“In a web-based … course, student attainment can be at least as successful through online discussions as face-to-face seminars. Indeed, students studying purely online appeared to perform slightly better than those following a blended route, although factors other than method of learning account for most of the difference. Increases in online activity were associated with higher assignment marks. Face-to-face seminar students who registered more hits in WebCT achieved higher marks in the assignments. Online discussion students who read more postings achieved higher marks and the highest average mark was obtained by the group who posted most often to the online discussion.”
Campbell, M., Gibson, W., Hall, A., Richards, D., & Callery, P. (2008).
Online vs. face-to-face discussion in a web-based research methods course for postgraduate nursing students: A quasi-experimental study. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 45(5), 750-759.
This study was conducted in 2002-2003. Through a school’s educational management software (similar to TWU’s BlackBoard), all student activity (also known as hits) were recorded. Every time a student logged in, open a discussion to read a discussion, post a discussion, etc., were all tracked. Age and sex did not influence the study population of graduate level nursing students. The final recommendations were that other schools should conduct similar research to help “develop an evidence-based approach to web-based education” (Campbell, Gibson, Hall, Richards, & Callery, 2008).
I like what this research was able to provide. Evidence that good grades are possible for the student who just reads a discussion. Yes, the best grades were associated with students that participated in discussions. On Cathy’s recent blog (http://cathy-cathysjourney.blogspot.com/), she talked about “lurking and learning.” She made some assumptions that is actually supported by research.
This way of thinking flys in the face of the discussion question are essential for developing the online community. I’m not so sure that discussion question is about the online community. It is the online version of classroom face to face discussion. And just as it occurs in the classroom, some times there really isn’t anything else that needs to be said about a topic. Should students be penalized for only reading? I have always thought that the “grading” weight of online discussions is too high for graduate students. Undergraduate students need the discussions in traditional classrooms and especially online. I witnessed this fact during my teaching practicums.
Graduate level discussions. . . I’m not so sure that all students need to make replies just to make sure that their names appear. BlackBoard obviously has the capability to track the same activity as presented in this study. Notice on each of our current postings, there is a counter for how many times a posting was read by the class and how many times you personally have viewed a posting. In Chapter 1 of Pallof & Pratt, they discussed and stressed that every student has a level of interaction that is conducive to his/her learning. Some students need a lot of interaction while others are much happier with minimum interaction with the class and instructor. So if Pallof & Pratt and this recent study show that interactional needs and levels are so varied with online courses, should discussion questions be so highly weighted? Just a thought.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
My Best Friend's Website
My best friend and I met in our academic travels. We shared a project one semester and we've been very close friends ever since. She's the writer and I'm the Geek, so it's a good fit. This semester is just like many semesters since we met. I get an email with a very timid question, I call her, and we typically end up creating a project together; she writes and I techno what she writes. I will admit that the reverse is also true. When I need a nurse editor, she gets an email from me.
This semester she's taking a class that requires her to create a web page. On first blush, most semi-techno geeks will think that it's no big deal. For two nurses to attempt this feat without extra help is a BIG deal. My friend's class is one that I took much early in my academic journeys. I had to create the same project, a half way decent looking web page. The project can't not be produced using a software application; you must use html source coding to create it. Yes, two nurses had to write html source code to create a webpage.
Okay, I see that "deer in the headlights" expression on your face. So as you're looking at this web page, right click your mouse. One of the choices is "View Source" and a screen will pop up with some very scary stuff. That stuff is the html source code. It' how the computer knows what to use and how to display the web page. Believe it or not, the source code you just looked at is fairly standardized across the Internet. The biggest headache to "writing" this code, it that if one thing is not just right, then your web page either does not open, it doesn't remotely look like what you wanted, and/or attached hyperlinks don't work.
I fortunately saved the html source code for my project and was able to assist her. Her page was up and running over the course of about six hours, a gazillion emails, and just as many phone calls. But the page worked, the decorative background looked great, the variety of fonts and headers all looked as required by the project, the pictures were visable, the linked pdf file worked, and the hyperlink worked. She and I were both happy with the final results.
There is always method in my madness. I presented this reflection of my friend's project and the work involved to get it completed, for a reason. I have only one question to ask you.How much of this description did you understand.....Html? Source code? Web page? Right click? Mouse? Pop-up screen? Fonts? PDF file? Hyperlink?
The way I look at this.....even if you only got one or two right answers, you have education technologies to thank.
This semester she's taking a class that requires her to create a web page. On first blush, most semi-techno geeks will think that it's no big deal. For two nurses to attempt this feat without extra help is a BIG deal. My friend's class is one that I took much early in my academic journeys. I had to create the same project, a half way decent looking web page. The project can't not be produced using a software application; you must use html source coding to create it. Yes, two nurses had to write html source code to create a webpage.
Okay, I see that "deer in the headlights" expression on your face. So as you're looking at this web page, right click your mouse. One of the choices is "View Source" and a screen will pop up with some very scary stuff. That stuff is the html source code. It' how the computer knows what to use and how to display the web page. Believe it or not, the source code you just looked at is fairly standardized across the Internet. The biggest headache to "writing" this code, it that if one thing is not just right, then your web page either does not open, it doesn't remotely look like what you wanted, and/or attached hyperlinks don't work.
I fortunately saved the html source code for my project and was able to assist her. Her page was up and running over the course of about six hours, a gazillion emails, and just as many phone calls. But the page worked, the decorative background looked great, the variety of fonts and headers all looked as required by the project, the pictures were visable, the linked pdf file worked, and the hyperlink worked. She and I were both happy with the final results.
There is always method in my madness. I presented this reflection of my friend's project and the work involved to get it completed, for a reason. I have only one question to ask you.How much of this description did you understand.....Html? Source code? Web page? Right click? Mouse? Pop-up screen? Fonts? PDF file? Hyperlink?
The way I look at this.....even if you only got one or two right answers, you have education technologies to thank.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Technology Delights and Distress
It’s sometimes amazing when I think back to when I was in high school and the latest technological advancement was the microwave oven. And we all thought that anyone who had one had to be rich! What a luxury. Now….microwave ovens are a standard kitchen appliance and I would considered very strange if someone didn't have one. This just show how much I've been sucked into the technology vortex.
I’m looking at technology from this viewpoint due to multiple reasons: 1) this week, my cell phone went to cell phone heaven and I’m going through hell without it; 2) this week, I got a second monitor hooked up at work and so I now have dual monitors [Way COOL!]; and 3) a local radio host was talking about how quickly we all get with the latest technology. Let’s look at these points in reverse order.
The radio host was complaining about his cell phone acting up this week. It was so funny that I found myself laughing out loud. In his words, his cell phone had become “possessed” and the phone was on his coffee table. He just sat there watching it. He started talking about how technology has become so smart, he believed that devices like cell phones and computer can now think for themselves and so therefore can become “possessed.” It doesn’t sound near as funny as it did on the radio. The topic of his dialogue did get me thinking about how “possessed” I feel because my cell phone decided to die! Not the battery; dead as in refusing to function ever again.
I don’t think that it is really a matter of technology developing artificial intelligence which can then becoming possessed. We become sooooo dependent on technology that we think that we can not possibly function or have a normal life without the blasted thing! I do hope that education doesn’t forget that teaching and learning can occur without technology!
As my geekness and dependency on technology gets more and more integrated into my personality, I’ve known that my phone was about to “code” on me for a few months. The hinge was barely hanging on. I started doing some research on what cell phone I wanted to at least entertain the thought that I would like to have. The more I researched, the stronger my geekness grows. I have now decided that there is only one cell phone that will bring me happiness; the Blackberry Bold! Just to show you how much geekness there is now growing inside, I have picked a phone that you cannot get in the US yet. The US release has been delayed so many times now that I’ve quit looking everyday for the latest release date. Now, only to discover that the UK has now pulled the Bold from their shelves; say it isn’t so!!! So my technology distress is that my cell phone died and I can’t get the one I want. I sound like one of my kids. Again, I’m now beginning to pray that education never forgets it’s humble and simple past without all the gadgets.
I did have a technology delight this week to go along with my distress. I’m really thrilled with my new job because right now [this is going to sound crazy], I’m rewriting all of the departmental policies and procedures. I’m really happy because I do spend most of my days looking for the evidence to support our evidence based practice. I love to do research. Another geek trait. The only downside to this particular project is that I would have to have several screens open at the same time and was switching constantly between the screens. Last week, happened come across an extra flat screen monitor which is exactly the same size as mine. I asked my boss if I could have the monitor to set up dual monitor screens. She’s started to see and understand that I’m pretty geeky. With simple addition of a monitor splitter cable and a few adjustments in control panel, I was in heaven! Now, I can look at two full screen documents at the same time and work in both as needed. If you’ve never experienced being able to use dual monitors, I promise you will never want to work at your desk again without two screens. Only the clinical informatics person in our department understands and he immediately put in a request for his second monitor! (He have only been in the department two weeks.)
As academicians, getting to do research on one screen and working in the other has its advantages. For one, I at least think that I’m getting more work done faster. I am such a geek!
I’m looking at technology from this viewpoint due to multiple reasons: 1) this week, my cell phone went to cell phone heaven and I’m going through hell without it; 2) this week, I got a second monitor hooked up at work and so I now have dual monitors [Way COOL!]; and 3) a local radio host was talking about how quickly we all get with the latest technology. Let’s look at these points in reverse order.
The radio host was complaining about his cell phone acting up this week. It was so funny that I found myself laughing out loud. In his words, his cell phone had become “possessed” and the phone was on his coffee table. He just sat there watching it. He started talking about how technology has become so smart, he believed that devices like cell phones and computer can now think for themselves and so therefore can become “possessed.” It doesn’t sound near as funny as it did on the radio. The topic of his dialogue did get me thinking about how “possessed” I feel because my cell phone decided to die! Not the battery; dead as in refusing to function ever again.
I don’t think that it is really a matter of technology developing artificial intelligence which can then becoming possessed. We become sooooo dependent on technology that we think that we can not possibly function or have a normal life without the blasted thing! I do hope that education doesn’t forget that teaching and learning can occur without technology!
As my geekness and dependency on technology gets more and more integrated into my personality, I’ve known that my phone was about to “code” on me for a few months. The hinge was barely hanging on. I started doing some research on what cell phone I wanted to at least entertain the thought that I would like to have. The more I researched, the stronger my geekness grows. I have now decided that there is only one cell phone that will bring me happiness; the Blackberry Bold! Just to show you how much geekness there is now growing inside, I have picked a phone that you cannot get in the US yet. The US release has been delayed so many times now that I’ve quit looking everyday for the latest release date. Now, only to discover that the UK has now pulled the Bold from their shelves; say it isn’t so!!! So my technology distress is that my cell phone died and I can’t get the one I want. I sound like one of my kids. Again, I’m now beginning to pray that education never forgets it’s humble and simple past without all the gadgets.
I did have a technology delight this week to go along with my distress. I’m really thrilled with my new job because right now [this is going to sound crazy], I’m rewriting all of the departmental policies and procedures. I’m really happy because I do spend most of my days looking for the evidence to support our evidence based practice. I love to do research. Another geek trait. The only downside to this particular project is that I would have to have several screens open at the same time and was switching constantly between the screens. Last week, happened come across an extra flat screen monitor which is exactly the same size as mine. I asked my boss if I could have the monitor to set up dual monitor screens. She’s started to see and understand that I’m pretty geeky. With simple addition of a monitor splitter cable and a few adjustments in control panel, I was in heaven! Now, I can look at two full screen documents at the same time and work in both as needed. If you’ve never experienced being able to use dual monitors, I promise you will never want to work at your desk again without two screens. Only the clinical informatics person in our department understands and he immediately put in a request for his second monitor! (He have only been in the department two weeks.)
As academicians, getting to do research on one screen and working in the other has its advantages. For one, I at least think that I’m getting more work done faster. I am such a geek!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Remote access technology is a wonderful thing!
At TWU, each student is given data storage space on the Pioneer Portal server. When I was traveling to campus for my hybrid classes, I would save my PowerPoint presentations on the campus server and to a flash drive. I can’t remember a single time that the campus server was not working when I needed to use it. Rather than worry about getting my flash drive to work, I would use the campus server. I started doing this when it was required for me to drive to the Denton campus and the Parkland Campus. Doing research in the library was less cumbersome in that I would check out a library laptop and save files to Pioneer Portal and references using the library RevWorks. What I find amazing is that when I started graduate school, two and half years ago, I didn’t know that these wonderful conveniences were available. So just starting this graduate program, I was instantly required to learn a variety of new computer skills and organization.
Those who just getting started or still have a few semesters left, I strongly urge you to learn to take full advantage of the IT made available to the students at all levels through PP, BlackBoard, and the Library. I also strongly suggest that if you have not taken your electives; take the two available Library Science courses, the Internet and Electronic Information Retrieval. I don’t care what level of user you are, I promise you will never regret taking these classes. I thought I was an intermediate technology user prior to these classes; only to discover that I was practically a newbie. I know that I am an intermediate level user now.
Those are just a few educational technologies currently available to us as students.
I bring up these wonderful technological advantages available currently through TWU for students. I have recently learned another wonderful technological advancement that may affect students at some point. I do see it as something that should be offered to faculty (if it is not at this time). My employer has it and I’m already spoiled!
Gone are my days of toting my laptop back and forth to an office. Gone are the days of carrying a flash drive back and forth to an office. My new employer offers a wonderful intranet feature. Similar to Pioneer Portal, I can access files that I save to the hospital server BUT . . . through the same remote access, I can access my desktop computer drive in almost seamless environment. The available technology to remotely access another computer’s hard drive has been around for about 10 years and most competent IT professionals have experience using to “fix” hard drives remotely. [It’s a weird feeling watch your screen cursor acting as if the computer has mysteriously taken over control.] What is unique is that I’ve never seen an employer use this feature for non-IT employees.
I’m thinking that this technology is probably the reason for the expansion and popularity of telecommuting and for businesses that have road warrior employees. This type of access available to hospital based is a first for me and I love it! My manager has already told me that if one of my children gets sick, I would not need to call in sick because I can still work at home when necessary. When I remotely access my computer at work, IT can track what I’ve done and provides my manager prove that I’ve been working on something even if I’m not physically at the hospital. The extremely large size of the facility may also have something to do with the availability and use of the technology.
I do not see any need for clinical nurses to have this capability unless they also have a significant amount of managerial responsibilities as well. I don’t foresee a reason for students needing this capability because of how easy remote access of the campus servers are. If I were faculty somewhere with an on campus office, I would be begging for this capability. Like I said, I’m already spoiled just after four weeks!
Those who just getting started or still have a few semesters left, I strongly urge you to learn to take full advantage of the IT made available to the students at all levels through PP, BlackBoard, and the Library. I also strongly suggest that if you have not taken your electives; take the two available Library Science courses, the Internet and Electronic Information Retrieval. I don’t care what level of user you are, I promise you will never regret taking these classes. I thought I was an intermediate technology user prior to these classes; only to discover that I was practically a newbie. I know that I am an intermediate level user now.
Those are just a few educational technologies currently available to us as students.
I bring up these wonderful technological advantages available currently through TWU for students. I have recently learned another wonderful technological advancement that may affect students at some point. I do see it as something that should be offered to faculty (if it is not at this time). My employer has it and I’m already spoiled!
Gone are my days of toting my laptop back and forth to an office. Gone are the days of carrying a flash drive back and forth to an office. My new employer offers a wonderful intranet feature. Similar to Pioneer Portal, I can access files that I save to the hospital server BUT . . . through the same remote access, I can access my desktop computer drive in almost seamless environment. The available technology to remotely access another computer’s hard drive has been around for about 10 years and most competent IT professionals have experience using to “fix” hard drives remotely. [It’s a weird feeling watch your screen cursor acting as if the computer has mysteriously taken over control.] What is unique is that I’ve never seen an employer use this feature for non-IT employees.
I’m thinking that this technology is probably the reason for the expansion and popularity of telecommuting and for businesses that have road warrior employees. This type of access available to hospital based is a first for me and I love it! My manager has already told me that if one of my children gets sick, I would not need to call in sick because I can still work at home when necessary. When I remotely access my computer at work, IT can track what I’ve done and provides my manager prove that I’ve been working on something even if I’m not physically at the hospital. The extremely large size of the facility may also have something to do with the availability and use of the technology.
I do not see any need for clinical nurses to have this capability unless they also have a significant amount of managerial responsibilities as well. I don’t foresee a reason for students needing this capability because of how easy remote access of the campus servers are. If I were faculty somewhere with an on campus office, I would be begging for this capability. Like I said, I’m already spoiled just after four weeks!
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