Our simulated reality multi-media resource is now nearing completion. It has been named CitySCaPE (City Simulated Community and Practice Environment). It’s been a long process but we think the end is now in sight. We have had the privilege of working with some very talented young actors who have learning disabilities themselves, some very long days, numerous bureaucratic and legal snags (we have a full set of contracts now that can be shared within the University if anyone wishes to pursue a similar project) and an awful lot of time in meetings!
So this is how it works: Series of videos and activities that link together following a student nurse through a day in practice focussing on the care of people with learning disabilities. The resource divides into four main chapters
At the moment we are using lessons in Moodle to host the videos. This enables students to watch the videos, answer questions about the videos and even choose different courses of action in a particular situation. The lesson links to a workbook which the students can add written content to focussing on assimilating the learning into practice focussed activity. The session is designed to be delivered in a blended learning environment. However a significant problem in delivering content around learning disability is that there is a severely limited number of available experts to teach the content. This model enables the simulated reality resource to act as “the expert” and the discussion within the classroom can be facilitated but the non-specialist lecturer as it the students will have established the learning.
The session is designed to last 3 hours and meets the EU requirements of student nurses receiving education around learning disability. The resource is also in line with the latest guidance from the Council of Deans for Health on meeting the educational needs of nursing students around learning disability. Available here
Our outstanding aims are to complete the resources for the child field of practice students. We still needs to find a host platform. Whilst Moodle is fine for the moment we would like to launch it on a more publicly accessible format. All that is left now is the final tidy up and we are on course for delivery in September 2015.
Final thoughts: This project was undertaken on an absolute shoestring budget (thank you to HENCL for my award money in 2013 or otherwise it wouldn’t have happened!) Despite the massive amount of effort we have put in there is still room for improvement in the videos. However when it is borne in mind these were filmed in a day with students playing the roles, its remarkable we achieved what we have.
See some of the first cuts of videos here:
We will presenting this at the LeAD conference in June.
Leave a Reply