OMED 1357 / 1386 / 1413
What is "Ro-Ro"?
Ro-Ro is a euphemism for "roll on / roll off".
In the School of Health Sciences, we are proud to have Post Graduate Students from 3 different Masters' programmes / 4 pathways, who are accessing the learning opportunities of this current module, on Moodle, all at the same time. It is important to clarify who is starting when, ending when, and how you can make the most of this continuous learning resource - including the time-tabled live sessions - in a timely fashion, suitable for each and every one of you.
In a nut-shell ...
- OMED 1357 was the original (2016 onwards) project-dissertation course, for the "top up" MA Health Care Practice. It originally ran from January - July each year
- OMED 1386 (2021-), of the MSc Advanced Clinical Practice programme, has two endpoints: the traditional students AND the Apprenticeship route students submit with the MA students, in July
- OMED 1413 (2022-) of the MSc Interprofessional Healthcare Simulation programme will join the course in January each year, and complete in the following January.
The Moodle site will therefore be open permanently, with all the core teaching Units available to you, as and when you wish to access them, plus the development of a number of additional / supplementary units, especially in response to your needs, and customised for whichever of the 3 different programmes pathways you are on.
You said! We did!
How to Ro-Ro
- (For you all) You can access materials all from all / any Units at any time (they are no longer released sequentially, as I usually do on other modules)
- (For your individual programme-dependant resources / blocks) Work through all core units plus relevant supplementary units as and when you need do (e.g. depending on your programme)
- (For you all) We will discuss / you present your learning in the regular, monthly, timetabled workshops sessions, on the planned calendar dates
- (For you all) You work with your supervisors on a regular basis during your project year.
Important!
- OMED 1386 - traditional route MSc ACP students need to start working through ALL of the Moodle site resources, on a regular basis, from September of your third year onwards, in preparation for completion of your project, with submission of your dissertation in early May of the following year
- OMED 1357 (MA HCP) can access the site from September onwards, but may prefer to start in earnest on the project once you have completed OMED 1356 / 1384 (September term) in the January - July teaching dates
- OMED 1413 (MSc IHS) students can start accessing this site, as they concurrently study the Enquiry Skills for Research ... (OMED 1411) module, developing ideas for their project which they then fully engage with for final submission, in the opening days of January of the following calendar year.
Other important points!
Some of you will have done your research methods course quite some time ago, for example, those of you on the MA HCP who did OMED 1356 as part of your PGDip SCPHN / DN, and are therefore doing RESE 1159 alongside your dissertation project. Likewise, the MSc ACP (traditional route) students did research methods (OMED 1384) in your year two, starting on this current module a year later.
So, if any of you need any updates or refreshing of earlier research methods learning, just let me know and I can incorporate them on this current Moodle site.
Ethical Approval
This is urgent and critical!
Out of all the various project, across the three programmes, only ONE does NOT require ethical committee approval: i.e. the extended literature review.
The other 2 projects, either the audit / service evaluation, or the change-management project, MUST HAVE local ethical approval. This is because they involve you relating with people or people's data.
Check out your Enquiry Skills module, or the resource shared on this current Moodle site, for full details on Ethics approval and requirements.
- You submit your UREC (University Research Ethics Committee) forms to our local School Research Ethics Group (not directly to UREC).
- The MSc ACP - third year students - will hopefully have done this soon after completing OMED 1384, and ideally, before they start this module in September (or as soon as possible, there after).
- The MA Students need to do this as soon as possible in January (or either side, thereabouts)
- The MSc IHS Students do this as they are progressing through OMED 1141, and have a project approved for your Programme Leader.
Pace yourself!
Why not draw up a Gantt chart, or similar action plan?
Work out, month by month, what you need to be doing, to complete your project well on-time. If you start off by working backwards, e.g. from a couple of weeks before your expected project deadline, then map in to this plan all the various tasks you have to do.
- Designing all elements of the study
- Achieve ethics approval / Local Trust / employer approval
- Literature review
- Accessing data
- Data analysis
- Major write-up and (re-) editing drafts
Don't forget!
- Be kind to yourself!
- Try to pace yourself well, so you don't have to panic or stress as the clock ticks towards the final submission date
- Make regular appointments with your supervisor
- Send drafts to your supervisor, e.g. chapter by chapter (not all last-minute rush! They have busy calendars, too!)
- Chat to us all on this module, e.g. when we meet for time-tabled sessions and in the asynchronous Forum sites
- NEVER delay contacting your module leader and / or supervisor if you need help, support, are stuck, or any other issue we can help you with.
Spinning plates!
That's a motif I regularly use, as I think of all the competing deadlines we face in our daily lives. So, with your project, you are managing to spin a number of plates, and it's important to keep them all going. For example, when you write your Ethics form and submit it, don't just wait around to get comments and / or approval on this. In the mean time, you could be getting on with writing your introductory chapter - then send it to you supervisor. And / or you could be getting on with your initial literature search, and write the main draft that chapter. Then send to your supervisor. You could next be getting on with your Methods chapter - these first three will probably come easiest to you - then send that to your supervisor.
See what I mean?
Gradually, your work will all be coming together, nicely, and in good time for you to do a final edit of it all. That's when you read it, in its entirety, to make sure that:
- all the chapters dove-tail well
- you lead the reader by the hand and signpost, or guide, them from chapter to chapter
- your referencing is immaculate!
- you can fill in the blanks, or tie up loose ends, e.g. when you might have said or suggested something earlier in the work "to come back to", and now you can return with the answers for completion.
Your final product will then be one fully integrated dissertation, not simply a collection of separate assignments stuck together in a binder!
Savour the moment of your great achievement!
Best wishes, and every success to you all, as you "ro-ro" through this module!
Credits:
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