The Augmenting Students’ Post Practicum Experiences Project Development Conference was held from February 15-16 at Gold Coast University Hospital. The conference was an invitation-only event associated with the Office of Learning and Teaching grant: Augmenting students’ post practicum experiences (2015-2018). 75 delegates from 17 higher education institutions Australia-wide attended this highly successful event.
The first phase of this project comprised of 14 projects centering on discipline specific post practicum interventions in the healthcare sector across five Australian universities that were enacted across 2016. On Day 1 of the conference, representatives from these 14 projects—the ‘class of 2016’— presented 20 minute reports on the progress and results of these interventions followed by 25 minutes of questions and discussion. Representatives from 30 additional projects in areas largely outside the healthcare sector—‘the class of 2017’— attended parallel sessions of these presentations. Question time witnessed robust discussion as both groups deliberated on the logistics of matters such as the recruitment of student volunteers, the timing of interventions, and possible changes that might assist the successful delivery of future iterations.
On Day 2, the class of 2017 worked together in groups to formulate their project for 2017 while the class of 2016 reflected on the implementation of their interventions to generate key principles and practices and the teaching and learning strategies used in the post-practicum interventions across 2016. Perhaps the highlight of the conference was the final session where the class of 2016 worked collaboratively with members of the new projects to advise on the project proposals.
Attendees reported that the conference was well organised and the activities and professional contacts made were particularly helpful. Participation by members of the ACEN board (Sonia Ferns, Franziska Trede, Rachael Hains-Wesson, Denise Jackson) was very much appreciated. Rachael and Denise are also participants in the program and will enact their projects across 2017. The overall feedback was overwhelmingly positive:
Thank you to you and your team for a very enlightening and engaging two days on post-practicum interventions, I thoroughly enjoyed the event.
Thank you for the development conference and activities. It was great to meet so many people with an interest in student learning.
The developmental conference last week was really helpful in preparing the attached proposal – thanks again for the opportunity to attend and participate.
Thanks so much for the Development Conference. I think the meeting was a great success and I enjoyed the conversations with the old folk and the new folk (class of 2017).
The project leader Professor Stephen Billett will continue to work with the class of 2017 as they enact their projects over the year.
More information about the project can be found at the project website: http://augmentlearning.weebly.com/