Reflective practice in postgraduate midwifery education

The literature is abundant with the benefits of reflective practice in midwifery education and other disciplines. At Deakin University, Victoria, Australia, students enrolled in the graduate Diploma of Midwifery have embraced reflective practices by means of computer mediated learning applications. Students enrolled in this course reside in metropolitan, regional and rural areas of Victoria and had previously experienced issues of 'distance' and 'isolation' from peers and academics. Since 2007 two computer modalities, Elluminate Live and Deakin Studies Online have been incorporated into the lecture timetables for the Graduate Diploma of Midwifery to allow students to participate in online discourse and maintain an online reflective journal space. This innovation for the promotion of reflective practices supports and upholds the oral tradition midwives are renowned for by increasing cohesion of each student course cohort, collaboration between peers and access to midwifery academics.