Themed Paper Presentations: Health, Emotional and Medical Applications
A Web Application to Support Entry-to-practice Competencies in Health Professions Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ruth Chen
Simulation-based learning and technology-supported learning is being used more and more frequently in health professions education programs. Therefore, we saw an opportunity to develop and test a proof-of-concept web application which would provide a technology-supported learning experience to help students achieve the required ETP competencies in pediatric nursing. The purpose of this presentation will be to describe the key components required to develop and implement a web application to develop learners' practice competencies in a health professions education program and evaluate the web application for content delivery, knowledge development, and learner performance on desired competency domains. Results will be presented of learner feedback regarding the web application user interface as well as the learning modules and self-testing features incorporated into the web application. Additionally, key outcome variables demonstrating small to moderate effect sizes for learner benefits of the web application will be presented. Study implications and future directions of technology-supported learning for competency-based education will be explored.
Feedback and Feed-forward in Capability-based Assessment Using an ePortfolio
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Panos Vlachopoulos
Medical Schools across Australia but also globally are looking into designing, developing and implementing a programmatic assessment approach to their medical curricula. The use of an electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) tool, the provision of longitudinal tutorial support and credible feedback are often the key design challenges for programmatic assessment. At Macquarie University the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences designed, developed, and implemented a pedagogically sound and technologically workable and sustainable solution to programmatic assessment using an e-portfolio tool for its newly established Bachelor of Clinical Science. The Bachelor of Clinical Science is a 2 year accelerated undergraduate program. The curriculum includes a professional practice stream integrated across the entire program. It was in this stream that the students were introduced to the concept and pedadogy of an ePortfolio as way to help them join the dots between learning and professional capabilities across all the modules of study in their program but also from other aspects of their lives (work or volunteering experiences). The paper will discuss the results of the first two years of implementation. Data was drawn from focus groups (n=62 students). Qualitative thematic analysis was used and three themes were identified as important to student learning using an ePortfolio: the need for pedagogical training related to reflective practice; the relevance and connection of the ePortfolio to the capability framework and possible future careers; and the importance of longitudinal support, feedback and feed-forward. Implications for practice related to sustainability and scalability of ePortfolios will be discussed.
Examining Emotional Intelligence for Learner Diversity: Promoting Social Transformations
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Sook Khuan Wong
The diversity of learning among the millennial has changed the higher education scene continuously over the years. While the changes piqued and posed questions on the sustainability of learning, the lack of evaluation to examine the connection between learners’ diversity and emotional intelligence remain questionable. This study is set against Malaysian higher education background to comprehend the role of emotional intelligence and learner diversity based on the socioeconomic factors. Questionnaires were gathered from 300 undergraduate students ranging from Year 1 to 3 in Business and Engineering programmes from two colleges in Malaysia. Results revealed that there was no statistically significant difference between a) emotional intelligence and gender (T=-1.01, df=298 p=0.31), and b) emotional intelligence and choice of programmes studied (T=-0.28, df=298 p=0.78). However, the significant difference was apparent between a) emotional intelligence and Malaysian or International students (T=-4.81, df=298 p=0.00), as well as b) emotional intelligence (p < 0.05) and race groups (F 4, 295 = 9.31, p = 0.00). Hence these aspects of learners' diversity with the connection to emotional intelligence require different teaching and learning methods to reach the pinnacle of sustainability in learning and adaptability to the diversity itself. This study underlined the need for socio-intervention programmes to facilitate learners' diversity.
Assessing Student Engagement in Online Learning, Tasmania
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jane Fricker, Jeffrey Thomas
High student engagement has been consistently correlated with strong school retention and high achievement. Conversely, disengagement has been associated with absences, poor conduct, underachievement and non-completion. Online Learning has traditionally struggled with both measuring and maintaining, student engagement. This is largely due to the physical separation between the student, their teacher and their peers, making interpersonal relationships challenging. In a physical classroom teachers can judge how a student is feeling about their schooling by interacting with them verbally and by reading non-verbal signals. In the online space, a different feedback mechanism is required. Online Learning Tasmania (VLT) is an innovation of the Tasmanian Department of Education which aims to provide curriculum to senior secondary students who cannot access subjects important to their pathway plan in their local schools. Aware of the challenges facing online engagement, VLT courses have the collection of regular and systematic feedback on student engagement embedded in their design. Analysis of this data enables teachers to understand, and react to, the affective, cognitive and behavioural dimensions of engagement of their students in real time. It also directs qualitative improvements to the online experience students have. This paper reports on the first three months of VLT, explaining the data collection methods and results, in each of the dimensions. It discusses how student engagement can be understood in the online space, and the impact of both administrators and teachers being able to react to how students are feeling about, thinking about, and acting towards school in the online space.
