#256 Poster

Monday 16 April 15:00 - 17:15 Bar/Conservatory

Opening Up the Curriculum: Midwifery Open Education Resources – Who Benefits?

Jacqui Williams, De Montfort University and SCORE, The Open University, UK

Conference Theme: Innovation

Summary: The presentation will discuss the rationale and benefits of midwifery open education resources for the institution and beyond

Abstract: The case for developing midwifery OERs from a UK midwifery undergraduate programme will be presented.  For the first time Midwifery Students will be able to access the learning materials across their programme; currently this is restricted to the module they are enrolled on through the virtual learning environment.   The midwifery lecturer team will have a central resource for all materials, avoiding duplication of effort and resources.  The open repository will enable engagement with the students’ practice mentors as the midwifery curriculum will for the first time become accessible and as a result will addresss the potential theory practice gap. The materials will be available to prospective DMU students and their teachers so they can assess the quality of teaching at DMU, assist them in selecting correct subject choices and overall better prepare them for entry to a midwifery programme. Importantly,  it will support  developing counties in their need for for high, quality, reliabel and up to date materials to develop health care workers to enhance their knowledge and care of childbearing women and their babies.
The process of collection and transformation of first year midwifery teaching and learning materials used within the DMU undergraduate midwifery programme will be reviewed. The methodology of how the open materials will be used by the first year midwifery students and clinical practice mentors who have no experience of using open educational resources to date will be presented. How taster midwifery OERs by FE Colleges with students who are considering a career in midwifery will be discussed.