News

Software enables secure online exams for BSMS students

Nick Feather Assessment and feedback to students, News, Sharing good practice and examples

After a successful pilot last year, some of the postgraduate taught courses at BSMS have started delivering fully electronic exams. Last month, students studying on the Clinical Radiology course completed multiple-choice exams for the module topics Anatomy and Physics, which were delivered through University of Brighton’s ‘studentcentral’ virtual learning environment and secure software, Impero.

Nick Feather
Nick Feather

Apart from the obvious benefit of exam attempts being automatically scored by the system, there were additional positive reasons for trialling this online delivery over a paper-based approach:

Firstly, a comprehensive question bank can be developed within studentcentral which can be adapted to create individual exams; you don’t have to create the test in another piece of software. If using multiple-choice, the correct answer can be set within the system and all relevant staff (internal and external) can be provided with access. Studentcentral also supports essay style answers for online exams.

Continue reading →

Minor update to studentcentral – some new features

Tim Vincent General, News, TEL tools and technologies

Studentcentral had a minor upgrade recently giving some new features for the 2017/18 academic year. These are the headline changes:

  • Drag and drop files – when uploading files (e.g. docs, slides), you can drag an drop them to save having to navigate through your file directory
  • Submission receipts for studentcentral assignments – when students submit assignments using the Blackboard assignment tool (different to Turnitin), they now receive digital receipts of proof of submission
  • Photo class lists for your modules – The eLearning Team have built a new tool that shows the students’ photos (as on the Student Record System). It can only be seen by staff.
  • Mobile Apps – there are two new mobile apps that replace the former Blackboard Mobile Learn app:
    • Blackboard App (iOS Android) – for students to browse content, check grades, view announcements, and participate in discussion boards
    • Blackboard Instructor (iOS Android) – for staff to browse content, check grades, send announcements, and participate in discussion boards. More features will be coming soon apparently.

Full details are given in this post by the University of Brighton eLearning team:
Studentcentral: upgraded!

Physicians Associates at BSMS

Nicola Dearnley Careers and medical profession, General, News, Physician Associates (PAs), Small group teaching

  Dr Nikki Dearnley, Clinical Education Fellow, BSMS

In September 2016 BSMS opened its doors to its first intake of Physicians Associate students. As part of my role as a Clinical Education Fellow I am heavily involved in teaching on this course. When I explain to friends and colleagues what my job involves I often get a lot of questions about the role of a Physician Associate, so I am going to use this blog post as an opportunity both to answer some commonly asked questions and perhaps sell to you the benefits of teaching on this course!

What is a Physicians Associate?

Physician Associates are collaborative healthcare professionals with a generalist medical education. They work alongside doctors to provide medical care as a part of the multidisciplinary team. Physician Associates are dependent practitioners working with a dedicated supervisor, but are able to work independently with appropriate support. Physician Associates work within a defined scope of practice and limits of competence. They can:

Continue reading →