' of OT students who were more computer literate than them, and who would possibly be more actively involved in blogging (This made me feel like a old digital immigrant). However, these four students all had access to the internet and made use of 3G cards and cellphones. They also believed that they will get better at blogging through the use thereof.
• It was recommended that the lecturer should  preferably email the blog address to the students before the start of the clinical block, so that students could read all the previous comments and adequately prepare for the block. 
• The students  were furthermore of the opinion that a certain amount of structure would assist in the students' participation in blogging. Some stated that they did not like to be told to do something (eg the amount of blogs/week or blogs/clinical block), while others preferred the opposite. The possibility of allocating marks according to their participation rate was discussed. According to them it was also essential that the blog should be user-friendly and that the students should enjoy using it.

Although this was an informal discussion with only a few students, it resulted in some interesting thoughts by the students regarding the possible use of a blog to facilitate the process of collaborative learning during the students' fieldwork experiences. However, it is important to take certain aspects into account, for instance the computer literacy of students, and the time available for blogging, during the design phase of the intervention.

Needs assessment

I am currently supervising 4 fourth-year students at Western Cape Rehab Clinic. Today I got the idea to do a small survey in order to find out from them what exactly they would expect from the proposed blog, and their specific needs in this regard. I realise that this is a small sample, but I only supervised 12 students during 2011 and can at least get some valuable input from them.