Autobiographical digital stories as means to documentation and reflection for biomedical students

Hidalgo-Bastida, Lilia and Tanskanen, Ilona (2018) Autobiographical digital stories as means to documentation and reflection for biomedical students. In: 10th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 02 July 2018 - 04 July 2018, Palma de Mallorca (Spain).

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Abstract

This work reflects the collaboration between Biomedical Scientists at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) and Artists at Turku University of Applied Sciences (Finland) to use autobiographical digital stories as means of reflection for students in their last year of the integrated Masters in Biomedical Science (MBioMedSci) at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, England. Students were invited to participate voluntarily in a pilot workshop as an additional activity to support their professional development. This workshop aimed to tell their professional life story (digital story) and to associate it with their wider autobiography, to help students reflect on their student experience and clarify which path they wanted to follow after graduation. Also, importantly, the workshop was not based only on their scientific work. Students completed the workshop activities, as well as questionnaires prior and post workshop, on personal experiences and skills. Results demonstrated that the workshop helped students to increase their self-awareness, as well as to identify and clarify their career pathways. From the individual’s point of view, it was important to realise the choices they made and the options future brings. This art-based method empowered students and will be applied in future collaboration in joint biomedical studies.