CHS: Online Community Block [Fieldwork space]; Reflective Tasks & Weekly Lessons

CHS: Online Community Block [Fieldwork space]; Reflective Tasks & Weekly Lessons

Friday, August 21, 2020

During this national lockdown period, lecturers Shannon Stirrup, Megan Alexander, Aeysha Khan and Lucia Hess-April from the Community & Health Sciences Faculty requested an online environment to be created for the 2nd Semester CPM (Community Process Module) - OCT 459.

Creation of an ‘Online Community Block’ (Fieldwork)

Students were unable to physically access the communities for fieldwork purposes. Hence, they made use of the iKamva project site to engage in an ‘Online Community Block’.

Students are assigned a ‘community profile’ along with a specific project and informational videos relating to the selected community. Furthermore, weekly online meetings and tutorials take place using iKamva’s BigBlueButton conferencing tool. Students are also required to submit weekly tasks according to the designated community (and project).

Alternative Assessment: Community Process Document & Reflective Tasks

As students are unable to visit the communities in person, an alternative means of assessment had to be developed. The lecturers used the same ‘Community Process’ document as a guideline for students regarding processes to follow in the communities. However the assessment of learning was based on a selection of essay topics rather than the traditional case study. The students submitted their reflective tasks to the Assignment eTool, which was also linked to Turnitin (anti-plagiarism platform).

Weekly Lessons

Lectures are structured into 5 weekly lesson pages, which include:

•   an overview of the week’s topic;
•   a checklist to assist students in completing all their goals for the week;
•   information regarding learning activities
•   task submissions;
•   online meeting time slots; and
•   other relevant multimedia resources.