Going on a Goose Chase – promoting practical learning through technology
By Terri Grant
Senior Lecturer, Allied Health Sciences, Institute of Health and Society
Learning how to safely use and effectively prescribe equipment is a vital skill required by student Occupational Therapists. Like all practical skills, this takes time and repetition, which is often not available when students are on placement in the clinical setting. Without the opportunity to practice and make mistakes in this area within a safe classroom environment, students can struggle to establish appropriate situations in which they can learn about equipment.
Setting up appropriate classroom learning can be challenging – any experiential learning approach requires significant time to set up appropriately (Laurillard, 2010). Providing students with individual attention as they practice these skills is not only resource intensive, but the presence of the lecturer can discourage students from making the mistakes that are required to expand their lateral thinking and problem solving abilities. Experiential learning alone can lead students to overlook the theory base as they focus solely on the practical skills.
In order to instil the students with a sense of purpose, I used the freely available GooseChase app to create a blended-learning environment (O’Byrne and Pytash, 2015). This used aspects of problem-based learning, social learning and experiential learning to support development of the required skills around the various uses of equipment in a safe environment. Through the app, students played a game comprising 25 individual missions, each of which required photographic or video evidence in order to be awarded points. More points were ascribed to higher difficulty tasks, and a small prize was promised as an incentive. This activity meets the UKPSF (The Higher Education Academy, 2011) in terms of developing and planning learning activities, assessing and giving feedback to learners, and developing effective learning environments, and also supports the professional value of promoting participation.
Playing the game led to extremely high (and competitive) student engagement. Working in small groups allowed students to take on roles which suited their learning styles. The game was backed up with the requirement to submit a “fact file”, structured to encourage students to critically evaluate the available equipment, and to use professional reasoning to justify equipment prescription based upon both need and Occupational Therapy theory. These were reviewed along with the photographs and points adjusted accordingly.
An unexpected benefit was that the photographic evidence enabled identification and correction of hitherto unnoticed errors. This innovative and engaging activity will enable students to enter practice with critical confidence that no matter what their placement learning experiences, they have the knowledge to safely and effectively analyse and prescribe equipment.
As a new career academic, trying this new technology has enabled me to effectively blend my 20 year clinical career with my new teaching career whilst maintaining a clear grasp on the pedagogic needs of a wide range of adult learners within the class. This in turn promotes confidence and competence that is grounded in theory and yet encourages and facilitates creativity. It is easily replicable between cohorts without losing its impact.
References
Laurillard, D. (2010) ‘An Approach to Curriculum Design’, Education, (April), pp. 1–35.
O’Byrne, W. I. and Pytash, K. E. (2015) ‘Hybrid and Blended Learning’, Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 59(2), pp. 137–140. doi: 10.1002/jaal.463.
The Higher Education Academy, Guild HE and Universities UK (2011) ‘The UK Professional Standards Framework for teaching and supporting learning in higher education’, Learning, p. 8. Available at: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ukpsf. (Accessed: 28th March 2017)