Hello all.
Please note, that I will not be in college on Monday 13th November, as I have a wee surgical procedure on that day, but will be back on the 20th. Thank you for your understanding.
This is how we will close out the rest of the sessions until the end of this year. Getting two assessments in the bag should be achievable for all of you. We will then complete the other two in 2024 - those are Listening and Reading analysis.
20/11 - addressing the success of the oral presentation deliveries, writing, research, referencing, assessment brief, exemplar reports - all of this will be on Moodle around that time for you - you need not do anything at the moment.
27/11, 4/12, 11/12 - working on your reports in class, and as we did with the presentations, the onus is on clear structuring, and I will work with you one to one again. The more I see in class, the more I can help you with...
11/12 - this is the deadline for the completed draft, sent to me by e mail. My advice would be to get the completed draft in the can before this date though, but it is plenty of time.
18/12 - this is when the completed versions are uploaded to Turnitin. I will send an e mail out with instructions on Turnitin on Thursday 14th December for you to look at. You only should upload if I have checked your writing previously.
8/1 - some light reflective writing exercises to get you back in the groove.
15/1 - catch-up week - no Communication class - everybody passed the presentation assessment, so this is a free week as far as Communication is concerned. You may have things to do in other classes, but that will be signposted to you individually I would imagine.
22/1 - second semester starts - Listening analysis teaching and onto the final straight!
You take care now,
Mark
Belfast Royal Victoria Hospital: I'm nearly 80 and still nursing
Click on the link below for this incredible story.
Jimmy Cooper turns 80 in November but has no plans to give up his nursing career anytime soon.
Well done to all the presenters who were successful this afternoon with their oral presentations.
23/10 - Eight talks, eight passes - very well done to Linda, Kelsey, Omo, Robyn, Stella, Alyssa, Pauline and Fiona.
30/10 - Six talks, six passes - very well done to Antonia, Marina, Chris, Emma, Caitlyn and Linda.
6/11 - Five talks, five passes - very well done to Amy, Emma-Louise, Nicola, Chloe and Gemma.
The subjects were varied and interesting.
I thoroughly enjoyed the talks, your input, your research, your enthusiasm and more, excellent.
For those of you who were at the session today, I would like you to comment on how you felt the session went this afternoon:
Your comments will help next week's presenters.
How I ran the session was as follows:
Welcome to the session and the assessment, I had all the presenter's slides ready to go, the class decided on the running order, the presenters all delivered, with questions from me and their peers.
I advised when the 8 minutes was up as a guide to come to conclusion (5 mins is the minimum needed as per the unit descriptor, and 8 mins is the guideline for the upper limit).
Each presenter was given two feedback sheets at the start - one was to self-reflect and the other to provide objective feedback to one presentation of their choosing. I felt this worked really well.
I then provided my detailed feedback which today resulted in a full house of passes. It really was a very enriching session indeed.
Thanks in advance and well done again.
Mark
Just a quick note to wish you all a nice holiday next week. It’s a time for ‘you time’ and to take some rest if you’re able. It’s been a most industrious start to the semester and you’re all showing great promise, so please keep the momentum up!
I have been ‘helped’ this morning by Luna, and I can report back that the Halloween themed doughnut from my local Polish baker, Mario, was fantastic for my “elevenses” (you don’t hear that phrase much, nowadays!)
Take care and see you when you’re doing your talks.
Mark
Hello all,
I thought I would jot down a few FAQs for the first assessment, which is the 5 minute oral presentation. If there are any further questions you have, please note them in the comments section below and I will respond to them directly, in order that everybody can see any q and a badinage.
The trick with this assessment two is on clear structure, and preparation. As ever, time
management and attention to detail should be at the forefront of your thinking
here.
Q. How important is time when you come to assess this?
A. Time is really important and is a discipline that you can control. Given you have between 5 and 8 minutes to deliver your talk on what you have researched, there should be no issue. It is strongly recommended that you have a timepiece in front of you, and remember to start it. My stopwatch starts when you open the presentation up and stops when you ask for questions.
Q. I see you use a remote clicker when you
present in our lectures. Will that be available on the day for us and is it
easy to use?
A. Yes it will be available and it is really easy to use. One
button (right) moves the slides forward and the other (left) moves it back. You may wish to use
the spacebar or mouse instead though. My remote clicker arguably gives you a
little more physical freedom. My advice is do not use the infrared button for a
pointer, as it can often be distracting to the audience. Use positive body
language and hand gestures to naturally signpost key issues.
Q. Is there a minimum amount of references that I should have used for this presentation?
A. Yes, you should have at least four references, and this will not include Wikipedia.
Q. How many questions are we likely to get and
is it just Mark who can ask them?
A. How long is a piece of string? No definitive answer to that,
other than ‘until I am satisfied I have sufficient information’ and yes,
members of the audience can also pose some questions, which I encourage.
Q. If I miss my assessment, is it OK just to do it the following week?
A. No it is not OK. This is a crucial question though. If you
miss your presentation slot you will be marked as a no show and you will be reassessed when I am able. Depending on the
circumstances for any absences, it could be a first attempt (with legitimate
reasons sent to Mark in good time), as per College and SQA regulations. Any
resits / first attempt deliveries are likely to happen in December as I must move on with the next assessment after this, which is formal report writing.
Q. Is it permissible to use cue cards?
A. Yes it is, but not a script. If you are using cue cards, you
should number them. Experience tells me that if a learner drops their cards and
they are not numbered, it can cause mild panic, to put it mildly…I keep your cue cards in a file, just for evidence, so it does not matter how neat or not they are. That said, YOU need to make sense of them!
Q. I need to go to work on the day of my
presentation, so might need to leave early, is that OK with the assessor?
A. No, it isn't. You should change your shift if this is the
case. The assessment times were announced on 2/10/23 and you should ensure you
are available on the date you have been allocated. This is effectively an
examination, so please treat it as such. You are authorised for the two sessions where you are not presenting.
Q. Can I change the assessment date at all?
A. Sadly not. All assessment dates are now fixed. Please see
above.
Q. Is it good practice to print off the
slides for myself, you and the audience?
A. This would indeed be good practice, but not mandatory. An assessor often
likes to see slides for numerous reasons, such as assessing how well prepared
you have been, to check spelling, make notes on the hard copy and crucially, to
help make an informed assessment decision. Black and white copies are
absolutely fine and it is welcomed if you print them off using the three to a
page option, with room for Mark to make notes. It is also good to have the slides in case of any data projector, technical issues (which are unlikely, but possible).
Q. What is the dress code for the assessed presentation?
A. I would say smart casual, but please, no hats, shorts or
sunglasses. It is still a professional piece of communication. There is no
expectation that you are “suited and booted” as the phrase goes, but if you do wish to be in formal attire, please do, it
isn’t mandatory though.
Q. Will the presentations be recorded?
A. No, on this occasion they won't be. If you did want to be recorded for your own learning, you should arrange that with a member of the class beforehand to video on a mobile ‘phone. That is good practice for you to analyse your own performance, but that’s not for everybody, I do understand that! I will be taking lots of notes my end though.
Q. With Mark and a third of the class in the room for my talk, who should I divert my eye contact to on the day?
A. Do not present to the wall at the back, that’s the first thing to note. I believe that all members of any audience are equally important, so it is wise to present to everybody in the room. That said, DO include me too in that! It wouldn’t be professional to avoid contact with me completely. It has happened in the past which always surprises me, in a bad way!
Q. Can you remind me when my presentation assessment is, please?
A. Of course, the link to the three assessment dates are found here (you only attend one session though remember): SWAP Nurses 2023-24: Presentation assessment times - please read! (swapnurses2324.blogspot.com)
I hope these ‘FAQs’ help you and if you have any further questions, please note them in the comment section below, not forgetting to use Google Chrome to do so. You can also e mail Mark by proxy if you’re having difficulty.
All the best and bonne chance in the assessment. This is a great
opportunity for you to talk up the research you have done and also to
demonstrate how far you have developed since the start of this unit. I will
respond to every question should any be asked.
Good luck to you all; many of you have really engaged with this
unit so far and that’s been very reassuring from a lecturer / assessor perspective.
Mark
Hello,
These are some links which you might find of use for your research.
News | Scotland | Royal College of Nursing (rcn.org.uk)
Health A to Z - NHS (www.nhs.uk)
Health and Social Services Subject Guide (nclan.ac.uk)
All the best,
Mark
