MedEd UNSW May 2021
A NEWSLETTER FOR MEDICINE AND HEALTH EDUCATION ENTHUSIASTS
Welcome to the May edition of the MedEd Newsletter of 2021
DR LINDA FERRINGTON
Welcome to the May 2021 edition of the MedEd Newsletter.
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It's well and truly winter as I sit writing this cocooned in a unicorn Oodie stolen from my 10 year old, realising that all my hardy Scottishness has disappeared if I think that 19 degrees is cold. I still can't get my head round the fact that it's May and it's not about to be summer... All the better then to sign up for a challenge to keep us moving (and therefore warm) in which we can compete with colleagues and students alike. See the link below for how to join! Timely too, that I read of a study trying to improve students' engagement with physical activity (link in newsletter), something that we try to do every week with our sunrise walks, with varying degrees of success.
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Upcoming Seminars
A/prof Simon Mcintyre
JUNE 10TH 1PM-2PM
Associate Professor Simon McIntyre begins to explore how we might begin to use our data to be proactive rather than reactive, what personalisation of an entire UNSW experience might actually mean, what benefits it might bring to the people in our community, and what questions we might need to keep in mind along the way.
Teaching Tips
Tips for Reducing Cognitive Load in the Classroom
In any given class session, you’re teaching complex concepts. You’re maintaining situational awareness of a classroom of dozens, if not hundreds, of students. And as of last year, you’re trying to do all of this through a tiny Zoom screen. That’s a lot to handle.
But as Bentley University’s Bill Schiano noted in a recent webinar, your brain only has so much capacity to process information. And when the strain of all that information processing—also known as cognitive load—becomes too much, it’s only natural to feel overwhelmed.
Drawing from psychology research and his own teaching experience, Schiano shares simple practices you can use to avoid feeling overwhelmed in any classroom, digital or otherwise.
Approaches to flexible learning
ADVANCE HE AND QUEEN MARY ACADEMY SURVEY
As part of the Collaborative Development Fund project, Developing flexible ecosystems for education that support student success, Advance HE and the Queen Mary Academy at Queen Mary, University of London are surveying members to learn more about the range of flexible learning approaches that higher education institutions have adopted to provide opportunities for all. This survey asks questions on your institution’s learner-centred educational approaches and policies (e.g. flexibility in time and place) and approaches and policies related to institutional partnerships. The outcome of this work will help establish the current state of flexible learning approaches in higher education and findings will be disseminated widely for the benefit of the sector.
They are keen to hear your thoughts on these issues because of the role you occupy within your institution. The survey is anonymous and should take approximately 30 minutes to complete.
UNSW Get on Track Challenge
Starts Monday 31st May 2021 and continues until Monday 23rd August 2021.
Get On Track is a health and wellbeing event that encourages participants to increase their activity levels in a fun, team-based challenge.
Teams can have up to four members.
Team members track steps using their own devices, then input step counts via the website. Other exercise (eg. cycling, swimming) is converted into steps on the website.
Team members also input their fruit, vegetable, and water intake, as well as their hours of sleep.
Fruit and vegetable intake is converted into steps, with bonuses for meeting daily targets.
All staff, students and family members of UNSW can participate.
The Local Challenge is free!
Start your own team or join an existing one, get stepping and have fun!
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MedEd Article(s) of the Month
Upcoming Medical Education Conferences
Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new