Remote Teaching Case Studies: Maria Correia, School of Medicine
Maria Correia is an undergraduate about to go into the third year of her medicine degree in the School of Medicine. Initially, she was anxious about the switch to online teaching, and wondered whether it might just be too complex for the case of medicine. She was also concerned about her ability to adapt and worried about the impact on assessments. But, in the end, Maria managed to prepare for the new reality and, looking back, thinks that keeping a certain level of structure helped her the most. Staying in touch with others and fully engaging in group activities also enabled her to simulate a work environment that helped her to stay focused and productive. She thinks that that learning online actually improved student autonomy too. Finally, she toasts the School of Medicine for doing such an amazing job of supplying excellent resources (and at a time when many at the School were working on an emergency basis for the NHS). Her take-home message is: create the work environment that suits you!
Tell us about your role at the University of St Andrews.
In September, I will go into the third year of my medicine degree in the School of Medicine.
How much had you integrated the use of technology into your study habits before the Covid-19 outbreak? What did you use until now?
For most of my time at University I have made use of the computer labs across campus, either using them alongside paperwork and physical books or pairing them with my laptop.
Over the last year I added the use of an iPad with a note-taking app. Having an extra screen proved to be particularly helpful during the lockdown as it allowed me to stream lectures/read papers and books while still taking my notes on the iPad.
During placement I have also gotten in the habit of using my phone with the BNF app to quickly search up information about medicines and treatments.
What were your first thoughts when you heard that St Andrews teaching, learning, and study was switching online?
Initially I was saddened and anxious about the change. Despite being aware of the risk of an outbreak following Spring break, not to mention the rumours swirling around at the time, it seemed to me that the switch to online teaching just seemed too complex for the case of Medicine.
The sadness came mostly from the realisation that I would be missing out on a lot of experiences that I had been looking forward to: for example, I was concerned about missing out on specific placements and clinical skills, as well as events that were being organised by the Students for Global Health society that I am part of.
The uncertainty of what online teaching would be like, my ability to adapt, and, naturally, the impact on assessments were the major sources of anxiety. As information kept being provided, these feelings did not disappear but I did find myself preparing for the new reality.
How do you manage the process of learning and studying online?
Personally, I found that keeping to a certain level of structure helped me the most. Streaming lectures in ‘real time’, sticking to the timetable, and fully engaging in group activities, allowed me to simulate a work environment that helped me to stay focused and productive.
Sharing the flat with only one other person helped too: we kept each other motivated. I was also lucky enough to be able to dedicate a specific area of the flat as my work space.
Did the process of switching to studying online make you think differently about the way you approach your study? Did you make any changes to your study habits?
Before the restrictions of lockdown, I would very rarely use my accommodation as a working space; this, naturally, had to change. Spending the whole day in the same location surrounded by my work also required me to find some better work-life balance.
There was a learning curve when it came to time management mostly because it seemed like I should use all my extra time to do extra work. Over the weeks I adapted to a timetable with breaks and time for leisure. Moving forward, I intend to integrate more of this time management and progress-tracking into my studies whether or not we have remote or face-to-face teaching.
In general, how has your student experience of learning and studying online been?
The overall experience was surprisingly positive! The fear of something new pushed me to pay more attention to my work and I did find the time saved by not commuting to be beneficial to my studies.
To avoid emailing after almost every lecture, I also found myself using more of the resources I had available which definitely contributed to my autonomy and ability to filter and select information.
How has your experience of lectures, seminars, and tutorials (if you have them) been?
Despite missing face-to-face teaching and the overall feeling of campus, there were also some positive aspects to online learning: improved time management skills, better use of the recorded content, and more independence are some of the things that come to my mind.
Medicine being a very hands-on degree, there were elements of the course that could not be covered such as clinical skills, placements and dissection. Where possible, online resources were used to compensate. Tutorials were not supervised by staff (many were working on an emergency basis for the NHS at the time). I think this actually helped us students become more autonomous and I had some very insightful discussions with my peers that improved my clinical reasoning. Being able to have the group discussions and then going over the clinical scenarios with supervision made me feel more prepared to contribute to the videocalls.
Comprehensive videos were made to deliver the dissection sessions and I found these remarkably helpful: they very much felt like an individual tutorials.
You are a second year undergraduate in the School of Medicine. Which technologies or online resources have you found especially practically useful for studying Medicine in particular?
There are quite a few online resources that I keep organised on a bookmarker: Teach me Anatomy; Geeky Medics; Deranged Physiology; Get Body Smart; Armando Hasudugan; Acland Anatomy and Radiology Masterclass are just a few that I regularly visit. There are also great videos on YouTube and these are often slightly simpler and very helpful for visual learners.
Regarding technology, I use Notability (just one of many options) to annotate lecture slides and make comprehensive notes on some subjects, OneNote is also very helpful to type in notes and both options are great for organisation. My strongest recommendation is to save all notes and work on OneDrive; that way, you can have access to your work on any device.
ANKI – an app for flashcards – is well known by medics as it uses an algorithm that uses varying time intervals for repetition and maximises exposure to material that has not yet been mastered. The app also has a series of settings to customise the format of the flashcard, and stacks can be tailored to meet personal goals.
What has been your experience of having undergraduate supervision online been?
Contacting lecturers had its ups and downs. For the most part, I organised my questions and after attempting to find and answer by myself or with my peers, I would reach out to teaching staff. For most of the situations communication was relatively straight forward but there were some misinterpretations. But these are understandable considering the volume of questions that arise in the normal lecture setting, never mind online!
What one piece of advice would you give someone based on your own student experience of learning and studying online?
Do not panic; any change can be scary. My advice would be to prepare for what you can predict and accept that you may need to adapt as time goes on. There are resources and people you can reach out to. I had been struggling with the need for better work-life balance before the pandemic and found sound advice through The Centre for Educational Enhancement and Development (CEED)
Keep realistic goals and recognise the challenges that are particular to your situation. Fine-tune what works for you and remember that there is no wrong way to learn. For those who struggle with motivation or structure, I remember being advised to keep in touch with other colleagues, even if that just meant a call in the morning. The take-home point is: create the work environment that suits you.
Is there anything else that you would like to add?
The School of Medicine did amazing work with some of the resources that were supplied: in particular, dissection videos were very comprehensive and great learning tools. Given the short notice before the lockdown, some aspects of the course could not be covered: students are still not sure how this will be addressed. Online examination was a new and somewhat frustrating experience; but again, we are all together learning and adapting to the new reality!