Innovation and Evaluation Placements

[Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.]

So my project was to create a wayfinding video for Michaela Centre for future Art students who would be going there for placement.

Um, so we had to figure out what we wanted to include in the video and then create the video and then evaluate it.

Sorry. I was at Oregon Youth House for my project,

and my project was to create an evaluation strategy for evaluating the value of having peer support workers as facilitators of groups.

Uh, so my project was focussed on, uh, reviewing the guidelines for.

Mental health practitioners, um, working with people, um, wishing to continue a return to driving um at Northwestern Mental Health.

So my project placement was around making equipment.

Use videos for the Austin Health Organisation for people to be able to view at home once they'd been discharged with equipment.

Um, and it also involved making a resource, um, that the Austin Health could use, um, in producing other videos as well.

So to ensure that it would be easy to make in the future. Yeah.

So we outlined, um, the project together with my supervisor.

Um, then we went about, um, doing a bit of a literature review. Um, we also, um, asked some different professionals their advice on the project.

Um, then we, um, can play. Did a survey asking occupational therapist their opinion of the document.

Um, and then we went about adjusting and redraughting the document to, uh, make all those necessary changes.

So in order to produce the videos, we needed to do the research to be able to identify that there was a gap in that area.

Um, we also needed to follow the policies and guidelines outlined by the Austin Health Organisation.

Um, and it also involved identifying the main equipment that needed to be produced to be able to film it,

edit it, and, uh, make it available on a YouTube channel.

We spoke with our supervisors to begin with, and they said that they wanted the bar and health values included,

and they wanted to be introduced in the video. And then we thought it would be good to put some student perspective in the video.

So me and another boy in the team went in it.

Um, so it was hard to pick what to put in there because there wasn't much time for the video.

We wanted it to be three minutes or less so that people would actually watch it.

Um, so we started off with a little overview of the waterfront of Geelong,

just to give people an idea of what Geelong is a lot because it's beautiful.

It's a good place to come for placement and people come from like All-bran Melbourne.

Um, so we did that and then we put in, um, the student coordinators so that students would know who they would be seeing on the first day.

And then we did a little, um, journey through from outside McKellar centre all the way through to the cafeteria.

And then me and the other student did a little bit of talking about all our placements at Barwon Health,

because we both done a lot there, and then we did some more wayfinding to where they would go in their first day.

When I was creating this strategy, um, I reviewed the literature and based on that.

Um, came up with a survey in an interview.

And then to evaluate that, I used some of the methods that we learnt at uni, like focus groups and, um, surveys to get people's feedback.

So that's an example of um, yeah, using some of those things and experiencing them like running them.

The best things about the placement.

Um, it's an opportunity to work with someone that you may not have experienced or may not have worked with before in the course.

And for me, that was a really positive thing. And it's, um, created a really good friendship as well.

Um, and one that you can take in, um, into the workforce.

I think it's a really small world. So it's good to have good friends and colleagues in the, in the field as well.

Um, and I think project work, although it's quite challenging, it's such a good skill to take into the workforce.

I know employers, um, look at it as a real positive. So yeah, it's giving you great communication skills and that sort of thing.

So the best parts of the project for me was, uh, making new networking in a, in a large organisation.

Um, also, there was a real sense of achievement for me, uh, working on something that was quite difficult and quite a large project.

Uh, but then at the end of the project, you definitely feel like, um, you've achieved something.

The best thing about the placement was probably, um, that you weren't really treated like a student, like a colleague or a staff member.

Um, so that was really exciting. And, um, also getting to put some of the research, um,

things we learnt at uni into practice to really understand how it works in a health service, not just in theory.

So I can take that into the work force now with me.

The best things about it was that we got to be creative.

We could kind of do whatever we wanted, and we had great supervisors who just supported everything we wanted to do,

and we were really, really happy with our end product. And so with that.

So that was good that we could just do whatever we wanted and what we thought would work.

And it did work, so that was great. Um, I had a really good group, so that was great.

At the beginning, we identified what strengths we all had and we had very different strengths.

So we kind of brought them all together and created a great video.

Probably managing the time because we also had a lot of other assignments, um, at the same time for other subjects.

But I think, um, if we stayed on top of that and had a clear idea of what you wanted to do and when you wanted to get it done by,

um, made it a lot more manageable. Um, it was also challenging being on my own, not in a group, because, um,

I wouldn't say that research is my strong point going into this placement so far to be on my own.

But at the same time, um, that led me to get support from, like,

other people and among the service and make some good, um, relationships with them to.

Um, the challenging parts for me, um, was the travel.

Uh, it was quite a distance from Geelong.

So, um, getting up the opportunity to come and have some, um, face to face time, um, was a little bit of a challenge there.

Um, but also there was also challenges in terms of, um, managing your lifestyle, I suppose.

Um, so there can be some factors of you've got, um, study to do, you've got work to do.

You have um, the project as well.

Um, but and um, being a human being, you have social things that you want to do and those aspects can sometimes clash.

So, um, managing those kinds of areas can be, um, something it's difficult,

but it's also a learning process and it's something we need to do for life, I suppose.

For me, the most challenging thing was having supervisors that probably didn't have enough time to spend with us in guiding us or,

um, checking over things for us. So it is quite challenging because they had certain expectations that were different to ours.

Um, so in terms of giving feedback and getting their approval on things, that can be quite difficult.

Um, and I think the distance I often how it's located one and a half, two hours away in Melbourne.

So it's not an easy drop in. And can you look at this to give us feedback?

It takes a lot of communication and time is a big factor as well.

So it can be quite challenging when everything's quite new and you don't really understand where you want to go with it.

Challenging aspects would be time management, I would say, because we were trying to do all our other uni work as well and do the placement video,

and because it was an outdoor video, we had to make sure the weather was okay.

So a few times that delayed the process of filming.

Um, so yeah, time management and then also trying to coordinate with the other students because

while I was in a group of three and we all had part time jobs and other commitments,

so we had to work around that and make sure that we could all get to places at the same time.

And then sometimes we couldn't, so someone would just have to take on a bit more responsibility and go and talk to the supervisors.

But we didn't mind that. We all worked well together, so that was good.

Yeah. So communication is crucial.

It's the most important thing in this project, I think with your partner.

With your project partner, it was really important for us anyway to have that face to face contact.

And we allocated Thursdays every week. That was our day to work on that project.

You didn't have work. You didn't work on anything else with uni that day.

And I think it's really important, especially with our project producing a video.

So it's a very hands on project and you have to have a good end product.

So to meet face to face is really important.

A lot of that communication couldn't happen over the phone or via email, whereas communication with the supervisors,

it was really important to have effective email communication and phone communication to be able to get your point across.

Um, to be able to let them know what progress we've made that day.

And it sounds easy, but it's when you're used to talking face to face to people can be quite difficult to do enough detail in an email,

that sort of thing. So it was definitely a developing skill.

But yeah, a really good one that we've come out with at the end of it.

Um, I worked by myself on my project.

Um, so I wasn't directly involved in a team of students, but that kind of made it more important to have a team around you and,

um, understand who was in your team and who's in your corner.

So you need to know who you DPF is. You need to know who your supervisor is and what support they can offer you.

So it's it's almost like you have a different team, but there's still an important thing you need to know.

And, um, if you need support, you need to go seek that.

Our communication is essential. We needed that.

If we didn't have that, it just wouldn't have worked. So we created a Facebook page straight.

And we probably talked on that every single day just about what we were doing.

And reposting things like editing and chalking new things up, coming up with ideas.

Um, yeah, we definitely need a communication to coordinate the whole thing.

Um, I think really important. Um, I wasn't in a team with another student, but communicating with his supervisor and people at the uni, um,

and as well as other, um, students in different groups to see what they were doing, get ideas off them and their input.

Um, it's really important to stay, um, informed of what's going on at your place.

When. My advice would be to get your expectations of the project with your supervisors.

Be on the same page from the beginning, because if you're not on the same page,

they're going to expect something different than what you're working towards.

And it's when I think it's when conflict can happen or, um, they'll think that you haven't taken on board, but they think so.

I think day one. Get your plan in order.

Make sure you have the same expectations as your supervisor. And I think it's going to be a lot more of a summary through the process.

Um, yeah. From the beginning, I also think just go into the project with a positive attitude.

It's quite an overwhelming thing, especially on top of your other workload.

But if you go in with the attitude that this is going to be really beneficial and you're

going to come out with skills that you wouldn't have developed in any other setting. Yeah.

If you go in with a positive attitude, you're going to get positives from it. So I think that's really important.

I would say, don't do more than you have to do.

Um. And don't be scared to say, um.

Don't be scared to put things in your terms to your supervisor, because you are fairly equal in, um, displacement.

You're doing something for them and they're going to benefit from it. So make sure it's on your terms.

But always, um, check in with them as you go and get their feedback.

Um, but yeah, don't do more than you have to do.

Advice I offer would be to plan your time effectively. Um, time runs out quite quickly.

Um, so you need to make sure that you you're on top of that.

Um, and also one thing for me was about halfway through, um, we looked at, um, one of the assignments generating a Gantt chart.

And I'd really advise that, um, you do that early because it was kind of a turning point for me.

Uh, where I realised what need to be completed in the project. It kind of gave me more motivation in week to week as well.

So it gave me something that I need to focus on for that we can spend more time on.

Um, so I really encourage people to, um, do that, develop that really early.

If it's not a Gantt chart, some kind of plan of how you're going to attack things.

Um, because the time does run out. And, um, if you're working individually, um, you don't have that other extra motivation of a partner.

Um, but also, if you are working in a group, you need to, um, fulfil your responsibilities each week.

So it's important. Probably don't just focus on your projects.

It's really easy to get caught up in it because it is something that you're interested in,

but you've got to make sure that you make time to do all your other uni work,

and then your part time work, and make sure that you have time to do some social things,

because it's a very crazy semester and you might get a bit stressed.