When I first embarked on this class I had only a shimmer of ideas on how technology could impact my educational presentations. I was standing at the beginning of the technology tunnel not fully aware of how to implement pieces of technology in my presentation. I have found technology to be a breath of fresh air and the light is shining brighter. That light represents the new technology knowledge that I have learned to improve my presentation to students. I am more confident at the computer and motivated to try new technology now then when I first started this class.
I have started to use the power point slides that are provided by the book company with more creativity, by personalizing the slides with my own ideas as well. I'm not afraid to start manipulating the information by adding snippet's of short videos that re-enforce the information. I have become more aware of presenting material in a variety of ways to enhance the learning experience of all the students.I have started to enhance the audio and visual power points with snippet's of visual procedures and including questions in between information sessions to encourage student interaction.
I have started teaching an evening class and the students are coming straight from work to class. This presents a big challenge for me because when the student arrives to class they are already drained from working an eight hour day which leaves very little energy for class.I feel the working student in an evening class needs to be stimulated with more than just lecture, but other exercises that will engage this learner a little bit more. These students need more classroom activities during lecture to engage them more so that they aren't falling asleep. It's been a challenge to teach students in the evening, so I had to come up with different teaching strategies. I have implemented small group where the students are given a case study and the students are more engaged with discussion. This makes lecture not so long and drawn out but breaks it up and keeps the students engaged.
I have found that by introducing web links via short video snippets during lecture this encourages the student to go to that web link on their own and not just look at that video but discover more information on other materials that are being reviewed. I have found that this method helps to keep those students that like computer activities to stimulate them to perform added research on various topics via web sites. For the student that isn't computer savvy this method encourages them to go to the computer without the stress of connecting the first couple of exercises to heavy assignment. This method helps get the student acclimated to computer assignments a little at a time instead of just pushing it on the student without preparation.
The digital portfolio was a big challenge for me. I have prepared the paper portfolio but never attempted the digital portfolio. Learning to manipulate and set-up presentations within the portfolio was really a challenge. Working to develop the portfolio into a finished project was fun but a lot of work. I enjoyed being able to manipulate the background and add and delete information and arrange it another format. Implementing photo's to help emphasize meaning and introduce a section was time consuming but a learning process. I would like to implement the digital portfolio in my curriculum,so that my students can store their work and look back on their progress throughout the year. This portfolio can be used when they are going out on job interviews to display their clinical and theory experience to future employers.
The final group project was a dynamic project working with new technology once again. The group project went much better than the first group project due to being able to communicate more effectively to complete the group project. The members in my group utilized new technology to enhance communication as well ascompliment our group project.The Wiki allowed the group members to work independently on their own individual page and combine the project once the indivduals were done working on their page. The Wiki allowed members of the team to view each others work and give one another feedback to improve the contributions from each one of us.
I would like to include the Wiki as a group project in clinical group projects. The students are assigned a group project to develop a careplan as a group. Each member has to develop their own nursing diagnosis and bring their completed nursing diagnosis to the group. The Wiki could be used to assist communication as well as bringing individual work together to be incorporated as one group project.
The Wiki was easy to work with once I started working with this new technoogy. I will be showing my collegesnot only the Wiki but also other forms of technology learned.I enjoyed this class and have learned much.
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