During the three-year Murdoch University Bachelor of Nursing course, nursing students are required to successfully complete seven Work Integrated Learning clinical placement units. Students have been utilising a digital clinical eportfolio using PebblePad and the PebblePocket app to record clinical competence whilst on WIL clinical placements since 2017. Approximately 300 MU nursing students undertake a rural or remote WIL clinical placement per year and may travel up to 3000 km to attend placement. Following the successful implementation of the clinical eportfolio as a workbook in PebblePad and assessment templates developed in PebblePocket, an opportunity to increase the connection to, and support of, students in rural and remote areas was seen in the use of the blog feature in PebblePad. In exploring alternative ways to enhance the learning experience for students using PebblePad, the team has included blogging as a mechanism for learning and embedded video blogs, ‘vlogs’, into the clinical eportfolios for those students attending rural and remote placements. Using the video function in PebblePocket, students video their oral reflections rather than using written reflections to document clinical experiences. Now academic and clinical progression can be more closely monitored as well as providing increased pastoral support for students in rural and remote clinical placements.
The above case study is just one of twenty-five brilliant examples from our 2020 'Charting new courses in learning and teaching' conference. With case studies spanning degree apprenticeships, clinical assessment, interprofessional education, showcase portfolios, and many other contexts and disciplines, they are real stories of trailblazing innovation. If you'd like to download all 25 exemplars of pedagogical goodness, click the link below.
