Showing my workings: Part 2

The next exciting instalment of my very slow liveblog, chronicling how I go about designing a section of an Open University module. Context and explanation here.

This morning I attended my first module team meeting (online), so now have more idea about the place of my section (‘learning guide’ or LG = approximately a week’s directed study time for the students) within the whole course. I’ve understood the overall module structure better than I had, so it’s really clear to me which are the other LGs I need to pay particular attention to, and ensure my LG builds on. I now have access to the shared area where all the drafts are being stored, so I will be able to look at other people’s LGs when I get a moment.

We are lucky enough to have someone on the team who used to be one of the Faculty’s Open Media Fellows, so he was suggesting possible OU/BBC co-productions we could use as audio-visual resources throughout the meeting. So there’s a couple of leads to follow up later once I am clearer about topic focus. He suggested searching the transcripts of the episodes on Videofinder (OU database of AV resources) using keywords, which is a great idea that I am horrified to realise I have never thought of before! There is always more to learn…

I’ve also properly registered the two key study skills I need to develop in my LG – I was vaguely aware of these before the meeting but they feel much clearer to me now. One is about evaluating an example essay and the other is about responding to tutor feedback on your work. Both of these strike me as ‘don’t reinvent the wheel’ study skills, so my first action will be to look for existing resource that could be adapted. For evaluating an example essay, my first step will be to have a look at The Good Study Guide by Andy Northedge This book was part of the first module I ever worked on, back in 2005ish, so it’s quite old now but it is a total classic and I don’t know anything more recent that does a better job. I value this book so highly that when we all had to grab things from our offices at the beginning of the lockdowns, this was one of the shelf-full of books I brought home. For the skill about responding to tutor feedback, I’m planning to remind myself what’s in the current version of this module, where I know this is also a key study skill.

In terms of topic focus, I have identified the general description of what my learning guide covers. This is taken from the Rep 03 – the description of the module that is created for the Board of Studies to decide whether the module should go ahead or not:

LG12 Adults in healthcare
This learning guide will select exemplar health conditions drawn from the epidemiology of adult health and illness, as outlined in Learning Guide 10. The learning guide will consider how general pattern of adult illness contributes to primary and secondary healthcare’s treatment and service priorities. The learning guide will explore how in relation to these exemplars primary and secondary healthcare services work to promote the wellbeing of patients and service users. It will also consider the evidence of effectiveness of primary and secondary healthcare interventions in improving adult wellbeing. This can include looking at factors that have improved health and wellbeing which are unrelated to improved medical and nursing care.

One of the things that strikes me right now as I paste in this general description, is that it’s quite public health and health care services focused, compared to other LGs I have written, which have focused more on the experiences of adults in health care settings. The focus here on public health is not at all surprising, since I know the person who wrote the Rep 03 is the person who is in charge of the public health degree, in which this module features. However, since most of the students on this module will be studying one of our other qualifications, I will check with the module chair and the person who wrote the Rep 03 whether this focus is essential, or whether something more focused on the experiences of adults in health care would be acceptable.

My very early thoughts are that I will want to include some topic that is a very common experience (to address the focus on ‘general patterns’), so maybe something about diabetes, heart disease or high blood pressure (mental health issues are covered in a different LG). I’d also like to include something about barriers to healthcare e.g. phoning people up for appointments even though their notes state they are hard of hearing/Deaf. This example is in my mind because it happens so regularly to my HoH/Deaf friends, but it could be other sorts of barriers, like language or encountering racism or homo/bi/transphobia in a health care setting. I’m also wondering about something about a specific less common health issue, partly because students often find that interesting and feel they have learned something new, which can be motivating.

In terms of logging my hours: I spent 90 minutes at the module team meeting (which doesn’t come out of my 20 days for writing, as I have additional days for module team meetings) and then an hour chatting to someone about my ideas and writing this. I am lucky enough to live with someone who understands OU production pretty well, and I have realised that talking to them about my ideas is a really important part of how I design. But writing this was also very useful too, in further developing the ideas in the conversation, and realising the issue about the public health flavour for the first time. What do you know, reflexive practice for the win again.