In beta: Recent Episodes
Ben and Michael
In beta is semi-regular podcast hosted by Ben Ellis at the University of Birmingham, and Michael Rowe from the University of Lincoln. The podcast features a variety of guests as part of a series of conversations on different aspects of physiotherapy education. You can find out more about In Beta on the website (http://inbetaphysio.com) or by following us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/InBetaPhysio).
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.
In this episode, we explore Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs), an innovative approach to student and staff mobility in physiotherapy education. These short-term, intensive courses combine physical mobility with virtual learning, fostering international collaboration. We talk about how BIPs enhance cross-cultural understanding, promote idea exchange, and offer flexible mobility options for students and staff in physiotherapy education and beyond.
In this conversation Leanne Wiles and Dean Walker discuss how they used generative AI tools like Claude and ChatGPT to simulate patient interactions for students in physiotherapy education, enhancing their communication and reasoning skills. Students interacted with AI personas portraying diverse health scenarios. The practice proved immersive and effective, displaying significant potential for flexible educational approaches in challenging healthcare communications.
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
In this episode, we discuss the implications of generative AI on assessment, and on learning and and teaching more broadly. The impetus for the conversation…
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.
In this guided reflection, Ben and Michael use the Crisis-Response framework 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. They reflect on the need to ask which of the changes that have been introduced into physiotherapy education as a result of emergency remote teaching are useful and deserve consideration as permanent aspects of our training, and which were temporary solutions that can come to an end. This episode forms part of the In Beta Unconference 2020 guided reflection series.
In this episode Michael and Ben sit down with a group of undergraduate students participating in an exchange programme between Oslo Metropolitan University in Norway and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. The student and staff exchange was part of a two-year funded research project linked to internationalisation.
In this episode Ben and Michael discus a set of principles that educators should consider when designing educational interventions as part of the mass move towards remote teaching and learning.
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. In this episode we discuss different experiences and ideas about how educators might consider assessing practical skills remotely.
In this episode we're joined by almost 60 physiotherapists from around the world to share and discuss ideas around remote teaching of practical skills as part of the undergraduate programme.