Content Development Projects
Introduction[edit | edit source]
Thank you for your interest in collaborating with Physiopedia! This guide will explain how Physiopedia can be used in teaching and learning, and also outlines ideas as to how you can incorporate Physiopedia into the learning activities of your classrooms, clinics or professional organisations.
Physiopedia's Reach[edit | edit source]
Whatever you do in Physiopedia, it won't go unnoticed. Physiopedia is the largest physiotherapy and physical therapy resource in the world (data from similar web 1 Feb 2022):
- #1 rehabilitation website
- #34 health and medicine website
We reach the global community and current statistics indicate that we have:
- over 7 million page visits per month;
- from around 3 million individuals;
- from every country in the world.
- In addition to this, we are connected to over 200,000 people through social media.
Wikipedia for the Global Physiotherapy Community[edit | edit source]
Physiopedia is a wiki. A Wiki is a website that allows users to easily edit and contribute to that website, making them particularly suited to collaborative group authoring. The most famous example of a Wiki is Wikipedia, a very extensive online encyclopaedia that allows anyone to add to and edit its entries. The difference with Physiopedia is that only physiotherapists can edit.
Wikis in Teaching and Learning[edit | edit source]
A wiki can be an effective tool to enhance learning, promote evidence-based practice and professional digital skills, and provide a means for early-career professional publication. The nature of wikis allows for a number of benefits relating to learning and teaching:
- Wikis are ideal for collaborative writing applications.
- Wikis can be edited and entries published without the knowledge of specialist web development tools.
- A wiki enables the development history of a document to be explored revealing who contributed what and when.
- A wiki will never be lost along with the efforts that have been made in adding content to them, they can be continually updated and always be referred to.
Physiopedia in Teaching and Learning[edit | edit source]
Physiopedia offers you an opportunity to involve your students and/or colleagues in the creation of this global resource through a Content Development Project. Because Physiopedia provides a means for early-career and/or quick professional publication, students and professionals alike are motivated to develop quality content. Knowing that peers, clinicians, future employers and patients can view their work is a motivational influence that cannot be attained in a classroom, clinic or boardroom alone. Physiopedia encourages Content Development Projects from all sources, which include education institutions, clinics and professional organisations.
What Is a Content Development Project?[edit | edit source]
Content Development Projects have been contributing to the growth and quality of Physiopedia content since it launched in 2009. Educators, clinicians and organisations have created many projects to engage their students, staff and members in developing and maintaining this resource for our profession as part of an education or professional development experience. Physiopedia offers an opportunity to involve your students and colleagues to positively contribute to the world of rehabilitation knowledge sharing.
Put simply, your project and the involvement of your students and/or colleagues are making a valuable contribution to the content of this professional resource.
We have three main types of Content Development Projects:
- Educational Projects - involving educational establishments for pre and post-registration students as part of their formal university or college education.
- Professional Organisation Projects - run by professional organisations and involving their members for professional development opportunities.
- Clinical Projects - led by clinics as professional development projects for staff and visiting students.
What Does a Project Look Like?[edit | edit source]
Most of our Content Development Projects are simply about creating new articles and/or reviewing and updating existing articles in Physiopedia.
As a content development partner, there may also be the opportunity to write posts on Physiospot to promote new and exciting topics for physiotherapists and/or collaborate to create online courses on Physioplus for the global physiotherapy profession to gain accredited educational experiences. We are also open to your ideas of any other creative outlet which you feel may positively impact the world of rehabilitation.
Of note, all projects participants can receive certificates of contribution from Physiopedia as recognition for their work, which always looks great on a resumé and the organisation will receive a complimentary partnership with Physiopedia which comes with many benefits to the organisation.
Educational Projects[edit | edit source]
Any academic institution, university or college, with an accredited physiotherapy / physical therapy program can be involved in an Educational Project. Typically, students are tasked with creating new articles or review and update existing articles. They are then graded on their output in a variety of ways depending on your institution's requirements.
Take a look at the following pages for outstanding examples of Educational Projects:
Professional Organisation Projects[edit | edit source]
This is an opportunity for professional organisations to educate students and professionals regarding their cause, or an empowering topic related to their organisation. This is an ideal method to showcase their scope of practice through Physiopedia, which reaches hundreds of thousands of students, professionals and patients who may be interested in their topic. For a great example of an Organisational Project, read about the APPDE Project that focused on developing and updating pages on Parkinson's.
Clinical Projects[edit | edit source]
Clinical Projects are professional development projects initiated by an accredited health care clinic. This can include a project developed by staff for in-service training, an end of placement project for a student, or the presentation of case studies. We encourage the topic to be clinically relevant and contribute to the professional development of physiotherapy. Take a look at the PT Central Case Reports Project for an outstanding example of a course developed by physiotherapy interns.
For an in-depth look of past and present Content Development Projects, please follow this link to see some Project Ideas.
Project Examples and Ideas[edit | edit source]
- Creating pages - project participants choose topics that don't exist within Physiopedia and create new evidence-based pages on that topic.
- Updating pages - project participants choose pages to critically review and improve or update existing pages with new and updated evidence.
- Group assignments. A group of students or clinicians could be tasked with creating a new Physiopedia article. During and after the authoring process, the article's associated history page allows the project lead to monitor contributions and observe the development of the article.
- Peer to peer learning - participants work individually or together in groups to develop pages in Physiopedia, once their work is complete it is peer-reviewed by fellow project participants.
- Mentoring - participants at different stages of their education or professional career work together in Physiopedia in a way that the more experienced participant mentors the less experienced participants during the project. For example, the mentor and mentee work together on developing pages but the more experienced participant mentors the others on their academic and/or clinical skills and knowledge.
- A collaborative project between international participants - this project would be suitable for matched students or qualified staff where the task may be secondary to the international learning experience. The task could be as simple as creating or updating pages (as mentioned above), require more advanced clinical skills such as submitting case studies or academic skills such as critical appraisals, or could be more complex and involve peer learning, peer review or inter-professional learning experiences.
- Lecture preparation on particular topics can be completed in Physiopedia. Each individual could be assigned with a different topic to research which should then be either edited or added to Physiopedia with supporting evidence. These can then be viewed by all students, discussed in the lecture and then edited further if necessary following the lecture.
- Case studies can be added as part of an assessment or learning task. Once added to Physiopedia they will be available for all to view and learn from.
- Individual portfolios can be created from an individuals profile page. The flexible nature of wikis allows an individual to be very creative in their personal portfolio creation and also allows for very flexible portfolio mentoring.
- Online journal articles can be published on Physiospot our related online magazine. Here people can share and discuss important or controversial topics to the field of rehabilitation.
- Creating new online courses for Physioplus for other members to enjoy.
- We are always open to new ideas.....
The Benefits of a Content Development Project[edit | edit source]
Projects can provide opportunities for:
- Practice in reviewing and disseminating professional literature related to current evidence-based practice (EBP) guidelines;
- An interactive forum between clinical instructors, students and academic faculty for collaborative learning in contemporary practice topics;
- An ongoing forum to present contemporary clinical practice standards and expectations;
- Exposure to international clinical practice;
- Academic institution support and appreciation to clinical instructors for contributions to the training of future clinicians;
- Opportunities to enable collaborative learning;
- Understanding of and practice in basic page editing functions using wiki syntax;
- International learning opportunities in physical therapy through wiki use;
- Initial peer publication and review for students as well as clinical instructors; and
- An opportunity to gain experience writing and have physiotherapy specific content to add to their Curriculum Vitae (CV).
Your students and / or colleagues will:
- Learn key digital skills related to the use of online resources;
- Practice online professionalism;
- Understand the benefits of contributing to professional resources;
- Utilise evidence-based practice techniques;
- Get involved in an international professional project;
- Learn website editing skills;
- And learn about a specific topic related to their assignment.
Your organisation will:
- Benefit from becoming a Physiopedia Content Partner and be able to utilise Physiopedia media channels for promotional activity.
Previous projects have demonstrated that:
- Student performance improves when assignments take place in Physiopedia;
- Students and clinicians enjoy contributing to a professional online resource;
- Students and clinicians appreciate the opportunity to be involved in a project for our profession;
- Contributors (educators in particular) are able to satisfy requirements to involve students in e-learning
Why Get Involved?[edit | edit source]
- Involvement in creating, reviewing and updating Physiopedia content is an excellent activity for developing academic skills such as reflection, critical assessment, writing and referencing skills.
- Encouraging physiotherapists to become actively involved in Physiopedia early in their careers will encourage them to interact professionally with colleagues from the start.
- Being involved as an early career practitioner will encourage people to continue to contribute content to Physiopedia to assist in the development of this resource to support the profession in the future.
- Know that your organisation has been a part of the global collaborative development of this valuable and charitable resource for our profession.
How does it work?[edit | edit source]
Once you have decided that you would like to get your students or colleagues involved in a project with Physiopedia, you should contact us to get things started. We will then:
- Discuss your requirements with you to create a project that suits your needs;
- Set you up with your own project page in Physiopedia that describes your project and links to the work that your project participants are doing in Physiopedia;
- Provide you with advice to help your students and/or colleagues ease into the project minimising technical barriers;
- Support you in supporting your students and/or colleagues throughout the project.
See the step by step guide to setting up a project in Physiopedia.
How to go about setting up a Content Development Project?[edit | edit source]
If you would like to find out more about getting your students and/or colleagues involved in collaborating with Physiopedia please contact us directly by email: [email protected]