niall watts promoting reflective writing among psychiatry students ed media 2011

Promoting Reflective Writing

among Psychiatry Students

Niall Watts

Allys Guerandel, Kieran O’Loughlin

Kevin Malone, Geraldine O’Neill

Ed-Media 2011, Lisbon

Educational Technology Officer

Media Services, IT Services

University College Dublin

Niall.watts@ucd.ie

Reflective Writing Project

• First of its kind

• Blended

– Why?

• Consistent

• Complete

• Exchange Ideas

The Students - Clinical Teaching Practice

From Tulane Public Relations Photostream on Flickr

Presentation Outcomes

• Introduce 3 parts of blend

• Theoretical Background

• Preliminary Findings

• Future Plans

E-learning Tutorial - Instructivist

Discussion Forum - Constructivist

3 Posts

– 1 per level of Reflection

– Matched assessment criteria

– 2% of grade

– Random Groups

E-Tivity - Spark

(c) The Times (2008)

Intriguing Ambiguity

Categories of Reflection

– Descriptive

– Dialogic

– Critical

Reflective Essay Assessment

Reflect on the mental health

consequences of under-age

alcohol consumption in Ireland.

or

Psychiatry is frequently perceived

as an art not a science. Reflect

on this statement.

Ethics

In Theory...

Why Online Discussion?

• Suitable:

– Complex ideas

– Multiple perspectives

– No correct answer

• Apply Knowledge - Intriguing Ambiguity

• Match with Reflection

Brookfield & Preskill

Community of Inquiry Model

Transformative model

Shared understanding

• Reading • Commenting

(c) Garrison & Anderson (2003)

The 5-Stage Model for T&L Online

• Tutor feedback

• Exchange of ideas

• Social role

• E-tivity stages 3-5

From Salmon (2004) Emoderating pg 29

What happened?

Some preliminary findings...

Number of Posts per Category

0

10

20

30

40

50

Descriptive Dialogic Critical

Reflective Posts

From Blackboard Statistics

Reflective Posts vs. Essay Grades

N=47

Posts vs. Reflective Component Grades

N=47

Posts vs. Hits

0

5

10

15

20

25

0 1 2 3

#Students

# Posts

#Hits per Student vs # Posts

60-77

40-59

20-39

0-19

N=50

Conclusions to date

• 55% of students with 3 posts

– ‘Best’ in Reflective Essay

• 36% of students overall

– ‘Best’ in Reflective Essay

Students Liked...

Control

Personal Relevance

Own patient

Feedback

Competence

Sense of belonging

Relevant for exam

What next?

Future Plans

• Further Investigation

– N = 200

– Content Analysis

• Distinguishing types of reflection

– Student Feedback

• Intrinsic & Extrinsic Motivation

– Lecturer Feedback

Thank You - Questions

Niall Watts

Media Services, IT Services

University College Dublin

Niall.watts@ucd.ie