The current paper is a reflective discussion report that describes the advantages and limitations of online teaching and learning at master’s level healthcare education from the teachers’ point of view. The aim is to open dialogue between nursing educators and healthcare providers on how exclusively online education can ensure the development of healthcare professionals who master the requirements of today´s working life and contribute to innovations in healthcare. This paper addresses specifically how to strengthen master students’ interprofessional communication skills and improve their multicultural competence by developing a well-designed assignment in e-Learning environment. Perceptions and views are based on seven years of experience on online education in cooperation with two educators from different countries.
This study investigates the extent to which mentor teachers experience reflective moments during mentoring dialogues. Any description of the phases of professional growth includes the degree to which explicit action goes hand in hand with deliberate consideration and thinking. There is little known about the thought processes of mentor teachers during their dialogues with students in the workplace. This study analyses 60 dialogues of experienced mentor teachers, both before and after they receive training in supervisory skills. Two methods of investigation are used: firstly, a stimulated recall interview following the dialogue, which traces reflective moments and secondly, a specially developed push-button device used to record these moments as they occur. During mentoring dialogues, the mentor teachers' behaviour comprises few reflective moments. Significantly, these occur more frequently after training. This seems to not only confirm the view that much of professional behaviour occurs automatically and instinctively, but also to support the premise that cognitive processes are important in the acquisition of supervisory skills. The combination of both methods of recording seems to make it possible to achieve a more accurate registration of the number of times these moments occur.
Social work is a profession that is very much part of and contributes to an ever changing and evolving society. It is therefore essential that social work is able to respond to the diverse and dynamic demands that it may encounter in that society and in the future. The critique of social work is, however, present and growing. The profession can no longer deny or ignore the need to legitimize its value and effectiveness. In this article, a research project – entitled Procivi – aimed at developing a method of legitimizing social work is presented. The method developed in Procivi proposes a way of legitimizing social work through the development of reflective professionals. The method teaches professionals to take a research frame of mind towards their own practice and helps them develop a vocabulary to describe their work to different audiences. The paper discusses whether and how this method forms a viable way of legitimizing social work and as such could be an alternative for the growing demand for social work based on scientific evidence (evidencebased practice, EBP).
