The episode that I found particularly intriguing was #64 on e-Role Play. During this fairly short, 13 minute podcast, I found myself furiously typing notes almost the whole time. Dr. Craig explains that she uses the e-Role Play technique with her occupational therapy students who are part of an inquiry based learning program. The program uses the Blackboard system, and she explains that, although her students come into the program quite technologically savvy, they often are not familiar with the Blackboard program, and can struggle with its use. The e-Role Play technique was created in part to develop comfort with the program, but in larger part, to create an experience where faculty can begin to examine student’s clinical reasoning process: how & why they make clinical decisions.
The e-Role Play technique begins in the small group section of the Blackboard program. Students are given an online patient case – presented from the view of the patient, so the students are made to feel, from the beginning, that they are interacting with a real live patient. They are instructed to go off and research the case, then go back onto Blackboard and interact with the “patient”, a consulting faculty member, and their small group in order to gather all the pertinent information and move the patient through the therapy process.
Dr. Craig has found that students really enter into the spirit of things, even to the point that they have trouble believing the “patient” is not real. She sees that it is easier for both faculty and students to enter their “role” than in a face-to-face role play encounter.
The faculty have found that students benefit by rehearsing ways of interacting with patients, developing their professional personas and identities as they receive feedback from both faculty and group members throughout the case. The process also makes good use of the Blackboard system by utilizing many features, such as the group pages, discussion feature, file exchange as students find and share related material, as well as links to relevant websites and instructional podcasts by instructor.
The final stage of this e-Role Play experience manifests itself in the real world. The class is brought together in a common room where each (online) working group selects two members to come together in the center, with the rest of the class forming a ring around them. The faculty facilitator leads the group in a “fishbowl discussion”
that involves those in the “fishbowl” answering questions about the case designed to test the overall understanding of critical points, and further progression of treatment. The inner circle may also engage those outside the fishbowl by calling a timeout to clarify points or ask for assistance from their group members.
What a great way to combine the benefits of online learning and the advantages of bringing a group of students together to share their learning and bring closure to an involved educational experience. I can’t wait to share this idea with our faculty. I’ve just started introducing them to Blackboard, and they are starting to imagine the benefits it may have for their learners. This technique offers such a nice combination of new online methods and an innovative physical teaching practice, I know someone will jump at the chance to try it out. Maybe there’s even a way to build this combination of methods into our own faculty development course. Perhaps we could use this to have our faculty work through the case of a “difficult resident” It’s always hard to create a paper case that has enough depth where they feel it has value. But, maybe if they were interacting with the “difficult resident” online – as often happens today – the situation could evolve to be more complex, they could benefit from the wisdom of their peers, and could even share policies and procedures from each of their departments that would benefit the situation. This idea is sounding like more fun each minute!
