Critical friends: an investigation of shared narrative practice between education and nursing graduates

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a pilot research project that investigated the perceived educational value of sharing narrative practice amongst graduate students from the School of Education and the School of Nursing and Midwifery at the University of Tasmania. During a semester the graduate students reflected upon and wrote about a 'critical incident' which had occurred during their recent practical experience. These narratives were exchanged with the graduate students in the other discipline in order for the lecturers to examine the perceived educational value of sharing narrative practice. Analyses of written responses and questionnaire results were framed within a social constructivist perspective and drew on notions of peer feedback, critical reflection and the value of shared stories. The findings revealed that the graduate students appeared to revert to discipline-specific behaviours within this cross-disciplinary context.

Implementing a new doctor of creative arts program in the Chinese year of the fire monkey

“…This is even more important for programs such as a DCA, which relies on intensive and individualised mentoring from practitioner-researchers. However, there can be tensions with colleagues who view themselves as primarily practitioners, which can also occur in areas such as teaching or nursing (Baguley and Brown, 2009; Krauth, 2011). This view can undermine a program such as a DCA which incorporates both creative arts and research.…”

Critical friends: A way to develop preceptor competence?

“…The observations then need to be discussed between the critical friends in such a way that the feedback is constructive, clear and facilitates improvement and development of professional preceptor competence. Baguleya and Brown (2009) showed how feedback between teacher and nurse graduates included empathetic statements, supportive comments, and suggestions for further reflection through challenging statements. A thumb rule is to structure feedback with the help of following didactical questions: What e did you observe, try to be as precise as possible, How-do you communicate the feedback in such a way that what you say is consistent with your body language, When-is a good time for feedback, do we have sufficient time or is there a risk that the feedback will be rushed, and Why-what are the reasons for providing feedback, be clear about the possibilities to develop professionally and personally.…”

Critically Reflective Work Behaviour Within Autonomous Professionals’ Learning Communities

“…In the educational literature and in literature on knowledge management, different words are employed for concepts that have many similarities, or the same word is applied for notions that have little in common (Cox 2005). Learning networks (Koper et al 2005), learning communities (Ferguson et al 2009;Wood 2007), knowledge communities (Hakkarainen et al 2004), communities of practice (Wenger et al 2002), peer meetings (Tigelaar et al 2008) and critical companionship (Baguley and Brown 2009;Wright and Titchen 2003) appear for groups of different sizes, in different contexts like education and business, with or without explicit learning objectives. Nevertheless, most of these concepts encompass discussion among peers, with the purpose of sharing knowledge and constructing meaning socially.…”