VLE-BASED GROUP WORK A CASE STUDY EXPLORING ENHANCEMENT OF PRACTICE IN THE HEALTH PROMOTION MODULE Rebecca King and Jennifer Parr

CONTEXT Health Promotion module in NCIHD – Optional module for four masters programmes – Eight three-hour teaching sessions – Syllabus includes introduction to health promotion, health promoting settings, planning, implementing and evaluating health promotion programmes, theoretical models and core values Diverse learning needs of students – Different academic backgrounds – Different levels of experience – Range of ability in terms of spoken and written English

VLE-BASED GROUP WORK Introduction of learning technology to support face-to-face teaching Each group assigned a discussion board or wiki activity All students to complete the same key readings to inform the group work Presentations during the final session, with verbal feedback

RATIONALE to support the students in achieving the module LOs; to enable the students to prepare for the summative assessment; to accommodate the diverse learning needs of the students (particularly by creating a forum for asynchronistic learning); to develop student understanding of blended learning; to create health promoting “communities of practice”; and to respond to the university strategy of promoting blended learning.

ACTIVITY

ACHIEVEMENT OF GOALS? to support the students in achieving the module LOs – Difficult to assess, but positive indications from student feedback to enable the students to prepare for the summative assessment – Difficult to assess, but positive indications from student feedback to accommodate the diverse learning needs of the students – Limited evidence of asynchronistic learning taking place, but better in year one of implementation

ACHIEVEMENT OF GOALS? to develop student understanding of blended learning – Difficult to assess, but contributions from many students in year one, compared to year two to create health promoting “communities of practice” – May be possible to claim to respond to the university strategy of promoting blended learning – The strategy was responded to, through the inclusion of this component, but more work is required to provide a quality blended learning experience

REFLECTION It was difficult to measure changes, but better engagement in the first year than the second An underlying cause for poor engagement in second year may be the role of the “e-moderator” (Salmon 2002) E-moderator needs to be fully engaged by: – Monitoring student participation in early stages – Facilitating by “listening in” to (and engaging with?) the debate and commenting on (or editing?) content. – My engagement was greater in year one, but it was limited to monitoring participation, rather than engaging with technology to enhance student learning

IMPLICATIONS Requires an active e-moderator at each stage Some students may require further technical support e.g. By additional demonstrations and / or pairing students Challenge is in terms of workload for staff (key to problems in second year of implementation) – incorporate discussion board debate into classroom sessions and wikis as part of summative assessment?

ULTA-2 TEACHING TEAM RICKY KALLIECHARAN, ULTA-2 MENTOR (RK)