Using Wakelet for journal clubs: by Samantha Pywell

Read about how Samantha’s using Wakelet as a co-creation tool to help students improve their research skills!

One idea is to use Wakelet within a journal club.  For our first year BSc Occupational Therapy students at UCLan I created a Wakelet which includes different perspectives on the importance of journal clubs, how to set one up and the actual journal article they would be reading. 

This journal club is within a module on research and for this session covered qualitative research. Journal clubs are important for students to increase their research skills, learn from each other and debate topics which may help identify additional research.  Wakelet enhances the session as students are able to access this on their phones, use the inclusive classroom features such as read aloud, watch YouTube videos and see tweets and other media on the importance of journal clubs.

I can direct them to content on specific points, and easily add content if they have suggestions. Wakelet is flexible enough to be a co-creation tool. I was able to record a Flipgrid video (from a module leader perspective) introducing them to the topic area and invited them to a Flipgrid to add their reflections after the journal club. Seeing student reflections helps me listen to what they have learned from the module so far, and what I might need to add in to the next session to answer their questions or help guide them to understand the learning outcomes for the module. 

With the content, activities, and flipped classroom (Flipgrid reflections) being in one place, it’s easy for students to access information.  From a lecturer’s perspective – it’s a lot easier to embed the finished session content into Blackboard by embedding the whole Wakelet. On reflection, I am going to work on embedding files from office as although the assignment brief is in Blackboard, they like anchors as to how this session relates to their assignment. 

Within the Wakelet I can add content such as the learning outcomes for the session, a mix of media content, contact details such as my email and tweets from myself and colleagues around the world on up to date perspectives. As a Wakelet Ambassador, I’m thinking of showing students how to apply for the Student Ambassador Program and show them how to set up their own journal club so they have these skills for their professional practice. 

Inclusivity and accessability are fundamental concepts which Occupational Therapists need to apply in their work. Wakelet is something students could take into practice and teach their colleagues how to use to create easily accessible shared resources for journal clubs in practice.