FEATURE STUDENT EDUCATION
Creating connections
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A look at how students and staff at Glasgow Caledonian University have found a way to adapt to these unprecedented times to stay connected online
University staff and students across Scotland have embraced the challenges of working and studying online to connect with each other like never before , by setting up a series of online events called ‘ OTogether scOTland ’. The restrictions put in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impacted our ability to connect with others within our field of practice and we know that occupational therapy is a profession that recognises the importance of social connections , not just for the development of our own profession , but for our wellbeing .
Which is why students and staff within the occupational therapy department at Glasgow Caledonian University wanted to find a way to adapt to the unprecedented times we found ourselves working in , to allow occupational therapy students to stay connected and not feel so distant from each other .
This led us to reach out to staff and students at the other Scottish universities to work together to create ‘ OTogether scOTland ’, with the aim of allowing students to feel supported and have the chance to network and have fun together in these challenging times .
Members of the Occupational Therapy Society and lecturers from Glasgow Caledonian and Queen
Margaret universities combined forces virtually to create events hosted online for up to 100 Scottish occupational therapy students and academic staff .
For the first event , we used the AHP Day 2020 themes of # Connect , # Appreciate , # Inspire and # Celebrate as inspiration for a range of interactive activities to start sharing experiences and ideas .
These activities included using a virtual world map , where everyone could pin where they were at that moment ; we had people in places including Canada , Scotland , Ireland , Germany , and Singapore .
This highlighted to us the importance of opportunities to connect , as there were students who moved to Scotland to study occupational therapy , but then returned to their home countries as a result of the pandemic .
Working online allows us to connect with others globally , but the distance and time differences add to the challenges of feeling part of the occupational therapy community , and we feel that these events helped to address this sense of isolation .
We encouraged attendees to share the occupations that they had come to appreciate during lockdown , or their # LOccupations . These were discussed during the event and there was encouragement to share # LOccupations on social
20 OTnews May 2021