ISRRT_COVID-19_book

Utilising video for a physics module during COVID-19 to adhere to
Belinda van der Merwe
social distancing.
The academic project had to continue during the pandemic for the Bachelor of Radiography
fourth year students to complete not only theory modules online, but also the required
attendance in clinical practice. This was imperative since in South Africa, the students are
required to complete one year of compulsory community service after graduation. Staff and
student flexibility and adaption became key concepts during the global lockdown restriction
levels. It was comforting to learn about the clinical placement strategies for safe resumption
in other countries for instance Singapore 1 and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on
radiography practice from a United Kingdom radiography workforce survey 2 . Our year planner
was adjusted, and students could return in June of 2020 to campus provided that a 14-day
self-isolation period was implemented.
In preparation for the workplace, one of the assignments in the physics module is to
demonstrate to the class, the quality control (QC) tests of diagnostic x-ray machines. Due to
the institutions’ social distancing guidelines during the pandemic, the assignment could not
be executed due to the limiting of student numbers per venue. My involvement in the
scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTL) empowered me to articulate a consistent
philosophy to align teaching and learning with assessment methods. This guides constant
reflection to adjust to every group of students in order to attempt to engage each learner so
that meaningful learning can take place. The pandemic intensified this reflection on how to
apply theory in practice taking into consideration the dilemma of restricting face to face
lectures. I realised that I need to find a solution to the educational problem concerning the
demonstration of the quality control tests in clinical practice. A design-based research
approach was utilised to find a solution that involved different phases 3 . The first phase is to
analyse the problem, the second phase to develop a learning environment as a possible
solution, the third phase to implement and test the solution in cycles and the fourth phase to
refine the solution. The last phase involves that the lecturer must create a design principle
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