basic framework was to create a network of practice among the student ... The VLE administration and tracking tools were used to analyse online interaction.
Using Networks of Practice to develop a blended learning module in Pharmaceutical Public Health Lesley Diack, Lorna McHattie and David Pfleger School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, Scotland
Background
The next stage was the development of a service bid, the groups became smaller, c. 6 students per group with an assigned on campus academic and an off campus etutor. The students had to meet face to face and online every week for 6 weeks and put together a service development bid on a particular public health issue. They were then assessed on the bid as part of their summative assessment.
A new approach to public health teaching was developed addressing concerns that students found public health lacked relevance to their practice.1 This involved the development of a blended learning module in final year.
This module was PHM401 Pharmaceutical Public Health and participating in the module were • 137 students • 7 academic staff (on campus) • 2 esupport staff • 6 etutors (off campus and all experienced in pharmaceutical public health) The pedagogical framework used for this module was based on the work of Lave and Wenger (1998)2, Rossett and Frazee (2006)3 and Brown and Duguid (2000).4 The basic framework was to create a network of practice among the student groups and their online tutor with their learning situated in the experiential learning of various public health scenarios.
Summary of work This was an on campus module enhanced by online learning.
Summary of results The VLE administration and tracking tools were used to analyse online interaction (n=137 students). By the end of the twelve week module: • the material had been viewed 82170 times • students had posted 2239 times to the fora. The students were engaged with the module with the mean number of views being 500 and postings were 16. Students • discussed current issues with practitioners; • developed their own public health practice by creating their own service development bid
Conclusion The VLE was used to
Students accessed resources through the Virtual Learning Environment, CampusMoodle and took part in online case study discussion, formative assessment and group working supported by staff and etutors. These groups were developed as Networks of Practice which have facilitated information exchange, allowing experiential learning to occur online. The development of the Networks of Practice was planned as a two stage process. Firstly there was a short term online task to discuss the topic of What is Public Health? 14 groups of 9-10 students,over a two week period, had to develop a selection of media examples of public health advice based on the UK Department of Health’s priority areas. They presented these examples to the group online and then discussed them critiquing and analysing their relevance. Their assigned etutor facilitated these discussions.
References
• deliver learning resources • develop communication, negotiation and discussion skills within their groups and with external public health practitioners (etutors) • support the students online technically and professionally • create a flexible meeting place • establish a repository for the development of their bid
Take home message Using the educational tool of a Network of Practice, structured and facilitated by trained staff, both on and off campus has meant a greater degree of engagement and awareness of public health issues amongst final year pharmacy students.�
PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE OF SCOTLAND, (2003). Pharmacy for Health: The Way Forward for Pharmaceutical Public Health in Scotland. Glasgow: Public Health Institute of Scotland. 2 Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity Cambridge University Press. 3 Rossett, A. & Frazee, R. V. (2006). Blended learning opportunities. American Management Association white paper. http://www.amanet.org/blended/ (Accessed 5 April 2009). 4 Brown, JS and Duguid, P. (2000) The Social Life of Information. Harvard University Press. 5 Diack, HL., Pfleger, D. & McHattie, L . (2009) ‘Getting the blend right:’ A novel way to teach public health to pharmacy students, International Journal of Pharmacy Practice (forthcoming).
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