Getting ahead
In the latter part of each face-to-face session, time is provided to debrief on your experiences of your activity that day, to make initial plans for the next week, and to ask any new questions you may have (whether about the module, a specific activity in which you have engaged, or anything else relating to nature-assisted practice. We also hope that you will constantly be asking questions and making reflective observations whilst participating in the practical exercises, too.
Whenever possible, we will try to:
- Provide a brief, initial answer to your question straight away;
- Help you and your peers discuss the topic further;
- Provide guidance about where to explore the topic further (this may be done via Moodle, which you should see as a space in which you are actively encouraged to develop yourselves).
The more actively you are involved in these discussions, the more you will learn!
Potentially, there is a huge amount of experiential learning to be gained from your participation within the practical sessions; but there is a risk that you will forget much of this material very quickly. It’s therefore a really good idea to create a log for yourself, relating to the module, which should include:
- Anonymised case notes for the sessions with the pupils from Riverbank Academy
- Clinical reasoning about any individual or group issues you noted
- Your reflections on your own experiences each week – adopting a critical, evaluative stance whenever you can. Remember that you are likely to continue to reflect after the session – so you may need to update these reflections several times
- Reminders regarding issues that you wish to explore further with the module team and your peers.
Select a core focus for your game (play-based intervention) as soon as possible – even if only in he roughest draft form – and discuss with the module team. This topic may change (slightly or completely) as the module progresses (especially once you have met the members from the school); but it is much easier to change an idea rather than begin from a ‘blank sheet’.
Ensure that you can justify the relevance of your intervention to social/therapeutic horticulture, as well as to the module learning objectives. This will enable you to decide on the most appropriate selection and application of theory within the assignment.
The sooner that you agree your individual responsibilities within the group (regarding both the plannng & development of your game and the creation of the website), the better. This will enable each of you to make the most effective use of your independent study time, reduce potential uncertainty and disagreement amongst group members, and ensure the best division of labour.
It would be highly advisable to write these responsibilities down, and share them with each other and with the module team.
Consider using online resources to draft out an initial plan for your intervention and a structure for the website. In this way, you’ll be able to keep developing your ideas as the module progresses.
Ideally, you can draft out the structure for the website straight into the menu there (just creating blank pages and sub-pages) – but you could just do a bullet-point list in the form of a Word document. Again, you may wish to share this outline with the module team, so they can give you preliminary feedback.
As you read, note points that are relevant and where you found them. This way you are beginning to collate your reference list as you read. Use the discussion area on your site and other resources to share your ideas.
The earlier you begin to work on your ideas, the more time you will have to edit and revise your text until it is in a format that you like and of a length that is acceptable; and the more opportunity you will have to gain ongoing feedback from the module team.
Remember, you can edit content on the site as much as you want – but you can just as easily write stuff up in a Word document, and paste it online once you’re ready, if that’s better for you.
Each week, remember to engage in activity analysis – both for the activities included in the scheme of work, and for any that you focus on in the assignment – and analysis of the physical, social, cultural and institutional context within which the activities occurred.
Set deadlines for yourself – and stick to them! This will reduce the need for ‘cramming’ later in the module.
- You will need to refine your early drafts and this takes time. You do, however, need to have the courage to leave it alone when you are happy with it! It is very easy to change things to appease your anxiety. Ask yourself, was that change really an improvement? When you are no longer improving your work, leave it alone, ready for marking.
- As the assignment is primarily collaborative in nature, please be sure to edit the content of all pages (not just those for which you have lead responsibility), being ready to proof-read, make suggestions for changes or additions, etc. Similarly, be happy when other people make suggestions about your ‘own’ content – although the final decisions there will, of course, be your own.
At your submission deadline, the module leader will visit your assignment site, and change your user status to ‘subscriber’. This will mean that you can no longer edit any content.
Before this point, you will want to ‘tidy up’ the site (e.g. hiding the discussion page from he menu), as well as ensuring that there is sufficient on every page. To avoid unnecessary stress, therefore, plan to have finished well before the submission deadline, so that you have plenty of time to tackle unexpected problems.