Celebrating innovations and excellence in teaching and learning The Faculty’s annual Teaching and Learning event was held on Thursday 27 November with great success. In keeping with last year’s event, we started with a light lunch, and then there was a presentation for the Executive Deans’ Teaching and Learning Innovation and Excellence in Teaching awards. This year we had a high number of excellent applications and I am grateful to Professor Michael Kidd who contributed extra money so the Faculty could fund four T&L Innovation applications and two Excellence in Teaching awards. Successful applications were: 1. Executive Dean's Teaching and Learning innovation awards Project Title: StEW: Flinders University Students Eat Well! Extending mentor-led peer-education program promoting nutrition on campus into the local community setting Team: Kaye Mehta Amanda Wray Carly Moores Louisa Matwiejczyk Michelle Miller Alison Yaxley Kathryn Jackson Jacqueline Miller Jolene Thomas Kacie Dickinson
December 2014
Project Title: Teaching inter-professional practice using TeleHealth Team: Stacey George Joanne Murray Nicky Baker Project title: Facilitating collaborative publication by clinicians: A novel approach Team: Lindy King David Gillham Project Title: Evaluation of undergraduate nursing students awareness of their engagement in on-line learning activities and the influence on academic outcomes Team: Wendy Abigail Christine McCloud Mitchell Fitzgerald Shahid Ullah 2. Executive Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award (2 recipients): Winner: James Thompson Citation: Unsurpassed in breadth of teaching and student evaluation scores within the degree, James has measurably raised the courses profile. His sustained commitment to excellence, innovation and content mastery, continue to influence at all levels of paramedic education within Australia.
Christine McCloud, Mitchell Fitzgerald and Wendy Abigail receive their Innovation award from Claire Drummond The LTU also showcased what will be available in 2015 and how they are a great resource for academics. Dr Wendy Abigail, our Faculty scholar was our next presenter and she showed the innovative ways you can use photos and video in teaching. This is particularly relevant to student engagement and personalises and connects with students. Thanks to all who attended, particularly those who remotely tuned in. claire.drummond@flinders.edu.au
Winner: Amanda Muller Citation: Dr Amanda Muller is committed to developing the linguistic capacity of international students. She researches the problem areas for this population, produces evidence-based innovative language resources and workshops, and publishes extensively about the effectiveness of these approaches to teaching.
David Gillham receives his Innovation award from Claire Drummond
We had two presentations on the day, both showing innovative approaches to teaching. The first was by the Faculty Learning and Teaching Unit (LTU) which gave an overview on what they offer and how academics across the Faculty can and have used their expertise in teaching innovation.
James Thompson receives his Executive Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award from Claire Drummond
Education in Focus From the Executive Dean
Retirement of A/Prof Paul McCormack Associate Professor Paul McCormack recently retired after 23 years of service. Paul belonged to that diminishing number of Sturt College academics who transferred from the College sector to the University in 1992. Optometry now has a wonderful clinic in what was the Speech Pathology department up until 1992.
In this issue we celebrate the Faculty successes in teaching and learning. We congratulate the recipients of the Innovation and Excellence awards and the many academic staff in our Faculty who were acknowledged in the 2014 Academic Promotion Round. We pay tribute to Associate Professor Paul McCormack’s contribution on his retirement, after 23 years as an educator in Speech Pathology and Audiology. It is also exciting that Associate Professor Caroline Ellison and her team have won an AsiaBound Grant to further Flinders University ties with Indonesia and provide international experience for our Disability students. And I encourage you all to read about the Flinders-hosted Global Community Engaged Medical Education Muster, held at Uluru in October, which highlighted the innovative and inspiring approaches to health care in different global communities. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work and dedication this year. I wish you and your family a safe and relaxing holiday break and look forward to working with you in 2015. Professor Michael Kidd AM Executive Dean Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences Flinders University
2 | Education in Focus
Paul was an innovative educator who was able to view the teaching and learning needs of our students within a broader framework of their future role as health professionals in the workforce. Paul sought valued engagement with the profession in the provision of appropriate learning for our students. He exemplified an ongoing scholarly approach to his own education practice, including being an early innovator in the development of award winning technology-enabled teaching resources. Paul’s leadership and active facilitation enabled staff to strategically apply teaching innovations across the Speech Pathology and Audiology programs.
This included development and implementation of an innovative problem based learning program and introduction of case based learning into the undergraduate speech pathology program. He also supported the development of the partnership-based clinical education model that enables our Speech Pathology students to be part of inter-professional teams, addressing previously unmet needs in the community. Paul headed the Speech Pathology and Audiology academic teams for several years. I think it would be true to say that all senior staff found him a thorough gentleman in all their dealings with him. Paul has been a great mentor and friend to all staff, always willing to make time for a coffee and a chat. We look forward to his continued involvement as an adjunct member of staff. eileen.willis@flinders.edu.au sue.mcallister@flinders.edu.au chris.brebner@flinders.edu.au linnet.sanchez@flinders.edu.au
2014 Academic Promotion Round The Faculty congratulates the following staff who were promoted as a result of the 2014 Academic Promotion Round: Professor (Level E) Professor Michelle Miller (School of Health Sciences) Professor (Level D Plus) Professor Rainer Haberberger (School of Medicine) Professor Colin MacDougall (School of Health Sciences) Professor Richard Woodman (School of Medicine) Associate Professor (Level D) Associate Professor Claire Drummond (School of Health Sciences) Associate Professor Caroline Elllison (School of Health Sciences) Associate Professor Stacey George (School of Health Sciences) Associate Professor Barbara Sanderson (School of Medicine)
Associate Professor Parimala Raghavendra (School of Health Sciences) Associate Professor Kerry Taylor (School of Medicine) Associate Professor Lily Xiao (School of Nursing and Midwifery) Senior Lecturer (Level C) Dr Julie Ash (School of Medicine) Dr Michelle Bellon (School of Health Sciences) Dr Christopher Barr (School of Health Sciences) Dr Christine Brebner (School of Health Sciences) Ms Kim Devery (School of Health Sciences) Dr Kevin McNamara (School of Health Sciences) Dr Lillian Mwanri (School of Health Sciences) Lecturer (Level B) Dr Susan Kim (School of Medicine)
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
The 2014 Muster In late October I was fortunate to join colleagues from across the globe at the 2014 Muster conference in the iconic location of Uluru, NT. A “muster” can refer to the calling together of people to a gathering; in this case to share experiences, opportunities and challenges of community engaged medical education. The conference, jointly hosted by Flinders University School of Medicine and the Northern Ontario School of Medicine in Canada drew over 200 health professionals, educators and students with a large contingent of Flinders staff including a strong student presence (16 Flinders students). FlindersNT (part of the School of Medicine) contributed significantly to the success of the event through incredibly efficient organisation of the conference registration, program and related social activities which included a breathtaking Uluru sunset, wonderful bush tucker BBQ and the famous Sounds of Silence dinner. There were many highlights but I was inspired by the impact that can be made by those who work silently to improve the health outcomes for their community. For example one session provided a rich insight into to the work of the Ngangkari – Aboriginal traditional healers. Four well respected Ngangkari from the Central Desert region shared their experiences and long-standing traditions with the conference attendees. We learnt how the work of the Ngangkari is a lifelong program of training and practice where they are able to connect with their communities, provide spiritual support and use medicines such as creams which they make from materials in their environment to assist their people. With their vast backgrounds in local and cultural knowledge they are also able to work with Western doctors in hospitals and clinics to improve health outcomes. Thanks to the staff of the Poche Centre for Indigenous Health (Alice Springs) for creating an inclusive and supportive environment for this activity. Equally inspiring was to hear of the staggering impact made by Dr Fortunato Cristobal from the Ateneo de Zamboanga University School of Medicine,
Philippines http://som.adzu.edu.ph/ index.php who recognised the need for dramatic change in the health and wellbeing of his local community and commenced a medical school with only US$500. In the ensuing 20 years students have on graduation continued to work in the same community and have dramatically improved not just the health outcomes of the region but also contributed to solving community problems. Everyone at the conference was left speechless by a movie depicting stories of the projects that the medical students had completed as part of their training (available from their website), from constructing a half-way house to assist women in their final stages of pregnancy to providing canoes so children could get to school and patients could travel to medical care. These were just two examples of the uplifting events that attendees experienced demonstrating Community Engaged Medical Education and Aboriginal Health. Other themes
explored in the conference were “Longitudinal Learning” where students are immersed into communities for extended placements and “Social Accountability”. Flinders staff and students were well represented contributing 16 presentations from FlindersNT staff and 12 from Flinders SA staff. The conference truly modelled a supportive, collaborative and forward thinking educational experience with a wide range of presentation formats. The PeArLS (Personally Arranged Learning Sessions) were very popular as these provided an opportunity for critical dilemmas to be solved! In just 30 minutes the presenter had an opportunity to introduce a topic and pose questions to a small group. The facilitator then managed a stimulating discussion about the issue with the presenter observing the interactions, after which the presenter summarised the key lessons they had learnt and next steps they would take to manage the dilemma. This was an excellent learning environment for all involved. Personally I gained many new insights from not only presenting a PeARLs session but participating in workshops and other more formal paper presentations. The conference presentations are available for others to access from the Muster 2014 website http:// www.flinders.edu.au/muster2014/ helen.wozniak@flinders.edu.au
The Ngangkari – Anangu traditional healers - delivered the opening plenary
Carole Reeve. Bill Heddle and Helen Wozniak at the Uluru sunset welcome
Above: Dr Cristobal’s inspiring presentation Right: Flinders medical students enjoyed the opportunity to attend the Muster
3 | Education in Focus 3
Education in Focus
Disability students are AsiaBound Associate Professor Caroline Ellison has been successful in the AsiaBound Grant Program, which will allow Bachelor of Disability and Developmental Education students an opportunity to undertake a 3 week practicum placement in Indonesia. The AsiaBound Grants Program subsidy is funded by the Department of Industry to encourage participation in nominated short term mobility programs. This practicum placement will involve 6 students and 1 staff member, and allow the students to develop skills and build capacity through their engagement in learning at Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) Centres across Indonesia. Prior to their departure they will undertake a 20 hour Bahasa language program. The success of the AsiaBound Grant creates a practicum which responds to course requirements for the Bachelor of Disability and Developmental Education by giving students the opportunity to experience firsthand the contrasts between Australian and Indonesian disability services.
In the light of the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of People with Disabilities, it is imperative students gain some international understanding of disability policy development, planning and implementation of quality service provision in a context other than Australia. The key learning outcomes will include: Identification of issues relating to providing quality services to people living with disabilities in Indonesia and basic conversation skills Problem-solving skills required in a cross-cultural, internationallyoriented workplace Cultural awareness and a respect for cultural difference Reflective practice as international disability workers Ability to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances and contexts that students are unlikely to experience in Australia. caroline.ellison@flinders.edu.au peggy.essl@flinders.edu.au
Flinders Vision officially opens Flinders Vision was officially opened on 1 October 2014 by Flinders University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Barber, and Kaurna MP, Mr Chris Picton. The clinic is a purpose-built teaching facility which also provides high quality eye care to patients under the direction of highly regarded Principal Optometrist, Jason Booth. Flinders Vision has treated over 600 patients since the doors opened at the Sturt campus in March this year, and has provided an opportunity for 75% of fourth and fifth year optometry students to undertake a placement in the clinic. The facility offers innovative modern technologies to aid in the clinical training of students, including video recording, allowing supervisors to watch student consultations in real time. The commercial shop front also allows students to gain an understanding of all aspects of the optometry business, including retail, clinical and real world health care outcomes. The facility will significantly enhance the clinical skills of students and ensure that Flinders University optometry graduates are work-ready. Producing high quality optometry graduates is significant given there is a distinct under-supply of optometrists, particularly in rural and remote Australia. Flinders University offers the only optometry program in South Australia, creating a real opportunity for Flinders to make a difference in transforming the eye care landscape.
Flinders Vision was officially opened on 1 October 2014 by Flinders University Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Barber, and Kaurna MP, Mr Chris Picton.
dave.jacobs@flinders.edu.au
Education in Focus in an initiative of the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders University Comments and suggestions for future article are welcome Also available online: www.flinders.edu.au/health-sciences/current/publications.cfm Editorial Team: Ms Monika Vnuk, A/Prof Claire Drummond, Ms Kelly Meier, A/Prof Barbara Sanderson, Dr Wendy Abigail and Dr Yvonne Parry Contact: monika.vnuk@flinders.edu.au
4 | Education in Focus