An understanding of teaching, learning and/or assessment processes
I deliver regular training for students, academic staff and NHS practice mentors in the use of the eportfolio system PebblePad. Whilst training the student midwives I work collaboratively with academic staff when delivering sessions. This approach works well as I explain the learning technology whilst the academic staff can explain the relevance in the context of the course.
I tailor my delivery accordingly so that it is appropriate for the users I’m teaching. For example, when working with the NHS practice mentors I try to avoid technical terms, as I often find the mentors are not confident IT users. I always aim to explain processes using clear and concise language and ask questions to ensure that I’m understood.
It is important that students have a good understanding of PebblePad before they begin practice, as the students often help guide their mentors who use the system infrequently. To help support the practice mentors I provide regular scheduled training for them, as well as online guidance, email and telephone support. However due to their work commitments it is not always possible to provide face to face training for the 4000 mentors who use the system. Enabling the students to support their mentors has helped to implement the system across North Yorkshire.
The York Pedagogy seeks to maximise the value of contact time with staff. I show academic staff how they can follow their student's progress in practice and provide dialogic feedback. The introduction of eportfolio has helped bridge the gap between practice and theory allowing staff continued access to the student's work. This was the key reason for PebblePad's introduction as 50% of the student's time is spent away from the University.
I encourage students to record activities whilst in practice and to reflect on them in PebblePad using templates built around the Driscoll (2007) and Johns (2010) models of reflection. I show the students how to share their reflections within PebblePad allowing feedback to be added by their practice mentors and supervisors. I have found that some students are more willing to engage in reflection within the system than others. I therefore encourage the assessors to review the reflections and provide regular feedback. I believe this helps increase the value of PebblePad as a learning tool.