Dr Neil Ralph, Head of Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) reflects on the successes of the first 12 months of the Virtual and Hybrid Learning Faculty (VHLF) which continues to grow in strength supporting the education community across the NHS.
We are celebrating the first anniversary of the VHLF which launched in October 2021 to solve an important problem – making sure the NHS educator community had the skills required to deliver effective, quality driven and evidence-based training in an online learning environment.
The Faculty launched on the TEL Learning Hub to support educators and those involved in education delivery to adopt new ways of working. The VHLF provides support and guidance to the educator community so they can increase their impact, confidence, and capabilities. It focuses on finding local solutions and supporting educators to choose the methods of learning which best meet their needs and the needs of their learners. The resources can help them to design, develop and deliver virtual and hybrid learning which marks a culture change for many parts of the NHS.
The rapid shift to remote working was partly the result of the pandemic because it limited travel and the delivery of face-to-face training and meant health and social care staff were working on the frontline, often at the expense of their training. Consistency and continuation of training is vital to training the future NHS workforce. A rapid review identified new ways of training which are efficient, cost effective and support the ambitions for more flexible and digitally focused delivery across the NHS.
The Faculty launched with 20 resources divided between two catalogues: ‘Getting Started’ and ‘Increasing your Impact’ and was followed by the ‘Community of Practice (COP)’ catalogue. Today there are 37 resources available including videos, templates, checklists, how to guides, an active CPD programme and live sessions, with more content being created to support our next season of masterclasses this autumn.
More than 4000 people have attended the masterclasses in the first year and the Community of Practice has grown from an initial 800 members to around 1500 providing a dedicated space to connect with peers, discuss how to drive excellence, and share knowledge and best practice. Feedback from the COP has shown that people appreciate being self-determined and that the confidence and capability of educators has increased by 55% since the VHLF launched. We’ve carried out surveys to assess impact which have told us that educators are continuing to apply the best practice principles they’ve learned to their delivery even nine months after joining.
Some of the Faculty members have shared feedback of their experiences with us:
Sarah Fairclough, Education Technology and Resource Officer from Doncaster and Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed all the sessions and went away with a new piece of information after each one. It was also great speaking to other colleagues from around the Region and getting their insights into how they were dealing with TEL and hybrid learning. I have used some of the skills I have learnt within my own delivery and also passed on the details of the faculty to my colleagues.”
An HCA Development Nurse and COP member said: “I have made several changes to my zoom delivery as a result of what I learned. I was encouraged to explore more the use of video, jamboard, breakout rooms and virtual flipchart. Also being more observant of learner wellbeing (regular breaks, planning in off screen tasks, much more frequent check ins of how people are doing and trying as best as I can to observe body language of participants.”
Other benefits our members have highlighted to us include less need for venue hire for face-to-face education, and reduced travel which means they spend less time away from clinical face work, freeing up more time to care.
The VHLF is open to all educators and members of the educator community across health and social care and is available on TEL’s Learning Hub platform. We are keen for new people to join the Faculty so they can use the free resources but also so they can contribute through the COP and support each other while enabling us to continually improve what we offer.
There are still three available catalogues:
1. Getting Started – Technical Support: Covering a range of virtual and hybrid learning platforms, tools, products and apps.
2. Increasing Your Impact (On-demand Resources): A family of resources (guides, templates, checklists, etc.) and a selection of best practice principles.
3. Community of Practice (COP): A place where educators can network, share best practices and offer each other peer to peer support.
Our most recent project – the Dental Master Educator’s pilot- focussed on the dental community. This launched in February 2022 and supported 16 dental educators to apply virtual and hybrid educational reforms to their teaching. Following the same format as the VHLF, a ‘Dental Zone’ faculty was also established to house all the resources and a dedicated MS Teams channel was set up to support a specialist Dental COP.
James Spencer, Dental Dean for the North East and Yorkshire region of HEE said: “I was very nervous about Virtual and Hybrid Learning as I approached the Master Educator Programme. I now realise I didn’t need to be as the programme has really delivered in developing my understanding of the challenges and benefits of VHL. I now feel much more confident in my abilities to be able to deliver effective teaching.”
This comment sums up the goal of the VHLF – to empower educators to better understand virtual and hybrid learning and be able to use it and adapt it to support how they teach.
Over the autumn we have another series of CPD masterclass events running from September to November. There are new resources being added to the Learning Hub to complement these sessions as well and we are keen to hear from our community of practice to tell us how you found our masterclasses, how you have applied the learning to your work, what you’ve gained from the sessions and if you would recommend the Faculty to your colleagues. Please follow this link and complete the short form if you would like to give your feedback.
During its first year the VHLF has evolved into a network of expertise, knowledge and best practice and we look forward to welcoming more new members and further increasing it’s influence and reach over the coming year.
