Blogs as a support tool for international mobility students

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Blogs as a support tool for international
mobility students
Helen Keegan, University of Salford,
UKh.keegan_at_salford.ac.uk
ALT-C 2006, Wednesday 6th September
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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Overview

• Background
• Blogs - 2 Case Studies
• CS1 Nursing blog
• CS2 Social work blog
• Findings
• Conclusion Questions

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Background

• ESMOS Enhancing Mobility through Online Support
  (Socrates/Minerva)
• Needs analysis
• which technology and procedures are used in
  supporting study exchange and international work
  placements? What are the experiences gained?
• Preparation and administrative procedures before
  phase abroad generally rated highly
• Real need for support of students during their
  phase abroad (P2P, student-tutor)

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students ESMOS Methodology
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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Blogs WHY?

• Teaching and learning
• Reflection
• Collaboration
• Group activities
• Psychological and social support
• Culture shock
• Homesickness
• Loneliness

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Blogs - 2 Case Studies

• University of Salford, UK
• BSc Nursing, 10 students
• 10 week clinical placements
• 8 x UK/2 x Malta
• Journal LX (Blackboard plug-in)
• FH JOANNEUM, Austria
• BA Social Work, 10 students
• 14 week internships, 7 countries
• Serendipity (open source)

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Case 1 Nursing blog

• Independent Learning module
• Action Learning Set - peer support for learners
  during the independent learning process
• Framework of support
• Placement journal
• Reflective blog inc. placement observations and
  learning experiences
• Placement, coursework, families

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Case 1 Nursing blog

• Face to face meetings prior to placements
  (technical issues, setting rules for blog etc)
• 2 weeks community building on blog
• Each student 1 main entry each week on chosen
  topic of nursing (specific topic)
• Comparison between healthcare systems in
  different countries (e.g. ethics, care delivery,
  management)
• Much learning that has relevance to all emerges
  and is facilitated by tutor
• Community of practice

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Case 1 Nursing blog - extracts

• Some posts were very emotive
• I think technology is a great thing sometimes
  but nothing can substitute a physical cuddle when
  you need one
• I was actually desperate for my ordinary life.
  I was feeling horribly isolated, vulnerable and
  lonely. I felt helpless which is not an emotion i
  am used to, but i related these feelings to the
  patient experience and i have made myself a
  promise that regardless of cost or consequence i
  will do everything in my power to alleviate
  patient distress at time of admission and until
  they leave. Thanks for listening, bye bye Ros xx
  

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Case 1 Nursing blog - extracts

• In response to a lull in blog posts
• I was under the impression we were sharing and
  learning from the blog? We are experiencing a
  whole host of problems here and a little help
  from my friends would help enormously
• I'm really, really sorry that you feel that we
  have been neglecting you, we haven't meant to do
  it. I think the problem has been that we have all
  been caught up in our own topics and it has been
  harder than we anticipated. I think that the
  meetings that we have had with each other face to
  face have been more therapy than anything else,
  'a problem shared is a problem halved' and just
  realising that you are not the only one who is
  unsure about what you are doing can feel quite
  comforting in a strange sort of way. I feel quite
  guilty now

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Case 2 Social work blog

• Framework of support
• eSupervision (advice, info, learning)
• Online diaries about experiences abroad
• Exchange of experiences (peer-to-peer)
• Eight scheduled appointments in the blog
• Predefined questions
• P2P and student-tutor discussion
• Feedback to written reports, encouraging deeper
  reflection

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Case 2 Social work blog

• Face to face meetings before phase abroad
• Technical introduction and know how (e.g. about
  blogs)
• Initially a lot of time and effort was needed to
  motivate the students to participate
• Use of blog increased when confronted with
  problems in organization abroad
• Especially for students overseas it is necessary
  to discuss culture shock and their personal
  reactions.
• Initial findings suggest that eSupervision has
  nearly the same effect as f2f

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Findings

• Students felt comfortable expressing themselves
  on the blogs
• Shared feelings/emotions
• For students overseas, use of/need for blog
  increased when experiencing problems abroad
  (homesickness, culture shock)

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Weblogs as a support tool for international
mobility students Conclusions and Questions

• Ongoing contact through blogging increases
  confidence
• Blogs can also be used as an effective
  psychological/emotional and social support tool
  for international mobility students
• Helen Keegan h.keegan_at_salford.ac.uk
• ESMOS http//www.esmos.org