Part 5: Technology, Publications and Collaborations

This next period spans 20 years so I have decided to split into two posts. This will cover to 2009/10.

So, in October 2000 I joined the team at University of Salford. After a short period of induction I was given my areas of teaching and was really excited to get going. One of the modules I had been given was called Managerial & Professional Contexts of Practice - a final year module which certainly played to my experiences.

I think I may have read somewhere, or maybe someone told me, I don't remember, but somewhere I had the idea that I needed a gimmick in my teaching. Something to make things memorable for the students. I decided that each of my lectures should include an animal, so we had Geese when looking at Team work, bees for committment and monkeys for managing situations (if you are not familiar with "not my circus, not my monkey" please see this link). The students seemed to enjoy this and the first cohort even made me a monkey dressed in OT uniform as a gift. I still have this in my office so must remember to take a photo and hand it on before I leave.

I would say that it took a year of seeing the whole academic cycle to settle in and understand how it all fit together. It was the age of the OverHead Projector and slides, powerpoint was the "new kid on the block" and as I had some experience of this from my previous job I was keen to use it and pass on any tips to others - starting a role that was to progress and continue through the whole of my time at the University in using and promoting technology for learning and development (but much more of that later and in my next post).

In those early years there was very little on line access to books and journals and I spent many hours in the library researching material for my lectures and seminars to ensure I remained up to date and covered the evidence base as fully as possible. In fact I'm not entirely sure - but I don't think I had a computer at first - but I could be wrong! Marking was (and continues to be) my nemesis. Those of you who know me will know that I spend many hours procrastinating and finding any number of strange displacement activities to avoid starting until I get to the point where there is no choice but to get on with it. In the early days it was a case of lugging around great piles of scripts as all were submitted in hard copy. However, the joy of pencil sharpening as a displacement activity has been denied in recent years due to everything now being submitted and marked on line.

My probation period of 2 years came to a successful end and my role became permanent at the beginning of 2003. At this point I would like to mention my second mentor- Anne Lawson-Porter, had worked with me during the development of the multi-professional fieldwork educator's course (previous blog) and we continued a strong working relationship. Anne encouraged me to write up the development of the course and together we got my first publication in Medical Teacher in 2003.

By this time I had started an MSc in Health Practice at the University, graduating in 2005. During this time I had also been to Finland to visit students on ERASMUS placement which again opened my eyes to occupational therapy in another country. I was also invited to speak at the Universite Miguel Hernandez, Alicante in Spain which again broadened my horizons.

The team was close-knit in those early years and there was also a keenness to dress up and perform (what is it about OTs and dressing up!). We had Murder/Mystery evenings and we also held a Christmas Revue at the end of the semester that all staff and students were encouraged to get involved with. Many a strong performance was given over the years to the tunes of Abba, Village People and Dolly Parton to name a few!

Unfortunately as with so many things, the culture of the HEI changed over time and became much more about numbers and pounds and there was no time to do this anymore.

By now, Anne had moved on and was working as the Group Head for Education at the College of Occupational Therapists in London and I was offered a secondment to the role of Education officer to work with Anne for 18 months to develop the Post Qualifying Framework. This involved commuting to London regularly which meant either flying from Manchester (I felt very Exec!) or occasionally commuting from my parents' home in Grantham which meant I got to spend some good times with them before my Mum died in 2006 for which I am forever grateful. The role was a great opportunity and really enjoyable. Not only did I develop the PQF but also worked with the Health & Care Professions Council in developing the standards for the newly devised registration process and developed the Interactive Learning database. The PQF was only updated last year - 2019 and the database is still running, so I am pleased to say it has been useful for the profession overall.

On my return to Salford in 2006 I found it a little hard to get back into "the groove". Our department had moved into another building and the feel of the place was very different. Recently awarded Senior Lecturer status, I needed something to get my teeth into and started thinking about developing a master's programme. It was at this point that one of my most significant working relationships was formed with my colleague (and now friend) Sarah Bodell.

Together we decided to embrace the advent of technology and social media and develop an online Master's programme for Advanced Occupational Therapy. In order to do this we needed to immerse ourselves in the online environment and spent many hours in the evenings in weird and wonderful online spaces. We set up characters in Second Life to explore possibilities there -until Sarah's character started wearing a box which she couldn't remove and we were regularly encountering weird 'people' in the space. We started a professional blog and facebook profiles. At this point the university did not have capacity for online teaching space (or for any online registration, assessment etc) and we had to source outside for potential platforms. We gave ourselves a really good lead in to the development with the intention of our first intake being in September 2008. Whilst in principle the development was supported, there was a lot of resistance to sharing in social media - barriers that Sarah & I continued to push. The outcome was that we became the first totally online MSc Adv OT programme with international focus in the world!! There were 2 other main competitors - Plymouth (but there was an element of attendance) and Boston USA - but this focused on USA and not international at that time. We had gained a good understanding of using social media for professional development and became advisors to both the University and to our Professional Body in their development of guidelines for staff and members. We received a Merit Award for this work.

As soon as the Master's was up and running we won the VC Iconic Media City Project Award, working with a small group of computer scientists to develop a home environment in Second Life for students to learn about barriers and adaptations in the home environment for a wheelchair user. We then did a pilot project to consider the learning taking place which was published in BJOT

Sarah & I became a little like Lennon & McCartney (if you will excuse the extreme comparison) in that we worked so well together, each bringing different but harmonious skills to the table, that people began to mix us up (like fish 'n'chips!). We had many, many adventures together with Key note speaker invites at other Universities, publications, advisory meetings with book publishers and conference presentations and workshops. There was always something memorable happening each time we left the building together - we found someone at the bottom of a flight of stairs, someone trapped in a lift and someone who fell flat out in front of us whilst walking ahead to and on asking if all was Ok the friend replied "it's OK its my friend - she does that!" A stock phrase now used on many occasions I have to say.

At this point I would like to mention my third mentor - Dr Jackie Taylor. It was Jackie who encouraged me to further my knowledge and skill set in occupational science - not only a mentor but a role model in her teaching style and knowledge base. It is through her that my interest in what we do affects how we feel and led to the app that Sarah and I developed - however that's for the next blog post! Jackie also encouraged me to explore the possibility of a commission from a local Trust for a research project - which we were successful in bringing in a decent sum of money with Jackie as the Principle Investigator and myself as project manager. This looked at the narratives of clients in receipt of care from the Trust in a number of different areas.

Links made within social media brought Sarah & I into contact with 2 other occupational therapists, Will Wade and Merrolee Penman, and despite never meeting in real world we presented a COT conference together and published an article on blogging for continuing professional development.

Merrolee (who at that time was in New Zealand) brought us into contact with 3 other occupational therapy educators from USA, Canada and Australia and together we put together an abstract for the World Federation of Occupational Therapists Congress in 2010 on using technology and social media for professional development. We were accepted and we were on our way to Chile to meet together for the very first time.

TO BE CONTINUED...............

Part 1:Validation, the Early Years

https://ichabodsday.blogspot.com/2020/09/validationthe-early-years.html

Part 2: Of First days, Roles and Responsibilities

https://ichabodsday.blogspot.com/2020/09/of-first-days-first-roles-and.html

Part 3: Developing, Progressing, Evolving

https://ichabodsday.blogspot.com/2020/09/part-3-developing-progressing-evolving.html

Part 4: Of Culture Shocks, Mentors and A Professional Language

https://ichabodsday.blogspot.com/2020/09/part-4-of-culture-shocks-mentors-and.html

Part 5: Technology, Publications and Collaborations

https://ichabodsday.blogspot.com/2020/09/this-next-period-spans-20-years-so-i.html

Part 6: Of National and International Involvment, Swansongs and Goodbyes