MN 531 Survey Results

What did the survey reveal? What was good and bad about your presentation? What did you learn from the survey results? What will you do differently with your next presentation?

      The results of my survey revealed that virtual reality can be regarded as an important tool in the educational classroom environment.  Virtual reality is the preferred method of instruction from the results of the survey.  Even though most of the information presented on virtual reality was new to the learners, they were eager to experience it.  There were little to no concerns with using the new technology and everyone felt it would be beneficial to the learning environment.  The survey concluded that everyone liked the fact that you can learn a new skill set in a safe environment and everyone would be willing to use the system.

      The only thing I would do different in my next presentation would be to try to pack more of a learning experience into size of the presentation.  For example I did not use any charts in my presentation and charts or diagrams can be a quick and time saving way of packing huge amounts of information into one time saving step in a presentation.

Week 6 Blog

Blog Topic: Your neighbor has just been diagnosed with Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). He has a lot of questions regarding the disease and treatment options. He has gone to the following websites (see below) to do some research and now has come to you to ask for your educated opinion. Compare and contrast these sites in regard to the validity and reliability of their information. What credible resources might you advise your neighbor to review? How can you validate the credibly of a website?

www.wikipedia.org

www.webmd.com

www.cdc.gov     

                In today’s world of technology and the World Wide Web, we have almost instant access to more information than we ever thought possible.  It is however import as we search for information for scholarly use we must evaluate the credibility of the website and its information.  With the huge amount of websites on the net today it is important to separate advertisements, vanity sites, and legitimate scholarly based websites (Tillman, 2015). 

Wikipedia.org is a free encyclopedia that anyone can edit or add information to, it is likely that most information found on the website is correct but one cannot be positive because it had not been validated (Kocisis, 2012).  Many times Wikipedia is a good place to start looking for information that you may not be familiar with and then use that data to find a validated scholarly website (Kocisis, 2012).

                Webmd.com is WebMD is primarily known for its public website, which has information about health and health care, including a symptom checklist, pharmacy information, drugs information, blogs of physicians with specific topics (Webmd.com, 2015).  Webmd may not be the scholarly website that it portrays to be.  The site has become laden with advertisements and a pursuit of profits has become its goal over that last few years (Mercola, 2010).   Many professionals in the health care field have begun to see its information as advertising literature and not peer reviewed (Mercola, 2010). 

                CDC.gov is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.  The CDC is the leading national public health institute of the United States. The CDC is a federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services (CDC.gov).  The government of the United States will only provide validated health information provided respected professionals that specialize in their field of study (CDC.gov).  Governmental websites from most western countries have been deemed trustworthy by most publication associations (Carter, 2013). 

                I would recommend that the neighbor keep his research aimed at governmental websites, sites associated with universities, and non-profit sites that do not rely on advertisement for their existence.  There are plenty of websites on most topics that are associated with non-profit agencies that are known in their fields of study, such as American Heart Association, Cancer Society, and many credential sites that give information along with their area of concern. 

                It can sometimes be difficult to validate a website today, there are many that intentional make themselves look professional but in reality they exist to sell a product or even information on a topic.  We can validate websites by researching professional organizations associated with the topic we are interested in and see what sites are provided as links.  Many professional journals list websites that are professional and trustworthy.  If these processes fail we must look at the site itself by researching to see if the site is transparent and who the site is associated with.  Does the site back up its information with credible sources, and does it disclose its funding and advertising sources (Honcode, 2015).    

Carter, D. (2013).  Validity of website information today?  Retrieved from:

                http://www.uni.edu/chfasoa/reliabilityandvalidity.htm

CDC.gov. (2015).  Centers for disease control and prevention.  Retrieved from:  www.http.cdc.gov

Honcode. (2015). Honcode Principles.  Retrieved form: http://www.hon.ch/HONcode/Conduct.html

Kocisis, J. (2012).  What is Wikipedia?  Retrieved from: 

http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/9/11/what-is-wiki/

Mercola, D. (2010).  Webmd may be deceiving you.  Retrieved from:

                http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/14/webmd-not-the-independent-health-source-you-expected.aspx#!

Tillman, H. (2015). Evaluating quality on the net.  Retrieved from:

http://www.hopetillman.com/findqual.php

Webmd.com. (2015). All about Webmd.  Retrieved from:  http://www.webmd/allaboutus.com

MN531 Unit 5 Survey Link

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PGVCZJP


Web based surveys have become very popular in the past few years.  They provide a quick and easy way of gauging the views of a target population on a preset topic of interest (Wyatt, 2010).  Web-based surveys are having an increased influence on the survey process. Unlike other types of surveys, Web page design skills and computer programming expertise play a significant role in the design of Web-based surveys. Survey respondents face new and different challenges in completing a Web-based survey (Gunn, 2014).


Gunn, H. (2014). Web-based surveys: Changing the Survey Process.  Retrieved
       from:  http://www.unt.edu/rss/class/survey/gun.html
Wyatt, J.(2010). When to use web based surveys?  Retrieved from:
       http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC61446/

Educational Technologies Screencast Video Link

http://www.screencast.com/users/DuaneMurphy1/folders/Default/media/a1d30614-5390-4a83-8bdd-f609c53095c2


This is a link to a screencast of the virtual world of 2ndLife and a small tutorial on how to use some of the functions of the site.  I also discuss some of the pros and cons to learning in a virtual world!

Check it out!
Duane 

Unit 3 Blog

Teaching Strategy for the Training of each Technology

          

           For the implementation of the new EKG machines I have chosen the teaching method of active learning as I feel it best fits the learning of the new technology because of the hands on approach to the experience.  Active learning entails the learner being able to discuss, ask questions, or interact with the new subject matter (Meyers, 2014). 

           For the implementation of the new Electronic Health Record (EHR) system I have chose the teaching method of the blended model of instruction.  I feel with the EHR system being far more complicated and a much larger undertaking it is more important to use the blended model to help ease tensions and improve information retention as much as possible. The blended instruction model can use traditional methods such as lecture, but in addition newer methods my be used to further the instruction process such as multimedia, tasking, and interactive learning (Tucker, 2013).

The Two Strategies Compared and Contrasted

          Active learning model of teaching as it applies to new mechanical or electronic devices can bring excitement into the classroom through hands on instruction with the new equipment (Bonwell & Eison, 1991).  The new EKG machines should be brought into the classroom and hopefully there will be a training mode or machine for the students to use.  Studies show that practice by doing, thus hands on training improves retention levels of information to approximately 90% (Dale, 2015).  There is simply no other single teaching method that stimulates the senses of the learner that active learning through the use of hands on training (Bonwell & Eison, 1991). 

          The Blended instruction model is appropriate for use with the new EHR system because of the complexity of the program and the anxiety that the new technology can cause.  The need for the new technology needs to be covered in lecture form so that the staff can be aware of the need for the change to a new system.  Resistance to change can be lowered if the staff member is aware of the benefits of having the new system and that it will in time make their workday easier (Eisold, 2010). It is equally important to have a working model of the new technology available with everyday tasks that can be performed on the new EHR system (Tucker, 2013).  If the staff is familiar with the new system it can make the go live day proceed much smoother than waiting to introduce the staff to the system on the day they are expected to use it.  The Blended model is very effective at stimulation the senses of the users and helping to keep the attention level high, thus increasing the retention level of the information presented.  Videos and interactive technology can also be used in this model to increase the learning experience of the learner.  We are lucky that with today's technology these two learning methods are available.     

References

Bonwell, C. C., & Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom 

          (ASHE–ERIC Higher Education Rep. No. 1). Washington, DC: The George Washington   

          University, School of Education and Human Development.

Dale, E. (2015). Learning Retention Rates.  Retrieved from: 

          Http://www.tenouk.com/learningretentionrate.html

Eisold, K. (2010).  Resistance to change in organizations.  Retrieved from: 

          https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/hidden-motives/201005/resistance-change-

          in-organizations

Meyers, J. (2014).  Teaching Strategies.  Retrieved from: Http://www.gmu.edu/resources/facstaff

         /part-time/strategy.html

Tucker, C. (2013). The basics of blended instruction.  Retrieved from: 

         Http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar13/vol70/num06/The-Basics- 

         of-Blended-Instruction.aspx