E-learning tools in a first year module for occupational therapy students.
Growth in the use of electronic learning has increased exponentially in recent years and is expected to continue to rise. Students that enroll for university programmes are increasingly sophisticated in their use of electronic resources. Educators need to acknowledge this skill and meet students' ed...
| Published in: | South African Journal of Occupational Therapy Vol. 40; no. S; pp. 11 - 16 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | research tables/charts Journal Article |
| Published: |
Occupational Therapy Association of South Africa
Aug2010 Supplement
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| Summary: | Growth in the use of electronic learning has increased exponentially in recent years and is expected to continue to rise. Students that enroll for university programmes are increasingly sophisticated in their use of electronic resources. Educators need to acknowledge this skill and meet students' educational needs through this medium. The University of Pretoria through their Department for Education Innovation is on the forefront of developing e-learning resources in order to give students varied learning opportunities. The Occupational Therapy Department was invited to be part of a pilot project investigating a new learning management system, click-UP using Blackboard as the operating system. The first year core module, Occupational Therapy 100 was selected as one of the modules in the pilot project because of lecturer and students' limited e-learning experience. The aim of the pilot project was to determine how easily the system could be adopted by new users. The module was also suitable for such a pilot as it was a flexible learning module with a mix of learning and teaching media. This paper covers the different teaching and learning tools available in an e-learning environment and how they were applied in the module. The students evaluated the module which enabled the educators to improve on certain aspects of e-learning. This project was successful and has been continued with minor adjustments. It was easily adopted but not without the support of several team members and much technical assistance. Students' positive evaluation of the e-learning module showed that this is a relevant and innovative way to optimally involve students in the e-learning opportunities in a first year module. |
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