Whither the Wikis? With your help, not the case for Physiopedia.

I came across this article recently on the Inside Higher Ed website and thought it a pertinent and interesting read in relation to what we are doing in Physiopedia.  The article suggests that “it is becoming clearer where wikis are jibing with the culture of academe, and where they are not” and suggests that many of the academic wikis have failed to take off.  A good time to talk about the academic successes and opportunities in Physiopedia.

We like to think of Physiopedia as an “academic wiki” in that we advocate evidence based content, have students completing academic work on the site and also allow our community to publish research and other academic work.  As far as students completing classroom work in Physiopedia these projects have been a great success.  So far six student projects have been completed in Physiopedia with great results and great feedback from tutors and students alike. Some have successfully been for academic credit and most have resulted in great content being produced for our profession.  This looks like it is set to continue with more and more educators and their students becoming involved from all over the world.

With regards to publishing academic work (i.e. research) in Physiopedia it is still early days.  For this to be a success we need, as suggested by the article, an overhaul in the way we think about publication.  In my opinion publishing academic work in a professional topic specific wiki has a place along side traditional means of publishing in journals.  Researchers can benefit from greater exposure and discussion surrounding their work, we can bridge the gap between completing research and publication and also provide an opportunity for publication to those that don’t want to go through the rigorous process of publishing work in a journal, a good example of this being student dissertations.

The opportunity to publish research in Physiopedia increases the impact of scholars, students, and bloggers by enabling them to share summaries and discuss academic papers online.  The subsequent opportunity for open peer review then provides a place where academic papers can be summarized, discussed, clarified, or made fuller by the general community.  Surely this collaborative activity surrounding academic work is a great way to highlight and discuss new research and subsequently provide evidence and support (or not!) for what we do.

Key to all of this is continuous support from our Physiopedia community.  So if you have some research that you would like to publish in a new way, or an abstract from previously published work that would benefit from discussion among the community please do get in touch….

A Collaborative Classroom wiki, and so much more…..

Today was our turn at PT2010!  Despite having the last session on the last afternoon but were really pleased to have a small group of highly engaged people in the room… or that’s how it seemed from the front anyway!  Following a comprehensive guided tour of Physiopedia we had a very successful editing session where everyone got to create their profile and add images and video to the site.

Thank you to all who attended and as promised here are the slides from the presentation:

If you have any thoughts or ideas following on from this session please don’t hesitate to get in touch (I’ll be in touch on my return from Idaho!!).

See Physiopedia at PT2010 in Boston

I have finished my session preparations and am now am just packing my bags in anticipation of travelling over to Boston for the annual national APTA meeting.  I will be running an education session with Eric Robertson titled  The Next Textbook: Use of an International Collaborative Classroom Wiki. We will be talking all about wikis and giving a guided tour of Physiopedia as well as doing a guided editing session where you have the opportunity to add your bit to Physiopedia.

The session will be on Saturday June 19, 2010 from 13:00-16:00PM

So come along and join us, we look forward to seeing you all there!!

Abstract

This session will overview a new and ambitious project: Physio-pedia.com. Physiopedia is an open-source, non-profit project aiming to develop the pre-eminent collaborative, evidence-based resource on the web using a wiki platform. A wiki written by, and for physical therapists, Physiopedia has the potential to impact learning and evidence-based practice for clinicians, educators and students alike.

This session will explore the concepts of wikis as collaborative learning environments. Examples of the use of wikis in classrooms around the world will be highlighted through case reports as well as examples of students independently using a wiki to further their studies. Potential projects and utilization of Physio-pedia.com will be reviewed in the context of continuing professional development and crowdsourcing as a way to improve the collection knowledge of physical therapists and physiotherapists world-wide.

This session will also include a guided demonstration reviewing important concepts in page authoring on a wiki platform.

This session will be primarily useful to educators and students, but any physical therapist interested in learning about this online, evidence-based resource will find the session useful and informative.

Objectives:

Upon completion of this session, you will be able to:

  1. Describe and define a wiki, including strengths and weakness as a learning tool.
  2. Indentify opportunities in which a wiki can enable collaborative learning.
  3. Indentify ways in which Physio-pedia.com can be used in to enhance both evidence-based practice, professional development, and classroom learning.
  4. Understand and perform basic page editing functions using wiki syntax.

What is Wikipedia?

Common Craft have made another one of their really nice videos, this one on Wikipedia.  It offers a great explanation of Wikipedia which translates very well to Physiopedia.  So, when watching just keep Physiopedia and the physiotherapy and physical therapy community in mind.

Wikipedia Explained By Common Craft.

Newsletter June 2010

Hello Physiopedia fans and welcome to our summer newsletter which brings you all the Physiopedia news and developments from the first half of 2010!

WE’VE GONE SOCIAL!

Physiopedia has finally had a social face lift. This is the first part of a scheme to make Physiopedia a social experience where our users will be able to connect with us and with each other. We have added icons to the top of the sidebar to enable you to quickly sign up for email alerts and RSS feeds and also to connect with us in Twitter and Facebook. At the top of each page on the right we have added a button that allows you to easily save the current page as a bookmark or to share it with your friends via various applications, including Facebook and Twitter. We are currently also looking into developing a social networking side to Physiopedia which will enable us to create clinical networks and interest groups, but in the mean time we hope you find these recent additions useful.

PUBLISH RESEARCH IN PHYSIOPEDIA

The open and collaborative nature of Physiopedia enables any registered user of physiopedia to edit pages and with this new feature to also publish their own research. This will allow physiotherapists and physical therapists, who otherwise might not have the opportunity, to publish their work for all to see. Once published in Physiopedia the research will be open for peer review by the Physiopedia community.

We are happy to publish your original research, summaries of research prior to publication in a peer reviewed journals or to publish your student dissertation. We welcome all types of research including randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews, meta-analyses and case studies This is a great way of publicising student work, supporting new researchers and bridging the gap between completing research and publication.

Read More…

BELLARMINE UNIVERSITY STUDENT PROJECT

Students from Bellarmine University have completed their recent project – Pathophysiology of Complex Patients Problems. I was thoroughly impressed with this ambitious project and am grateful to all those who were involved for their efforts and contributions to the site. The articles that the students created are of very high quality and it is obvious that they have all worked really hard. Now that the project is complete we will soon be opening up their articles and networking them into the main site content.

Take a look at this project…

JOINING FORCES WITH AGILE

The AGILE Project is a collaborative effort by members of AGILE, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Clinical Interest Group of Physiotherapists working with Older People. Led by Bhanu Ramaswamy, those involved in the project will be working on creating a structured and evidence based Older People section of Physiopedia under the sub-headings: Policy, Physiology and Physiotherapy. The project eventually aims to involve IPTOP, the International Association of Physical Therapists working with Older People, and the wider international community.

Watch this page for further details!!

NEW DEVELOPMENTS

We are always looking for new ways to develop the Physiopedia resource that will be beneficial to individuals and to the profession. The ideas that we have and are mulling over include clinical networks, a CPD programme, a mentoring scheme, opportunities for in-service training and a journal club. However as a collaborative site we would like to include you, our users, in the development of this resource and these ideas, and invite you to contribute to Physiopedia’s future.

Read more about these ideas and contribute to Physiopedia’s future…

JOIN US IN BOSTON FOR PT2010

PT 2010, the Annual Conference and Exposition of APTA, is only a couple of weeks away now.  On Saturday 19th June Eric and I will be talking all about wikis and giving a guided tour and editing demonstration of Physiopedia.  Why don’t you come along to join in the fun!!

OR JOIN ME AT CSP CONGRESS

That’s all for now. Please stay in touch and we look forward to seeing or hearing from you in the near future!

Best wishes until next time,

I’ll also be presenting Physiopedia at CSP Congress again this year.  The focus will be on using Physiopedia in Education but anyone interested in finding out more about Physiopedia will find this session useful.  So if your around for that, I’ll see you there!!

That’s all for now. Please stay in touch and we look forward to seeing or hearing from you in the near future!

Best wishes until next time,

Rachael Lowe
Physiopedia Founder

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