SHORT COMMUNICATION

On URL marks, get set, AMAZING RACE!

L Africa^I; G Filies^I; L Jaffer^II; C Swinny^III

^IPhD; Interprofessional Education Unit, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
^IIMA Psychology; Interprofessional Education Unit, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa
^IIIMA Psychology PhD fellow; Psychology Department, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

Correspondence

Why was the idea necessary? (Problem)

The Interprofessional Education (IPE) Unit at the University of the Western Cape uses a scaffolded approach in its interprofessional curriculum to guide and advance interprofessional learning experiences of students, curriculum development and an emerging workforce ready for collaborative practice.^[1] The learning and teaching activities incorporated into this curriculum allow students to engage with, and achieve, the four interprofessional core competencies: (i) values and ethics, (ii) roles and responsibilities, (iii) interprofessional communication, and (iv) teams and teamwork.^[2] However, we found that many of the existing IPE activities were theoretical and often face-to-face in nature. We therefore developed the IPE Amazing Race as an innovative and practical component in the senior phase of the health professions education curriculum, which can also be presented virtually.

What was tried? (Approach)

The Amazing Race concept, a contemporary, well-known mode of activity incorporates multiple small activities to be completed at each stage before progressing to the next.^[3] This concept was adapted into a virtual interprofessional learning activity called the IPE Amazing Race. Students and facilitators from various higher education institutions around the world gathered in the main Zoom room, where the organising staff explained the virtual race's rules and procedures, and provided the link to the first leg. Event organisers assigned students from the following disciplines to interprofessional teams: psychology, audiology, biokinetics, medicine, natural medicine, oral hygiene, social work, dietetics, physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy. The IPE Amazing Race comprised six legs executed on various online platforms (Table 1). The learning outcomes for each activity aligned with the IPE core competencies,'²¹ and were used to create a rubric. The organisers graded their responses at each leg of the activity using the following scale: 0 = Not done, 1 = Somewhat completed, 3 = Satisfactory answer, and 4 = Good answer. As a result, the team that completed first did not necessarily win the IPE Amazing Race.

What were the lessons learnt? (Outcomes)

Planning, designing, and facilitating interprofessional learning is challenging, but achievable by creating innovative and active IPE activities. The IPE Amazing Race is a fun, interactive way to engage with and demonstrate the interprofessional core competencies students have acquired in the junior phase of the scaffolded interprofessional curriculum. While the activity instructions were designed to target specific sub-competencies, a Mentimeter evaluation of students at the end of the event demonstrated enhanced student participation, communication, shared leadership and teamwork. Organising staff identified two limitations to the IPE Amazing Race. Due to the early stages of the IPE Amazing Race, the assessment for all participating disciplines is not formalised; consequently, some students either did not attend or did not participate in the event. It is suggested that this activity be evaluated as part of UWC's IPE curriculum to maximise participation and attendance. This is supported by the high level of enthusiasm and excitement demonstrated by participating students when using social media platforms for educational purposes, even though not typically regarded as the traditional space for doing so. Virtual events are likely to encounter connectivity issues, posing a potential threat to activities dependent on subsequent phases. Therefore, indicating the significance of informing all participants of the need for a stable internet connection prior to the event is necessary.

References

1. Filies GC, Kock-Africa L. Adapting the learning environment of a first year interprofessional module towards collaborative-ready graduates. Nurs Educ Today 2022;119:105599. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nedt.2022.105599        [ Links ]

2. Interprofessional Education Collaborative. Core competencies for interprofessional collaborative practice: 2016 update. Washington DC.         [ Links ]

3. Robberts AS, van Ryneveld L. Work in progress: Enabling learning environments for underprepared engineering students: blending game-based and project-oriented methodologies. In 2019 IEEE Global Engineering Education Conference (EDUCON): 722-726.         [ Links ]

Correspondence:
L Africa
lkock@uwc.ac.za