The Student-Information Relationship

An excellent conference presentation from the perspective of a Warwick medical student, who implemented an entirely paperless resource workflow during his studies, and why he thinks the methods he used made very effective use of some of the tools and resources available via tablet devices.

E-Learning Resources for Neurology

The Department of Neurology now has a collection of freely available resources hosted externally via the Wordpress platform. The resources aim to support medical students and junior doctors self-directed learning, particularly whilst undergoing their clinical neurology attachments or preparing for finals examinations.

CORTEX Discussion Forum

CORTEX now has a newly integrated discussion forum, allowing anyone to open discussion around a specific topic. Please note that all submissions are moderated before they are published. The forum can be accessed here or viewed at the bottom of this page.

Top Free Blogging Platforms

Blogging has become an extremely popular electronic means to share knowledge and ideas in the form of a chronological journal. Read more about what blogs are in the previous article.

For those interested in setting up a blog for any subject specific purpose, here is a short list of what can be considered as a few of the top free blogging platforms available on the web;

Wordpress
Blogger
Tumblr
Posterous
TextPattern

Collaborative Work using Google Docs

Google Docs is a collaborative workspace which is already being used within the medic elearning team whilst writing documentation requiring frequent input from two or more contributors. If you are not already familiar with Google Docs, it is another cloud-based web service which allows files/documents to be created and edited in real-time by multiple authors. Google Docs allows creation of documents as:

• Text
• Spreadsheets
• Presentations
• Drawings
• Forms
• Tables

The service is useful for the creation of dynamic content such as forms and surveys, useful for quick questionnaires should the need arise. Google Calendar is a useful feature for sharing an event or establishing availability without the need for extra effort in 'chasing' people up.

Once you have created your document, you can invite people to view/edit it via email.

Sign up to Google Docs now, or
Try without signing up

Sharing Files using Dropbox

In addition to email, you can now share files with the medic e-learning team via Dropbox. Dropbox is a cloud-based file sharing service which allows two computers to edit and share content using dedicated space on Dropbox. This means that there is no need to manually upload or download a latest copy of whatever file you have been working on with someone. Share your files now with medic e-learning.

Instructions:

1. Install Dropbox on the computers and/or mobile devices you use
2. Put files in your Dropbox folder
3. Share your folder with others

Pros:

• Automatic synchronise
• Un-delete option
• Revert to old copy
• Share files with two or more users
• Install on mobile devices

Cons:

• Limited storage
• Registration required

The Clinical Skills Centre

About the Clinical Skills Centre
The Clinical Skills Centre is located on the third floor of the Cochrane building, on the Heath Park Campus. The skills centre is equipped with realistic, anatomically correct models to assist in the teaching and practise of a wide range of procedural clinical skills. Teaching currently takes place in Year 2, and Year 3, with a range of practical skills being taught in a relaxed and student centred approach to learning. Small groups of students are led by experienced tutors, many from the Department of Anaesthetics and Intensive Care Medicine, and formatively assessed following the practical element of the session.

Self-directed Study
Students are required to access on line e-learning modules prior to attending timetables clinical skills teaching. These attractive, easy to follow modules provide key theoretical components of the clinical procedure, prior to the student attending the practical session. The e-learning modules are found within the ‘Clinical Skills Resources’ section of Learning Central (requires login).

Clinical Skills Modules

Revision Sessions
Revision sessions are often made available to students. These sessions are particularly useful to students approaching exams, or for those who may require a little more time to practise a skill, before attempting a supervised procedure in the Clinical setting. Access to the self booking system for revision sessions is found within the ‘Clinical Skills’ section of Learning Central. Dates will be posted nearer exam time, or when enough students request a session. We are currently in the process of setting up a Self-Directed clinical skills area in Ty Dewi Sant.

Please e-mail clinical skills manager/tutor Sian Williams if you require further information.

< About Sian Williams

Links
CETL Clinical Skills Video Tutorials
Clinical Skills Online (St. George's University)

Clinical Skills Laboratories Health and Safety Brief
Year 2 Student guide to Practical Skills Teaching 2011-2012
Year 3 Student guide to Practical Skills Teaching 2011-2012

ePortfolio

Overview
The ePortfolio software currently used on the Undergraduate curriculum has been developed in-house to support the Year 5 requirements to encourage structured reflective writing, to provide a mechanism to get feedback on that writing and to provide assessment tools that allow online submission and marking. At time of development no COTS product could be identified that fulfilled these requirements.

The system has been developed with significant influence from blogging engines, but adding additional structuring and tools to facilitate the guided reflection the Year 5 programme wished to cultivate. The portfolio also has a strong concept of privacy, with student content being private unless they choose to share it. However, they are free to share their content with anyone.

The portfolio provides an online rich text editor (similar to a blogging engine) with the ability to attach files and images. To support reflective writing, the ePortfolio includes a mechanism to provide templates to the students to provide structure and guidance. The templates are loaded into the rich text editor (if a student selects one) and the student can then work within the template to create their content.

Students can organise their content using keywords (tags and groups) and can share their content with anyone else by using the person’s email address to invite them to view items of content. This use of email address allows users without Cardiff University login details to also gain access to the system.

The ePortfolio uses groups to provide organisation within the portfolio and providing a subset of students with access to specific templates, information and assignments.

System Usage
To-date the ePortfolio is only used in Year 5. It was initially introduced to support students on their Medicine in the Community placement. Since then the system has been rolled out across the whole of Year 5, with requirements to produce reflective content for all three of the Year 5 clinical placements. The system has undergone a number of revisions to support this expansion and to resolve technical problems experiences by students on placements where there is either poor or no Internet connectivity.

The Medicine in the Community placements are the only placements using the submission and marking tools built in to the ePortfolio.

System Administration & Support
System administration has become simpler and less time consuming as the system has developed and become more robust and user friendly.

Main areas of administration are:

Configuration of the Groups for each of the placements during each academic session. This is usually a matter of copying groups from the previous year and adding students to the appropriate groups.

Occasionally additional templates or resources have to be added to groups to meet the changing requirements of the course.

Support for Students
Sometimes students change the order of their rotations requiring their access to groups to be modified. Other technical problems do occur occasionally, which require investigation.

Support for NHS Staff
NHS staff access the ePortfolio through the email invitation system. When they are invited to view a student’s content they receive an email informing them of this. The first time they access the system they are required to activate their account, providing a few personal details and a password.

Once this has been completed they can log in using their email address as a user name and the password they generated during activation. This process can sometimes cause problems (missing emails, forgotten passwords, misread emails etc.), and it is necessary to diagnose and resolve problems with NHS staff accessing the site. The System Administration tools provide information on the state of an account (e.g. whether it has been activated or not) as well as the ability to reset a password (there is also an automated password rest function available from the log in screen).

Future Plans
A number of initiatives within the School will have significant impact on the future of the current ePortfolio system:

The Harmonisation programme is looking to blur the lines between the fifth year of the undergraduate course and the first year Junior Doctor programme. Use of the ePortfolio system currently used by the Junior Doctor programme within Year 5 is strongly being considered.

The C21 curriculum redesign programme is generating a lot of interest in ePortfolios across the curriculum. At present discussions are fragmented and there is need to ensure discussions about an ePortfolio and the associated requirements are curriculum-wide to ensure any solution is used and applied consistently across the curriculum and that the purpose of the portfolio is well understood by staff and students.

Along with the discussions above about use of an ePortfolio there is a real need to look at the ePortfolio from an educational and a student perspective. It is vital the purpose of the portfolio is clear and well communicated and it is not just a tool used for administrative benefits.

Clinical Skills Modules

The Clinical Skills component of the curriculum, at present, makes most use of the School's e-learning provision. The focus on practical procedures has been successfully aided by the addition of accompanying self-directed  learning modules, for study prior to attending practical sessions, and in the lead-up to OSCE examinations.

Click on a thumbnail image to launch a module.
(PowerPoint source availability to be announced).

< Back to Module Categories 

Airway Management	Arterial Puncture	Basic Ward Monitoring	Blood Cultures
Blood Glucose Monitoring & Sliding Scale	Blood Pressure & Basic Physical Signs	BMI	Drug Calculation
ECG Recording	Female Catheterisation
Hand Hygiene	Handwashing, Gloving & Gowning	IV Drug Administration	IV Fluids & Pump Setup
Lumbar Puncture	Male Catheterisation	Nose, Throat & Skin Swabs	Clinical Waste Management
Pregnancy Testing	Personal Protective Equipment	Rinne's & Weber's	Safe Injection Administration
Safe Prescription Writing	Dealing With Sharps Injuries	Shock	Suturing
Urinalysis	Venepuncture	Venous Cannulation	Wound Assessment

  < Back to Module Categories

What is CORTEX?

Cardiff University School of Medicine
The School of Medicine is one of the largest Schools within Cardiff University, featuring numerous postgraduate courses and the largest undergraduate course in the University.

The undergraduate curriculum now has over 1500 students taught over two main campuses, and numerous clinical locations. To address many of the logistical problems associated with large student numbers and the pseudo-distance learning nature of the course, the current undergraduate curriculum is evolving to make increasing use of technology to deliver educational experiences and resources to students.

CORTEX and the C21 Project
In conjunction with the evolution of the current curriculum, the School is developing a new curriculum to go-live in Septbember 2013 for the new first year in-take. The new curriculum will be developed with technology as a much more integrated part of the curriculum and pedagogy from the off. This programme is know as the C21 project.

To facilitate the appropriate uptake of technology within both curricula the School of Medicine eLearning Team are running the CORTEX project. The CORTEX project aims to provide web-based resources to staff to enable them to select and implement technology appropriate for their teaching. The project is a corner stone of the eLearning Strategy, which aims to enable and empower staff to implement as much eLearning as necessary with as little direct involvement from the eLearning Team as possible. This prevents the eLearning Team from becoming a bottle neck, and allows the eLearning Team to focus on areas such as infrastructure, specialist technical developments, and quality assurance.

While the main focus for the project is to support the undergraduate curriculum, the School of Medicine also delivers numerous postgraduate, distance learning courses, which also make heavy use of eLearning. Many staff supporting these courses are also struggling with the adoption of technology, and so the planned CORTEX website will be developed in conjunction with PGT to ensure we cater for the School’s overall eLearning requirements as far as possible.

Wider Collaboration
A similar degree of collaboration is also required with University Learning and Teaching Support team, to ensure that we are well aligned with the University’s Technology Enhanced Education strategy, and that the resources we produce are as widely applicable across the University as possible.