User:Kellie Toohey/Assessment Activity

Assessment item 1

Design of and critical reflection on an assessment activity that draws on key concepts introduced in the workshops and readings, and that you can apply authentically in your current or prospective assessment practice. Note: the assessment design of any unit(s) in which you are teaching may already be locked in. However this activity does not have to summative and weighted; it can be formative and relatively modest. Input from your peer colleague is expected.

Background

This assessment item was designed to consolidate student learning from previous units. Having students prepare and present their own topic allowed them to build clinical confidence in communicating about clinical conditions. This is an important aspect of being an allied health professional, not only will they need to have the ability to accurately convey medical information to their patients but they will also need to discuss conditions with their peers, Managers and other allied health professionals. The aim of this is to get students ready to confidently work as practitioners; communication is pertinent to this aim.

Reflection

Students were asked to engage in this workshop each Friday morning, while they attended their placement, attendance was not compulsory; initially I thought this would not be a success because of this. The PBL workshops were introduced to build student knowledge of the conditions through peer learning. These skills are important as they will come across many conditions as an EP and they need to be able to communicate their knowledge confidently. Students were asked many questions at the end of each presentation; this allowed students to gain a deeper learning by using both the presentation and questioning method of teaching and learning. The workshops achieved the primary goal and student’s activity participated in this workshop and noticeably built their confidence over the 15 weeks. Having students prepare for these topics provided a base for me (facilitator) to give them further detail in relation to the above conditions. Attendance was over 80% up until the last 2 weeks, participant numbers dropped to 50%. The drop in attendance I believe was because of the 3 placement blocks back to back, some students were feeling very tired.

The PBL workshops were attached to the Clinical Practice unit and had no formal assessment attached to it but students were asked many questions at the end and asked to provide practical examples of what they presented to the group. To pass the Clinical Placement Unit students are required to attend workshops and carry out their prac hours. Student feedback was positive, but they did find some of the topics challenging. As the facilitator the preparation for this was quite extensive for some of the topics. Reflecting on this process, I will improve the value of this by allocating an assessment or grading for attendance to the workshops. Student knowledge was increased considerably by attending the workshops and this showed in the final few weeks when questions were asked of them. They were able to go back and demonstrate a number of assessments and clinical exercise prescription demonstrated in the weeks before.