Blogging Clinical Placement: Harnessing Technologies to Increase Off-Campus Engagement with Healthcare Learners

Abstract

As with many professional programmes, nursing students in the United Kingdom spend a significant proportion of their time ‘on placement’ – applying their theoretical learning to the clinical area.While off campus and at a distance from their peers and university staff, however, they must continue to study and complete assessments. This creates enormous complexities for nursing students; issues of retention and success, anxiety and isolation are well documented in the research literature relating to this particularly diverse group. Emerging technologies offer opportunities to increase engagement between nursing students and faculty, thus potentially eliminating many of these difficulties. At Glasgow Caledonian University, a blog was developed to provide new students with remote support and a virtual community while on their first placement. The open access resource offered a link between faculty and students and a forum for peer support among the cohort. Student produced materials, such as ‘talking head’ videos and placement diaries, were posted alongside assessment-specific learning resources developed by staff. The blog was fully interactive and participants were encouraged to comment on and respond to posts in order to increase engagement. A thorough evaluation of the continuing initiative highlighted the success and further potential of the resource but also suggested limitations in terms of interactive engagement and issues of digital literacy among some learners. This chapter will discuss the use of technologies such as blogs in providing remote support to learners, using the student nurse blog as a case study.

Citation

Mckendry, S. and Boyd, V. (2012), "Blogging Clinical Placement: Harnessing Technologies to Increase Off-Campus Engagement with Healthcare Learners", Wankel, C. and Blessinger, P. (Ed.) Increasing Student Engagement and Retention Using Online Learning Activities (Cutting-Edge Technologies in Higher Education, Vol. 6 Part A), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 137-164. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2044-9968(2012)000006A008