This will probable be my last post for a while ....

Critical reflection on the development of an e-Learning intervention

I have managed to almost finish the written part of the first part of this assignment I have used storyboarding and PowerPoint in the design and development phase of the ADDIE model.
Based on this, I have created a clinical teaching e-learning event using the VTS interactive e-learning tool. I have read numerous suggestions on bloggs such as “The e-Learningcoach ( available at http://thelearningcoach.com), and have explored tools such as iSpring, Moodle and in a lot of detail, the VTS interactive e-learning tool. With some help I have created and used a blogg, discovered what RSS feeds mean and used “Google Reader” to keep me up-to-date with activities on bloggs I followed. In short I have learned so much in the past week, and may I say, I have barely scratched the surface of what is out there.

Once you enter the world of e-Learning it is an amazing journey. It is also a journey that never reaches a destination. What is new technology today is old news tomorrow. The never ending pool of new developments, new applications, and new search engines just keeps on spiraling. It will consume your life if you do not manage it. It will make you forget you have family and friends, and it will make you forget to live. The trick is, as with all things in life, to find a balance between what is out there and what is here and now.

As was discussed at the recent SAAHE conference, the concept of open source or open access to information is not out there in the future, it is very much here and now. Neil Burcher delivered a key note address on the topic of open education resource (OER) (available at : http://www.oerafrica.org). What struck me most of his presentation was his comment that if universities do not become involved in open access resources, they will find themselves at a disadvantage. Across the globe universities are exploring the possibilities of OER. In the UK a university called The Open Resource University (OU) is a university dedicated to distance learning. They have around 150,000 undergraduate and more than 30,000 postgraduate students. 10,000 of their students have disabilities. The Open University's style of teaching is called supported open learning.

Littlejohn et al (2006) in an article called “Characterizing effective eLearning resources” discusses the key characteristics of learning resources that have proved effective in changing learning and teaching. They have identified twelve key characteristics shown to be effective learning resources. These are:
Materials can be easily sourced
The resources are durable and maintained
The resources have a degree of quality assurance
The resources are free from legal restrictions
The resources are available at an appropriate cost
The resources are in formats that are accessible and ubiquitous within the community
The resources are in media that present intelligible representations in terms of language
The resources are easily repurposed
Resources should be sufficiently small to be reusable, but large enough to ensure that tutors do not have to spend time aggregating large numbers of resources
Resources should be presentable in a context that is meaningful for the user
Resources should engage the learner
Resources should be reusable in a range of educational models or learning designs

I am in favor of OER as it will allow educators across the globe to freely exchange learning material, and it will allow students to freely access and benefit from its use. Perhaps in Africa it is time that we start sharing our knowledge instead of keeping it guarded to benefit a privileged few.

A little reflection....

Hallo my fellow students 5/8/2009 11:59 pm

The past two weeks have been most challenging to me. I have really battled with the technology and have had many frustrating evenings trying to figure out how the e-learning tools work. I have used VTS as was shown by Debbie early in the year. I must say, although it is an easy tool to use for those experienced with the software, for me it was and still is a challenge. It took me close on four evenings, 4 hours each, just to make sense of it. I have kind of gotten the nack of it, but am still struggling with some quality issues, especially where pictures are concerned. The smaller the picture the poorer the quality; labels become imposable to read which renders the application useless.

A few tips if I may:
Do your presentation in power point beforehand
Include all the data, pictures, sound and video clips you will need in the above presentation
You will have to populate the object pool in VTS with everything you will insert, per page
Chunks of data will have to be broken down in manageable bits, so get to know the space you have available per page in VTS
The word processing in VTS is very limited. Do all your text adjustments before you import into VTS.
There is one font only. You cannot change the text size.
Do not overcrowd the space. The pages become full very soon. Distill your content to the absolute facts.


In the object pool you would import all your data. Once you have composed your pages, you can adjust the size of images in the object pool. It will then automatically adjust to the new settings in the composer section. In preview you can view your presentation and make the necessary changes. Remember if the text chunk is too big, you will have to delete that chunk, select a smaller piece of data in power point and import and label the smaller sections. You cannot manipulate chunks of data in VTS.

As you can see, this is page 1. The section tabs appear at the top, and the page scroll buttons at the bottom. The “G” is a glossary for terminology, which help save space in the text.. Here you can insert a nice funky piece of music to set the mood. The program allows you only one sound clip per page.

You can insert test questions. Only true or false answers can be selected. You will therefore have to be very innovative with your questions if you would like to encourage deep learning.
If a wrong answer was given, the student is refered back to the text. Unfortunately no feedback can be given to the student as to why an answer is wrong

I have run out of space and time. I will tell you more at a later stage if time allows.
Signing off
Estelle

Making some progress...

Hallo to my fellow students

These past weeks have been most trying for me. I have realy battled with the learning module I have tried to create using the VTS interactive learning tool. It took me about a week just to understand how the tool works and where and how I must insert the learning material. The idea with the module is to export it unto a CD which students can borrow and warch at their leasure before an OSCE or clinical training event.

Let us be gratefull ......

Yesterday was my eldest son's 17th birthday. I look at him and wonder where time went. Just the other day he was a chubby todler playing with his plastic lawnmower..... He has grown into a tall 1.7 meter young man. I feel priveledged to see him grow up and become the man he will soon be. Let us be grateful to people who make us happy and thankfull for the grace to enjoy our children.

Hallo to all

I am happy to report that I have seen a glimps of light in my proposed project. All because of an application called iSpring. This product can be downloaded free of charge and has opened my mind to what is possible and practical in terms of e-learning. I still have to figure out all its applications, but I at least have some potential to work with.

If you have used this before, will you please share your experiences and tips with us novices? As I uncover its secrets I will keep you updated on my progress and setbacks. For know, I am keen to see my project evolving into something useful.

Till later...

Estelle

Something helpful..

http://theelearningcoach.com/getting_started/how-to-add-realism-to-elearning/

Hi to all

As you can see, I am using my Google Reader to keep me updated. I found this site informative and concise. Perhaps it can be of use to us.

Estelle

On patient safety...

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/705357?src=mp&spon=24&uac=114262EY

I have found the above article of particular interest for those of us that work and teach in the critical care environment. Although this does not have direct relevance to what this blog is about, it certainly impacts on patient safety on a day to day basis.
I will focus my e-learning event on the clinical skill of commencing an intravenous infusion as well as administering intravenous medication. This skill is required from nurses and medical personnel alike and is taught in the 2nd year of the nursing curriculum, and the 3rd year of the medical curriculum. Maintaining competence is a matter of practice and self-confidence. Clinical follow-up and facilitation post-skills lab training is very important if we would like our students to safely master this skill.
Until later...
Estelle

Longing for Greece??

My project

As promised , herewith my idea for a project. I have been working with Elize Archer and Adele de Villiers on a project to establish a website and some learning material for the Clinical Skills Centre at US. The Clinical Skills Centre is a well-equiped learning environment where all students from the Tygerberg Campus of the US can safely practice their clinical skills. The medical students use the CSC from their 2nd year of study. The CSC provides an environment where the students are introduced to clinical skills training to prepare them for their clinical rotations throughout Tygerberg Hospital. In the 2nd year the following procedures are demonstrated to the students:

1. Aseptic hand wash
2. Donning on sterile gloves
3. Taking a patients Blood pressure, pulse, respiration and temperature
4. Draw venous blood

The procedures are discussed with the students and they are allowed to practice the procedures in the CSC under supervision of the clinical educator. They are encouraged to return to the CSC as often as they like to practice. They also get a booklet with the theory supporting the procedures, which they can use as a guide when practicing.

The 3rd year students follow a similar program for the following procedures:

1. Insertion of an intravenous catheter
2. Taking an arterial blood sample
3. Inserting a nasogastric tube
4. Suturing
5. Administering an intramuscular injection

Fourth year students are taught inhaler technique, examining the ear etc. I spoke with on of the 3rd year students on Friday and was amazed to find that he has not had the opportunity to practice many of the procedures following the initial teaching and learning sessions. The students are exposed to formative and summative assessment of these procedures. The reality is that many of them have not yet performed these procedures on real patients by the time they get evaluated. As they progress to their fourth and fifth year of study more and more demands are placed on their skills and knowledge, and these basic procedures fall by the wayside.

The initiative to set up a website and to produce learning material that will be accessible to the student in the work environment was suggested to support clinical skills training. The material, once available on CD-ROM, can also be used by students placed in the rural rotations where access to internet may be problematic. As was discussed at the recent SAAHE conference the concept of creating open educational resources is becoming an accepted approach to teaching and learning. One has only to look at the vast amount of learning material available on internet to realise that information is at our fingertips, no longer contained in the books and minds of educated people. It is out there, available to anyone who wishes to explore the world wide web.

But, there is one problem... We live in Africa. Resource constraints, inadequate band width, language barriers, to name but a few, are challenges that students and registrars placed in the rural areas of South Africa face on a day to day basis. Just establishing a website may therefor not be enough as it will only allow students with access to computers and internet the opportunity to utilize the resource. Putting the learning material on CD may therefor add value by allowing the student to access the material from any computer with a CD reader. The format in which material will be saved would be important as computers in rural areas may not have the latest software installed.

Some work has already been done on creating learning material that would be published on the website, but that would also be available on a CD. As you can imagine the production of DVD's is no simple task. Acquiring the expertise to jump start the project was just one of the many challenges we faced thus far. Thankfully there was money available to buy a video camera and to pay the people involved in recording the practical demonstrations on the video camera. As none of us had the expertise to merge the recorded material with the written text of the procedure, an expert had to be bought in to teach us how it is to be done.

I am not sure how many clinical procedures we have successfully put together thus far. In my next discussion I will share with you the challenges we faced thus far and what we did to overcome them. I will also refer you to very useful websites I have used to help me in writing the text for the procedures.

I welcome your comments and suggestions should you have any.

Keep well until next time.

Estelle

Last module for the MPhil in HSE

Hi to all

Can you believe that this is the last module for the Masters of Philosophy in Health Sciences Education (MPhil. in HSE). Was it not just the other day that we all set out on this journey? The students in the second intake for this programme is also nearing the end of their first year! And was it not a great and challenging journey indeed!

For those of you reading this ......, and wondering what this is all about..., let me tell you. It is not for the faint hearted, it is not for the know-it-all's .... it is for people who seek understanding before they suggest solutions. It is for people who like to enrich their lives through education and who have a passion for sharing their knowledge and experience with others. Perhaps this is for you........?

For me this is a journey like no other. I have met the most amazing clever people, educationalists. People for whom knowledge is an integral part of their being. They not only posess knowledge, they create knowledge... They are the Einsteins of education.

I think it was Thomas Eddison that said, "I did not fail, I only discovered a 1000 ways in which a light bulb does not work" For me this holds true for this programme, and for our journey through the maze of life. In essence we are all Thomas Eddison's as we discover what works, or don't work for us in our daily lives.

The purpose of this blog, for me, is to take a peek into e-learning and the amazing possibilities it offers in terms of teaching and learning. This blog forms part of the last assignment I have to complete towards the MPhil. in HSE. I hope you will follow my journey, and I hope we will all learn from the experience, even if it is about 'not how to do it'.
Look out for my next post... I will try to make it interesting and educational at the same time.

Forthcomming attraction: My project!

Goedgaan tot volgende keer.

Estelle

MPhil HSE e-Learning: e-Learning module - everybody's blog addresses

MPhil HSE e-Learning: e-Learning module - everybody's blog addresses