My First Ever Acupuncture Talk
A quick post sharing what I learnt attending and presenting at the BAAB Education Day this month.
I’ve presented at many events including both in my working career and in volunteering roles including a talk recently with experts at a Young Enterprise event. I don’t think I’ve ever been as nervous as I was talking at this one – where I was invited to speak about a student’s experience of studying acupuncture during COVID.
Here are a few key takeaways from the day.
What is the purpose of an assessment?
“Artisery… Creative application of theory .”
In practical clinic, what do we get assessed on? How do we portray characteristics of the creative application of theory?
Felicity’s talk was particularly interesting to me as it explored what and how our teachers and assessors would be marking us when we are treating in clinic. In some clinic assessments, students were meant to be judged against 97 sub competencies which often contained very difficult to mark criteria. Her research was based on what was the best way to assess students and our converstaions were all fascinating.
To me it was really important to hear how very few students fail practical assessments because any issues were picked up well in advance. This gives me a sense of hope for my future! I definitely feel like my key criteria personally should be putting the patient at the heart of the treatment and ensuring they are treated safely. It is the patient who will be experiencing, benefitting and ultimately paying for the experience so they should definitely be asked for their feedback.
An interesting aspect of the assessments is the sense of accountability. It’s important for all parties to be objective so that the credibility of the profession, college and students are all judged without bias.
Digital learning in action
It’s quite funny when you spend 3 years building training courses and digital learning, give it up to try something new and then find yourself on the recieving end of an instituion delivering blended learning.
Because of COVID, a lot of the college’s teaching acupuncture have had to adjust the ways in which they have taught because of long periods of lockdwon. I haven’t appreciated how much work has gone into these transformations until today where each colleage detailed their approaches.
Taking my college (where I am studying) as an example, they have created over 300 podcasts in a very short period of time to deliver a flipped classroom experience which I think has worked really well. It’s been amazing for me to be able to come back to podcasts 10 months after first watching them because I was able to absorb so much more information and learnt new things which I didn’t have the mental capacity to understand or even notice before. As a revision tool for my first year exams and for my own deeper understanding of the concepts, these have been absolute gold mines for me.
I also enjoyed listening to other college’s stories of how they adapted to delivering teaching online. This includes one college’s use of Kahoot to bring an element of gamification into their classes which was really interesting and a well-timed revision tool for the physiology exam I had the following week! Another college utilised old case histories and imagery to bring their teaching to life which was really insightful and I am sure a brilliant tool for their students.
Hearing the stories of each college was really awe-inspiring because it made me realise all of the work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure that we recieve the best education possible. In particular, studying acupuncture is a practical profession so being able to deliver teaching in a way that doesn’t hamper our ability to complete hands-on activities such as point locations or anatomy exams is quite a difficult thing to do. It’s not just learning theory but also practical skills.
My hat goes off to all the teachers who have worked tremendously hard to build a curriculum that incorporates digital learning and it’s fascinating to be on the reieving end of things I would have designed for other people previously.
My speech
“It’s the best decision I ever made.”
My speach required a lot of reflection as to how I have found the year and what I have enjoyed about studying the course. Deciding to study acupuncture has been the best decision because it’s not just something which will help me to earn an income but something I have genuinely fallen in love with.
I feel honoured to be studying something which can have such a profound affect on others, so deep in history and so mentally stimulating. It’s a very difficult course with a lot to study and remember, including 365 point locations and functions, but it’s something I am enjoying tremendously. I hope to one day be as wise as the people that attended the education day but definitely have a long way to go.
The one thing I can say for sure is that with the course, I can safely say that I have found my home. It’s been amazing to be a part of the community and I am so grateful for the opportunity to represent my college and being the Year 1 Rep for ICOM!
