Assessment, Learning & Teaching Reflections |
Tuesday 7 February, 2006
The advent of e-learning within Higher Education means that the possibility has arisen of supporting learning related to Evidence- Based Practice with technology that links the student directly to data bases, internet, and on-line resources, including WebCT discussion groups. We undertook a discursive audit of two linked modules on Evidence Based Practice, taught entirely through the medium of e-learning within pre-registration nursing degree courses, exploring how best to facilitate learning within WebCT environments.
A key task of the on-line facilitator is to find the balance between having students talk to each other to develop independence of problem-solving and facilitator-led intervention to shape discussion and respond to individual points. This raises questions concerning the quality of the learning experience and use of resources which chime with warnings in the literature concerning assumptions of quality, and the potential creation of inequality and elitism in e-learning practice. Such warnings demand that e-learning practice be given close scrutiny in line with the reflective approach followed in the audit. In particular, critical discussion focused on: “What could have been done differently by facilitators to enhance the efficacy of learning?”. Reflections will be used to further develop a model of e-learning facilitation appropriate to undergraduate programmes.
Phil Clegg (Teaching Fellow, Faculty of Health, on partial secondment supporting Director of e-Learning).
