Exploiting the e-Serialization of nano-fiction to enhance undergraduate health and safety lectures: A back to the future perspective

The use of comic pictograms to encourage the proactive engagement of undergraduates in acquiring a greater appreciation of health and safety issues has been investigated. In contrast to the single event induction lectures and e-learning systems, the work describes an innovative method of dissemination which employed the repetitive delivery of an email cartoon-caption competition to refresh and reinforce the safe working practice message. The strategy marries the emerging literary format of flash fiction with modern communication to foster a synergy that captures the imagination of the students and markedly contrasts conventional essay/assignments/induction material. The efficacy of the approach has been critically assessed and found to possess the advantage of being in a format that is both accessible to the student body and which can be readily delivered, through email, by the staff with minimal effort. The strategy is generic and could be applied across the life, physical and engineering disciplines.