Category: Physiotherapy

Results of my Delphi first round

Nov 21, 2011

in PhD, Physiotherapy, Research

anxiety, attitudes, attributes, awareness, confidence, delphi method, delphi study, emotion, fear, hidden culture, knowledge, personal, phd, professional, research, skills, values

I’ve recently finished the analysis of the first round of the Delphi study that I’m conducting as part of my PhD. The aim of the study is to determine the personal and professional attributes that determine patient outcomes, as well as the challenges faced in clinical education. These results will serve to inform the development…
Graphically representing a curriculum

Nov 14, 2011

in Assessment, Curriculum, Physiotherapy, Research, Teaching, Technology

cmaps, cmaptools, concept mapping, curriculum, curriculum as platform, curriculum development, curriculum mapping, delphi study, document analysis, graphical representation, phd, platforms, research, uml, unified modeling language

I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog lately, owing to the fact that I’ve been putting a lot of time into the next phase of my PhD. This post is in part an attempt to summarise and try to make sense of what’s going on there, as well as to assuage my feeling of…
TEDxStellenbosch: designing spaces

Nov 3, 2011

in Curriculum, Education, Learning, PhD, Physiotherapy, Research, Teaching, Technology

blended learning, city spaces, cityafrica, learning, learning spaces, phd, research, stafford massie, steve vosloo, teaching, tedxstellenbosch

A few months ago I attended TEDxStellenbosch at Spier wine farm near Stellenbosch. It was one of the better TEDx events I’ve been to during past few years and I enjoyed it immensely. During the day I re-tweeted comments from other participants, mainly as a record of speakers and the comments that resonated with me.…
Neuroplasticity in rehabilitation

Sep 5, 2011

in Health, Physiotherapy

constraint induced therapy, cortical reorganisation, neurology, neuroplasticity, neurorehabilitation, plasticity

A few weeks ago I attended a short presentation by Professor Meena Iyer from Missouri University. Her lecture was on the role of neuroplasticity in occupational therapy rehabilitation, although the principles of her talk apply across all of the allied health sciences. Here are the notes I took: Plasticity: brain structure and function can be…
Blended learning in clinical education (AMEE presentation)

Aug 30, 2011

in Conference, Education, PhD, Physiotherapy, Research

AMEE, AMEE11, blended learning, clinical education, phd, presentation, prezi, research, systematic review

This is the presentation that I gave at the AMEE conference earlier today. It’s the results of a systematic literature review I did as part of my PhD, where I looked at the use of blended learning in clinical education. The abstract doesn’t give much information owing to the fact that I had to be…
The role of clinicians in student assessment

Aug 22, 2011

in Assessment, Curriculum, Physiotherapy, Students, Teaching

assessment, clincian, clinical practice, competence, examination, exams, formative assessment, summative assessment

A few weeks ago I was at a workshop attended mainly by clinicians who are involved in student supervision. One of the questions asked was about the role of clinicians in student assessment. I thought it was worth writing a short note about the general feeling in the room, and my own thoughts on the…
Applying theoretical concepts to clinical practice

Aug 9, 2011

in Assessment, Assignments, Learning, Physiotherapy, Research, Students, Teaching

assessment, assignment, classrooms, clinical learning, clinical teaching, concept mapping, drafting, knowledge, lectures, movement science

I just finished giving feedback to my students on the concept mapping assignment they’re busy with. It’s the first time I’ve used concept mapping in an assignment and in addition to the students’ learning, I’m also trying to see if it helps me figure out what they really understand about applying the theory we cover…
Introducing the OSPE format to physiotherapy practicals

Jul 11, 2011

in Assessment, Curriculum, Physiotherapy, Teaching

assessment, collaborative writing, Google Docs, movement science, objective structured practical examination, ospe, practical, teaching and learning

Last year at our planning meeting (every year we meet to review the year and to plan for the upcoming one) we committed to conducting all of our practicals from now on in the OSPE format (Objective Structured Practical Examination). This format has the advantages of having all students perform the same assessment tasks, as…
Social networks and clinical education: presentation at SAAHE

Jul 1, 2011

in Assignments, Conference, Education, Physiotherapy, Research, Social media

clinical dilemmas, clinical education, clinical learning, practice knowledge, presentation, reflective practice, saahe 2011, social media

My presentation at the SAAHE conference is a more in-depth look at the same project that I presented at the conference in 2010. The key points I wanted to make were that: Students struggle to develop practice knowledge because it is hidden from them i.e. they can’t “see” our thinking process as we reason our…
SAFRI 2011 (session 2) – day 3

Jun 27, 2011

in Assessment, Curriculum, Learning, Physiotherapy, Students, Teaching, Workshop

assessment, clinical learning, clinical skills, curriculum alignment, educational models, portfolios, reflection

Began today with a session on workplace-based learning, spent some time “developing a model” for learning a new skill after actually trying to learn (what was for many) a new skill…spinning a top. My group came up with the following model which, truth be told was obviously based on Kolb’s learning cycle. Reviewed educational model…
Reflective blogging in an Evidence-based practice module

Jun 20, 2011

in Conference, Physiotherapy, Research, Social media

blogging, ebp, evidence based practice, kolb’s learning cycle, physiotherapy, publication, reflective learning, research, wcpt, world congress of physical therapy

During 2010 a colleague and I studied the use of blogging to facilitate reflection among postgraduate physiotherapy students as it related to the process of learning evidence-based practice. We’re in the last stages of writing the article and have developed a poster that will be presented at the World Congress of Physical Therapy in Amsterdam…
Strategies to improve clinical teaching: a workshop

Jun 13, 2011

in Assessment, Education, Learning, Physiotherapy, Students, Teaching, Workshop

assessment, assessment practices, clinical education, clinical educator, clinical learning, clinical reasoning, clinical supervision, clinical supervisor, learning theories, students

On Saturday I attended a workshop at Groote Schuur hospital that had the aim of providing “…clinicians with the opportunity to improve their ability to facilitate learning in clinical practice”. Objectives included improving the understanding of theories of learning, methods of enhancing learning and assessment practices and the role of assessment in learning. I was…
Why open licensing benefits everyone

Jun 7, 2011

in Assignments, Education, Open access, Physiotherapy, Research, Social media, Technology

collaboration, open access, openphysio, physiopedia, publication, sharing

In 2009 I started an online physiotherapy encyclopaedia called OpenPhysio. It was a space for me to run a few assignments with my 4th year students at the time, as well as a bit of an experiment to see what would happen i.e. would physiotherapists and physiotherapy students automatically create and edit an online physiotherapy…
The use of innovative technology in clinical education

May 24, 2011

in PhD, Physiotherapy, Research, Social media, Students, Technology

clinical education, innovation, learning, presentation, prezi, teaching, technology

A few days ago I gave a presentation to our faculty on the use of innovative technologies in teaching practice with specific reference to clinical education. I’ve been using Prezi a bit because I wanted to explore alternative ways of doing presentations. Here it is: Innovative technology in clinical education on Prezi Note: the…
Seminar on Inter-professional Education (IPE)

May 16, 2011

in Curriculum, Physiotherapy

collaborative learning, hugh barr, interprofessional education, ipe, objectives, seminar, workshop

A few days ago I attended a lunchtime seminar on the value and impact of Interprofessional in health sciences education, presented by Professor Hugh Barr. I unfortunately couldn’t stay for the duration of the discussion, but I took a few notes while I was there. “Interprofessional education (IPE) is sophisticated”. I like this because it…
Workshop on Intended Learning Outcomes

Apr 6, 2011

in Assessment, Curriculum, Learning, Physiotherapy, Students, Teaching

assessment, curriculum alignment, learning, learning outcomes, level outcomes, module descriptors, SAQA, scholarship of teaching and learning, teacher, teaching

I’ve already mentioned that my institution has increased the emphasis on the scholarship of teaching and learning over the past few years, by placing it on an equal footing with research. This has forced all academics to reconsider their roles within the university, which many have resisted. Luckily (for me) I work in a department…
Teaching a practical Movement Science class

Mar 29, 2011

in Assessment, Curriculum, Education, Physiotherapy, Students, Teaching

curriculum, experimentation, learning, movement analysis, movement science, physiotherapy, practical, teaching

This is the first year that I’ve taught Movement Science (i.e. analysis of movement), which was daunting at first as I wasn’t familiar with it. In addition, the module content was almost entirely in hardcopy, so I’ve been typing away like crazy to get it all into a digital format. The practical component of the module…
SAFRI residential session

Mar 11, 2011

in Education, PhD, Physiotherapy, Research, Social media, Teaching

africa, ethics, medical education, palliative care physician, physiotherapy, research, saahe, safri, Worcester

I’ve recently finished the second residential session of SAFRI, a programme for the development of research in medical education in Africa. I spent a big part of 2010 working on my SAFRI project (link to project notes), which I’ll be presenting at this years SAAHE conference in Potchefstroom. One of the main assignments for this session…
Using social networks to develop reflective discourse in the context of clinical education

Mar 10, 2011

in Assignments, Conference, Education, Ethics, Health, PhD, Physiotherapy, Research, Social media, Technology

clinical reasoning, ethical reasoning, facebook, health professional education, healthcare professional students, medical education, online discussions, poster, reflection, reflective discussion, research, saahe, safri, social network, social networks, teacher

My SAFRI project for 2010 looked at the use of a social network as a platform to develop clinical and ethical reasoning skills through reflective discussion between undergraduate physiotherapy students. Part of the assignment was to prepare a poster for presentation at the SAAHE conference in Potchefstroom later this year, which I’ve included below. I…
Ethics CPD lecture

Dec 14, 2010

in Ethics, Physiotherapy

clinical practice, CPD, ethics, healthcare, human rights, lecture, presentation, research, south africa

As part of our commitment to continuing professional development (CPD) in South African healthcare, we’re required to accumulate 5 ethics credits every year. Yesterday I gave a presentation to the staff in our department in order to fulfill this requirement. It went quite well, although being my first time I felt pretty unprepared. I learnt a lot…