JCPSLP Vol 23, Issue 1 2021

immersive in the most creative and resilient ways. With students no longer required to travel to campus, online learning allowed for greater flexibility and time for study and work obligations. It also required responsive and adaptive thinking to new challenges and forced students to take charge of their own learning. Fast forward to the end of 2020, we can appreciate the triumphs and challenges that came over this year, and how these challenges will provide us with invaluable skills we will take forward as agile and flexible professionals. This being made possible through the immense dedication from our clinical educators and academic staff which demonstrated their passion for educating and inspiring us as students during this difficult time. Ciara Spillane is a 4th year student in the Bachelor of Speech Pathology (Hons) in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland. Sharmin Kalantari is in the first year of her studies as a Master of Speech Pathology student in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences at The University of Queensland. Rachel Davenport and Nikki Worthington “Decisions are the hardest things to make especially when it’s a choice between where you should be and where you want to be” (Author unknown) COVID19 has disrupted many aspects of university life this year—placements being one of them—requiring quick, and sometimes difficult decisions. La Trobe Communication Clinic (LCC) is embedded within the Discipline of Speech Pathology at La Trobe University (LTU) and provides a significant number of 3rd and 4th year student placements. It is also part funded by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). When the COVID19 threat became evident, LTU made an early decision to move off campus and overnight all services provided by LCC shifted to telehealth. This was a trying and testing time for everyone—clinical educators, subject coordinators and students alike. We had a week to transition to this new way of being and doing. At this stage no one knew how long this would last and at some level we were all naively optimistic, that by semester 2 life would be back to normal. How wrong we were! As we headed into late April/early May and the number of COVID19 cases began to drop in Victoria, the pressure to progress 3rd year students through clinical subjects increased. The directive for students to learn from home and for staff to work from home conflicted with messages from DHHS permitting student placements to continue. We felt driven to provide a clinical experience to this group of students who had already had their first placement of the year cancelled. We sought approval from the university to return to on campus placements in mid-July completing checklists, risk assessments and PPE sourcing to ensure delivery of a placement with minimal risk of transmission. The clinic started confidently with 36 students, 6 staff and 18 clients attending face-to-face sessions across 2 days. Everyone was excited and buoyed by enthusiasm— we were finally back on campus—it was happening! However, within weeks the COVID19 case numbers began to rise again in Melbourne and checking the numbers became a daily obsession. We were extremely conscious of “doing the right thing” for all involved. Some

Over time the weekly meetings became more like meeting up with good friends supporting each other and sharing in their lives both in happy times and sad while at the same time learning how to improve our speech capabilities. The onset of the COVID-19 virus brought with it many challenges to our everyday lives. Moving to online “Teams” meetings was both interesting and challenging, especially to those of us who are not very computer savvy (i.e., my wife!). But with the help of my speech pathologist and the team, we managed it and learned new skills, like installing apps, in the process. An advantage of the online meetings is not having to make the car trip to the hospital. We don’t miss dealing with the heavy traffic then trying to find a car park, and at times the inclement weather. Personally, I prefer face-to-face meetings. Congregating in the foyer and having a chat while one of our members collects their coffee orders before the meeting is an enjoyable part of the process. I feel spontaneous conversation and interaction is lost to a certain extent with an online meeting. Several of our group have been unable to join us due to technological difficulties and they have been missed. We have been lucky that our group meetings have been able to continue during these very trying times and we really appreciate all the hard work and effort by the students and staff that has gone into keeping the group going. I am looking forward to meeting up with everyone in the near future. Ciara Spillane and Sharmin Kalantari Many speech-language pathology students began 2020 excited and hopeful of the year ahead; eager to acquire new skills and theoretical knowledge, and ultimately progress towards becoming a competent clinician. However, the year brought an unprecedented global event that changed our lives as students including how we studied, worked, and lived. As students, one of the most anticipated experiences of our degree is undergoing clinical placement. Placements allow for the application of years of theoretical knowledge within a practical setting where students’ professional and clinical skills can develop. This ultimately shapes the confidence and capabilities of students to reach their end goal: being an entry level clinician. However, only three weeks into semester 1, the university had to cease all face-to-face learning to combat the growing cases of COVID-19, and adhere to strict social distancing guidelines. Future clinical placements were cancelled, and currently progressing placements were all moved to be conducted via telehealth. Most health facilities had to pull their placement offerings, leaving some students uncertain of whether graduation this year was even possible. Many students (and no doubt staff as well) believed that this pause would be temporary and daily life would soon resume to normal. Little did we know that the way we learnt and practiced speech pathology in both academic and clinical environments would be drastically changed for years to come. The lack of contact with our peers in the hallways created a feeling of disconnect among students, particularly for new cohorts and international students stranded across the globe. However, with this adversity came adaptation and unexpected silver linings. Staff created an online learning experience via Zoom that was both engaging and

42

JCPSLP Volume 23, Number 1 2021

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology