Reflective narratives reveal how students construe professional roles in practice. Mapping the content of reflections to a competency framework confirmed the mismatch between the formal and enacted curricula. Billett's duality of workplace learning provides a useful lens through which to identify means to address this, through the structural aspects of access and guidance, and through the promotion of individual engagement and reflection.

Palliative care is a complex area of healthcare that is best delivered by an interdisciplinary team approach. Breaking bad news is an inherent part of caring for people with life-limiting conditions. The purpose of this study was to explore an interdisciplinary breaking bad news role-play in a palliative care module. The participants were undergraduate medical and nursing students. Qualitative data from focus groups, student and facilitator feedback and a role-play recording were thematically analysed. The findings revealed that the role-play led to increased understanding of and changes in attitudes towards key palliative care principles, interdisciplinary teamwork, and communication of bad news. There was evidence of increased self-awareness. The findings suggest that the interdisciplinary breaking bad news role-play was a rich integrative learning experience that was valued by students.

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The International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL) annual conference presents an exciting opportunity to meet with international colleagues from diverse backgrounds and situations to commune on our common interest in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL). As with every ISSOTL conference, the enthusiasm for SoTL was palpable in Los Angeles in 2016. Rich discussions took place, networks were formed, and promises to keep in touch were made. Unfortunately, previous conference experiences have taught us that these good intentions often fall short once the conference bubble has burst and the reality of daily life sets in once more. In an attempt to circumvent this phenomenon, we—seven colleagues from three different countries—embarked on a research project that enabled us to maintain the relationships and fruitful discussions we had initiated at ISSOTL16. We established Small, Significant Online Network Group, or SSONG, inspired by a conference workshop on small significant networks. As a group, we met regularly online using Adobe Connect© and engaged in significant conversations around SoTL that were private, trustful, and intellectually intriguing. This article reflects our experiences in establishing and maintaining the group. We discuss how the group was formed; its alignment with the concept of small, significant networks; and the benefits and challenges we encountered. Four key principles of the group that have emerged will also be discussed in detail, enabling readers to consider how they could adapt the concept for their own purposes.

Background: The teaching of the discipline of pharmacology is in constant flux. In order to meet the challenges of teaching pharmacology effectively we investigated a new teaching and learning strategy. Aim: Our aim was to investigate whether structured periodic review sessions (RS) could improve teaching and learning for students in a multidisciplinary undergraduate pharmacology module. Methods: Following each lecture students were asked to identify topics of difficulty in pharmacology using the one minute paper classroom assessment technique (CAT). Three review sessions were then introduced based on the problematic issues identified by students. They completed a pre-and post-review session multiple choice question (MCQ) examination to gauge improvements in their learning. Feedback was obtained from students at the end of the module regarding the acceptability, advantages and limitations of the CATs and the review sessions. Results: There was active participation by students in all thirteen CATs (71.15% ± 1.2%), three review sessions (78.3% ± 1.6%) and the end of module (EOM) questionnaire (81%). A significant increase in student learning across all disciplines was observed in all three review sessions (**, p<0.01; ***,p<0.001 and **, p<0.01 for review sessions 1-3 respectively). The majority of students (99%) expressed the opinion that the review sessions enhanced their learning of pharmacology. A limitation expressed by some students was the necessity to complete multiple CATs to support each of the three review sessions. Conclusion: Strategically structured student directed review sessions which are carefully designed and executed are an interesting and effective educational tool for improving and complementing student learning across the disciplines in pharmacology.