Epic's blended BTEC in Positive Behavioural Support
Epic, the leading e-learning company, and Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust have been working together to create a blended solution for their course in Positive Behavioural Support (PBS). The course is for support workers who provide care for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour. The course is accredited by BTEC at Advanced Certificate level.
The reach of a paper-based pilot version of the course was constrained due to the cost of providing traditional training to a geographically dispersed audience who work unsocial hours. E-learning is an ideal platform to cope with such restrictions.
Epic proposed a learn-practice-apply e-learning model where the initial skills and information were first presented through PowerPoint and interactive tutorials, and then practised in a realistic but safe environment including case studies, and linear and branching scenarios where support workers could make realistic decisions and see the outcome of their choices.
The overall blended learning experience – including online learning and practice, off-line work-based activities and discussion with mentors, online revision and assessment – provides 170 hours of study time and meets the accreditation standards for the Advanced Certificate. A further e-learning component at a higher level is planned for senior and more experienced staff.
Epic worked with the Special Projects Team of the Trust's Learning Disabilities Directorate in Cardiff to develop a 27-hour online component, with downloadable pdfs for use with offline activities, to be delivered via Moodle.
The course was trialled with support workers and their supervisors at prototype stage and shortly before final delivery. The potential end-users were unanimous in their positive approach to every aspect of the material. They felt they would benefit from its clarity, realism and flexibility of use within their busy lives.
‘I felt that all the screens were very good. They were giving very clear instructions, step by step, which were easily understood. The pictures were very useful to support the written information. I felt it was a good way of teaching staff.’ (Feedback from user trials)