The Warm Heart of Africa: A Tribute to Dr Melanie Hami

By Ross Ward | Published: March 31, 2016

It was with great sadness we heard on 19th March of the passing of our colleague and friend Dr Melanie Hami, Head of Midwifery at the Kamuzu College of Nursing, Blantyre, University of Malawi. Dr Hami has been associated with the University of Edinburgh e-learning projects from the very beginning in 2007. She was always supportive and a great asset in her role as Academic Liaison Officer and in the Monitoring and Evaluation of the current project. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and colleagues at this time. She will be sorely missed and warmly remembered.
Professors David Dewhurst and Pam Smith

Melanie Hami - Academic Liaison Officer at an elearning Workshop at KCN

Dr Melanie Hami (centre) in discussion with colleagues during a workshop at the Kamuzu College of Nursing, Blantyre, in October 2015

Friends and colleagues received the news of Dr Hami’s passing with a mixture of shock and loss. These are some of their memories and tributes.

Professor David Dewhurst

Melanie had been involved in our collaborative projects right from the start in 2007 and has always been a joy to work with, clearly extremely popular with her colleagues and (from personal experience) the first to help anyone.  She was friendly, gentle, always smiling, courteous and a pleasure to be with. To me she epitomised the very best of Malawi.

Jo Spiller, Acting Head of Educational Design & Engagement, describes Melanie as:

‘such a wonderful lady, kind, bright and a good laugh, and so core to the workshops we ran’.

Ross Ward, Learning Technology Advisor, reflects:

‘Melanie was instrumental in making us feel warmly welcomed during all of our visits, especially helping me feel at home in Blantyre during my longer visits. Melanie has played a vital role in all of our projects over the years as a highly valued member of our team’.

Dr Dorothy Armstrong, Course Director of the Person Centred Care Course which Melanie enrolled on to enhance her understanding of e-learning said:

‘Melanie was a truly professional midwife and teacher. Her contribution to the Masters course demonstrated her wisdom, compassion and respect to her fellow colleagues and clients. Her work was insightful and full of humility and love’.

In August 2015 Melanie and her colleague Dr Gladys Msiska were delighted to be able to travel to the ICCHNR (International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research)  International Conference sponsored by the Mary McClymont Fund to present:

“Transforming the education and training of clinical professionals delivering maternal and child healthcare in Malawi” based on an evaluation of our project.

Dr Msiska writes: ‘The presentation centred on an innovation being implemented at Kamuzu College of Nursing and College of Medicine, University of Malawi with the University of Edinburgh to improve and enhance curriculum content and delivery and to further augment quality assurance processes for specialist maternal and child health programmes in medicine and nursing to impact on the high maternal, neonatal, infant and child mortality rates’.

Melanie and Gladys attend ICCHNR Conference

The picture above shows Dr Melanie Hami (left) with Dr Gladys Msiska (right) attending the ICCHNR International Conference

 

These pictures capture Melanie’s warmth and enthusiasm which we will always remember.

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The 10 ways Scotland has helped Malawi

By Ross Ward | Published: October 21, 2015

To mark 10 years of the Scotland Malawi Partnership the Herald Scotland newspaper has published an article titled “The 10 ways Scotland has helped Malawi”. Our projects have been recognised in this list for the work carried out in building capacity to increase the number of medical students graduating from the College of Medicine.

“Training a new generation of medical students, raising awareness of the signs of deadly meningitis and helping farmers boost production of crops: these are some examples of the projects which have been undertaken since Scotland set up an official partnership with Malawi.

Next month it will be 10 years since the governments of Scotland and Malawi signed a cooperation agreement, with the aim of bringing benefits to both countries.”

Herald Scotland, 18th October 2015

Read the full article on the Herald Scotland website

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ICCHNR Conference, Seoul National University

By Ross Ward | Published: September 7, 2015

Two of our colleagues from the Kamuzu College of Nursing, Gladys Msiska, and Melanie Hami, were invited to present at the ICCHNR Conference at Seoul National University. Their presentation gave an overview of our current project specifically looking at the process of transforming the education and training of clinical professionals who deliver maternal and child healthcare in Malawi.

You can read download the presentation and read about Gladys and Melanie’s experience below:

The 6th International Collaboration for Community Health Nursing Research (ICCHNR) 2015   conference took place at Seoul National University Cultural Convention Center, in Seoul, South Korea from 19th to 21st August 2015. The theme of the conference was “Knowledge translation into Community health nursing health promotion across the lifespan.” The conference was attended by 715 delegates from 19 countries and these were Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, China, Malawi, Philippines, Australia, USA, UK and South Korea just to mention a few. The majority of the participants were from Japan and there were 107 oral presentations and about 300 posters.

The opening ceremony for the conference took place on 19th August, commencing around 1:00pm and was graced by a representative for the Minister of Health. The ceremony’s activities included opening, welcome and congratulatory remarks and they were also two presentations by keynote speakers. In the evening all participants were invited to a welcoming dinner, where besides enjoying Korean food, they were entertained to traditional music by the music students from Seoul National University.

Opening Ceremony

On the second and third days there were key note speakers, special sessions, parallel session as well as poster presentations. These sessions mainly focused on evidence- based- practice as it relates to community health nursing and some community health nursing/health promotion initiatives. The special session presentations were for Malawi Uganda and Philippines. These were presenters who were sponsored by the ICCHNR, through the Mary McClymont Fund.

Gladys & Melanie delivering their presentation

Gladys & Melanie delivering their presentation

Additionally, some of the presentations included symposiums and we both attended symposium II. These presentations were aimed at illustrating the translation of research into practice, focusing on health promotion for adults and the symposium we attended focused on health promotion of adults from three cultural perspectives namely, Korean, Aboriginal and Japanese.

Delegates

During the conference very important scientific innovations were shared demonstrating that Community nurse/midwives are doing a lot. Participants really appreciated these sessions and wished they had more time. Generally, all the presentations were quite inspiring and educative. They clearly illustrated the commitment of community health nurses from various parts of the world in their efforts to promote the health of the societies they serve through evidence based community health nursing initiatives.  All in all the objectives for the conference were met and participants lamented that they had gained so much knowledge but what was remaining was to put it into practice.

The conference closing ceremony took place on Friday, 21st August, around 4:00pm. The main activities during this session were speeches and prize giving to recognize individuals that had played major roles towards making the conference a success. Prizes were also given to the best poster presenters. Among the people who made speeches were Fiona Ross, president of the ICCHNR UK, Professor Sally Kendal, Professor Insook Lee [chairperson of the organizing committee, Korea] and Professor Patricia Wilson. Fiona Ross indicated that holding the conference in Korea enabled participants to learn from each other, and that what was crucial was the link between culture and health and Confucian values which are essential to human health. Prof Sally pointed out that this was a positive conference which puts community health nursing at the heart of human health.

Professor Kendal announced that the 7th ICCHNR will take place in Pretoria, South Africa in 2017 and encouraged delegates to attend the conference.

Report by: Melanie Hami & Gladys Msiska

 

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College of Medicine trial electronic assessment

By Ross Ward | Published: July 1, 2015

Our recent visit to Blantyre coincided with student exams for the BSc Clinical Officer programmes. We were able to use this opportunity to deliver one of our project milestones; to successfully deliver a trial of computer based assessment for a summative exam.

11 students from BSc Anaesthesia completed their end of year assessment from one of the College of Medicine computer labs. The exam itself ran smoothly and has provided us with some useful insight for how these exams can be delivered in the future and how they can be managed.

exam in progress

Exam in Progress – ICT Computer Lab, College of Medicine

Some of the benefits of electronic assessment include: automated marking, paper-free delivery, ease of navigation, easy to read and amend answers. The process of delivering this exam allowed us to look closely at the risks involved in running an exam from a computer lab, and highlight some of the decisions that will need to be made by the College of Medicine if they wish to continue to drive for electronic assessment in the future.

We have confirmed that a larger trial of the assessment technology will take place in November 2015.

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Conference Presentation

By Ross Ward | Published: December 3, 2014

Introducing e-learning to a resource poor country – a case study in Malawi

The Project Director, Professor David Dewhurst, was invited to deliver a keynote lecture at the #design4learning: from blended learning to learning analytics in HE conference (http://design4learning.org.uk) held at the Open University in Milton Keynes, UK from 26-27 November 2014.

His lecture described the activities, achievements and impact of a number of Scottish Government IDF-funded projects in supporting education of doctors, nurses and clinical officers in Malawi over the last 8 years.

The conference was organized by the UK’s Open University and the Higher Education Academy and attracted over 100 delegates. The presentation can be accessed here: Introducing e-learning to a resource poor country (PowerPoint 16MB)

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Visit to Blantyre – Oct/Nov 2014

By Ross Ward | Published: November 5, 2014

A team of Edinburgh academic and technical staff, David Dewhurst, Ross Ward, and Brendan Owers, recently visited Blantyre to work with College of Medicine and Kamuzu College of Nursing over a 2 week period from 20th October. They were joined on this occasion by David Davies, a physiologist with extensive e-learning and medical education experience from the University of Warwick, and Leszeck Wojnowski, a clinical pharmacologist from the University of Mainz. The visit encompassed numerous meetings with counterparts from COM and KCN, training workshops and evaluation activities.

David Dewhurst presenting to BSc students

David Dewhurst presenting to BSc clinical officer students at the College of Medicine

The newly built COMPASS VLE platform was launched in September 2014 for the BSc Clinical Officer degree programmes and the visit provided an opportunity to meet with and gather feedback from students and lecturers, and to ensure that the course information, educational tools, and learning resources were in place and accessible.

Training workshops covered the use of COMPASS, different e-learning approaches such as the use of discussion fora and quizzes. We also held induction sessions for the new intake of BSc students to raise awareness of the advantages COMPASS could provide for them.

The Edinburgh team met with academics from all of the degree courses we are supporting (BSc, MMed and MSc) and these meetings provided great opportunities for exchange of ideas, identify resources and plan staff development activities. We also met with staff who would work closely with us in developing and implementing online e-assessment and e-feedback systems which will be part of the next phase of the project. The Project steering group met to discuss progress against targets and identify and prioritise tasks over the next few months.

Staff from KCN Lilongwe and Blantyre campuses attended a 3-day workshop aimed at building upon their existing knowledge of KCN’s PG Connect VLE system and to enhance the modules that they are developing for a number of MSc programmes due to launch early in 2015. Work on this phase of the Project is well advanced – all of the modules have module descriptors and outlines accompanied by supporting resources, and in some cases discussion boards and quizzes.

Ross Ward giving an overview of PG Connect

Ross Ward giving an overview of PG Connect to faculty at the Kamuzu College of Nursing

Major outcomes from the visit include:

  • Greater engagement from academic, clinical and technical staff at CoM and KCN. Most staff have now received training in optimizing the use of their respective VLE systems, and how to use e-learning approached more effectively to support the teaching and learning in their modules.
  • All modules in the CoM’s BSc Clinical Officer degrees and KCN’s MSc degree programmes that we are supporting have working VLE systems that have been populated with course information and some initial teaching and learning resources. New resources in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and basic sciences (pharmacology) have been identified as a direct result of this visit.
  • Meetings with teaching staff from the various specialties has identified existing educational resources that can be incorporated into the VLEs and where new resources and approaches can be used.
  • Edinburgh staff have engaged with BSc and MMed students to increase their awareness of the COMPASS system and train them in its use. This has already increased the amount of student activity on the site.
  • Planning for the development of the online e-assessment and e-feedback (quality assurance) systems, that are part of the next phase of the Project, has been initiated
  • An implementation plan for the mobile devices pilot study due to have a phased launch over the next few months has been agreed. Mobile devices (tablet computers) are now available in Blantyre and we have arranged 3G data bundles to provide internet access while students are on clinical attachments outside the main urban areas.
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UNIMA Professorial Inaugural Lectures

By Ross Ward | Published: June 20, 2014

Congratulations to Prof Address Malata and Prof Ellen Chirwa who have recently been awarded Professorships at the University of Malawi.

Both Address and Ellen will preset their inaugural lectures at the 14th University of Malawi Professorial Inaugural Lectures ceremony and the official launch of the PhD in Interprofessional Health Care Leadership event taking place in Lilongwe on 27th June 2014.

Through these lectures, the esteemed Professors will highlight topical issues in the field of their specialty as part of knowledge dissemination.  This is the first time in KCN history that female Professors will present their inaugural lectures.

Left: Prof. Address Malata, Right: Prof. Ellen Chirwa

Left: Prof. Address Malata, Right: Prof. Ellen Chirwa

The Professors will address the University community and the public on the following topics:

  • Professor Address Malata: “The State of Nursing and Midwifery in Developing Countries: A Case for Malawi.”
  • Professor Ellen Chirwa: “HIV Prevention among Married Couples in Malawi:  A New Strategy Required.”

The University of Edinburgh will be represented at this event by Dr Radha Adhikari and Dr Jeevan Sharma.

Image courtesy of “Everyday Leadership”

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Prof Malata elected Vice President of the Global Midwifery body ICM

By Ross Ward | Published: June 5, 2014

Prof Address Malata, who is the Principal of KCN and the KCN lead for our project has been elected as Vice President of the ICM, which is a Global Midwifery body. This news was announced at the ICM conference which took place in Prague this June.

We wish Prof Malata all the best in this role.  It is the first time that Africa has been represented at this level within the ICM.

“The International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) supports, represents and works to strengthen professional associations of midwives throughout the world. There are currently 116 Midwives Associations, representing 102 countries across every continent. ICM is organised into four regions: Africa, the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. Together these associations represent more than 300,000 midwives globally.”
International Confederation of Midwives

The conference in Prague attracted over 3700 participants globally during the 4 day conference from 1st-5th June 2014.  The next ICM conference will be in 2017 and will take place in Toronto.

Video highlights from the ICM Conference

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ICT team members visit Edinburgh

By Ross Ward | Published: February 10, 2014

We were delighted to have Demster Ngauma and Joel Kumwenda visit the Learning Technology Section earlier this month for a week.  The focus of this visit was to help develop the COMPASS (virtual learning environment) system and ensure that there were adequate training materials in place to support the staff and students who will be using the site.  Additionally we were keen to further develop the Virtual Patient collection process that we have been working on with our College of Medicine partners.

The current delivery plan for COMPASS is on track and we are keen to get staff using the site to start adding their content to their courses.  To help support this we have created a number of e-Learning materials to help train users in the various aspects of using a Moodle site for teaching.  These materials are now available to staff whenever they need them and will also be used to support face to face training sessions that will be taking place in the College of Medicine.

We have recently purchased some more Articulate licenses for the project and this visit gave us an excellent opportunity to learn about some of the new features. We used Articulate to create our COMPASS training materials as well as developing a number of virtual patients based on data that had been gathered from the Paediatrics department at QECH, Blantyre.

This ICT staff development visit also provided the opportunity for Demster and Joel to see how ICT and e-Learning services are provided within the University and explore some new technological approaches that may be suitable for the College of Medicine in the future.

Joel and Demster

Joel Kumwenda (left) and Demster Ngauma (right) working on the COMPASS training courses

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Dr Kalongolera completes MSc Surgical Sciences

By Ross Ward | Published: November 29, 2013
ESSQ_Graduation_01

Dr Lughano Kalongolera receives his MSc in Surgical Sciences

Dr Lughano Kalongolera, who lives in Malawi, has spent three years studying for an MSc in surgical sciences from Edinburgh University.

The qualification is offered jointly by the university and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

Dr Kalongolera travelled to Edinburgh for his graduation ceremony.

The part-time distance-learning programme began in 2006 and now supports more than 250 surgical trainees internationally.

Last week it was announced that the course, as part of a suite of five online courses, had been awarded the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for excellence in e-learning.

Dr Kalongolera is one of seven Malawian surgical trainees to receive a £9,000 scholarship to cover the cost of his course.

Funding has come from the Scottish government’s international development fund, with additional support from pharmaceuticals company Johnson & Johnson.

Dr Kalongolera, who is based at the University of Malawi’s College of Medicine in Blantyre, said: “Most doctors have to travel abroad to acquire such knowledge and many do not return.

“By studying online with the University of Edinburgh, I have been able to remain in Malawi to learn, while continuing to treat those who need me most.”

Prof David Dewhurst, director of learning technology for the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine at Edinburgh University, said: “Dr Kalongolera is the first of a very select group of Malawian surgical trainees to graduate from the university.

“The support for surgical training is part of a much larger collaborative project led by the university, which works closely with the University of Malawi to train doctors, nurses and clinical officers.”

Humza Yousaf, the Scottish government’s Minister for External Affairs and International Development, said: “This project demonstrates two of Scotland’s key strengths, our innovation and our compassion as a good global citizen.”

Prof James Garden, Edinburgh University’s programme director for the MSc in surgical sciences, said: “Dr Kalongolera’s graduation is evidence that the professional and academic development of the surgical trainee can be delivered effectively at a distance.

“His experience and success underlines the versatility of our award-winning masters programme in meeting the demands of surgical trainees, no matter where they are based.”

ESSQ_Graduation_02

Prof James Garden, Dr Lughano Kalongolera, Prof David Dewhurst

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