Continuing Professional Development during COVID-19

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‘Please remember many of us are working full time, trying to provide a service as well as studying”

I have always worked full time throughout my career, incorporating both work and education which can be challenging. Whether it’s an age thing but to me education should be conducted within university and not on-line. I firmly believe that you learn more within a classroom as it enables you to partake, ask relevant questions and gain knowledge and experience from both the lecturer and fellow colleagues. I don’t agree that this is achievable to the same standard when classes are online. 

My reason for this is as follows, 

I had never heard of Canvas until last year, even though I had completed a recent Intensive Care Nursing course in Queen’s University Belfast a few years previous. Technology constantly changes and unless you use it every day I feel you can fall behind very quickly.

I have worked in ICU and have trained hospital staff on how to use equipment, so I have excellent knowledge on medical devices however I don’t feel confident about Information Technology (IT), simply because I have very little interest! Believe it or not I actually like to communicate face to face, an art which I find sadly lacking in some nursing students and nurses today. To prepare for online classes during Covid-19, which I appreciate is unique and challenging time for all, I asked my NHS employer to ensure I had access to the required platform. Unfortunately my request could not be accommodated by the Trust and the platform could not be accessed from the Trust computers. This caused me a huge amount of stress at an already stressful time. Not only was I still providing a service during Covid-19, I was also anxious that I was going to miss out on valuable information required for my module and exam.  

After numerous conversations with my lecturer, who was very supportive, I was able to connect to the next class although very anxious that I might lose internet connection, sound, video link, etc. Once connected the quality wasn’t great, other class members struggled to get and stay connected and sound quality was poor. 

I had been reassured that classes would be recorded and could be watched at another time, should the technology let me down. However, other than my allocated day at university I unfortunately don’t have the time to go back and re-watch a class. My days off are and will be spent preparing for my exams as well as fitting in normal life activities outside work and study. 

Providing lecture material well in advance of the online class is so important. When presentations are not available at least 24 hours in advance, it causes unnecessary stress. Personally I like to be prepared,and not rely on my printer the night before or morning of the online class. If I do lose internet connection, for whatever reason, having the relevant written material in front of me enables me to work through it and make the most of the protected time.  

Consistency in communication is key and has been challenging throughout my course. Sometimes we would receive emails vis Queens online other times via Canvas, all I ask is pick one and use it, don’t have me guessing!

 I appreciate that Covid-19 is a difficult time for us all,  but to support post registration students through their programme of study please remember many of us are working full time, trying to provide a service as well as studying. The university needs to ensure that staff unfamiliar to studying online receive extra support, to get them through their course successfully and ensure that they actually enjoy learning and don’t see it as a burden, and that information is provided in a timely manner. 

About the author:

Sharlene, has been a qualified nurse for 27years, and has worked and studied in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland.  Her varied career which includes, Accident + Emergency, Surgical High Dependency, Outreach as Advanced Nurse Practitioner, Intensive Care Nursing and most recently as a Cancer Clinical Nurse Specialist. 

Reflection on the first week back teaching ONLINE!

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I have survived… I absolutely enjoy and value the opportunity to apply the research into my teaching practice. However, it is no doubt that it has taken me quite some time to design the materials for each tutorial and think about how to best communicate and engage with my students in front of a laptop screen at home, and not necessarily see my students. As one of the post-docs suggested that we are like a TV news reporter who must be enthusiastic about reporting the news to the public, but they could not see the responses from their audience. I have also tried to use a few online tools. Mentimeter, Padlet, MS Teams have quickly become my best friends in teaching. All the hard work is paid off, once you know that your students are engaging with these tools to respond to your teaching.

It is definitely a nerve-breaking experience for the first few times teaching online. A million of buttons to press to make sure you have joined the MS Teams chat with the camera on and not muting yourself but mute all the students to minimise the acoustic feedback. Then you have to share the correct screen with your students and turn off all your emails. In addition, there is a hidden icon on MS Teams that you have to click to ensure the audio of your YouTube or Ted Talks videos are coming through to the students. But trust me, you will get used to it!

The good news is that the School’s Connected Learning working group has developed a resource – 12 Tips for Designing Connected Learning – to support each other in our journey of online teaching. We are in it together to create and enhance our student connected learning experience! I am looking forward to sharing some of the tips with you in the coming weeks, while continue trying out different online tools and strategies in my online teaching adventure.

For QUB account holders, the twelve tips for Connected Learning can be found here

Amy Wong is a post-doc researcher in health professions education at QUB. She enjoys doing research, teaching and supporting students and educators to enhance their learning and teaching experience.

Student nurses, Jade and Majella share their experience of moving online in the Covid -19 pandemic

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Jade:

Moving online was originally a daunting experience for me. Mainly because I thought I would never get the chance to focus on my work with a 4 -year-old at home! Nevertheless, we quickly developed a new routine and got to it. It really wasn’t much different to getting up and getting ready to go to uni. I got up and got ready but only had to sit at my desk at home! It was quite a novelty.

Participation

At the beginning, not many people went on screen to participate, it was mainly participation from the online chat or the microphone audio. I felt like my learning needs were still being met and I was actively engaging over the chat, there was something satisfying about trying to get your answer typed in first! However, it was evident that some people were not participating perhaps because it was easy to walk away. When we were encouraged to start and go on screen to participate, I thought this was a brilliant idea and might help with the connection of the class and concentration, especially with the longer topics. As we went on screen our learning really was maximised!

It didn’t feel all that different from being in class, and our tutorial lead was able to engage so much better with us, seeing our faces and reading our reactions, and the class operated more smoothly. This was much better than looking at the “… is typing..” bubble on the screen. It was fun, informative and honestly the best thing to happen in a ‘bad’ situation. I do not feel I have missed out on my tutorial classes at all, over the 12 weeks that were online, I definitely engaged more than I would have in class, as it is not as daunting offering your answers when you are in your own home. Overall, I had a really positive experience going on screen to participate in my learning and it 100% made the transition so much better and enjoyable.

Majella

At the beginning the thought of online classes scared me, with a young family I wasn’t sure how this would work.  I soon developed a routine and the lecturers understood the challenge of family commitments.  I attended every online lecture that was available.  When I settled into the new routine, I actually found that online learning suited me! Yes, its not the same as being in uni but the support was there regardless. Perhaps, as a mature student I settled quickly, knowing the demands of the degree were high. I actually found it easier than traveling 2hrs each day to university. I was able to be at home with my children whilst completing my degree.

Engagement

Engaging with the lecturers and having our own group sessions for tutorial was the biggest help throughout.  In the smaller tutorial classes, I knew most of my fellow students better and felt more comfortable.  Being able to interact with my lecturer and to physically see them eased some of my worries.  We all had the same questions or needed the same advice and sometimes just seeing each other spurred us on – it helped with class morale.  I still miss being around all the friends that I made and the hub of a uni environment, but i can honestly say it worked for me.  

About the authors

Jade is a second year student nurse, with 4 year old son. She has experience working in the the community as a Health Care Assistant and as a physiotherapy assistant. Jade has a real interest in oncology nursing and is looking forward to more practice experiences on placement!

Majella is a second year student nurse, with three children, aged, 11, 9 and 5. Starting university as a mature student has been daunting but with amazing support from her husband, children and parents, she has been able to pursue her career. 

How to ‘connect with’ students in online learning.

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By: Dr Patricia McNeilly

Whether you have come to higher education recently with a wealth of recent clinical experience or you are (dare I say!) a well seasoned educationalist one of the things we all have to think about most when delivering our classes online is student engagement.  Put quite simply -if the students don’t engage they won’t learn!  This is all the more important in times of covid-19 which, as you know, has brought many challenges for students and staff in terms of undertaking and delivering programmes in new ways. 

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Connecting Post Covid 

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By:  Iain McGowan & Maggie Bennett

These are challenging times and Nursing and Midwifery education. The last few months, with the COVID-19 situation, have challenged the creativity and resilience of nurses and midwives globally. Nursing & Midwifery students at QUB have played a pivotal role in supporting Northern Irelands registrants deal with the crisis as it unfolded. We write this at a time where it is possible that worst of pandemic may have passed, but the Covid 19 legacy is not just in the news headlines– the fundamental nature of nursing and midwifery education has changed.  

 Social distancing measures have drastically reduced the capacity for in class teaching. Large scale lectures will be curtailed and with the number of students in the school face to face tutorials are likely to reduce. As New York state governor stated in May, 

 ‘The old model of everybody goes and sits in a classroom and the teacher is in front of that classroom, and teaches that class, and you do that all across the city, all across the state, all these buildings, all these physical classrooms … why, with all the technology you have? … It’s hard to change the status quo. But you get moments in history where people say, ‘OK I’m ready. I’m ready for change. I get it’. I think this is one of those moments.’ 

 QUB generally, and the School of Nursing and Midwifery in particular, are embracing this challenge. Connected Learning has the potential to enhance the delivery of the educational experience for our students. This blog aims to provide a platform for staff and students to reflect upon and share their experiences of connected learning. 

Let us know your thoughts by clicking on the ‘leave reply’ link and commenting below.

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About the authors

Iain McGowan is Senior Lecturer (Education) at QUB. He is a mental health nurse with a passion for finding ways to automate the more mundane aspects of academic life.

Maggie Bennett is a Lecturer (Education) at QUB. She believes teaching like nursing is fundamentally about caring.

Maggie and Iain are co-editors of this blog. To contact them, please see the contact us page