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Reflections
Reflective Writing
Reflective writing is used at postgraduate level 7 for several reasons; for personal and professional growth, for portfolio entries, as in this case, or for evaluating others work as part of a directed assessment. They can also result in various outcomes, for example, development of theory or personal skills, formulating action plans for future projects and learning, or resolving uncertainty surrounding a particular incident (King, 2002). Reflective academic writing is widely regard as an essential practice for those studying practical courses as the process forces a student to look closely at their own skills and performance and determine how they can improve (Bowman and Addyman, 2014, Higgins et al., 2015). However, it has also been noted that when completed incorrectly reflections can simply be self-confirming and limited in its capacity to provide critical transformation (McCarthy, 2015). Therefore, I believe that in order to ensure students are correctly utilising the reflective writing experience frequent feedback from a lecturer is essential. As such, the majority of the reflective writing pieces below were submitted for both peer and lecturer feedback, details of this can be found on my Feedback page.
References
Bowman, M. & Addyman, B. (2014). Academic reflective writing: a study to examine its usefulness, British Journal of Nursing, 23(6). https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2014.23.6.304
Higgins, M., Aitken-Rose, E., & Dixon, J. (2009). The Pedagogy of the Planning Studio: A View from Down Under. Journal for Education in the Built Environment, 4(1), 8–30. https://doi.org/10.11120/jebe.2009.04010008
King, T. (n.d.). Development of Student Skills in Reflective Writing. http://www.tcd.ie/Nursing_Midwifery/assets/director-staff-edu-dev/pdf/Development-of-Student-Skills-in-Reflective-Writing-TerryKing.pdf
McCarthy, J. (2011). Reflective Writing, Higher Education and Professional Practice. Journal for Education in the Built Environment, 6(1), 29–43. https://doi.org/10.11120/jebe.2011.06010029
Internal Placement Day
The internal placement day provided the opportunity for our class to observe standard practice on both a canine and an equine client. Observing qualified practitioners has been shown to improve the skills of students and is frequently used as a teaching method across both human (Clynes and Raftery, 2008) and animal physiotherapy courses (Goff, 2016).
Both the equine and canine assessments began with a static assessment of the animal, followed by a dynamic assessment. Static evaluation of an animal can provide a basis for most physiotherapy assessments as it allows a view of static loading through the limbs and postural stance, both of which can be affected by physiological complaints and injuries (Goff, 2016). Whereas dynamic assessments allow a physiotherapist to observe the movement of the animal and any lameness that may be present (Sims et al.,2015; Serra Braganca et al., 2018).
During these assessments I felt like my experience, both owning and working, with horses and dogs enabled a clearer view of some potential issues that without I may not have seen. However, I did feel that I could see issues associated with the horse easier than with the dog. This may be due to solely working with sound dogs in my past, thus I am lacking the necessary experience needed to clearly identify lameness and physiological issues (Millis and Ciuperca, 2015; Davidson, 2018) and so I will include watching more canine assessments in my personal development plan (PDP).
The main thing I felt I struggled with throughout the day was the technical terminology and language used. It is very important to use correct terminology when assessing an animal as it enables easy and clear conversation with the vet in charge of the animal (Bateman, 2007), and appears more professional towards a client (Maynard and Downs, 2019). However, after discussion with my peers, I found I was not the only one struggling with the terminology, which made me feel slightly more relaxed, although it did not lessen the need for my own improvement in this area. Having difficulty learning the correct anatomical and technological terms has been found to be a common issue among veterinary medicine students (Uopasai and Benterm, 2012) meaning this may be an area that will require more of my focus over the next three years.
My overall takeaway from the placement day was that my canine knowledge needs improving more so than my equine knowledge. While I recognise I have much to learn in both areas over the course, I feel more confident in my equine skills than in my canine; this is in part due to having studied equine lamneness detection as part of my undergraduate degree. Although, I must be weary of growing complacent due to this prior knowledge (Wood and Lynch, 2002) and ensure that I study both the equine and canine sides of the course equally well as I wish to work with both of these animals after qualifying as a veterinary physiotherapist.
References
Bateman, S. W. (2007). Communication in the Veterinary Emergency Setting. In Veterinary Clinics of North America - Small Animal Practice (Vol. 37, Issue 1, pp. 109–121). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2006.09.005
Clynes, M. P., & Raftery, S. E. C. (2008). Feedback: An essential element of student learning in clinical practice. Nurse Education in Practice, 8(6), 405–411. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2008.02.003
Davidson, E. J. (2018). Lameness Evaluation of the Athletic Horse. In Veterinary Clinics of North America - Equine Practice (Vol. 34, Issue 2, pp. 181–191). W.B. Saunders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cveq.2018.04.013
Goff, L. (2016). Physiotherapy Assessment for the Equine Athlete. In Veterinary Clinics of North America - Equine Practice (Vol. 32, Issue 1, pp. 31–47). W.B. Saunders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cveq.2015.12.002
Maynard, R. L., & Downes, N. (2019). Introduction to Anatomical Terminology. In Anatomy and Histology of the Laboratory Rat in Toxicology and Biomedical Research (pp. 7–9). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-811837-5.00002-2
Millis, D. L., & Ciuperca, I. A. (2015). Evidence for Canine Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy. In Veterinary Clinics of North America - Small Animal Practice (Vol. 45, Issue 1, pp. 1–27). W.B. Saunders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2014.09.001
Serra Bragança, F. M., Rhodin, M., & van Weeren, P. R. (2018). On the brink of daily clinical application of objective gait analysis: What evidence do we have so far from studies using an induced lameness model? In Veterinary Journal (Vol. 234, pp. 11–23). Bailliere Tindall Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2018.01.006
Sims, C., Waldron, R., & Marcellin-Little, D. J. (2015). Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy for the Neurologic Veterinary Patient. In Veterinary Clinics of North America - Small Animal Practice (Vol. 45, Issue 1, pp. 123–143). W.B. Saunders. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvsm.2014.09.007
Uopasai, S., & Bunterm, T. (2012). The Development of Veterinary Anatomical Term Learning Media for 2nd Year Students in Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Khon Kaen University. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 69, 1861–1865. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.12.138
Wood, S.L. & Lynch, J.G Jr (2002). Prior Knowledge and Complacency in New Product Learning. In Journal of Consumer Research (Vol. 29, Issue 23, pp. 416-426). https://doi.org/10.1086/344425
Marigold Thompson working on Mia, a university horse, demonstrating multiple physiotherapy techniques.
Initial Animal Handling Skills
The Objective Structured Practical Examinations (OSPEs) are often used to assess if a student has developed the necessary level of clinical competence for their field of study and are considered very useful in the medical and veterinary world (Chongloi et al., 2017). Nonetheless, these exams have often been met with a level of negativity due to their lack of objectivity (Frantz et al., 2013) and reliability (Eldarir et al., 2013). However, practical exams are very important for veterinary physiotherapy students as lack of competence when dealing with animals can be disastrous. The majority of animals that will be treated will be suffering from some element of pain and so can be liable to react suddenly and unpredictably. Thus, knowing how to correctly and safely handle and manipulate an animal is of the upmost importance. Even though I had experienced this type of examination during my undergraduate course I still felt a level of anxiety as this was nearly three years ago. We completed a 'mock' OSPE in order to prepare ourselves for the real exam and familiarise ourselves with the examination procedure and requirements. Going into the mock exam, I felt apprehensive but positive towards both my canine and equine handling skills and my anxieties were somewhat reduced, especially as this exam was purely for feedback.
The main parts worrying me surrounding the exams were getting the dog in and out of the cage, not being able to walk the dog correctly, and making little mistakes with the horses. I have little experience getting dogs out of cages and so was unfamiliar with the correct process, however after this had been demonstrated and I had had the opportunity to practice I felt more confident regarding this element and managed to do this correctly in the mock. This then boosted my assurance in my canine handling skills as my exam had gotten off to a good start, this then allowed my apprehensions to lift slightly. Additionally, I had little experience walking a dog the way the exam required. During the demonstration of the exams, it was required to walk the dogs slowly in order to properly observe their gait and any small abnormalities present. Although I have walked many dogs, it has always been at the dog’s own pace without much input from myself as a handler. Ensuring the dog walks slowly improves the ability to assess how the animal moves and makes it easier to pinpoint where any issue is coming from (Millis and Ciuperca, 2015), and so is an important skill for a veterinary physiotherapist. I felt that the dog I had walked a little quicker than I would have liked and will keep this in mind for the real OSPE. Furthermore, I had to be very conscience of my own abilities during the equine OSPE. Having my own horses and having volunteered at a riding school for many weekends during my teenage years, I hope that my equine skills will be acceptable, however, I also need to ensure I do not get overconfident and then make small mistakes due to complacency (Wood and Lynch, 2002) and carryout the tasks correctly as the examination requires. I made sure to take my time in each element of the equine OSPE and concentrated on handling the horse to the best of my abilities. This resulted in a successful completion of my equine OSPE and I received positive feedback regarding this.
I am confident that the official OSPE will go well, as the mock examinations cemented my abilities and reduced my exam related anxieties (Young et al., 2014). As exam anxiety is directly linked to poor performance (Trifoni and Shahini, 2011) I felt that the mocks were beneficial in ensuring students, including myself, achieved the best possible grades, and the feedback given, if appropriately acted upon, guaranteed that the necessary levels of competence were attained for progression in this course.
References
A. Eldarir, S. (2013). Objective Structured Clinical Evaluation (OSCE) versus Traditional Clinical Students Achievement at Maternity Nursing: A Comparative Approach. IOSR Journal of Dental and Medical Sciences, 4(3), 63–68. https://doi.org/10.9790/0853-0436368
Chongloi, N., Thomas, P., Hansaram, Ara, M., & Deepak, K. K. (2017). Attitudes of undergraduate nursing students toward Objective Structure Practical Examination: An Exploratory study. International Journal of Nursing Sciences, 4(1), 68–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijnss.2016.12.003
Frantz, J. M., Rowe, M., Hess, D. A., Rhoda, A. J., Sauls, B. L., & Wegner, L. (2013). Student and staff perceptions and experiences of the introduction of Objective Structured Practical Examinations: A pilot study. African Journal of Health Professions Education, 5(2), 72. https://doi.org/10.7196/ajhpe.218
Millis, D. L., & Ciuperca, I. A. (2015). Evidence for Canine Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy. In Veterinary Clinics of North America - Small Animal Practice (Vol. 45, Issue 1, pp. 1–27). W.B.
Anisa, T., & Miranda, S. (2011). How Does Exam Anxiety Affect the Performance of University Students? Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 02(May 2011), 93–100. http://dundee.summon.serialssolutions.com/link/0/eLvHCXMwQ7QykcsDY8LlgRFoclLXEHz6BuIcaKTC3k2Uwc3NNcTZQxe0cCy-AHIaQzzofGSwAGwlWbyFoXkysOZNBlZPyYnmSaaJycB6DdhbMkkxMk41STEw5GNWtbXZv8116cYyUa6dm_T1ATe4NoA
Wood, S.L. & Lynch, J.G Jr (2002). Prior Knowledge and Complacency in New Product Learning. In Journal of Consumer Research (Vol. 29, Issue 23, pp. 416-426). https://doi.org/10.1086/344425
Young, I., Montgomery, K., Medical, W., Kearns, P., Hayward, S., & Mellanby, E. (2020). The bene fi ts of a peer ‐ assisted mock OSCE. 11(3), 1–14.
Presenting a dog for static assessment as part of the OSPE practice
Feedback
This piece of writing was one of which I received formative feedback for. My feedback included that the majority of my writing was superficial and that I did not critically analyse what I had experienced and had not related it to how I would change moving forward. Therefore, I decided to edit the text, taking onboard this feedback, in the hopes of improving my potential grade. The new piece of writing can be found here.
Legislation Knowledge
There are numerous pieces of legislation that need to be considered when practicing as a veterinary physiotherapist all of varying degrees of importance. As a veterinary physiotherapist we aim to aid animals in their recovery, be that from injury, surgery, or general wear and tear, and reduce the pain they feel (Hesbach, 2014). However, all of this must be done within the constraints of certain legislation. Arguably, the main piece of legislation used by veterinary physiotherapists is the Veterinary Surgeon's Act 1966 and Exceptions Order 2015 (Legislation.gov.uka,b, 2020). These state that all work carried out by a veterinary physio must be undertaken through veterinary referral. This legislation is clearly written and easy to follow, leaving little room for misinterpretation and error. However, during our lecture regarding legislation and animal welfare, this was not found to be the case in many other areas.
The first scenario that was given regarded data protection. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) (gov.uk, 2020) outlines the laws regarding the sharing of sensitive data, including but not restricted to, client data. This scenario was fairly clear cut as a rehomed animal's new vet was requesting details regarding their treatment, and to be able to share this information all that was needed was written permission from the previous owner. However, another scenario demonstrated the slightly more complex side to data protection and veterinary practices. This scenario regarded an animal being sold with a pre-existing condition but that had passed a 5 stage vetting exam before being sold. In this case, as the animal had passed a pre-purchase exam, any issues arising would require re-examination by a vet, and so there should be no need for the disclosure of any sensitive data, however this scenario did pose issues with personal ethics and if you would want to tell the new owner of your previous treatments with this animal and not be allowed to do so. Nonetheless, cases like this can pose conflicting issues between acting within the law but whilst also taking into account the animals welfare. From these scenarios the importance of protecting patient data and also remaining within the law was highlighted and I learnt that the most important thing is, however selfishly, protecting myself as a physio.
Another scenario that required careful consideration between what is legal within the GDPR whilst also protecting the welfare of the animal was presented. In this case it had to be considered if the animals welfare was being impacted in a way that outweighed the GDPR. In some extenuating circumstances, relevant information can be shared with governing bodies, such as the RSPCA (RCVS, 2018). However, during discussions it was decided, that before going forward to any higher governing bodies, a discussion with the owner should always be the first port of call. This scenario displayed that as a veterinary physiotherapist it may be necessary to have difficult conversations with owners in order to benefit the animal being treated. Some issues seen by vet physios, such housing conditions as was given in one scenario, can greatly impact recovery time and cause ongoing issues if they are not improved quickly (Polgar et al., 2019) and therefore require action that may go beyond what is considered normal for a veterinary physiotherapist.
As a veterinary physiotherapist, the animals welfare must be at the heart of everything we do, however, we must also always remain on the right side of the law and legislations that govern us, even if this means doing things that may conflict with our own ethical views.
References
Gov.uk 2020. Guide to the General Data Protection Regulation [online] Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guide-to-the-general-data-protection-regulation.
Hesbach, A. L. (2014). Manual Therapy in Veterinary Rehabilitation. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, 29(1), 20–23. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.tcam.2014.02.002
Legislation.gov.uk. 2020a. Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966 [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1966/36 (Accessed Nov 2020)
Legislation.gov.uk. 2020b. Veterinary Surgeons Exemptions Order 2015 [online] Available at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/772 (Accessed Nov 2020)
Polgár, Z., Blackwell, E. J., & Rooney, N. J. (2019). Assessing the welfare of kennelled dogs—A review of animal-based measures. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 213(October 2018), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2019.02.013
Royal Collage of Veterinary Surgeons, 2018. General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) Amendments to RCVS supporting guidance [online] Available at: https://www.rcvs.org.uk/document-library/amendments-to-supporting-guidance/ (Accessed Dec 2020)
Anatomy Knowledge
Understanding the musculoskeletal anatomy of animals is a fundamental part of being a veterinary physiotherapist (Hesbach, 2014), without this knowledge it would be extremely difficult for a practitioner to determine the reason for the change in an animals gait or kinetics and ever more so for them to be able to attempt to rectify this (Ward and Walker, 2008).
I studied skeletal anatomy to a certain extent during my undergraduate degree, however the muscular side of things was only touched on very briefly. As mentioned in my SWOT analysis and PDP, I feel that musculature anatomy is one of my weaker points. As such, I was really looking forward to the live dissections that were part of the Advanced Functional Anatomy module, to consolidate what I had been learning from my anatomy books and online as dissections have been highlighted as fundamental towards the learning process in anatomy subjects (Johnson, 2002). However, this was just one of the many aspects of this course that suffered as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic. Due to not being allowed on site for the majority of the academic year, our dissections were pushed back as much as possible but as they were still recognised as essential to our learning (Potel and Moxham, 2008) they were moved to the end of the academic year. We had completed one dissection of the neck and trunk of the horse and I found it very helpful to be able to visualise the muscles as they actually are in the animal and not 2D on a page as has been seen in recent research (Triepels et al., 2019).
Due to this subject being one of my weaker ones, I employed numerous methods when learning the muscles and their origin, insertion, innervation and function. This included a mixture of 2D and 3D modalities as this was seen in a recent study to be the best learning technique (Bergman et al., 2008). This helped to keep changing how I was learning and ensuring that what I was doing was helping. I found colouring books and flash cards particularly helpful, more so the flash cards as I could keep these in my bag and use them when I was out and about and found myself with a spare 5/10 minutes. Mobile apps that showed the muscles in 3D were also useful as I nearly always have my phone on me and they helped to see the animal and muscle in a somewhat real setting.
Dissections
The first practical dissection we completed was on the neck and trunk of the horse. This dissection further demonstrated my lack of proficiency with anatomical terms and specific muscle names. The anatomical language required of a veterinary physiotherapist has often been recognised as a point of weakness for both under and postgraduate student (Collins, 2008). When the lecturer was pointing out muscles and asking for the names, I felt rather overwhelmed as I did not know any of them. However, this did spur me on to dedicate more time towards learning the muscles and looking back, I feel if we did this dissection again, I would be able to at least name the main muscles of the neck and back. I am looking forward to the rest of the dissections we have planned and hopefully they will help cement the placement of the muscles and reinforce the learning I have already done.
References
Bergman, E.M. van der Vleuten, C. P. M. & Scherpbier, A. J. J. (2011) Why don't they know enough about anatomy? A narrative review. Medical Teaching, 33(5), 403-409 DOI: 10.3109/0142159X.2010.536276
Collins, J. (2008) Modern approaches to teaching and learning anatomy. BMJ, 377. doi:10.1136/bmj.a1310
Hesbach, A. L. (2014). Manual Therapy in Veterinary Rehabilitation. Topics in Companion Animal Medicine, 29(1), 20–23. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.tcam.2014.02.002
Johnson, J.H. (2002) Importance of dissection in learning anatomy: personal dissection versus peer teaching. Clinical Anatomy, 15(2), 38-44 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11835543/
Patel, K. M., & Moxham, B. J. (2008). The relationships between learning outcomes and methods of teaching anatomy as perceived by professional anatomists. Clinical Anatomy, 21(2), 182–189. https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.20584
Triepels, C. P. R., Smeets, C. F. A., Notten, K. J. B., Kruitwagen, R. F. P. M., Futterer, J. J., Vergeldt, T. F. M., & Van Kuijk, S. M. J. (2020). Does three-dimensional anatomy improve student understanding? Clinical Anatomy, 33(1), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1002/ca.23405
Ward, P. J., & Walker, J. J. (2008). The influence of study methods and knowledge processing on academic success and long-term recall of anatomy learning by first-year veterinary students. Anatomical Sciences Education, 1(2), 68–74. https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.12
Pictures from our first live dissection
My cat was also interested in learning the anatomy of the horse
Some of my anatomy resources
Pathophysiology
The pathophysiology assignment was a critical review of the phases of repair of a specific tissue type of our choice, for this I chose healing of tendons following surgical repair. I had a specific interest in this area as my horse has mild subluxation of his superficial digital flexor tendon and so may need surgical intervention one day.
I have typically struggled with critical reviews at undergraduate and this assignment was no different. As this was the first graded assignment I had done in three years since graduating I was somewhat anxious about starting this assignment and therefore put off starting it. Doing this is not uncommon in university and postgraduate students (Beutel et al., 2016) although after speaking with John from Writtle Student Support, he explained that often, the best way to deal with this was to 'eat the frog' and dive in and get it done. I did find that this technique helped me and found that I did enjoy researching tendon healing and the physiotherapy techniques used to aid it. I was also surprised at how much I already knew and remembered from my undergraduate course. In this case, I felt my undergraduate degree was particularly useful as we learnt quite in depth about tissue and bone healing and so adding the techniques a physiotherapist could use to aid in this was somewhat easier than I had envisioned.
I received a Merit grade for this assignment and while I was not massively surprised at this, I was still slightly disappointed. Although, as previously mentioned, this was my first piece of summative work at postgraduate and level 7 so I was not expecting it to be perfect. The feedback I was given was fair and i feel that I acted upon it in my next assignment although I would have liked some more detail on how to actually improve my writing style to that of a level 7 student. The lack of clarity surrounding feedback and the resulting difficulty with reflective writing is well documented (Brown et al., 2013). However, this led to doing more research on critical writing which I feel was ultimately beneficial to my education (Bowman and Addyman, 2014). Additionally, I did find that since doing the pathophysiology essay that my writing style has improved slightly. I found this was mostly due to reading more peer reviewed journals and particularly that the Journal Club assignment had helped with my critical review skills and so I hope to achieve a better grade on my Biomechanics Research Project.
References
Beutel, M. E., Klein, E. M., Aufenanger, S., Brähler, E., Dreier, M., Müller, K. W., Quiring, O., Reinecke, L., Schmutzer, G., Stark, B., & Wölfling, K. (2016). Procrastination, distress and life satisfaction across the age range - A German representative community study. PLoS ONE, 11(2), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148054
Bowman, M. & Addyman, B. (2014). Academic reflective writing: a study to examine its usefulness, British Journal of Nursing, 23(6). https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2014.23.6.304
Brown, J. M. McNeill, H. & Shaw, N. J. (2012) Triggers for reflection: exploring the act of written reflection and the hidden art of reflective practice in postgraduate medicine. International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives. 14(6) 755-765 https://doi.org/10.1080/14623943.2013.815612
Journal Club
Group presentations are something I did a lot of during my undergraduate degree so I was fairly comfortable in that aspect of this assignment. However, I had not done a Journal Club review before so this required some research into exactly what was involved and how to maximise the grade myself and my peers would receive (Bowles et al., 2013). This assignment was purely formative but nevertheless it was very useful as it spelled out how to critically analyse a journal paper which is a vital skill for a level 7 student and aided my academic development as critical reviews are something I often struggled with at undergrad. As such this has been highlighted as a potential area of weakness in my PDP and something I should focus on throughout the duration of this course. I found that after doing the Journal Club and receiving a formative Merit grade for it, that my confidence with critical reviews had improved, as seen in Nicholson et al., 2011. This was then further built on upon receiving another Merit grade for my Pathophysiology assignment, and while there is still some room for improvement as my aim is to achieve a Distinction, I feel this is as good a starting point as any (Bickerstaff et al., 2017).
One aspect of this assignment I found particularly difficult was not being able to meet with my group members. Due to Covid-19 and being a part time course that people from all over the country study on, my group was unable to meet in person and so all correspondence was done online, over either teams or Facebook. This was also difficult as it meant we all had to coordinate our timetables to be able to virtually meet up. This aspect did cause a bit of stress and worry as many more things can go wrong over virtual meeting when compared to in person meetings. Despite this, all of our meeting went well and we were able to plan what aspect of the journal each person would look at and review and then ensure it would be done before our next meeting. In the past I have had trouble surrounding group members not completing their tasks and so have always ensured I had a complete understanding of the task in case I felt anything of importance was missing. Thankfully, all group members (including myself) completed their assigned tasks well before the submission date allowing us ample time to change anything we felt needed changing across the whole presentation and ensure the presentation itself looked appealing and was engaging to our cohort.
One thing I would do differently if I were to do this kind of activity again is make a shared file that everyone could access and update rather than everyone working on their own files and attempting to put all of these together in order to submit a final version. Having separate files did make editing the final file a little more difficult and time consuming as everyone was making small changes to their own version that may not have been noticeable to other group members. I also hope that if we were to do another group presentation that we would be able to meet in person, although doing the assignment virtually was valuable as this is the way many things may need to be done in the future irrespective of Covid-19 and lockdown restrictions.
I was happy with the formative feedback we received for this presentation. Our main areas for improvement were around audience engagement, which, with doing these presentations online over teams was difficult anyway but is something I plan to work on for when we are back in the classroom and able to do presentations in person. I also feel that writing and presenting a journal club has greatly improved my critical writing skills (Bowles et al., 2013, King, 2002) and endeavour to apply what I learned from this experience in all my future assignments.
References
Bickerstaff, S., Barragan, M., & Rucks-Ahidiana, Z. (2017). Experiences of Earned Success: Community College Students’ Shifts in College Confidence. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 29(3), 501–510.
Bowles, P. F. D., Marenah Dr., K., Ricketts Dr., D. M., & Rogers Dr., B. A. (2013). How to prepare for and present at a journal club. British Journal of Hospital Medicine, 74(SUPPL. 10). https://doi.org/10.12968/hmed.2013.74.Sup10.C150
King, T. (n.d.). Development of Student Skills in Reflective Writing. http://www.tcd.ie/Nursing_Midwifery/assets/director-staff-edu-dev/pdf/Development-of-Student-Skills-in-Reflective-Writing-TerryKing.pdf
Nicholson, L. Putwain, D. Connors, L. & Hornby-Atkinson, P. (2013) The key to successful achievement as an undergraduate student: confidence and realistic expectations? Studies in Higher Education, 38(2) 285-298 https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.585710