JCPSLP Vol 15 No 2 2013_lores

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Clinical education
JCPSLP Volume 15, Number 2 2013 107
Top 10 resources for
clinical education
(e.g., Code of Ethics, Competency-Based Occupational
Standards for Speech Pathologists) and position statements
relating to their work with particular client groups. The
students also valued websites such as speech-language-
therapy dot com, which they used to gather information
about communication difficulties and intervention strategies,
as well as SparkleBox, which they used to identify
interesting and fun intervention activities for children.
3 Textbooks
Books that were prescribed reading for specific subjects
across the four years of the course were considered useful
resources for assisting students to recall characteristics of
communication and swallowing difficulties, modes of
assessment and evidence based intervention approaches.
Students also valued textbooks such as the Survival Guide
for Speech-Language Pathologists (Moon-Meyer, 2004)
which provided them with templates for practical tasks
such as writing session notes and initial assessment
reports.
4 Summaries
Students often created their own summaries of information
about particular client groups and conditions, which they
then used as a reference while undertaking WPL. Students
appreciated CEs providing details about the populations
serviced by the speech pathologists on site prior to the
commencement of their WPL, as this directed their
preparation and independent study. Summaries often took
the form of tables which were considered particularly useful
for summarising information to compare conditions (e.g.,
dysarthria and dyspraxia).
This list of resources for successful workplace
learning experiences has been compiled by final-year
students in the undergraduate speech pathology
program at Charles Sturt University in Albury. Students
identified their most useful resources based on workplace
learning experiences undertaken during the first three
years of the course. These experiences included traditional
placements in hospitals, community health clinics, and
disability services, as well as non-traditional placements
with clients and families in a range of community settings.
Workplace learning (WPL) comprises a large component
of their final year of study at CSU and so the students
anticipate these resources will be utilised even more during
the next 6–12 months!
1 Peers
Students valued the opportunity to talk with other students
in their cohort (and other students completing WPL at the
same sites) about their experiences. Communicating with
peers (face to face, via telephone and email, in chat rooms
and other social media) was seen to be beneficial in
enabling students to develop communities of practice, and
support one another in their learning. It also provides an
opportunity for them to debrief about their experiences in a
less formal context than is possible through the structured
reflections often required by clinical educators (CEs) and
university staff.
2 Websites
The Speech Pathology Australia website was identified as a
valuable resource for providing student speech pathologists
with important information about frameworks for practice
Final-year Speech Pathology students at Charles Sturt University