Podcasts Archives - In beta: Recent Episodes
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In this episode of the In Beta podcast, we explore an innovative approach to curriculum design in physiotherapy education, where Ben shares his vision for a new fourth-year module called “Constructing Learning from Practice” as part of a newly validated four-year MSc Physiotherapy programme.
This module takes a radical departure from traditional course design by embracing co-creation and student-led learning. Instead of predetermined content, students will identify their own learning needs based on their clinical experiences and collaboratively create the module’s content. This approach aims to bridge the gap between academic learning and clinical practice, preparing students for the realities of continuous professional development after graduation.
Ben discusses the challenges and opportunities of this innovative design, including how it aligns with the scholarship of teaching and learning. The conversation also touches on the broader implications for higher education, exploring how such approaches might address current challenges in the sector and contribute to new forms of academic scholarship.
The post #38 – Constructing learning from practice (unModule 01) appeared first on In beta.
In this episode, Ben and Michael speak to Antonio Lopes about Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs), an innovative approach to international education within the European Union’s Erasmus+ framework. BIPs are short-term, intensive courses that combine physical mobility with a virtual component, fostering collaboration between higher education institutions across Europe.
The discussion explores the structure and implementation of BIPs, highlighting their potential to enhance international connections, promote cross-pollination of ideas, and offer flexible mobility options for students and staff. The conversation covers various aspects of BIPs, including their organisation, funding, and impact on participants.
Antonio shares insights from his experience coordinating multiple BIPs in physiotherapy education. Topics range from global health and digital health for students, to artificial intelligence, and innovative learning strategies for staff. The discussion emphasises the importance of careful planning, partner selection, and logistical coordination in successfully implementing these programmes.
We also touch on the broader implications of initiatives like the BIPs, including their role in fostering a sense of European identity among participants and contributing to the internationalisation of higher education institutions. And we conclude with reflections on the potential of BIPs to create lasting impacts on education and professional development in physiotherapy and beyond.
Key takeaways
- BIPs combine short-term physical mobility (5-30 days) with a virtual component, involving at least three higher education institutions from different European countries.
- These programmes foster international connections, cross-pollination of ideas, and offer flexible mobility options for students and staff.
- BIPs can focus on various topics, such as global health, digital health, artificial intelligence, and innovative learning strategies.
- Successful implementation requires careful planning, partner selection, and logistical coordination.
- Funding for BIPs is integrated into the Erasmus+ mobility programme, with a relatively straightforward application process.
- BIPs can contribute to the internationalisation of higher education institutions and foster a sense of European identity among participants.
- The impact of BIPs extends beyond the immediate learning experience, potentially influencing participants’ future perspectives and career paths.
Additional resources
- European Commission. Blended Intensive Programmes.
- Duś-Ilnicka, I., Paradowska-Stolarz, A., Mazur, M., Radwan-Oczko, M., Perra, A., Paula, V. S. d., …Dominiak, M. (2024). Blended intensive programme’s implementation in dental education: post-pandemic evolution of learning. BMC Medical Education, 24(1), 1–10. doi: 10.1186/s12909-024-05301-9
- Ghenţulescu, R. (2023). Erasmus+ Blended intensive programmes – a personal perspective. Buletinul Științific al Universității Tehnice de Construcții București Seria: Limbi Străine și Comunicare, XVI(1), 26–35.
Antonio Alves Lopes (LinkedIn) is a physiotherapist and academic in Portugal. Since 2001, he has been a teacher in the Department of Physiotherapy at the Escola Superior de Saúde do Alcoitão (ESSA), and has coordinated the department’s Erasmus+ program since 2014.
António holds a degree in Physiotherapy and a Master’s in Physiotherapy Sciences. His research contributions cover various areas of allied health sciences, with publications focusing on physiotherapy practice and education. His research interests include cardio-respiratory physiotherapy, evidence-based practice, and the integration of digital technologies in physiotherapy education and practice.
António is also an active participant and working group leader in the European Network of Physiotherapy in Higher Education (ENPHE), where he helps drive innovation of physiotherapy education in Europe.
The post #37 – Blended Intensive Programmes in physiotherapy education appeared first on In beta.
OverviewIn this conversation, Leanne Wiles and Dean Walker talk about their experiences using structured prompts with Claude and ChatGPT to create generative AI personas for students to build communication and reasoning skills. They made character profiles and prompts for the AI to act like patients with different health issues. Students then had open conversations with the AI to take patient histories.
Dean and Leanne both found that students quickly became immersed in the simulated patient conversations, enjoying the experience and demonstrating good communication skills. Claude was able to provide useful feedback to students on their performance following the interaction, going so far as to hint at questions the students had missed. Careful prompting and setting up the context was key to getting the most out of the AI interactions, for example, by giving Claude a defined persona/character that helped drive more natural-sounding conversations.
We agree that there is significant potential in using generative AI personas to provide students with more diverse and flexible practice experiences, especially for scenarios like breaking bad news or handling difficult patient interactions that can be difficult to role play reliably. While the current text-based interactions have value, we anticipate improvements in the future with chatbots that have more advanced conversational and multimedia capabilities.
Additional resources* Masters, K., Benjamin, J., Agrawal, A., MacNeill, H., Pillow, M. T., & Mehta, N. (2024). Twelve tips on creating and using custom GPTs to enhance health professions education. Medical Teacher, 1–5. * Mollick, E. (2024). Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI (1st edition). WH Allen. * Shorey, S., Mattar, C., Lanz-Brian Pereira, T., & Choolani, M. (2024). A scoping review of ChatGPT’s role in healthcare education and research. Nurse Education Today, 135, 106121. * Vaughn, J., Ford, S. H., Scott, M., Jones, C., & Lewinski, A. (2024). Enhancing Healthcare Education: Leveraging ChatGPT for Innovative Simulation Scenarios. Clinical Simulation in Nursing, 87, 101487.
GuestsLeanne Wiles is a Senior Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the University of Lincoln, transitioning from clinical practice to higher education in 2023. Her clinical career spanned musculoskeletal practice and persistent pain care, primarily working in NHS services. She has particular interests in person-centred communication, persistent pain and psychologically informed physiotherapy, and exploring these concepts with learners in higher education. Find Leanne on Twitter
Dean Walker is a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the University of Lincoln, with a clinical background in Acute Respiratory Care. He specialises in Non-invasive Ventilation and the treatment of acutely unwell patients. Pedagogic interests encompass simulation in healthcare, enhancing non-technical skills through simulated experiences, and embracing innovative technologies. He is focused on embedding artificial intelligence and virtual reality to improve accessibility and scalability in pre-registration learning. And he’s committed to exploring cutting-edge approaches that enhance student engagement and prepare future healthcare professionals for the ever-evolving landscape of the field.
The post #36 – Generative AI personas in physiotherapy education appeared first on In beta.
In this episode we’re talking to Dr Danelle Hess. Danelle is a Lecturer in the Physiotherapy Department at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town, South Africa. She did her PhD on the topic of developing clinical reasoning in undergraduate physiotherapy students, and has many years of experience as a clinical supervisor in resource-constrained environments.
We talk about the realities and demands faced by physiotherapy students during clinical placements in resource-limited environments like those described in South Africa, and compare them to the student experience in places like the UK.
The key points of this conversation include:
- the relatively limited contact time that supervisors have with students in SA, and how this means that students manage their own caseloads with minimal supervision.
- the complexity of cases, including gunshot wounds and poly-trauma in the SA context.
- how the lack of supervision and complexity of cases can lead to SA students developing coping mechanisms focused on survival rather than developing clinical reasoning.
- and how this raises concerns about mental health impacts, burnout, and attrition from the profession.
We also discuss some of the strategies employed by universities to provide supplemental learning support, mentoring, and counselling services to students grappling with challenging caseloads and complex patient scenarios. We cover the need to balance patient safety and care quality with the pedagogical need to expose students to diverse clinical presentations at an appropriate level. And we explore options for developing resilience and coping mechanisms in students to manage the emotional and psychological tolls of working in demanding healthcare settings.
This was an eye-opening conversation with plenty of opportunities to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of student autonomy on practice placement.
Additional resources
- Ahern, C., & O’Donnell, M. (2023). Are physiotherapy student-led services a suitable model of clinical education? – perceptions & experiences of physiotherapists, students & patients, a qualitative meta-synthesis. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 39(5), 963–978.
- Clouder, L., & Adefila, A. (2017). Empowerment of physiotherapy students on placement: The interplay between autonomy, risk, and responsibility. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 33(11), 859–868.
- Clouder, L., Jones, M., Mackintosh, S., & Adefila, A. (2022). Development of autonomy on placement: perceptions of physiotherapy students and educators in Australia and the United Kingdom. Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 38(12), 2100–2110.
- Higgins, J. R. (2001). Educating for autonomy in practice : the experiences of undergraduate physiotherapy students. University of Sheffield.
Physio – D HessDanelle Hess is a Health Professions Educator based in South Africa. She currently works as a lecturer in Physiotherapy, guiding the research endeavours of postgraduate students and teaching subjects such as ethics and community-based rehabilitation at the undergraduate level within the physiotherapy curriculum.
The post #35 – Clinical supervision and the challenges of early autonomy appeared first on In beta.
In this episode, we speak to Ben Gordon about the implications of remote-only physiotherapy management, facilitated by technology. Our discussion centres around the shifting dynamics when physiotherapy is conducted virtually rather than in-person, and how this departure from traditional norms might reshape the core tenets of the profession.
We explore the affordances of remote practice, such as improved access, convenience, and the potential for preventative care or wellness-based physiotherapy models that could scale more effectively. We examine the constraints imposed by remote-only practice as potential catalysts for refocusing physiotherapy on its essence, emphasising software supported decision-making, behavioural change, and the art of asking insightful questions to align with patients’ goals. This realignment disrupts conventional perceptions of “practice” and challenges the profession’s overemphasis on the purely physical aspects of the interaction. And we consider our readiness to adapt to these technological advancements and the implications for professional regulation, which has traditionally been conservative in embracing change.
Overall, this thought-provoking discussion invites listeners to reimagine the profession through the lens of remote-only physiotherapy management, challenging assumptions, embracing innovation, and exploring the potential for a more scalable, accessible, and patient-centric approach to healthcare.
Additional resources* Fried, J., & Hansson, D. H. (2013). Remote: Office Not Required. Currency. * Nicholls, D., Synne Groven, K., Røe, Y., Dahl-Michelsen, T., & Bjorbækmo, W. (2020). Is COVID showing us the future for physiotherapy? Fysioterapeuten. * Roberts, L. C., & Osborn-Jenkins, L. (2021). Delivering remote consultations: Talking the talk. Musculoskeletal Science & Practice, 52(102275), 102275. * Walthall, H., Schutz, S., Snowball, J., Vagner, R., Fernandez, N., & Bartram, E. (2022). Patients′ and clinicians′ experiences of remote consultation? A narrative synthesis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 78(7), 1954–1967.
Ben Gordon is a physiotherapist in the United States who works remotely for a primary care organisation called Nice Healthcare. He has also worked with telehealth startups since 2019. Ben does web development on the side and wants to explore the use of AI to support remote work environments. He graduated from the MGH Institute of Health Professions in 2020 and is interested in learning how physiotherapy can evolve with new tools and care models.
The post #34 – Remote-only physiotherapy management appeared first on In beta.
In this conversation, Ben and I speak to Lambert Schuwirth. We wanted to get Lambert’s take on the impact of artificial intelligence in health professions education, and started the conversation with his involvement in the development of HPE-Bot. HPE-Bot is a chatbot interface to the GPT language model, which Lambert has been co-designing with Stephen Coetzee, Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Pretoria.
The conversation covers the development of HPE-Bot from a pedagogical perspective; the potential impact of generative AI on HPE teaching, learning, and assessment; concerns around hallucination; building entire curricula into language models; the research potential for understanding how this affects student learning behaviours; changes to institutional culture and digital literacy; the impact on professions; and the possible rise of private professional educational institutions that are supported by AI.
Ultimately, we reach a conclusion that is both uncomfortable and exciting, depending on what you think about the role of universities in professional education. All in all, this was a wonderful conversation, and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
Additional resources
- Lomis, K., Jeffries, P., Palatta, A., Sage, M., Sheikh, J., Sheperis, C., & Whelan, A. (2021). Artificial Intelligence for Health Professions Educators. NAM Perspectives.
- Masters, K. (2023). Ethical use of artificial intelligence in health professions education: AMEE Guide No.158. Medical Teacher, 1–11.
- Masters, K., & Salcedo, D. (2024). A checklist for reporting, reading and evaluating Artificial Intelligence Technology Enhanced Learning (AITEL) research in medical education. Medical Teacher, 1–5.
- Shankar, P. R. (2022). Artificial Intelligence in Health Professions Education. Archives of Medicine and Health Sciences, 10(2), 256.
Lambert Schuwirth is the Strategic Professor in Medical Education in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. Lambert has an extensive publication record in the field of medical and health professions education, with a focus on the assessment of medical competence and performance both in undergraduate and postgraduate training settings. He graduated with his medical degree from Maastricht Medical School, and soon became involved in medical education and medical education research.
Google Scholar| LinkedIn
The post #33 – Generative AI in health professions education appeared first on In beta.
This episode was never meant to be a podcast. Joost and I were meeting to brainstorm a few preliminary idea for an Erasmus+ funded Blended Intensive Programme on Digital Health that we’re teaching on. We recorded the conversation so that we could refer back to it when we start building the session we’re facilitating, but afterwards thought it might also be useful to share as a podcast. It’s a bit rambling at times and meanders across a broad landscape of ideas, so if you’re OK with that, then go ahead and give it a listen.
In this conversation, Joost van Wijchen and Michael Rowe explore the influence of digital technologies on physiotherapy education and practice. They discuss three main themes: the dynamic nature of knowledge in the digital age, the transformative role of technology in education, and the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration in healthcare and learning.
As learning and practice become increasingly connected, new collaborative and networked models of interaction enable a wider range of engagement between more stakeholders. These interactions are not only separated in time and space, but increasingly across other dimensions requiring a shift from traditional learning models to more adaptive and interactive approaches that embrace complexity and change
Joost and Michael discuss the role of collaborative and networked learning in this context, shedding light on how digital tools can facilitate dynamic interactions among students, fostering a collective intelligence that goes beyond traditional classroom boundaries. The conversation extends to personal knowledge frameworks, describing how learners construct and navigate their individualised understanding of the subject matter.
The conversation takes a deep dive into the intricacies of sense- and meaning-making, unraveling the layers of complexity that underlie the creation and integration of knowledge in the digital age.
Additional resources
- Tuomi, I. (2015), Epistemic Literacy or a Clash of Clans? A Capability-based View on the Future of Learning and Education. European Journal of Education, 50: 21-24.
- Hobson, A. (2017) Albert Camus and Education, SensePublishers Rotterdam.
- Freire, P. (2018). The banking concept of education. In Thinking about schools (pp. 117-127). Routledge.
- Lobo, L., Heras-Escribano, M., & Travieso, D. (2018). The history and philosophy of ecological psychology. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 2228.
- Trede, F., Markauskaite, L., McEwen, C., Macfarlane, S., Trede, F., Markauskaite, L., … & Macfarlane, S. (2019). Epistemic fluency and mobile technology: A professional-plus perspective. Education for Practice in a Hybrid Space: Enhancing Professional Learning with Mobile Technology, 173-187.
- Robeyns, I. (2017). Wellbeing, freedom and social justice: The capability approach re-examined (p. 266). Open Book Publishers.
Joost van Wijchen is physiotherapy program leader, senior lecturer, educational designer, physiotherapist and health professional. Designer and initiator of Delta-stream, choice-based learning. Trained as (sports & manual) physiotherapist, nowadays a professional with a scope upon learning, reasoning, humanities, education, internationalization and global health. Health and education are two domains grounded in interaction, democracy, and partnership among all participants. Special interest in “solv-ability”, inclusivity, mindlines, constructionism and complementarity in learning. Next to these roles, a rebel, activist, advocate, pioneer, father, partner, sport-coach, swimmer, cyclist and sailor. Love to explore and dive into the unknown, discover chaos, challenge the norm, fight for freedom, drown in philosophy, watching movies, with a total passion for learning in all its aspects.
The post #32 – Digital health and learning appeared first on In beta.
Note: We recorded this conversation in the middle of 2023 but for various reasons I was only able to edit it and get it published now.
In this conversation, Ben and I had discuss the assessment process, linking it to broader themes of learning, curriculum design, and student experience. We talk about the centralisation of assessment and explore the tensions between institutional control and the autonomy of teachers. We discuss student satisfaction and the influence of risk aversion in educational decision-making. We also talked about the impact of learning outcomes, grade boundaries, and the increasing shift towards consumer and transactional models, on academic decision-making. And we highlight the evolving expectations of employers regarding graduate competencies and skills, prompting a reexamination of traditional education and assessment approaches.
We also talk about valid and reliable assessments and rubric development, including the emerging trend of co-developing rubrics, which encourages a more participative approach to assessment. We emphasise the importance of developing assessment literacy, and conclude that understanding the multifaceted role of assessment is crucial for educators, administrators, and students alike, especially in today’s rapidly changing educational landscape.
Additional resources
- Boud, David, and Nancy Falchikov. Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education: Learning for the Longer Term. 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN: Routledge, 2007.
- Carless, David. “Learning‐oriented Assessment: Conceptual Bases and Practical Implications.” Innovations in Education and Teaching International 44, no. 1 (February 1, 2007): 57–66. https://doi.org/10.1080/14703290601081332.
- Fischer, Juan, Margaret Bearman, David Boud, and Joanna Tai. “How Does Assessment Drive Learning? A Focus on Students’ Development of Evaluative Judgement.” Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, May 4, 2023, 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602938.2023.2206986.
- Rust, Chris. “The Impact of Assessment on Student Learning: How Can the Research Literature Practically Help to Inform the Development of Departmental Assessment Strategies and Learner-Centred Assessment Practices?” Active Learning in Higher Education 3, no. 2 (July 2002): 145–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469787402003002004.
- Wiliam, Dylan. “What Is Assessment for Learning?” Studies in Educational Evaluation, Assessment for Learning, 37, no. 1 (March 1, 2011): 3–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2011.03.001.
The post #31 – Assessment and learning appeared first on In beta.
In this episode, Ben and Michael speak to Shane Pritchard about using the concept of a ‘grand narrative’ to structure a simulation programme at scale, across multiple disciplines, in schools of health and social care. We’re all familiar with simulation-based activities within, and maybe even across, disciplinary programmes. But what would it take to build a simulation programme across an entire school?
In this conversation, we discuss the concept of a grand narrative as a framework to structure a simulation programme at scale. We talk about the idea of an overarching storyline that contains the schemas and ‘little stories’ that curriculum developers can use to build internally consistent and coherent simulation activities over time. And we cover some of the challenges with implementing a simulation programme across an entire school, as well as whether the benefits achieved are worth the cost.
If you’re interested in simulation-based education, check out an earlier episode with Shane on critical perspectives on simulation, recorded for the 2022 In Beta unconference.
Resources
- Hayden, J. K., Smiley, R. A., Alexander, M., Kardong-Edgren, S., & Jeffries, P. R. (2014). The NCSBN National Simulation Study: A Longitudinal, Randomized, Controlled Study Replacing Clinical Hours with Simulation in Prelicensure Nursing Education. Journal of Nursing Regulation, 5(2, Supplement), S3–S40.
- Health Education and Training Institute. (2015). The Sim guide: Allied health scenarios, templates and tips for simulation based education. Health Education & Training Institute (HETI).
- Snell, L., Sherbino, J., & Frank, J. (n.d.). Can simulation replace part of clinical time? Two parallel randomised controlled trials (39). Retrieved 22 April 2022.
Guest
Shane Pritchard is a physiotherapist, educator and researcher based in Melbourne, Australia. Shane’s expertise in simulation-based education is based on his PhD research that investigated innovative simulation-based education approaches for physiotherapy students. He currently serves as Network Lead of the Pedagogical Effectiveness research network of the Monash Centre for Scholarship in Health Education.
The post #30 – Grand narratives in simulation-based education appeared first on In beta.
In this episode, we discuss the implications of generative AI on assessment, and on learning and teaching more broadly. The impetus for the conversation was a blog post I wrote, sharing an idea for an assessment that explicitly required the use of ChatGPT. The premise is that you can establish a context where you can debate ChatGPT, and build some additional engagement around that initial scenario.
This was a wide-ranging conversation that explored some of the detail around how language models work, it’s inability to compare responses to valid models of the world, practical uses for AI in teaching, learning, and assessment, and the risks of having AI being trained on data generated by AI. We explore the implications of a higher education system that embraces AI, and ask if integrating AI has inherent value, or if it’s value is simply instrumental. And we discuss an awkward conclusion that at least of us feels is inevitable.
Some of the applications we discuss include Perplexity AI, Pi (see resource below), and ChatGPT. However, there are many (many) examples of generative AI models coming online almost every day.
Additional resources
- Clark, D. (2023). Are we on the verge of having a universal teacher? Donald Clark Plan B.
- Clark, D. (2023, June 19). Personalised tutors—A dumb rich kid is more likely to graduate from college than a smart poor one. Donald Clark Plan B.
- Downes, S. (2023). My conversation with Pi, the AI, on the ethics of AI. Half an Hour blog.
- Emrani, S. E., Merzouqi, A. E., & Khaldi, M. (2021). An Intelligent Adaptive cMOOC “IACM” for Improving Learner’s Engagement. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET), 16(13).
- Hao, K. (2019, August 2). China has started a grand experiment in AI education. It could reshape how the world learns. MIT Technology Review.
- Khan, S. (2023, May 1). How AI Could Save (Not Destroy) Education. TED presentation.
- Liang, J. (2019). How AI Adaptive Technology can Upgrade Education Industry. O’Reilly Artificial Intelligence Conference, New York.
- Swiecki, Z., et al. (2022). Assessment in the age of artificial intelligence. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 100075.
The post #29 – Generative AI and assessment appeared first on In beta.
In this episode, Michael Rowe talks about space as a metaphor for learning and asks if it's still a useful way for us to think about learning and teaching design. Spatial metaphors encourage a certain vocabulary that informs our cognitive frameworks, which possibly limits creative approaches to learning and teaching. Michael asks if other metaphors for learning might get us closer to designing learning experiences that are more aligned with what we care about.
In this episode of the In beta podcast, Joost van Wijchen explores the topic of student-led collaborative curriculum design. As part of the process, Joost interviewed physiotherapy lecturers and students, and shared some of his own experiences at two physiotherapy departments.
In this episode, Shane Pritchard, Ben and Michael talk about the increasing use of simulation in professional education, and ask if the definitions of what counts as simulation are being stretched beyond breaking point. We take a critical look at what we mean when we talk about simulation and explore how we might incorporate it into the curriculum.
In this guided reflection, Dave Nicholls asks what the future of physiotherapy education and practice might look like if the professions were no longer to occupy such prominent positions in healthcare.
This is the fourth in a series of four podcasts created by @EarthResusTeam as a stimulus for the interprofessional student environmental healthcare unconference at University…
This is the third in a series of four podcasts created by @EarthResusTeam as a stimulus for the interprofessional student environmental healthcare unconference at University…
This is the second in a series of four podcasts created by @EarthResusTeam as a stimulus for the interprofessional student environmental healthcare unconference at University…
This is the first in a series of four podcasts created by @EarthResusTeam as a stimulus for the interprofessional student environmental healthcare unconference at University…
It’s about not seeing distance learning as being the thing that takes place in front of a laptop. In this episode Ben and I talk…
In this episode Ben and Michael briefly reflect on the personal and professional challenges of 2021 and how these impacted on the In beta project.…
In this episode Ben and Michael speak to Shaun Cleaver about the idea that English is taking over as the default language, not only of communication between people of different cultures, but also as the language of knowledge generation and dissemination. We talk about why this might be a problem, and how we might start thinking about solutions.
In this guided reflection, Jane Ashbrook and Beatriz Martinez consider the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on student physiotherapy placement provision. They speak to academic staff and students about some of their challenges and experiences and invite the listener to reflect on how their own programmes and clinical placements have been affected. This episode forms part of the In Beta Unconference 2020 guided reflection series.
In this guided reflection, Shaun Cleaver invites the listener to consider how the issues of colonisation and imperialism significantly shapes the possibilities for individuals and groups, while also being difficult to locate. The episode relies primarily on narrative, with emphasis on personal perspectives of societal and structural phenomena. Increasingly, through the podcast sections, the content threads connections to the physiotherapy profession in general and physiotherapy education specifically. This episode forms part of the In Beta Unconference 2020 guided reflection series.
In this guided reflection, Filip Maric invites you to consider how environmental degradation, climate change, biodiversity loss, and the pollution of land, water and air are now widely recognised as the largest threats to human health and flourishing around the world. As health professions and students are now increasingly mobilising around topics pertaining to planetary health and environmental sustainability, there are growing efforts to embed these topics in healthcare professional education with a view to changing practice. This episode forms part of the In Beta Unconference 2020 guided reflection series.
This episode is one in a short series on different ways of thinking about physiotherapy education, published as part of the In Beta 2020 Unconference.
In beta
18: Covid-19 – Where to from here? (Unconference 2020)
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In this guided reflection, Ben and Michael use the Crisis-Response framework developed by the Royal Society of Arts to guide a conversation around how we’ve not only responded to the Covid-19 pandemic but how we might think about moving forward beyond it.
All physiotherapy programmes have had to make changes to the curriculum; some activities have had to end and some new ones have started. The Crisis-Response framework is a useful tool for thinking about which of those new changes should come to an end when the crisis abates and which need to be amplified. And of the “normal” activities that came to an end, which have we realised are obsolete and can be let go permanently, and which need to restart, although possibly in a different form?
We need to ask ourselves, which of the changes that have been introduced into physiotherapy education as a result of Covid-19 and emergency remote teaching are positive and deserve consideration as permanent aspects of our training, and which were temporary solutions that can come to an end.
The podcast progresses through each of the above scenarios, with Ben and Michael offering their own reflections from personal experience, while also providing reflective space for listeners to think about their own practices. During this session we ask listeners to reflect on the following questions; Where do we go next? What are the things that are important us and how do we prioritise them? What gives us hope for more humane approaches to physiotherapy education? What are the ideas that will help us emerge from this crisis and move towards a better future in physiotherapy education?
Additional resources
- Burbridge, I. (2020). How to create real, lasting change after Covid-19. Royal Society of Arts.
- Rowe, M. (2019). Who is planning for the future of physiotherapy? usr/space.
How to engage with this podcast
- Listen to the podcast taking breaks in between sections as you wish.
- Record your key reflections and share these with other participants.
- Join a discussion with other unconference participants on the topic and the reflections that it has stimulated.
This podcast is around 50 minutes long. It includes some discussion to make you think about the possible future of physiotherapy education and reflect on your responses. We suggest that you listen to the podcast away from your desk. You might choose to listen whilst you go for a walk or a run in your local area, or you could find somewhere to sit and listen quietly away from other screens and distractions.
The podcast is divided into different sections with approximately 1-min silence in between each section. You can leave the podcast running and listen to it all in one go, or you can pause the podcast during these pauses to make brief notes on your thoughts as you go, but you don’t have to record and share your response to every question. Instead, aim to capture the key reflection that you took away from the experience.
At the end of the podcast, aim to capture your key reflections in a way that they can be shared with other participants. You can choose to do this however and wherever you wish. It could be as a video, in writing, a series of pictures and could be saved as a note on your phone, a Google doc, a blog, a series of tweets, or a video on YouTube.
Once you have created your brief reflection on the podcast, please share it by posting it, or a link to it on the relevant padlet on the Unconference Canvas page by 09:00am UTC on September 15th.
After sharing your reflection, take a look at the reflections from other participants to gain different perspectives on the topic. These will form the stimulus for the synchronous discussion on the 15th September at 10:00am (UTC). To join the conversation click the relevant link on the Canvas page at the appropriate time.
Featured image by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash
In beta
17: Student exchange to Oslo
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In September last year, a group of four undergraduate physiotherapy students from the University of the Western Cape travelled to Oslo for a two week exchange programme as part of a larger project on internationalisation. They were paired with four students from the local institution, Oslo Metropolitan University as part of a two-year funded research project exploring the social and contextual factors that influence our understanding of health and rehabilitation.
The purpose of the visit was for the South African students to immerse themselves in the Norwegian culture by spending time with the OsloMet students; visiting with them, going out and eating together, and on some days just walking the city together. There were some visits to clinical placements and a few classes to attend but the main aim was for them to get a sense of what it feels like to live in a place that’s very different to what they experience at home.
This episode is one of the outcomes of the project, where we sat down with the students during the visit to Oslo and talked about the exchange experience and what they had learned from each other.
You can find out more at the project website, including a gallery of the students’ photos during their visit.
We are grateful to the students for their willingness to allow us to record the conversation for In Beta.
Students involved in the exchange programme
| Oslo Metropolitan University (Norway) | University of the Western Cape (South Africa) | | Eveline Benschop | Kelsey Gerbach | | Martina Kaufmann | Belle Isaacs | | Linda Ørnes | Brandon Serrao | | Mathilde Thommessen | Tshifhiwa Ndou |
Note that the audio quality isn’t great in certain sections, as the students were distributed around a large table and weren’t always close to the microphone.
In beta
16: Low-tech remote teaching and learning
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A few weeks ago Michael posted a set of principles that educators should consider when considering how to adjust their physiotherapy programmes over the next few months. There seems to be a near-universal reaction to the need to set up remote teaching and learning that includes a move towards talking head video lectures to literally replace face-to-face lectures.
There’s a concern that this kind of knee-jerk reaction doesn’t take into account the many challenges that students are likely to face when working from home, regardless of where in the world they are. It seems reasonable to adopt a set of principles that can be used to guide decision-making around the design of learning tasks that take into account some of these challenges. In this episode Ben and Michael discuss each of these principles in some detail, ending with an example of an assignment that integrates them all.
Briefly, the principles are:
- Prioritise asynchronous interaction.
- Work offline as much as possible.
- Privilege text over audio and video.
- Low-tech over the Shiny New Thing.
- Simplicity over complexity.
- Everything is flexible.
In beta
15: Assessing practical skills remotely
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This is the second episode in a short series of conversations around how physiotherapy educators might adapt to the sudden requirement to run the programme fully online as a result of the global Covid-19 pandemic. The resulting closure of universities around the world has seen professional educators scrambling to get their programmes online as quickly as possible in order to allow students to keep learning.
The practical components of training, including teaching and assessment, have been especially challenging for educators to adapt, considering the diversity of internet access, device ownership, regulatory requirements, and other factors that influence when and how practical training might be achieved. This episode aimed to provide international physiotherapy educators with an opportunity to share experiences and ideas about how to assess practical skills remotely for anyone moving assessment online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two of our founding beliefs at In Beta are the benefits of collaboration between peers, and the power of digital technology to enable sharing of knowledge and experiences. It seemed sensible to try and facilitate sharing of existing knowledge and resources, to reduce, in any way we can, the workload for educators negotiating this pedagogical shift as they support their students and families in these extraordinary times. As part of this we’re also trying to collect and share relevant links and resources for physio educators moving their teaching and assessment online in a dedicated Google drive.
In addition to the audio recording you can download the text chat here.
In beta
14: Teaching practical skills remotely
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One of the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic has been a widespread global shutdown of university campuses. Educators from every discipline have been tasked with undertaking an unprecedented and wholesale reorganisation of teaching, learning and assessment activities, moving from face-to-face to online delivery in a matter of days. The practical nature of many of the learning outcomes and high contact hours of physiotherapy programmes provide additional challenges for educators to negotiate.
This episode is the result of our observation that physio educators from around the world are expressing concerns about how we might, as a profession, deal with the very likely possibility of the pandemic affecting our ability to continue with the practical components of our courses. We thought that this discussion might be an opportunity for the global community to share experiences and ideas about how to teach practical skills remotely as we increasingly see physio educators moving their programmes online.
Two of our founding beliefs at In Beta are the benefits of collaboration between peers, and the power of digital technology to enable sharing of knowledge and experiences. It seemed sensible to try and facilitate sharing of existing knowledge and resources, to reduce, in any way we can, the workload for educators negotiating this pedagogical shift as they support their students and families in these extraordinary times. As part of this we’re also trying to collect and share relevant links and resources for physio educators moving their teaching and assessment online in a dedicated Google drive.
In addition to the audio recording you can download the text chat here.