Saturday 10 November 2012

Lecterns, Flip Charts and Glacier Mints

After attending my first ASPiH (Association for Simulated Practice in Healthcare) conference last week, I have decided to dip my toes into the blogosphere. Like many others who attended I was inspired by Donald Clarke's  http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/ excellent plenary session on the "Napsterisation of Learning". For me this was the best of the plenary sessions, enthralling at times, always amusing and deeply satirical in its treatment of the current state of education.

One particular passage in his talk referred to the bankruptcy of standing at the lectern and reading from a sheet of paper, before proceeding to poke fun at flip charts and the cliché that is the conference bowl of glacier mints. Hilariously these were all crimes committed at this years conference, and given added resonance as every delegate glanced around to see a bowl on every table.

Clarke was making some serious points however. not least of which was that in education "Less is more" and that educators need to grasp that the last decade has witnessed a revolution in how learners seek out learning. I am left wondering if I have been missing the point for the last ten years.

Working as I do in the field of simulation, I prided myself on being part of a modern futuristic educational modality (even though I do realise mankind has been utilising simulation for centuries) I did at least reason that it was relatively new in UK healthcare. I am now forced to acknowledge that we have more to do to engage with our learners. I am also struck by Clarke's message that education should be "Asynchronous", allowing the learner to revisit the session or parts of the session later through the use of social media. A bad lecture can be made better by videoing it and allowing the student to revisit it later on blogs and other on line resources.

So here I am, nervously dipping my toes in the water, expect to see our simulation centre making a much bigger splash on Facebook and Twitter. I don't know where it will lead, or if I will have enough to say but fortune favours the brave as they say. I'm joining the revolution down with Lecterns, Flip Charts and Glacier Mints!