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of a postgraduate degree after being ‘away’ from studies for a while. Meeting other students and being able to share their concerns, hopes and aspirations helps to allay fears and confirms that they are not alone in their situation. Under normal circumstances, much of the course is conducted online, but four week-long, on-site visits to the University throughout the programme (with lectures, discussion groups, workshops and, of course, tea breaks) have always played a significant role in establishing and maintaining a sense of community.
students paired up to engage in an activity. As if walking around in the classroom from pair to pair, the lecturer entered these breakaway rooms to see how students were progressing. A colleague with a severe disability who uses AAC gave a guest presentation online using her AAC device, and students were able to engage with her live. Since this colleague uses spelling to compose her messages, the chat tool came in very handy. Everyone shared tea breaks in the virtual room too, engaging in small talk and chat.
With COVID-19, all face-to-face methods were suspended. As programme co-ordinator, Dr Tonsing had to find a way to help students gain and maintain a sense of community in a completely online environment. In previous years, the department’s seminar room had been the place where students would meet during most of the contact week, having their tea breaks, sharing lunch, working on their studies or chatting. Dr Tonsing therefore decided to replace this room with a virtual one—the Blackboard course room. She wanted students to come to think of their virtual course room as a social space, not just an academic one. She started the virtual contact week by facilitating social interaction among students, encouraging them to share their personal journeys through the lockdown. Students were asked to share their videos and invite the class into their study space, an exercise that helped all of them visualise each other’s individual circumstances and appreciate how innovative students had to be at times to make sure they had good reception and no disturbances, with some sitting outdoors or in their cars.
A very successful strategy for second-year master’s students was a series of scheduled virtual writing meetings, patterned after the Shut Up & Write method invented by Rennie Saunders.11 Three to four hours every day of the contact week were dedicated to this activity. Students all entered the virtual course room, and one student was assigned as timekeeper. Students spent 50 minutes working on parts of their dissertation, took a ten-minute break during which they could engage in social chat with the other students, followed by another 50-minute writing session. Many students commented on the usefulness of the strategy to progress in their writing and felt more connected and more accountable in the process.
Time was also scheduled in the course room for synchronous verbal discussions, student presentations and practical workshops. Breakaway sessions were created during which
Although students still commented that they missed the ‘real’ tea breaks, they were generally positively surprised about what was possible online, especially when synchronous engagement via audio and video was included. Dr Tonsing reports that she personally realised again how important it is to recognise people as integrated, whole beings and to connect with them in ways that communicate ‘I see you’— even if this has to happen during a virtual tea break.
Tele-Intervention Framework for Early Communication Intervention Service Delivery
Dr Maria du Toit
Dr Renata Eccles
Dr Renata Eccles and Dr Maria du Toit of the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology were familiar with remote service provision before the start of the lockdown. Globally, tele-practice has become a successful platform to offer healthcare, including speechlanguage therapy services.12 Tele-intervention specifically refers to treating communicationand swallowing-related conditions via a tele-practice approach.13,14 Speech-language
11 Shut Up & Write is owned and operated by Writing Partners, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organisation. https://shutupwrite.com. 12 Krikheli, L, Carey, LB, McDonald, CE, & Malik, N. 2017. Telehealth use in speech-language pathology: An exploratory scoping review (prepared for Cabrini Health, Victoria). Melbourne: La Trobe University, participatory Field Placement Report, pp 1–52. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.9/563260 13 American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. 2020. COVID-19: Tracking of state laws and regulations for telepractice and licensure policy. https://www.asha.org/ uploadedFiles/State-Telepractice-Policy-COVID-Tracking.pd 14 Cason, J, Behl, D, & Ringwalt, S. 2012. Overview of states’ use of telehealth for the delivery of early intervention (IDEA part C) services. International Journal of Telerehabilitation, 4(2): 39–46. https://doi.org/10.5195/IJT.2012.6105.
