Tag: research

CHAT workshop for Emerging ICT in HE research

Jan 20, 2011

in Learning, PhD, Research, Teaching

activity systems, activity theory, Change laboratory, chat, cognitive change, cultural historical activity theory, external activity systems, General, genetic law, Implement, Internalisation, joanne hardman, learning, leontiev, Lev Vygotsky, model, research, Russia, Stalin, teacher, teaching, vygotsky

Last week I attended a short workshop on Cultural Historical Activity Theory (given by Joanne Hardman) as part of an NRF-funded research project on the use of emerging ICTs in Higher Education. Here are my notes from the session (this was all very new to me and I probably got a few things wrong. Feel…
Research plan for 2011

Jan 7, 2011

in Conference, PhD, Research

AMEE, Congress South African Association, Delphi, ece, goals, heltasa, Higher Education Learning and Teaching Association, International Association, phd, ple, research, saahe, south africa

I’ve just been asked by one of my supervisors for my research goals for 2011. This will include my own work, as well as planning how our undergraduate and Masters students’ work might feed into some of the bigger projects. The first goal I have for 2011 is to submit 2 articles based on my first…
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…
Structure of a curriculum

Sep 24, 2010

in Curriculum

course outline, curriculum alignment, curriculum development, graduate attributes, heqf, module descriptors, phd, research

We had the first of our curriculum review meetings earlier this week, with the intention of evaluating the alignment of our module outcomes (using our module descriptors) and the course content (using the course outline). The plan is that we will spend time in small groups reviewing components of the curriculum, and at each meeting,…
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…
Is researching a Twitter feed ethical?

Sep 21, 2010

in Ethics, Social media, Technology

consent, ethics, private, public, research, twitter

I just finished reading an article looking at the feasibility of Twitter as a form of academic conference discourse for non-participants (Ebner et al, 2010). Results of the article aside, which are useful in themselves, it got me thinking about the ethics of conducting research on a public conversation. I know that Twitter is a public platform…
Writing support group

Sep 19, 2010

in PhD, Research

phd, research, systematic review, writing group

I was talking to a colleague on Friday about how difficult it is to commit to spending a few hours to writing, and that even when you do, there’re always emails, phone calls, etc. that interrupt the process. I’d been thinking about this for about a week, after a friend of mine told me about…
Curriculum development and PhD

Aug 20, 2010

in Research

concept mapping tool, curriculum alignment, curriculum development, document analysis, document mapping, module descriptors, phd, research, versioning

Earlier this week we had our second curriculum development meeting in our department. It’s something we’ve recently implemented after realising that we need to pay more attention to teaching and learning, especially now that the university’s released it’s implementation plan for the next 5 years. After going through one of the modules, we quickly realised…
Thoughts on social networking with 3rd year physio students

Jul 30, 2010

in PhD, Research, Students

facebook, internet access, phd, physiotherapy, reflection, reflective learning, research, safri, social network, social networking, social networks, students

Earlier this week I ran a workshop with our 3rd year physio students, as part of my SAFRI project where I’m looking at how participation in a social network can impact reflective learning practices in a community. Unlike the other workshops I’ve run, I’m going to be running this assignment, which will see the students…
Reflections on SAAHE 2010

Jul 28, 2010

in Conference, Research

dedicated wireless access, health education, internet access, medical education, reflection, research, saahe, south africa, wireless access

The SAAHE conference has come and gone for the 3rd year running. It’s been an interesting and engaging 3 days, and since I’ve already posted all my notes, these are just a few thoughts on what it’s like having a conference in South Africa. And it’s the last post, I promise. To get the negative…
SAAHE – Social networks and reflective practice in clinical education

Jul 24, 2010

in Conference, Education, Health, Research

clinical education, clinical practice, Michael Rowe, practice knowledge, presentation, reflection, reflective practice, research, saahe, social networks

Here is my presentation from the SAAHE conference. Social networks and reflective learning View more presentations from Michael Rowe.
SAAHE conference, 2010 – day 1

Jul 22, 2010

in Conference, Research

health education, medical education, research, researcher, saahe

I had made notes for the presentations I attended during the first half of the day using the Scribefire plugin for Chromium, when it crashed and I lost all my notes 🙁 I knew that there wasn’t a save button in the plugin (I didn’t have an internet connection so couldn’t publish as a draft)…
SAAHE conference, 2010

Jul 19, 2010

in Conference, PhD, Research

johannesburg, online tools, phd, research, saahe, safri, social networks, University of the Witwatersrand

I’m leaving on Wednesday to attend the 3rd SAAHE conference at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg (link to programme). I’ll be presenting the results of a pilot study within our department to try and establish students’ access to computers and the internet, their experience with online tools and services, the learning strategies they employ…
Summary of PhD progress

Jul 15, 2010

in Conference, PhD, Research, Social media

article, Centre for Teaching and Learning, personal learning environments, phd, ple, research, saahe, safri, search rounds, social networks, Stellenbosch University, supervisor, survey, systematic review, writing, year research

I’m writing this after having read Christina’s post on her thoughts on the PhD process, and following a few of her links to other PhD students who are blogging their own progress. As I’m going through a little slump at the moment, I thought it might be useful to write a short post on where…
Systematic review workshop

Jun 30, 2010

in PhD, Research

appraisal tools, author, blended learning, clinical education, phd, research, systematic review, writing

I just spent the last 3 days at a writing workshop in Hermanus, organised so that the PhD students in our department could spend some focused time working on our systematic reviews. I prepared the proposal in the days leading up to the workshop, and had the opportunity to refine it following a presentation to…
Sharing my article for open peer review

Jun 14, 2010

in Open access, Research

academic writing, author, collaborative learning, Google, open, peer review, physiotherapy, research, south africa, south african society of physiotherapy, wikis, yeats

I’m interested in how changes in the internet are forcing changes onto institutions that haven’t traditionally responded well to change. One group that’s finding the transition especially hard are the publishers, especially the academic publishers. A little while ago I wrote an open letter to the South African Society of Physiotherapy, asking them to move…
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,…
Discussion on research supervision

Apr 14, 2010

in Research, Students

feedback, phd, postgraduate, project management tool, research, research supervisor, supervision, supervisor, undergraduate

In my department we have bi-monthly research meetings, where we report back on our research activities (we get dedicated research time and so need to account for how we’ve used that time). We’ve recently changed the format of the meeting to include a topical discussion or presentation, rather than simply reporting progress back to the…
“Objectivity” in educational research

Apr 13, 2010

in Research

distance, engagement, involvement, objectivity, participatory action research, phd, research, researcher, supervisor

Earlier today I had a productive meeting with one of my supervisors where, in addition to updating her on my progress, we discussed my reluctance to get “too involved” in my research projects. This is something I’ve touched on before and will probably continue returning to it during the course of my research. I come…