BLOG 2 18th Dec
Developing the learning resource has been more intensive than planned. The activity has been developed using XERTE as the platform which initially had some limitations due to my familiarity with some of the resources available with this. Anne Misslebrook has been really helpful in overcoming this. The problem is currently the appropriateness of some of the resources to the level of the learning and the activities. For example, and drag and drop picture does not work in an ethical discussion on DNACPR either as content and at a level of learning. I’m not sure if taking a passage of text and asking students to drag from the list of words the appropriate missing word is also an appropriate way of consolidating learning, however complex the text. These sorts of activities do engage the students which helps to achieve the ‘active’ element of the Active Blended Learning approach of the project. As the project currently stands I do not feel this has yet been achieved.
An important part of the design of the resource is the integration of professional artistry. I am finding this quite difficult to embed within the format of XERTE. Following the lesson plan I designed for the learning unit, I originally felt a none sequential approach would work well for the DNACPR learning activity. I believed the non-linear approach would help define practice principals rather than sequential tasks to be completed. In reality, I found it difficult to explain ethics without first understanding patient rights and how this has been defined in UK case law. This means I now need to rethink the design of the learning resource and revisit the underpinning principals that are driving the project. These are; professional artistry, active and blended learning.