Prof. Josè Frantz
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| Position: | Dean |
| Faculty: | Faculty of Community and Health Sciences |
| Qualifications: | BSc, MSc, PhD(PT) (Western Cape) |
| My publications in this repository | |
| More about me: | here, and here |
| Tel: | 021 959 2631 |
| Fax: | 021 959 2755 |
| Email: | chs-deansoffice@uwc.ac.za |
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Browsing by Subject "Blended learning"
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Item Beyond knowledge and skills: the use of a Delphi study to develop a technology-mediated teaching strategy(BioMed Central, 2013) Rowe, Michael; Frantz, Jose M.; Bozalek, VivienneBackground: While there is evidence to suggest that teaching practices in clinical education should include activities that more accurately reflect the real world, many educators base their teaching on transmission models that encourage the rote learning of knowledge and technical skills. Technology-mediated instruction may facilitate the development of professional attributes that go beyond “having” knowledge and skills, but there is limited evidence for how to integrate technology into these innovative teaching approaches. Methods: This study used a modified Delphi method to help identify the professional attributes of capable practitioners, the approaches to teaching that may facilitate the development of these attributes, and finally, how technology could be integrated with those teaching strategies in order to develop capable practitioners. Open-ended questions were used to gather data from three different expert panels, and results were thematically analysed. Results: Clinical educators should not view knowledge, skills and attitudes as a set of products of learning, but rather as a set of attributes that are developed during a learning process. Participants highlighted the importance of continuing personal and professional development that emphasised the role of values and emotional response to the clinical context. To develop these attributes, clinical educators should use teaching activities that are learner-centred, interactive, integrated, reflective and that promote engagement. When technology-mediated teaching activities are considered, they should promote the discussion of clinical encounters, facilitate the sharing of resources and experiences, encourage reflection on the learning process and be used to access content outside the classroom. In addition, educational outcomes must drive the integration of technology into teaching practice, rather than the features of the technology. Conclusions: There is a need for a cultural change in clinical education, in which those involved with the professional training of healthcare professionals perceive teaching as more than the transmission of knowledge and technical skills. Process-oriented teaching practices that integrate technology as part of a carefully designed curriculum may have the potential to facilitate the development of capable healthcare graduates who are able to navigate the complexity of health systems and patient management in ways that go beyond the application of knowledge and skills.Item Challenges and opportunities related to postgraduate evidence-based practice module using blended learning(Health and Medical Publishing Group, 2011) Frantz, Jose M.; Himalowa, S.; Karuguti, W.; Kumurenzi, A.; Mulenga, D.; Sakala, M.The use of information and communications technology (ICT) has become integral to health professions education worldwide. The incorporation of online facilities and maintaining of the face-to-face element make blended learning the ‘best of both worlds’. Blogs can be used to create a relatively learner-centred environment that allows students to learn at their own pace. Though blended learning has been proved to be appropriate in higher learning institutions, it comes with challenges and opportunities. Our study intended to highlight the challenges and identify opportunities encountered by an evidencebased practice (EBP) postgraduate class who used the blended learning model of learning. An action-based research methodology was utilised in this study. This involved data gathering, action planning, action taking and action evaluation. Data were gathered through the use of a blog that was accessed by all participants. They made comments which were reflecting their perceptions on the model that was used for the course. The students gave consent to participate while permission from the physiotherapy head of department was also acquired. Deductive analysis was used for data analysis. The information from the blog was extracted and converted into text files. Coding and analysis into opportunities and challenges as expressed by the participants was performed. Theoretical saturation through every reviewer’s agreement and satisfaction about the information was included. The data consisted of 94 postings made of primary postings (22) and responses (72). All the authors acted as reviewers. Certainty was achieved by discussing any ambiguity in coding. Any necessary amendments were made. The participants reported to have experienced some challenges pertaining to blended learning. The blog that was used as a media between students and the facilitator was inefficient in some way. Some students could not access it when required and some resources in the blog were inaccessible. The wireless internet connection mainly used in this model was not reliable. However, there were opportunities experienced by the learners. These included easy interaction between the learners and the facilitator at any time. The model also reduced instructor dependence and made the learners more responsible of their work. The blog appeared as a resource base for skills development. Timely feedback involving solving the problems students encountered during the course improved the communication skills between the students and the facilitator. However, technology constraints involving the blog and the internet connection were overwhelming among the students while writing up the tasks allocated to them. Despite the fact that students faced some challenges, facilitators of blended learning such as the interaction between the students and the facilitator of the course were motivating to keep the course interesting. While students experienced some opportunities about blended learning, its future rests on averting the challenges associated with it more, especially in developing countries. If the challenges reported would be addressed in developing countries, blended learning can be effective in building students’ engagement and relieving of overcrowded classrooms in higher learning institutions.Item The role of blended learning in clinical education: A systematic review(Association for Medical Education in Europe, 2012) Rowe, Michael; Frantz, Jose M.; Bozalek, VivienneBACKGROUND: Developing practice knowledge in healthcare is a complex process that is difficult to teach. Clinical education exposes students to authentic learning situations, but students also need epistemological access to tacit knowledge and clinical reasoning skills in order to interpret clinical problems. Blended learning offers opportunities for the complexity of learning by integrating face-to-face and online interaction. However, little is known about its use in clinical education. AIM: To determine the impact of blended learning in the clinical education of healthcare students. METHODS: Articles published between 2000 and 2010 were retrieved from online and print sources, and included multiple search methodologies. Search terms were derived following a preliminary review of relevant literature. RESULTS: A total of 71 articles were retrieved and 57 were removed after two rounds of analysis. Further methodological appraisals excluded another seven, leaving seven for the review. All studies reviewed evaluated the use of a blended learning intervention in a clinical context, although each intervention was different. Three studies included a control group, and two were qualitative in nature. Blended learning was shown to help bridge the gap between theory and practice and to improve a range of selected clinical competencies among students. CCONCLUSION: Few high-quality studies were found to evaluate the role of blended learning in clinical education, and those that were found provide only rudimentary evidence that integrating technology-enhanced teaching with traditional approaches have potential to improve clinical competencies among health students. Further well-designed research into the use of blended learning in clinical education is therefore needed before we rush to adopt it.Item Technology-mediated learning in physiotherapy education: the social construction of practice knowledge.(Aosis Publishing, 2013) Frantz, Jose M.; Rowe, MichaelClinical practice is complex, requiring practitioners to interpret a diverse range of inter-related variables in order to make clinical decisions as part of patient management. This process is often intuitive and therefore hidden from students and less experienced clinicians, making the cognitive processes that inform clinical decision-making difficult to learn. In addition, educators still emphasise the learning of knowledge and skills through didactic teaching methods, such as lectures, in which students are passive “recipients” of knowledge. Unless physiotherapy educators design activities that aim to induct students into the professional culture and help them to develop ways of thinking and being that go beyond knowledge and skills, our students will continue to struggle with clinical reasoning. In this position paper, we argue that the careful integration of technology as an adjunct to traditional lectures can be used to facilitate discussion and interaction as a way of developing practice knowledge in students. This leads to higher cognitive functioning as it provides the means by which learners construct their own personally meaningful understanding of the world through interaction with others. The promise of technology in physiotherapy education lies in its ability to create transformative learning experiences through enhanced communication that is mediated by more experienced teachers or peers. If technology is used to enhance the learning environment by providing richer and more meaningful platforms for communication and discussion, it may have a role to play in the social construction of knowledge as part of contextualised learning spaces.