Month: July 2023

I chose to focus this project on the topic of case management specifically because my workplace is in need of training on this topic. I then proceeded to make the mistake of sharing this information with my co-workers, which has only served to increase the amount of pressure I normally feel tenfold. I was required to complete research on the topic of case management in order to formulate a lesson to teach it.  Of course, I myself have several years of case management experience, but rather than write a lesson based on my own unique experience, I was more interested in understanding the greater themes. Much of the information I learned supported or expanded upon my own experience, but in my research, I identified two key points that have served to shift my perspective in a more radical way:

1. A large and complex caseload must be tackled (by tackle I mean reviewed, analyzed, and actioned) through different lenses filtered by time. Those times being days, weeks, months, and years. For example, one’s daily caseload management routine looks a lot different that one’s monthly routine, and defining these perspectives allows a large amount of complex work appear more manageable. (Ervin, 2008)
2. When staff collaborate with their supervisors on caseload management, through regular reviews and analysis of their caseload, or through regular mentorship, staff become more successful with managing their caseload. It is not as simple as the notion that if supervisors work collaboratively, rather than authoritatively with their staff, then their staff’s performance improves, though that is part of it. It is also that if the burden feels shared (or literally is shared) it becomes easier to overcome. (King, 2009)

My aim for this project was to take this new information and combine it with my previous experience to create a series of interactive diagrams that lay out the concept of case management in a clear, systematic, and digestible way, as this is not how the practice is viewed. Staff view case management as an activity separate from the rest of their tasks, rather than as the core structure that defines how their work is carried out. I often hear staff talking about the stress of the workload, and upon further discussion, it’s evident that they haven’t implemented a sufficient structure to manage their work. Rather than (like me) figuring it out after years of struggle, these interactive diagrams can serve as the impetus for staff to design their own personalized case management plan.

One final thought: Throughout the MET courses, I have often focused my projects on subjects more closely related with my undergrad, which is fine arts.  This is the first time that I chose a topic directly related to my work, and my current position, as well as the first time that people I work with are excited to see the final result. These factors have made the work more stressful, and difficult, because the content needs to be useful. Not hypothetically useful, but actually useful. Completing a project that might actually be used in the real world (though with some editing and adaptation) is a hard, but exciting thing!

References:

Ervin, N. E. (2008). Caseload management skills for improved efficiency. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 39(3), 127-132.

King, R. (2009). Caseload management, work-related stress and case manager self-efficacy among Victorian mental health case managers. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 43(5), 453-459.

I began this process by drafting a syllabus for my course topic of estate administration and immediately became overwhelmed. As stated repeatedly throughout this assignment, estate administration is a complex and wide-ranging topic – it can cover most activities that people might get up to in their lives. The feeling of being overwhelmed signaled to me that a course outline is exactly something my workplace would benefit from. We do currently have a list of topics to train, but they aren’t organized in a way that aligns with the learning process, or the work the learners are engaging in concurrently. Creating the syllabus forced me to rearrange the training into modules, and to think about the resources available for each sub-topic, such as ‘guest speakers’. My current practice is to call on ‘guest speakers’ as I think to, but if this activity was built into the design of the course, I would know exactly when it would be the most effective time to introduce their knowledge. I am aware that these revelations seem obvious, but it can be hard to achieve this clarity with other demands pulling me in different directions. It’s rare to have the time to examine a process as a whole and consider how to improve its design.

Currently, my workplace is in the process of implementing Moodle to replace a former LMS that has very limited functionality. So, I have never had access to a proper LMS to organize my training, and using Moodle for the first time was almost a dream. (I state that with a full understanding that there are far more impressive LMSs than Moodle). I will also state that I spent several hours experimenting in frustration before getting the hang of Moodle. Recently, I have been working to build a sort of crude version of digital course components using Microsoft SharePoint (decidedly not an LMS) and I now see through experimenting with Moodle how much functionality I am missing out on (e.g., the glossary function, how easy it is to set up a forum, the ease of scheduling activities, the chat function). I’m excited to see what access will be provided to me when Moodle is fully implemented.

Finally, I want to reflect on my process of drafting learning objectives (LOs) for the course. In the discussion this week, I focused my LOs on the unit I will be creating for Part 2 of the assignment, only to realize that creating the LOs for the course as a whole is a requirement for Part 1. I began by editing my first unit LOs in response to the instructor’s feedback to help wrap my head around the concepts. After much deliberation, I attempted to draft LOs for the (very complex and wide-ranging) topic of estate administration and was able to narrow them down to 7. The process was enlightening – I am going to bring them to the current group of learning staff next week to hear their feedback. I wonder, do they realize these LOs are the focus of their training? Am I providing sufficient training to lead them towards these LOs?