A presentation from the eLearning in Health Conference 2011.
In the current economic climate there is growing interest in open source technologies and their potential to support a sustainable approach to online teaching and learning. The concepts of personalised learning environments and networks are also attracting attention as teachers explore how Web 2.0 technologies can be used in healthcare education. In some quarters there has also been talk of the death of the virtual learning environment (VLE) whilst others highlight that many teaching staff have yet to engage with it.
At the School of Medicine in Dundee the eLearning team has been working with a number of teaching leads across all phases of the curriculum in piloting the use of the opensource Wordpress platform to support the delivery of the curriculum. This work has developed in response to accessibility issues with the institutional VLE in NHS locations. Initial pilots saw Wordpress sites supplementing the teaching resources in the VLE and were well received by students. Further pilots have seen teaching staff deliver all their online resources via Wordpress. While evaluation is ongoing a number of benefits have already emerged through the use of this open source platform including
- Increased engagement of teaching staff in the use of educational technology and a desire to exploit it further to enhance learning and take ownership of their online presence
- Positive feedback from students
- Increased involvement of students in developing the online learning environment through student-led projects SSCs summer projects
- Increased personalisation of online learning
- Improving access to content from NHS locations
- Making learning content more open.
This presentation will be of interest to those interested in using innovative approaches to developing a more personalised and sustainable online learning environment. We will also consider whether moving beyond the VLE can help to develop a community of practice in online learning in healthcare education.
