It is now the third day after the MINE Programme has finished in Finland. By now, everyone is back home and the time is right to recall the activities, events, the classroom work and the digital story preparations. Then, in my opinion, the final hurdle that had to be overtaken-the presentation of the digital story itself.
They where two intensive weeks of learning and cultural events which had passed like a flash and maybe some of their significance may have been overseen. For me, the fact of coming to such country was already a big challenge having to leave behind me my family. But, with their full support and the willingness to accept such challenge, I was more than sure that it was going to be beneficial for my Professional learning and development back home. This was my very first experience of learning abroad and at first I was worried that I would not be able to catch up with others. But I was wrong and I really liked the way things where delivered to us like the teaching methods, the University in Pori, how the group work evolved and the exeptional hospitality of the Finnish academics, students and staff. All this contributed to a good start and I felt confident from that moment on. Along the way, all the countries involved tried to give a clearer image of what nursing in their country really is and how prospective exchange students would find themselves if they choose to do thier exchange in that particular place. I learned alot from my mentors group members from these countries on how they practice mentorship and the criterias used to assess students in their clinical settings. There are certain similarities in each country and some differences in a few of them. We went in depth on how mentors are are selected, their continuos development to keep updated, support given during mentoring and any benefits offered to become a mentor. Various students enquired about the type of mentoring our students receive, the hours they are mentored in and any problems that these may have during clinical placements. This type of project helps these mentees to have a clearer picture of the nursing study programme as a whole and helps them to choose much easier the environment they want to continue thier studies in the future. Even for me as a mentor, I learned alot on other countries and how they apply mentorship on their students. It was evident that each of them has their own style but with a common goal, the benefit of the student. I see these exchanges, learning projects and mentoring in itself as a blessing for every student as they can only help in guiding you to a successful career.
Before leaving to Finland, we where advised to communicate with each other on Facebook and try to familiarise ourselves with each other before actually meeting in Pori. I have to say it was interesting to get to know some of the faces that in 2 months time where going to be with me for 2 whole weeks. Some of the names where really strange and very difficult to memorize, but others where familiar and soon went in my mind! This has helped alot because when we actually met, I was prepared to meet some people I already have seen on pictures and communicated with on the internet. Another useful tool that was provided to us, was blogging. Again, this was new to me but since it is easy and user friendly, I got well with it and started posting immediately. As time passed, I was then looking forward to start this adventure and it was interesting to read how others are preparing for it and their expectations and worries of facing such challenge. The cold climate was the main topic for many and how are we going to dress properly to beat the freezing temperatures. Personally, this was one of the major problems which have haunted me throughout and was everyday adding more and more thermals to my luggage to try and be prepared as much as possible. Blogging is very interesting and an effective communication tool as well.
Another task was to prepare a digital country video and this took us time to do, but it was fun all the way. We tried to present ourselves and the image of our country as good as possible and this was brilliantly done by the others too. It was a taste of the other cultures and a showcase of what other Universities and hospitals can offer. They showed a difference in the way things are seen and how students are prepared in their academic years.
All the students and mentors present where divided into groups, all with a set of tasks that included the preparation of the student for his registration, similarities and differences in the approach to learning, the differing roles of nurses within each of the countries, autonomy of nurses, free movement of nurses within the E.U., preparation for an Erasmus exchange, updating of the Wiki, the impact of mentors as role models for the student and the preperation of such students for learning. An assessment patches form was explained to us and each country had patch assigned to it. Mine was the evaluating and refining of the student and mentor toolkits. This type of learning is called a patchwork text assessment approach and the the particiapnts had to go through different patches to arrive to the ultimate and final integrative patch which was the Student led Conference. I was really impressed with the high level which the students and mentors have reached in this presentation. All the groups, prepared an almost professional video which illustrated various aspects which where previously discussed and searched upon. It was a collective effort by everyone and at the end it was worth the time and preparation done for it. Students and mentors have literally saved the best for last and I think that this project should be done again because it has provided a huge guidance to all involved. For the students this was an unforgeattable experience and one to help them in the future, and for me as a mentor, a learning experience which showed me how others perceive mentorship and how things could be better if discussed and problems shared.
Patrick
