Category: Education
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SAAHE keynote – Improving health professions education to improve health (Bill Burdick)
I’m going to split my blog posts up according to the different sessions, just for ease of reference i.e. a few posts, rather than one very long one. Here are my notes from the first keynote of the day, from Professor Bill Burdick. If you don’t continue the momentum for change, you’re going to be…
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The child is made of one hundred – a poem by Loris Malaguzzi
This is a poem I came across by the founder of the Reggio Emilia approach to education, Loris Malaguzzi. The child is made of one hundred.The child has a hundred languagesa hundred handsa hundred thoughtsa hundred ways of thinkingof playing, of speaking.A hundred, always a hundredways of listeningof marvelingof lovinga hundred joys for singingand understandinga…
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Notes on podcast from Stephen Downes
I thought I’d make some notes while listening to this podcast interview from Stephen Downes., where he talks about personal learning environments, problems with e-learning and open vs. closed educational content. ———————————— Mentions Plearn as part of the opening discussion and bio. What is a PLE? Compares LMS to PLE. LMS is based around the…
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Developing clinical reasoning and critical thinking
“Clinical reasoning is a process in which the therapist, interacting with the patient and significant others (e.g. family and other health-care team members), structures meaning, goals and health management strategies based on clinical data, client choices and professional judgment and knowledge (Higgs & Jones, 2000). Clinical reasoning is difficult, if not impossible to “teach” (if…
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A national core physiotherapy curriculum
I had a great conversation with a colleague today, that stemmed from an ongoing discussion we’re having in our department about moving our practical assessments towards an OSCE-type format. We’ve been thinking about standardising on our assessments for a while but have never had dedicated time to work on it…not that we have any now,…
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The role of feedback in medical education
This reflection on the role of feedback in education is based on a mailing list discussion as part of the SAFRI programme, as well as on a few of the assigned readings. I thank the organisers of the session, as well as all the participants in the conversation. Guidelines for effective feedback The assigned readings…
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Misunderstanding the conversation around teaching with technology
I’ve been going through the collection of abstracts from last year’s HELTASA conference, looking for a citation for a poster presentation that I’d like to use for an assignment. This gave me an overview of the event that I didn’t pick up on while I was there, as I tend to focus on individual presentations…
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SAFRI: conflict resolution
Someone told me that the SAFRI programme had changed their life, and I remember thinking that that might be taking it a bit far. But today brought me closer to thinking that it might not be that far from the truth. It wasn’t so much the content of the session, but the reflection and discussion…
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SAFRI: managing change and research methods
The third day of SAFRI 2010 has come and gone and I’m exhausted. The sessions are intense and for the first time in years, I found myself counting the minute ’til the coffee break. But even that doesn’t offer any respite because it’s regarded as an opportunity for informal discussion about your project. We switched…
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SAFRI: drafting the proposal
Day 2 of the first residential session felt really productive, although I’m not sure if that was because I worked hard or because I spent most of the day staring at my tiny netbook screen (I love my NC10 but it’s definitely not for 8+ hour shifts). Before beginning this session, each of use had…
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SAFRI: Introduction, teams and leadership
Today was the first day of the first SAFRI residential session in Cape Town, where SAFRI is the Southern Africa FAIMER Regional Institute, and FAIMER is the Foundation for Advancement of International Medical Education and Research. We spent today working through a few activities that served as an introduction, both to the programme and to each…
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Assignments
assignment, community-based healthcare settings, education, ethics, Google, google sites, healthcare system, human rights, Ireland, learning outcomes, management, module, online presence, physiopedia, physiotherapist, physiotherapy, Royal College of Surgeons, south africa, university of the western cape, Western Cape, wikiOver the last week I’ve given my fourth year physiotherapy students 2 assignments to be completed over the next few months. Here is a basic rundown of each. The first assignment is part of the continuous evaluation for the Management module I teach. The students must create a website for a (fictional) private physiotherapy practice.…
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Opencourseware Consortium panel discussion at UWC
Andy Lane, Archbishop, Chancellor, derek keats, Desmond Tutu, ethics, internet superstars, lecturer, Neil Butcher, OCW Consortium, oer, oer africa, open university, Opencourseware Consortium, p2pu, peer 2 peer university, Peer University, philip schmidt, south africa, United Kingdom, Vice-Chancellor, Wits UniversityLast Friday I was fortunate enough to attend 2 panel discussions on the use of OER in higher education. It was a bit of an occasion as one of the panels included a few board members of the Opencourseware Consortium (on a side note, UWC is a member of the OCW Consortium). This post is…
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Reflections on improving teaching practice
Up until today, I was kind of maintaining 2 blogs…this one, and a reflective commentary that I included in my teaching portfolio wiki. The portfolio is something that our faculty suggests we keep for when we apply for promotion, etc. but I thought it could be something more. So when I started teaching in 2007, I…
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Bloom’s new taxonomy
The title of this post is taken from a section of David Warlick’s “Exploring the Future of Schooling in Windsor” post, in which he includes a table of Blooms new taxonomy, which I’ve reproduced below. Blooms New Taxonomy Creating assemble, construct, create, design, develop, formulate, write. Evaluating appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, evaluate…
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Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association of South Africa conference
I just got home from the HELTASA conference (my first) at the University of Johannesburg. I’ve enjoyed the last 4 days, and think the conference organisers did a great job of making the programme interesting and engaging. The keynote speakers were all very different, and each brought an interesting dimension to the event. Here’s a…
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Giving students a voice in Physiotherapy Ethics
I’ve been going through some of the “Professional Ethics” assignments I received from our third year physiotherapy students, and wanted to share this one with you (with the students’ permission). It was written by Basil Buthelezi, and which I think really showcases the wonderful talents our students have, which we would never usually encounter because…