Category: Physiotherapy

Reflections on blended learning in clinical education

Sep 22, 2010

in Learning, PhD, Physiotherapy, Research, Technology

blended learning, clinical education, Michael Rowe, phd, physiotherapy, research, sasp, south african society of physiotherapy

A few weeks ago I was invited by one of the local groups of the South African Society of Physiotherapy to present the initial results of my PhD research into the use of blended learning in clinical education. Afterwards, I was surprised by the support I received from the clinicians, and at the resistance (or…
Aligning curriculum with assessment

Aug 30, 2010

in Learning, Physiotherapy, Teaching

alignment, assignment, curriculum, Directorate of Teaching and Learning, scholarship of teaching and learning, sotl

Our department is gearing up for it’s annual planning meeting, where we review the physiotherapy course from the past year and plan for the next one. This is also the year that our newly formed Directorate of Teaching and Learning has developed an institutional teaching and learning policy, with a strategic implementation plan over the…
Developing clinical reasoning and critical thinking

May 6, 2010

in Assessment, Education, Learning, Physiotherapy

assignments, clinical reasoning, critical thinking, drafting, evidence based practice, feedback, Google, pdf, research, therapist

“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…
A national core physiotherapy curriculum

Apr 21, 2010

in Assessment, Education, Physiotherapy

assessment, curriculum, osce, phd, physiotherapy, research, south africa, university

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,…
Giving students a voice in Physiotherapy Ethics

Nov 23, 2009

in Assignments, Education, Physiotherapy, Students

Basil Buthelezi, energy, ethics, example, healthcare, higher education, physiotherapy education, physiotherapy ethics, poem, professional ethics, student voices

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…
An open letter to the SASP: Opening up access to the journal

Nov 16, 2009

in Education, Physiotherapy, Research

author, british medical journal, copyright law, creative commons, free services, higher education, internet connection, Michael Rowe, open access, open archives initiative, open repositories, peer review, PLoS Medicine, publication, relatively inexperienced author, research, researcher and author, sajp, sasp, similar services, south africa, south african journal of physiotherapy, south african society of physiotherapy, the South African Journal, university of the western cape, Western Cape

Dear SASP I’m a young(-ish) and relatively inexperienced author who lately has had a few concerns about the direction of the South African Journal of Physiotherapy (SAJP). I’m proud of the high quality research that is being conducted in the field of rehabilitation and health sciences in South Africa, and like every other academic, researcher…
My CV in Wordle

Sep 17, 2009

in Physiotherapy, Technology

cv, i.e. technology, word cloud, wordle

As an experiment, I put my CV (which hasn’t been updated in a while) through Wordle to see what I’d get. As you can see below, the word cloud it created isn’t reflective of my main areas of interest (i.e. technology in education). I’m going to spend some time updating the content and then put…
International collaborative undergraduate student project

Sep 16, 2009

in Education, Physiotherapy, Students, Technology

collaboration, education, final products, physiopaedia, project leader, research, students, undergraduate, wiki

I’ve recently been invited to participate in a collaborative undergraduate physiotherapy project, hosted at Physiopaedia, for 2010. It will involve students from several countries and continents, and our students will be the only ones from a developing country, which should make for an interesting comparison of the final products at the end. Following the conclusion…
Proposal presentation

Aug 8, 2009

in Education, Physiotherapy, Research

curriculum development, higher education, mrowephd, phd, physical therapy, physical therapy education, physiotherapy, physiotherapy education, presentation, proposal, research, slideshare

In our department, we’re required to present our research proposals for comment before submission to Higher Degrees. This allows the group to give feedback before final corrections in the hope that the proposal is accepted without having to make major revisions. I’ve just shared my proposal presentation that I gave a few days ago on…
Results of a reflective blogging assignment in physiotherapy ethics

May 24, 2009

in Physiotherapy, Research, Social media

assignment, author, blog, clinical reasoning, digital native, ethics, healthcare, healthcare education, healthcare system, physiotherapy, presentation, reflection, saahe, software clients, student, university server

Earlier this year I gave my 4th year Ethics class an assignment in which they were required engage in a reflective exercise that not only encouraged interaction with others, but allowed them to see that their own perceptions of the world were different to others’. Reflection has been shown to be a significant factor in…
First article published

May 23, 2009

in Physiotherapy, Research, Technology

abstract, article, communication technology, education, healthcare, healthcare workers, ICT, learning tools, professional practice, research, World Health Organisation

I just had my first research article published. It’s based mainly on the literature review I did for my Masters degree last year, with a few updates. It’s strange, but when I submitted it about 6 months ago, I thought it was a reasonable piece of work. Reading it now, I feel like taking it…
SASP congress 2009: final thoughts

May 8, 2009

in Conference, Physiotherapy

cape town, congress, physiotherapy, sasp, south african society of physiotherapy

The 2009 SASP congress has come and gone. I was fortunate enough to be sponsored by Discovery Health, so I could attend all 3 days and managed to see most of the presentations that caught my attention. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the lack of innovation in the field (using the…
Mozilla Open Education project blueprint

May 8, 2009

in Physiotherapy, Social media, Technology

cclearn, ccLearn and the Peer, collaboration, mozilla, MozOpenEdCourse, online seminars, open education, open licensing, open technology, p2pu, Peer to peer, peer to peer university, Peer University, physiotherapy, textbooks

If you’ve been following my recent posts, you’ll have realised that I’m participating in the Mozilla Open Education course, jointly hosted by the Mozilla foundation, ccLearn and the Peer to Peer University. The course has involved participating in online seminars over the past 6 weeks with the objective of creating a project blueprint that takes…
Physiopedia: awesome physiotherapy reference site

Apr 5, 2009

in Education, Physiotherapy, Social media

awesome physiotherapy reference site, clinicians, creative commons, education, evidence based practice, open content, openphysio, physiopedia, physiotherapy, Rachael Lowe, reference, registered physiotherapist, site creator, students, twitter

I came across Physiopedia when the site creator, Rachael Lowe, followed me on Twitter. Physiopedia is a free (to access, not edit) physiotherapy reference that has a great emphasis on being evidence based. You must be a registered physiotherapist to get an account that enables you to contribute, which is how the site maintains quality…
SAAHE ’09: abstract for oral presentation

Mar 30, 2009

in Conference, Education, Physiotherapy, Social media

abstract, blogging, clinical reasoning, collaboration, education, ethics, healthcare, healthcare system, human rights, lecturer, online tools, physiotherapy, professional development, reflection, reflective tool, saahe, social constructivism, social software, student

Here’s the abstract I submitted for SAAHE ’09. It was submitted for consideration in the Innovations and work in progress category. Title The use of blogging as a reflective tool in physiotherapy ethics. Context The use of social software in higher education facilitates collaborative learning practices and mirrors the social constructivist principles of education by…
SAAHE conference 2009

Mar 19, 2009

in Conference, Physiotherapy

blogs, cape town, education, Google Docs, journal, peer review, physiotherapy, saahe, search engines, social media, South African Association of Health Educationalists in Cape Town, students, twitter, undergraduate research groups, wikis

I’ve noticed that I’m getting a few hits from search engines with people searching for “SAAHE”, so I can only assume that with the conference coming up in a few months time, interest is on the rise. The SAAHE conference is an annual meeting of the South African Association of Health Educationalists in Cape Town…
Twitter in undergraduate physiotherapy research

Mar 4, 2009

in Education, Physiotherapy, Research, Social media

bit.ly, communication, education, Firefox, laconica, micro-blog, micro-blogging, physiotherapy, plugin, research, students, tweets, twitbin, twitter, URL shortening

I’ve spent the past few weeks experimenting with Twitter, a micro-blogging service that allows users to post short “tweets” of up to 140 characters. I’ve been following it’s development for a year or so but never really got it. I finally saw it’s potential in education when I realised that it’s only a small leap…
Reflective blogging assignment

Feb 13, 2009

in Assignments, Education, Physiotherapy, Social media

assignment, blogging, clinical reasoning, comment, conversation, ethical dilemmas, online space, reflection, reflective tool, social media platforms

A few months ago, I wrote about the use of blogging as a reflective tool. I’ve since developed an assignment for the Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy module I teach, in which students will blog as a form of reflection on some of the topics we cover in class. Every student will then read every other…
The social construction of knowledge using a wiki

Feb 12, 2009

in Education, Physiotherapy, Social media

collaboration, critical review, drafting, groupwork, openphysio, paediatric assignment, pedagogy, projects, social constructivism, teacher, wiki

I’ve started a few projects in my department, one of which revolves around the use of wikis to create environments for students to engage more dynamically with both the content and each other. The rationale is that deeper learning occurs when there is an understanding of the content that goes beyond the ability to recite…
OpenPhysio launched

Aug 20, 2008

in Open access, Physiotherapy, Technology, Web

creative commons, online, open content, openphysio, resource

OpenPhysio is an attempt to create a free, online, learning resource for physiotherapy students, physiotherapists and physiotherapy educators that anyone can edit (think, Wikipedia for physio’s). While I’m sure the idea of students creating content in a (*gasp*) non-accredited, non-peer-reviewed, unstructured and unsupervised environment is horrifying to some, I believe that this is partly where…