Reflection 4 @ CHECET 2013

Following online discussions and feedback on my and colleagues’  Google Docs reflective pieces, I note below the changes that have happened and are planned for future student groups entering their practical Obstetrics block then later after their 8 week exposure and workplace experience in the Cape Town clinics.

What I have learnt to change my practice:

• My objectives and process need to be clearer to the students to get their buy-in. Students value recognition for their input. Evaluating the student participation will indicate if there is greater uptake from the students.
• There needs to be some kind of accountability in the task e.g. students get a bonus mark on their block if they hand in their reflection online.
• Although the Faculty Learning Management System, Vula has been effective in the task, Google Docs offers more affordances that can enhance the learning for students, offer greater insights to the educators and enable others to gain insight from the co-constructed knowledge. In essence, this classroom initiative will be expanded to become more meaningful and productive.

What I have learnt for myself as the educator:

• I recognize the value of working together in an online Community of Practice as opposed to individuals all developing their own processes.
• By using Google docs myself and freely commenting on the work of others and on the facilitators’ comments, I have appreciated the affordances of this tool beyond just talking about it. Learning by doing is extremely valuable for us all.  
• I recognize that we need to be flexible as educators to continually adjust to the students’ needs and advances in technology that can improve our teaching.

Planned intervention

1.    Planning phase

Insights gained from other course participants, facilitators and relevant readings indicate that I need to improve the scaffolding of my task. For instance in planning the exercise I can now use a raw document as a baseline example for the students to then experiment with the tools of technology. A student in the previous block posted his reflective commentary anonymously on the Question&Answer section of Vula. He has offered me permission to use it with other groups.

From our conversation on Adobe Connect I have recognized the value of setting up Google subgroups which will comprise 4 students in each of the 10 groups. This will mean that the sharing is limited to a few students therefore lessening the vulnerability of each student as they expose themselves to others with their comments. I will need to organize these groupings beforehand using students’ email addresses. The Departmental Head has given me the go-ahead to ask for assistance from one of the consultants.

2.    Introduction

In the face-to-face introductory session we will move beyond writing comments that indicate insights gained from others. This icebreaker will then lead to students reviewing their colleagues experience by indicating their thoughts and feelings related to his experience.

Further changes include:

• Demonstrate Google docs in the unthreatening environment
• Persuade and motivate: Explain that Google Docs is easy to use anywhere, anytime, and is a free, useful tool for professional practice and collaborative work in general, not just a classroom exercise for assessment
• Practice with consumer comments
• Suggest to students that they can download the Google Drive app on their Smartphones or other mobile devices.

3.    Time span between student rotations at the Maternal Obstetric Units

Students have varied experiences as they rotate through the different facilities.

As pointed out by Ian, our facilitator, by posting their reflective commentaries into a collaborative space and commenting on their colleagues’ experiences, students shift from the role of consumers of the curriculum to become producers of knowledge and insights – an evolving role.

4.    Workshop

During the face-to-face workshops students present their narratives to their peers followed by discussion. These interactive sessions are enriched by the sharing of experiences between the students and the discussions both on and offline that have happened in preparing for the peer-to-peer learning event.

My post-workshop evaluation will now have a feedback question related to the Google docs usage.