OTnews December 2020 | Page 26

FEATURE STUDENT EDUCATION

All for one and one for all

Three higher education institutes have joined forces to deliver one online practice placement accreditation course across the Trent region

University of Lincoln , Sheffield Hallam University

and University of Derby are the three universities in the RCOT Trent region that offer occupational therapy pre-registration courses . The three universities have long taken a tripartite approach to the education of clinicians across the region , which has many benefits ; staff have grown to know each other ’ s courses and placement assessments over the years , and they support each other to deliver local training updates and solve placement issues from a wide range of experiences .
To date , the universities have worked together to explore different styles of placement delivery , including role emerging and two-to-one models .
The three universities source placements from all over the Trent region , and educators may take students from any of the universities throughout the year .
Working collaboratively is invaluable for the universities and clinicians . For clinicians who take students from all the courses , it is reassuring to know that they have had all the same training and guidance . They also only need to complete one training course , rather one for each university .
Through the close relationships the universities have , we are able to offer a streamlined approach to the training of practice educators across the whole region .
At the heart of the Trent region practice educator training was originally a two-day face-to-face course , in which participants were introduced to key topics , such as components of supervision , the principles of assessment , including failure , and inclusion .
Participants were able to put these concepts into practice by completing our assessments . Using a series of video role plays , developed at Derby University , and featuring the fictitious student ‘ Emma ’, educators in small groups could discuss and explore her assessment at all levels using all our assessment paperwork .
This was a really valuable opportunity for collaboration with educators across the region to share their thoughts and ideas , and for us to ensure parity and triangulation .
The birth of L ’ apple Following the discontinuation of RCOT ’ s APPLE scheme in 2019 , we began consulting with educators to explore what might replace the APPLE training , which led to the development and launch of L ’ apple .
Despite the COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of 2020 , we still needed to train up new educators , and students still required placements throughout the year .
Julie Walters , the most technical member of the team , set up the initial L ’ apple course with contributions from all three universities . She put this together in record speed and we decided to run with it as the pilot course .
Li and Lalani ( 2020 ), taking a global perspective on the effect of the pandemic on education , suggest that online learning increases the retention of information , takes less time and that it might be here to stay as a result of the coronavirus .
As a team of HEI ’ s we routinely arrange regular face-toface educator updates and CPD events for our placement co-ordinators and current placement educators . This was
© GettyImages / AlisaRut
26 OTnews December 2020