The session that I deliver on finding information includes introduction to Minerva - portal and VLE, organisational spaces they need to look at and what is contained within them, module spaces and how they are organised, places to find support including skills@library and key people. I also discuss social media, how to use it responsibly, the need to follow the NMC code of conduct and specifc guidance on the responsible use of social media. All in the space of 2 hours! We do come back to all of this information in other sessions as the students go through their programme bit is still quite overwhelming. It's very easy to make assumptions about their level of digital literacy and their confidence in using resources and so rushed through all of this information. Particularly, when you get little feedback from the people you are talking to it easy to assume that you are discussing things they already know and actually just need to get through it. Having thought about it after the session though I wonder whether the lack of interaction is more due to the fact this is a new group of people coming together and people don't want to potentially look foolish in front of this new peer group. I had felt that the information I was delivering was superfluous the questions at the end of the session showed that many were probably quite unsure about where to find different types of information.
I don't know if we overload people or if our systems are not particularly user friendly or a combination of both. It is irritating when you receive emails asking where some information is when you know you've already told people how to find it and we mutter about needing independent learners but maybe we do need to do things differently to encourage this independence. I think as well we create a lot of anxiety in the nursing students because of our professional requirements which makes the consequences of getting things wrong more important. There has to be some way of organising information and helping students locate what they need without proving anxiety and irritation. So what am I going to do about this?
I also need to stop assuming that just because a group is quiet they already know it all.
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AuthorKirsten Huby Lecturer Child Nursing interested in blended learning, educational technology and improving student engagement. Archives
September 2017
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