The use of a social network to facilitate reflective discourse among undergraduate

physiotherapy students
Setting up the social network
The social network was created using Wordpress (an open source, freely available blogging platform) with
the Buddypress plugin installed. Buddypress adds additional functionality to Wordpress, essentially
converting it into a social network. The software was installed on a private server that was not public-facing,
giving students some measure of anonymity.

Assignments
 First years – read the reflective blog posts of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th year students, and then write your
own reflection on how those experiences differed to your own expectations of the course
 Second years – write a reflective blog post on your first experience of an initial patient contact during
your first clinical experience as part of the Clinical Practice I module
 Third years – write a reflective blog post discussing 2 clinical experiences during your clinical
placements in the third year
 Fourth years – write a reflective blog post discussion 2 ethical dilemmas you experienced during a
clinical placement
 In addition to writing their own reflective blog posts, students were required to use literature to
substantiate their opinions, as well as comment on the posts of other students. They were also
required to present different perspectives that might be applicable. Finally, students were
encouraged to make use embedded media to add depth and additional background to their
comments.

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