ALPS
Work placements are an essential part of health and social care degrees today. There are a wide range of general and specific skills that students can only develop in the clinic, hospital or workplace. However, the truth is that these placements can be difficult for students. Students often feel isolated from the University and other students, have difficulty in securing PC access to obtain information or update their portfolios, and receive limited feedback from their assessor due to time constraints.
The mobile approach
With these issues in mind, Assessment and Learning in Practice Settings (ALPS) worked with MyKnowledgeMap to produce an inter-professional mobile assessment and e-portfolio system for use in five Yorkshire Universities. The system allows students on placement to use mobile devices to gather feedback on their generic skills from a range of sources.
Tutors can also create tailor-made assessments based around core health and social care competences using a wide range of question types including multiple choice, fill in the gaps, and free text questions. The assessments can then be uploaded to MyKnowledgeMap's rapid e-learning tool Compendle and packaged with supporting materials such as additional instructions or extra reading. Tutors can then send the assessments and supporting materials to the mobile devices of the students on placement.
The students can complete the assessments whilst at work and submit their answers for marking and feedback. Students also get access to an e-portfolio where they can create informal blog posts, correspond with their tutors, and manage and upload evidence.
Award-winning
The innovative nature and approach of the ALPS project has led to it winning a number of awards. ALPS won the prestigious Innovation Award in the Tertiary, FE & HE category at the 2009 Handheld Learning Awards. It also won the Mobility Project of the Year at Techworld 2008.
About ALPS
ALPS is a collaborative £5m programme between five universities – Bradford, Huddersfield, Leeds (lead), Leeds Metropolitan and York St John – with proven reputations for excellence in learning and teaching in health and social care. MyKnowledgeMap, T-Mobile and mobile software specialist ecommnet provided the Assessment Suite and Mobile Services Platform which support the creation, distribution and storing of assessment tools on mobile devices.
Find out more
If you'd like to find out more about ALPS or mobile assessment then you can get in touch with us in the following ways:
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