Forum #6: This is it!

These last few weeks have been very busy wrapping up this semester.  From compiling my last presentation to exploring lots of technologies which are completely new to me, I am beginning to realize there will always been new and innovative ways for education.

Screencast

For my third presentation, I decided to use screencast.  Screencast allows for the recording of the computer screen while adding audio which allows for an engaging presentation.  Screencast was very easy to use for both the instructor and for the student.  The other advantage of screencast is that it if free for presentations up to 15 minutes.  Best of all, the upgraded version is only $15, it includes longer recording times and upgraded editing features.  Screencast would be a great presentation tool to use for distance learning or hybrid courses, much like our Statistics course from last year.  Below is a link to my screencast presentation.

 

Simulation

Simulation is a technology which was really coming to age as I exited nursing school.  Therefore, I really have not had much experience with using this in the undergraduate experience and limited experience using it in my staff nursing days.  Simulation is an innovative teaching strategies which we discussed in Teaching Methods and one of the biggest take away messages from the use of simulation, is that the a simulation is only as good as the scenario and facilitator.  Also, these simulation activities take a lot of planning and commitment by the instructors to ensure an effective simulation experience.  Simulation is a great technique to use for education due to the real life nature minus the risk to the patient.  On the other hand, from reading Dr. May's blog there is the risk of over thinking. Simulations are usually pretty dramatized, it made me wonder if simulations are ever drawn out, meaning they take place for a full shift or even days.  I did find lots of interesting resources on the web for simulation, but the one I found most thought provoking is Behind the Curtain.  This website gives multiple ways to create physical signs on mannequins such as bruises or burns.  It was very fascinating!

Here are just a couple of example pictures.  One of an open fracture and the other is frostbite.

Evaluation

The next area I went about exploring was evaluation.  This is probably the one area I felt the least confident, probably because I have not had this course yet.  I was pretty blown away by the websites available for quizzes and test analysis.  I do remember using the test analysis software from Stats and remember it being user friendly and easy to interpret.  It was a tad difficult for adequately evaluate the websites since I really have never had to evaluate a class before.  I did find one additional website, Quiz Star, this site allows for administration of quizzes and also the ability to record scores in an Excel file.  I really look forward to furthering my education, therefore I can use these evaluation tools to their full potential.  E-portfolios was an area within the evaluation module which will soon become very relevant to me as graduation gets closer and closer.  I explored the E-portfolios which Dr. May posted to his blog, I really think they are great way to showcase one's work and professional development.  I found a great article which showcases 7 ways to create an E-portfolio, the article even has link to tutorials to create portfolios. 

 7 ways to Create E-Portfolios

Interactivity

The module topic of interactivity is one which I really have very little experience with.  I do think sites such as interactive assessment sites are great for novice nurses, but the idea of virtual reality for health care at first seemed a little far fetched.  Then I began to research this and found some thought, that virtual realty worlds are great for distance educations especially in different areas of the world where education or clinical sites may not be readily available. Here is a link to the article which discusses the use of virtual education.  Science Daily

 In addition, I found 2 great sites for clinical nursing skills which include auscultation and even quizzes.  

Practical Clinical Skills

Easy Auscultation.com

Finally, here is a virtual health care environment, known as CliniSpace.  This environment can be used for education, the video is a short demo of the site.  It does look interesting, but the learner would have to have some experience or guidance with using virtual reality like these.  The learner must navigate their Avatar through the reality, which for some may not come easily.  

As this semester concludes, I have truly had my eyes opened to all the technology which is available to use for instruction.  I also really feel I have evolved and am able to begin to evaluate these technologies to determine which ones are most effective for the objectives which are to be taught.  

Exploring Glogster and Learning Management Systems

Making a Glogster

 

  
For my second presentation, I decided to make a Glogster.  Glogster is an interactive poster format and provides the ability to share a large quality of material in one digital poster.  Glogster could be used in both an academic setting or workplace setting.  I could see using this in the future for poster presentations for education purposes.  A Glogster goes one step further than a simple poster by allowing links to videos, websites, and use of audio.  I really think if would provide an interactive and engaging way to present education or even research in the future.  This is a  link to website Technology meets Education, which discusses using Glogster in education.

Glogster in the Classroom

  
Below is a 90 second video on how to use Glogster.

Learning Management Systems

This past week also included the exploration of Learning Management Systems (LMS) for both academic settings and workplace settings.  I focused more on exploring the academic LMS, while it seems more of my fellow classmates focused on workplace LMS.  I really enjoyed reading the forum posts.  There were great conversations and input on the current use of workplace LMS at St. Francis and IU Health.  It seems for the workplace there was great discussion on accessibility of using LMS and the use of them at home versus work.  In exploring LMS for my forum post, I really began to think about how complex the process is of selecting an LMS.  Furthermore, trying to find an LMS which will uphold the constant changes in technology is also complex.  In my research, I found a great web article which discusses selecting an LMS and gives some questions to ask when selecting one.  

 Education Week: How to choose the right learning management system

As I have began to use various Web 2.0 tools during the class such as blogs, Wiki's, varoius presentation tools, integrating these into LMS is a necessity. The different LMS such as Moodle and Blackboard seem to be advancing and incorporating these into their LMS.  I also explored Canvas which is an LMS by Instructure, this is an LMS which was founded in 2008 and launched in 2011.  Below is the link to their website.  A couple quick features I liked about Canvas was the ability to audio/video record and the app center which allows integration of various Web 2.0 tools.  

Canvas by Instructure

Presentation #2

For this presentation I made a Glogster, which can be accessed by link below.

My First Glogster

Half-Way There!

As I enter mid-term for this semester, I'm continuing to learn and explore new technologies! More importantly, I'm finding that I'm still very interested in learning these technologies and how they can be used in education.  This blog post will highlight collaboration tools and digital storytelling tools.

Collaboration Tools
In my last blog post, I discussed using Google Drive and the advantages to this.  I had the perfect chance to test drive this while my partner and I worked on the group paper.  I was able to share my section of the paper with my partner over the drive.  We did encounter some difficulty in adding and editing the paper this way, probably from lack of experience.  One major advantage, is the ease of the drive to have access to my work from anywhere.  I would often email papers or put them on a flash drive if I was going to be working on a different computer, the use of Google Drive allows me to pull me work up anywhere I can log into my Google account. 


Wiki's are another tool that I explored.  Wiki's are something completely new to me and a tool which I new very little about.  I really explored the Wikispace site and found a great link to Columbia University site, which includes a couple YouTube videos on how they use Wiki's.  The videos are lengthy, but provide great insight into the use of Wiki's.  Unlike, some of the other tools we have explored, Wiki's are not something that seem easy to "play" around with to get practice using.  After reading and exploring how Columbia is using Wiki's they would be a great place for nursing students to collaborate.  I think they would be useful to use in clinical nursing settings, they could even take the place of post-conference following clinical days.  This would allow more time for patient care and then discussion following could take place on the Wiki page.

Columbia University Wiki Case-Study

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is another tool and teaching method which I have very little experience with.  The Prezi from University of Houston was very informative and a great introduction into Digital Storytelling.  In this Prezi, the author had a YouTube video at the end which included multiple educators discussing the future of education.  This short video was very eye-opening to me! Some of the quotes were so powerful regarding the use of technology in the classroom.  One educator stated that to connect students is to prepare them for life.  This seems so important as nurse educators, we should be preparing nurses to become life-long learners.

Back to digital storytelling, I was completely engrossed in the stories posted on this site.  I also realize that to make these stories took a lot of time and effort.  I think digital stories would be a great way to provide case studies to nursing students.  These case studies could be used to teach multiple disciplines, from simple pathophysiology to areas such as ethics which require critical thinking.  I could also see using them by having nursing students make a digital story at the end of the semester, perhaps highlighting one of their most teachable moments or patients.  I think digital stories have the ability to engage students and therefore increase critical thinking skills. 

A simple Google search on digital storytelling highlights is uses beyond education and it's growing popularity.  At Ball State University, a Masters degree is even offered in this technology.  Mercedes-Benz has used digital storytelling for it's ad campaign highlighting the safety of their vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz Digital Storytelling 

Beyond using digital storytelling to sell cars, I was also able to find some sites and great examples of using this in education and nursing education.  Patient Voices is a program in the United Kingdom which uses digital storytelling so patients can be understood.  The website details their work and also has many great examples of digital stories.  Nurstory is presented by the University of Colorado School of Nursing and also has some great examples of digital stories.  The website is actually developed following a workshop which was held there, one of the facilitators was a member of Patient Voices program.

Here is link to Patient Voices and a short video on Patient Voices program.

Patient Voices    

Patient Videos Intro Video 

Follow this link to Nurstory http://milehighstories.com/?page_id=21 to encounter some great examples of Digital Storytelling!

Finally, this week I began to explore tools for digital storytelling.  I found the following website very helpful for finding tools for digital storytelling in the classroom. 

Digital Storytelling

I did play around with Animoto and found it very user friendly.  It would be necessary to upgrade in order to make longer videos for digital storytelling.  I also did sign up for Metta account, but have not had to opportunity to play with this site much.  Overall, I find digital storytelling to be very engaging and allows for learners to be fully drawn into an experience by the use of pictures and audio.  I really think digital storytelling could be a powerful tool for nursing education and has the ability to challenge nursing students to use critical/clinical thinking skills.

Here is my first attempt at Animoto.

Erin's Animoto

Getting to know Communication & Collaboration tools

The past two weeks were mostly focused on putting together my presentation.  I decided to use Prezi for my presentation.  Prezi was a tool which I had a never used and I really enjoyed the visual appeal of Prezi.  Another feature which I really enjoyed about Prezi was the ability to import YouTube videos and background music into presentation.  Placing videos and music into Prezi were not quite as easy as I had planned.  After some quick Google searches, I delved into another new technology, Freemake (see link below).  Freemake allows conversion of YouTube music and videos into formats, such as MP3, which can then be used in Prezi.  Furthermore, Freemake allows conversion of Youtube videos so these can be edited.  Prezi is also not able to import Word documents these must be converted to PDF's which was pretty simple was I knew the steps to do this.

Here are some useful links which I used for my Prezi presentation and also will be helpful in the future.

Video Converter, YouTube Converter, Audio Converter:   http://www.freemake.com/
Below is a short video on using Freemake. It is VERY simple to use!

Also, from Freemake, 10 places to get music for videos/slideshows:  http://www.freemake.com/blog/10-best-sources-to-get-free-music-for-videos-slideshows/

How to convert Word to PDF file: http://www.wikihow.com/Convert-a-Microsoft-Word-Document-to-PDF-Format & link for 2013 Word  http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word-help/convert-a-document-to-pdf-HA102850064.aspx

I have began to look at various collaboration tools.  Google drive seems to be a collaboration tool that would be easy for me to begin to use.  After watching the YouTube video from Dr. May's blog, I came away with more knowledge of how Google drive works.  Google drive also allows for document to be copied, which is very useful for surveys.  The YouTube video was informative and great introduction to using Google drive and I highly recommend watching it.

Finally, I have embmedded my Prezi ,which was an Introduction to Cultural Comptency, for viewing.  Enjoy

Culture Comptency Prezi

Exploring technology

These first couple of weeks, I have spent a lot of time just trying to figure out some of these new technologies which I have never used before.  I had never started a blog before, so getting one started did take a little bit of time for me.  Overall, I have found the process of starting and writing posts on a blog fairly easy.  I like the blogger site and feel it is user friendly.  I really did not have to venture from the website to figure out how to post and layout my blog.  I have also spent time just exploring technology and how it is being used in education.  This has been so fascinating to me and I am finding so much crossover from NUGR 533-Teaching Strategies, which I am also enrolled in.  The reality seems to be, students learn better with use of technology.  I found two very interesting articles which I bookmarked on Diigo regarding technology in higher education.  I really found the article from Education Technology very informative and gives an excellent visual to how technology is the future of academics.  The article is actually described as an infographic article, basically the whole article is graphs and visual aides.  The data for the infographic is taken from the ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2012.  I have also bookmarked the EDUCAUSE homepage, which is the nonprofit organization which published ECAR study.

The last couple weeks have really gotten me interested in the use of technology in education.  In addition, I have discovered that I do not really mind playing around with new technologies and there are numerous resources out there if I really do not understand something.  I was having a very difficult time with Diigo, but a simple Google search gave me all the help I needed and I feel pretty confident using Diigo now.  As far as evaluating technology, there are also numerous resources to evaluate different technology.  I do think it is important to have at least one evaluation tool which is used by all education staff at given institution (much like the tool we are working on).  This will allow for some consistency in a program.  The multiple websites and tools which are available to evaluate technology are a real benefit.  This allows for someone to evaluate technology in multiple ways to ensure the material and technology being used is the most effective.  Overall, the first weeks have been a learning experience for me and I am looking forward to building on the skills I have acquired these first few weeks.


Here are links to articles and websites discussed and also a short video I found on EDUCAUSE.  The video is a short introduction to technology in higher education and how advancing technology can improve higher education.

How Technology is Powering Academic Success

EDUCAUSE 

Introduction

Greetings!  I will start with my work life.  I currently work at Riley Hospital Downtown as a Nurse Care Manager, I am the float care manager, which means I fill in when people are on vacation or if one unit is very busy. I really enjoy this because it has allowed me to learn care management in many different areas and my day is different everyday.  I have always worked in pediatrics, I started as student nurse at Riley in 2002, continued there when I graduated and then worked at IU/Riley North from 2005-2013.  I often get asked, how I can work in Pediatrics, but I honestly feel privileged.  Those little ones have taught me many life lessons and in my heart I believe pediatric encompasses all levels of nursing, since you are not just treating them but also their families.  

I'm hoping after obtaining my MSN in Nursing Education to start a career in the academic setting.  I would really love to start by teaching some clinical nursing courses while I continue my job as care manager for a few more years and then forge into classroom setting.  I'm particularly interested in teaching caring in undergraduate nursing students especially if technology allows for the development of caring behaviors.  With all the changes in nursing, it really worries me that caring may take a backseat in both nursing education and nursing practice.  This is alarming since there are numerous studies which link caring behaviors to increased patient satisfaction.  Last semester, I wrote a literature synthesis on this topic and am really hoping I am able to turn this into my NURG 590 project. 

A class which I think would help increase caring behaviors in undergraduate and practicing nurses would be a cultural competency class.  Objectives for this class would be 
                            1. Intervene in social and cultural issues.
                            2. Identify different cultures and their views on healthcare
                            3. Navigate technology to find resources on cultural competent care.
The use of technology in this type of class would allow for various perspectives by use of skype and even the possiblity of connecting with healthcare workers in different parts of the world.  How exciting!                           

1      

I will end with a little about my personal life.  I am a born and bred Boilermaker (I prefer not to think of myself as a Hoosier), I graduated from Purdue in 2003.  I have been married to my high school sweetheart, Craig, since 2001.  We have 2 children who are completely different, which makes our household very interesting.  Kayleigh is 8, she enjoys dance, basketball, and American Girl dolls.  Keaton is 3, he enjoys Legos, Scooby-Doo, and loves Katy Perry.  We enjoy traveling, our most recent trip was to Disney World in October and the kids are preparing for a Spring Break trip so San Diego with Grandma to visit their cousins.  I also enjoy reading, cheering on Purdue, and have a guilty pleasure for reality TV, especially the Real Housewives.  I feel that my love for Downton Abbey makes up this mindless TV watching.  

I'm really looking forward to this class especially with my interest for my 590 project in mind.