FLASH-ED is an education activity ‘market place’. It is designed to bring learners and teachers together in a way that is centred on individual learner needs. It helps learners define their needs by providing job-specific learning goals (which are further definable and extendable by learners) and it helps teachers link to learners by bringing their activities to the attention of those who the activities are designed for. It is multi-platform, encourages inter-professional and inter-disciplinary learning and allows learners to take charge of and record their learning activities.
The FLASH-ED system also allows learners to rate the value of the activities they have engaged in. These ratings are available to other learners. As well, learner profiles are used to generate ‘neighbourhood’ and peer recommendations and trends. It has a forum for discussions and a facility for setting up introductions for potential ‘learning buddies’ and mentors.
Recommendations for individual learner goals are generated from a set of standardised frameworks for each professional group. All are based on four ‘pillars’ of professional learning
which encompass the practice development guidelines from the General Medical Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Each staff member will be encouraged to engage in a number of activities from each of these categories. Some may be essential (for example mandatory and statutory training – MAST) others will be discretionary. Learners may be expected to engage in a minimum amount of activity in each category but the choice of the specific activity will be theirs. Each activity will have an ascribed value (‘credits’). Learners gain credits for engaging in each activity and FLASH-ED will keep track of individual learners’ credit totals and category targets.
Educational managers will be able to access summary data collected from learner accounts and learning activity data.
The components of FLASH-ED are:
- a ’self-populating’ relational database designed to capture learning activities across the organisation
- activity categorisation
- mobile and desk-top applications for access to the database
- learner accounts which allow registration and self-categorisation into learner groups, rating of activities and engagement with discussion fora, etc. (MyFLASH-ED)
- teacher accounts which allow activity registration and categorisation according to the activity categorisation system
- a capability to export and link with other organisational databases so that they may be populated with booking requests and registration data.
GAPS - Technology Enhanced Learning & Teaching 