COIL stands for Collaborative Online Inter-professional Learning - four words that capture concepts that form the project’s foundation: different disciplines, working and learning together, using cutting edge technology and human collaboration, to achieve excellent patient care. The program is based at Bridgepoint and receives funding through a generous donation from HSBC and other peer-reviewed grants.
COIL workshops are geared toward working clinicians - post licensure learners - from different disciplines. These teams of learners mirror the inter-professional environment in which today’s health care professionals work. COIL allows teams of professionals to collaborate online through eUnity.
COIL: Complex Chronic Disease and the Socially Vulnerable
A COIL workshop on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) was completed spring 2009. The complexity of TBI demands the input and collaboration of many disciplines making it an excellent starting point for COIL’s inter-professional focus. TBI affects millions of people and their families worldwide, with lifetime implications. Workshops on other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, are currently
in development.
Complex chronic disease hits the socially vulnerable with greater frequency and with a stronger impact, including individuals who are socially isolated, have lower economic status, have pre-existing medical conditions or learning disabilities and often speak little English. These socially vulnerable populations have greater challenges negotiating life after TBI. COIL seeks to heighten clinicians’ awareness of these challenges, while helping them to address individualized needs.
COIL Workshop Structure
COIL makes use of blended learning modalities. Participants access much of the material online, which allows for “anytime, anywhere” learning.
As well, there are face-to-face sessions which at the beginning and end of the workshops to enable participants to come together as teams and to enrich their experience. The online portion of COIL has two integrated components that support collaborative learning.
Building a Common Foundation for the Learning
Team: Interactive Modules and Webquests
The modules are multi-disciplinary in nature, with each of the team members being exposed to the same material, with a different module for each session of the online portion of the COIL Workshop. Modules provide an overview and foundation of that week’s lesson, which facilitates team discussions on eUnity. Pre- and post-tests are incorporated into each module to prompt awareness of knowledge gaps and further stimulate discussion with colleagues.
The learning experience is highly individualized and takes advantage of many of the principles of adult learning. Learners can select:
- When and how much time they want to spend on a given module; and,
- How deeply they want to explore subtopics, based on their background knowledge and level of interest.
The modules make use a variety of interactive features: roll-overs, click to reveals, gaming, videos and other features. Each module is rich with links to evidence-based literature.
Through Webquest, an online component, team members work on developing skills that are specific to their profession. After a team member has completed that week’s module, they can explore the Webquest page – a set of questions that arise from that session’s subject matter.
Case-based questions and initial references are provided so that learners have a starting point in their quest for deeper learning. There are suggestions as to which disciplines might answer a question, but again, choice is given to the learner. Any team member can choose to answer any question that appeals to them.
COIL Provides a Platform for On-Line Collaboration
Inter-professional learning is what makes COIL unique. This tailored application facilitates real collaboration between team members and colleagues. COIL participants are able to enter the eUnity program and participate in sessions together. eUnity supports microphones and webcams - participants can hear and see one another, and the vital voice and non-verbal cues that enhance communication are not lost as they often are in traditional “chat-rooms” or less interactive online learning tools.
Learners work together in real time (though perhaps at different ends of the country) at tasks that makes use of their:
- Discipline-specific knowledge;
- The learning they have undergone that week;
- Their communication and team building skills;
- Desire to grow and develop.
Together, over the course of the COIL Workshop, participants build a case together.
Each week, layers to the story of a person are added, such as:
- Who they were before their illness;
- What their supports were like;
- How they presented in acute care;
- How they responded to treatment, etc.
Trained online facilitators guide teams through a template of questions, but considerable freedom is given to the team to write their case in the way that best expresses their learning. COIL allows for the importing and storage of a veritable library of resources, including X-rays, scans and PDF files that the teams can discuss together and use to enhance their collaborative efforts and experience.